It is common knowledge within the LGBT community that Family Research Council Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg has called for gays to be both criminalized and "exported." GLAAD has been working to get this information out to the public and to ensure that pundits and anchors hold folks like Peter accountable for their own views.
Today, Wayne Besen scored a major win when he silenced Peter on-air by using comments from his Commentator Accountability Project profile and was then backed up by CNN anchor Carol Costello. Here's the segment, in full:
(*accountability begins around 4:05 mark)
(*Clip via Carlos Maza from Equality Matters)
Also of note: Sprigg cited Lifeway Research, an evangelical research company. Their September poll found that 52% of people think LGBT relationships are a sin. The problem with that? Lifeway Research just released new data that found only 37% of respondents indicated that they found homosexuality to be a sin. Peter must have missed this update, or he ignored it because it's not good for his business.
Then, to push back a bit on Carol Costello, who recited the claim that most Christians oppose LGBT people, supporting Sprigg's own claim that “Bible-believing Christians” oppose LGBT people. This is simply not true. Recent data says otherwise:
-- Survey | Majority of Americans say they support same-sex marriage, adoption by gay and lesbian couples [Public Religion Research Institute]
-- Religious Americans’ Perspectives on Same-sex Marriage [Public Religion Research Institute]
But all in all, a really strong segment in which both anchor and fellow pundit refused to let the "values" voice play the role that he surely wanted to play on-air. A great win for accountability.