THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010460
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
It's a battle of words about words - and who controls them.
And, so far, Pat Robertson and the Christian Broadcasting Network have been the winners, thwarting most efforts of a national gay advocacy group to air paid television advertisements that include video clips of Robertson on CBN condemning homosexuality.
Now, however, the advertiser has turned the tables.
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays has enlisted a Washington law firm. And it has warned Virginia Beach-based CBN that it will be taken to court if it continues to threaten broadcasters with lawsuits if they accept the advertisements.
``Usually, broadcasters are quite happy to have their words repeated,'' said PFLAG attorney Walter A. Smith Jr. ``The great irony is that (Robertson) is trying to stop his own words from being used.''
Smith, a partner in Hogan & Hartson L.L.P., one of Washington's largest and most respected law firms, said that if Robertson ``thinks there is something wrong with his words, he should do something to correct them. And he has the platform to do it. But he ought not to have the power to keep others from responding to him.''
The two 30-second advertisements assert that there is a relationship between anti-homosexual statements and violence against gays and lesbians as well as suicides among homosexual teenagers.
In both ads, Robertson declares: ``Homosexuality is an abomination . . . . The practices of these people is appalling. It is a pathology, it is a sickness.'' The statements are drawn from broadcasts of CBN's flagship program, ``The 700 Club,'' hosted by Robertson.
``That kind of strident, anti-gay rhetoric helps to contribute to an atmosphere, an environment, where hate crimes are more likely to occur,'' Smith said. PFLAG ``never said that Pat espouses hate crimes. But when you hear that rhetoric over and over again . . . well, speech is powerful.''
CBN spokesman Gene Kapp said, however, that ``The (advertising) campaign .
In opposing broadcast of the ads - and related newspaper ads - CBN has argued that the video of Robertson and his words are copyrighted; that they have been used in a way that defames Robertson; and that he is being personally attacked.
``Like millions of others, the Christian Broadcasting Network and Mr. Robertson believe that homosexual behavior is morally wrong and violates biblical principles fundamental to Christian belief,'' Kapp said. ``That religious belief is balanced, however, by the same love and compassion that has been the cornerstone of this ministry for 35 years.''
And Robertson has gone on record opposing violence against gay men and lesbians. In a March 28 broadcast of ``The 700 Club,'' Robertson said: ``We abhor violence against homosexuals. We would counsel strongly in relation to homosexuality that you could hold your religious beliefs without beating people up and being violent.''
The ads don't mention those statements. But Smith said Robertson's few comments against violence don't offset his many condemnations of homosexuality.
``It's a little like showing the bloody handkerchief to the jury and then saying they should disregard it,'' Smith said. ``Strident statements are remembered and have the greatest effect on people.''
The advertisements were intended as the centerpiece of ``Project Open Mind,'' a multimedia campaign ``designed to confront the nation with the truth about the effects of intolerance and hatred directed at lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans by anti-gay groups.''
The first cities targeted for the campaign were Washington, Atlanta, Tulsa and Houston, all of which have active PFLAG chapters.
There also has been discussion about trying to air them in Hampton Roads, Garrett said.
One ad depicts a gay man being chased down and beaten by a mob shouting ``Queer! Fag!'' Another shows a young lesbian holding a handgun and contemplating suicide. Both are interspersed with video of Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. One includes N.C. Sen. Jesse Helms.
Shortly after the campaign was announced in November, however, and before the ads could be aired, CBN's associate general counsel, Bruce D. Hausknecht, wrote a letter addressed ``to all general managers'' at television stations and cable companies in the areas.
``The spots contain defamatory material and cast Pat Robertson and CBN in a false light by implying that Pat advocates/promotes heinous crimes against gays or directly caused the suicide of one or more homosexual persons,'' Hausknecht wrote. ``This is outrageously false and severely damaging to the reputation of Dr. Robertson and this ministry.''
He warned any station airing the ads: ``We will immediately seek judicial redress . . . injunctive relief and monetary damages.''
Despite having contracted with several stations, the PFLAG ads never ran on most. One Houston station did run them for a week, but it, too, pulled the plug after getting a second, more blunt letter from CBN demanding an on-air apology and equal time to respond.
Media watchers who have seen the ads agree they are hard-edged.
``The commercials are crude,'' Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times. ``Almost as crude as some of the political propaganda put out by Mr. Robertson's Christian Coalition.''
CNN and Court-TV refused to air the ads.
``We must have a feeling that the claims are reasonable, fair,'' a CNN spokesman told Advertising Age, a trade journal.
Steve Wasserman, general manager of KPRC-TV in Houston, said his station rejected the ads because they were ``potentially inflammatory and unfair.'' He added: ``It's not the message we're questioning. It is how the message is being conveyed.''
On the offensive, PFLAG is now ready to launch a media buy in the Seattle area and hopes that having its own lawyers on board will forestall any effort by CBN to persuade stations to refuse the ads.
In a Feb. 2 letter to Robertson, a copy of which was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, PFLAG's law firm wrote: ``None of the (CBN) claims has merit and any suit based on those claims that either you or CBN might bring would fail.''
Smith, one of four lawyers who signed the seven-page letter in which each of CBN's claims is addressed and dismissed, is coordinating the case. His firm took it on a pro bono - free - basis.
``We were looking at this as a little guy against a big guy,'' Smith said. ``And we thought a very important principle was at stake here, a First Amendment issue.''
There has not yet been a reply to the letter, which invites Robertson and his lawyers to sit down with PFLAG and its attorneys and come to an agreement rather than risk legal action. ``It is being reviewed by our counsel,'' Kapp said.
Smith said PFLAG essentially wants nothing more than a chance to step in the ring.
``The main point that PFLAG is making here is that it wants to get its viewpoint out in the media - the marketplace of ideas,'' Smith said, ``in the same way that Dr. Robertson has the right to express his views.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Pat Robertson
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