Anti-Gay Group Demands Matthew Shepard Apology

(Los Angeles, California) A conservative Christian group says it has been vindicated by an ABC news program that claimed Matthew Shepard's death was not a hate crime.

Focus on the Family is demanding an apology from NBC News "on behalf of Christians disparaged by Today show co-host Katie Couric's 1998 insinuation that biblical principles incited the murder".

FOF, which condemns homosexuality, opposes same-sex marriage, and has worked to block the inclusion of gays and lesbians in hate-crimes laws nationwide, says it is making the demand "in light of Nov. 26's report on ABC's "20/20" debunking the longstanding characterization of the slaying as an anti-gay "hate crime."

"When Katie Couric took to the air in the days after Matthew Shepard's tragic murder to suggest that groups like Focus on the Family were somehow responsible for the killing, it was religion- baiting at its worst," said Don Hodel, president of Focus on the Family. "There never was any evidence to support her outrageous implications -- in fact, there now seems to be evidence contradicting them.

"To suggest that the scriptural standard on homosexuality leads to murder was unconscionable then -- and it's all the more unconscionable now in light of the revelations of ABC's report."

In a letter to NBC News President Neal Shapiro, Hodel calls on the network to apologize

"Our faith tells us that same-sex marriage and other policies that tear down the traditional definition of the family undermine the fabric of our civilization," Hodel wrote. "But just because we are opposed to efforts to normalize homosexuality does not in any way mean we are antagonistic to the people involved in homosexuality -- or that we believe or encourage others to believe that violence against homosexuals is acceptable. Our Christian beliefs mandate a different response, one centred in love for the individual, as well as in moral truth."

An apology is in order, Hodel added, because "there are millions of Christians who watch NBC, and they deserve more than this network's reckless contempt."

But the ABC 20/20 report has been discredited by those connected to the prosecution of two men serving double life sentences for the killing.

Police officers and the district attorney who prosecuted the case say the pair admitted at the time of their arrest that Shepard had been targeted because he was gay.

The program has also been sharply criticized by Matthew Shepard's parents.

There has been no response from NBC to the FOF demand.

by Ed Welch, 365Gay.com Los Angeles Bureau, ©365Gay.com 2004

http://rainbownetwork.com/News/detai...&nChannel=News

Maybe next they can hire some vultures to pick on his bones in the town square.

what a bunch of Fucktards.

I said it in another thread recently but his poor family must be going through hell with all this crap going on.

Regards,

Lee

these people are lucky the state tried them and not me. I firmly belive an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. :evil:

i actually typed up an angry response to this last night - then i took a deep breath and let it go as much as i could.

i don't want to hate anyone, but these so-called christians make it so difficult!

This has got to be one of the most hateful and offensive stories i have ever seen. I cannot understand what would motivate this sort of crap. Wait, i take that back, having just spent a couple weeks in the states visiting family, I have been reminded what these NewsWhores really are and that these people will do anything to get ratings, no matter who they hurt or how many lies they tell.

Was there a recent merger between ABC and PTL that i missed??

There is no courage in hatred, only fear.

Lee posted "I said it in another thread recently but his poor family must be going through hell with all this crap going on."

His mother knows his death meant something and she's taken quite a stand in using his death to further the Gay agenda. I feel for her loss. I couldn't imagine losing my son the way she lost hers.

I think a rogue Gay organization might find joy in picketing Christian funerals, or court cases, to show what kind of people "christians" are. There are a lot of Christians killed around the world ( I said it in another thread recently but his poor family must be going through hell with all this crap going on.
)You know Christianity isn't the worlds largest single religion, Islam is with 1.1 billion followers. Christianity has 2.2 billion, but they are divided into 6 subsets, which makes Islam #1.

The think I find interesting is that 1 in 6 people are agnostic, atheist or indifferent, and they are constantly getting religion shoved down their throat.

It all comes back to fear. What they don't know, or understand, they fear. It's a normal human reaction, as is condeming those who are different. The good news is that things have changed so much in the last 40 years alone for the Gay community, that the future has a lot of potential to bring even more acceptance.