James Dobson of Focus on the Family, "We have lost"

James Dobson concedes defeat in the culture wars.

Hope springs eternal

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out hopes that James Dobson's departure from Focus on the Family will change the group for the better, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Hate and fear-mongering are the lifeblood of groups like FoF. Anti-gay hysteria means big bucks for these kinds of religious organizations.

Never mind that the bible says, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

People like Ted Haggard, James Dobson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jim Bakker are always willing to take that chance.

James Dobson resigns

AP is reporting that James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family.

His resignation comes only a couple of months after extensive layoffs at the conservative and anti-gay Christian group.

In a statement, Dobson said he was resigning in part to allow the next generation to prepare for "executive authority."

Perhaps Focus on the Family's declining influence in their home state of Colorado and in the nearby state of Wyoming also had something to do with Dobson's departure.

Whatever the reason for his resignation, Dobson's legacy is one of hatred, fear, and misinformation.

James Dobson resigns from Focus on the Family; GLAAD responds

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today responded to the resignation of James Dobson, head of the anti-gay Focus on the Family ministry.

"For more than 20 years, James Dobson has used his expansive, well-funded media platform to promote defamatory and false information about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," said Neil G. Giuliano, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). "As Dobson resigns from his role as chairman, it is important to remember his history of false and defamatory claims about our community. GLAAD urges the media to not allow Dobson to turn today's news into yet another media platform for him to advance his intolerant divisive attacks on gay and lesbian Americans and their families."

Hundreds protest Focus on the Family's James Dobson's inclusion in the Museum of Broadcast Communications

Press Pass Q's Michael K. Lavers writes:

An ad campaign that appeared in LGBT publications in Chicago helped draw an estimated 500 people to protest against the Museum of Broadcast Communications’ decision to honor Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

The Chicago Free Press, Windy City Times, and Gay Chicago published ads that condemned the MBC’s decision to honor Dobson at a Nov. 8 banquet. Signatories included Equality Illinois, the Gay Liberation Network [GLN], former Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Wayne Besen, and local Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays chapters.

The campaign cost around $2,500. GLN spokesperson Andy Thayer said the ads were designed to organize LGBT Chicagoans against Dobson and the MBC’s decision to honor him. “We thought it was important to mobilize our community,” he said.

Besen, who is the founder and executive director of Truth Wins Out, co-organized the protest alongside GLN. He and other activists have repeatedly blasted Dobson for his distortions of research to support his opposition to homosexuality, marriage for same-sex couples, and other issues.

GLN member Bob Schwartz criticized the MBC’s decision. “It is unconscionable that any public institution would honor someone who has devoted his life to denying a whole section of the community legal equality, and promotes slander against that community,” he said. “Someone who does that is a hater, pure and simple, no matter how much they try to excuse their pro-discrimination rhetoric with so-called ‘Christian’ rationalizations.”

Thayer described the campaign as a success, and the museum’s reputation has suffered significantly. “The MBC’s reputation in the city has been tarnished … among media professionals,” Thayer said. “The stock of the MBC has been much diminished.”

James Dobson in the Radio Hall of Fame

On November 8, 2008, the Museum of Broadcast Communications plans to induct James Dobson's anti-gay Focus on the Family radio program into its Radio Hall of Fame.

GLAAD has posted a video on their blog that aims to bring attention to the hurtful and defamatory things Dobson has said and drive people to contact the Radio Hall of Fame to express their concern over his induction.

Either the members of the Steering Committee don't know who James Dobson is and of the hurtful and defamatory things he says about LGBT people, or they just don't care.

James Dobson has a long history of attacking and making things up about gay people. Unfortunately, the media will often times give Dobson a national platform outside his radio program to spread his lies, lies that then reach millions.

Among his many false claims, Dobson has said being gay "has to do with an identity crisis that occurs to early to remember it" and that gay people "have as many as 300 to 1,000 partners in a lifetime." He has also falsely claimed that committed gay couples "cannot be a family" and that allowing them to get married would "destroy the family."

Read more at www.GLAADblog.

Sarah Palin + James Dobson = Scary

Of course--when Sarah Palin comes to Colorado, who does she pal around with? James Dobson. If that doesn't decide your vote, then I wash my hands of you. Check out this scary article from The Advocate.

GLAAD responds to Focus on the Family's James Dobson being named to the Radio Hall of Fame

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) recently responded to the announcement that the anti-gay Focus on the Family ministry, headed by James Dobson, has been voted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

The National Radio Hall of Fame (RHOF) and Museum is part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, Ill. Inductees to the museum are nominated by the National Radio Hall of Fame & Museum Steering Committee (RHOFSC), which includes radio executives, academicians, trade journalists and others interested in radio's history. James Dobson and Focus on the Family ministry won in the category of "a broadcaster who has made at least a 20-year contribution to the radio industry and has distinguished him/herself at the local and/or regional level."

"For 20 years James Dobson has used his expansive, well funded media platform to perpetuate false and misleading information which contribute to putting gay and lesbian families in harms way," said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. "GLAAD urges the media to scrutinize and shed light on Dobson's record of inaccurate claims about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and include an in-depth analysis of his distorted and defamatory statements."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.