Subject: GLAAD CONDEMNS CBN FOR BULLYING NETWORKS
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 12:27:16 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
contact:  Thom Kincheloe
               (503) 224-5285

GLAAD CONDEMNS BULLYING TACTICS BY THE CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK AGAINST
PFLAG'S PSA PROJECT

Portland, November 20, 1995 --- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation, GLAAD, condemns the actions of the Christian Broadcasting Network
in their attempt to remove air play of Project Open Mind, television ads
produced by Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).  CBN
has threatened legal action against local television stations in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, Atlanta, Georgia and Houston, Texas for airing the ads, which
features the inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric of Pat Robertson. CBN's threat
has frightened several affiliates into pulling the distribution of the piece.

"This is a sad day," says Donna Red Wing, GLAAD's Field Director, "when the
Radical Right can bully people from doing what is right.  Project Open Mind
is an extraordinary project that has the potential to educate millions of
Americans on the danger of hate speech. That education can prevent violence
and even save lives."

"CBN is upset that PFLAG has demonized Pat Robertson and other Radical Right
religious leaders," continued Red Wing, "However, the PSA's use actual
statements and illustrate      how these statements can lead to tragic
events, including death.  What they are afraid of is the truth and the
extinction of their major fundraising issue - the war they have waged against
the gay and lesbian community."

GLAAD urges support of Project Open Mind and encourages its members to
contact their local television stations to air the PSA.  GLAAD also
encourages its members to write KJRH in Tulsa, Oklahoma and KHOU in Houston,
Texas, who initially planned to air the PSA, but pulled it after CBN's
threat.  KJRH, fax: 918.748.1460, e-mail:  [email-masked], KHOU, fax:
713.521.4326, e-mail: [email-masked]

GLAAD's mission is to promote fair, accurate and inclusive representations of
individuals and events in the media as a means of challenging discrimination
based on sexual orientation or identity.