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(New York City) The leader of a conservative
Christian lobby group appears to suggest that gays should be required to wear warning
labels, although he denies that was his intention.
"We put warning labels on
cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one to two years off the
average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we know spreads every
kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20 years off the average
life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered scientific journal
Psychological Reports," Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive
director of the New York Christian Coalition told the Mid Hudson News.
The journal regularly publishes articles
described by many mainstream psychologists as misleading and faulty. The
homosexuality morbidity study was conducted by the conservative anti-gay Family Research
Institute.
Banuchi called LGBT Pride celebrations held in
New Paltz, north of New York City, and other areas of the country on the weekend
"sad".
He called on people to "pray for those who are deceived by the lies
of popular culture, who are caught up in a destructive lifestyle, and for the
children who are being zealously evangelized by radical homosexuals."
Despite using the analogy of cigarette labels,
Banuchi tells 365Gay.com that he is not advocating gays specifically be labeled.
Banuchi also alleges that he has received hate
mail since his remarks were published.
The issue of labels is particularly sensitive to
gays. In Nazi Germany they were forced to wear the pink triangle
to differentiate them from other internees at concentration camps.
But, while, Banuchi was denouncing homosexuality,
300,000 people were celebrating gay Pride in West Hollywood, California, nearly
half a million in Boston, and 100,00 in Salt Lake City this weekend.
In West Hollywood, crowds lined Santa Monica Boulevard
for the 35th annual Pride Parade. But, this year's choice of grand
marshals did not make everyone in the crowd happy. Christopher Street West,
which organizes Weho's Pride festival selected Paris Hilton and her mother,
Kathy to host the parade.
"I just don't know what anybody was thinking of. My jaw dropped when I
heard it," Dan Berkowitz, a member of the West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay
Advisory Board, told the West Hollywood Independent. "I'm sure she is a
very nice girl and her mother is a very nice woman, but what they have to do
with gay pride in West Hollywood or anywhere else is utterly beyond me."
Christopher Street West defends its choice of a
heterosexual daughter and mom saying Paris has agreed to speak out on LGBT
issues including gay marriage.
In Boston, the Pride Parade marched from the
South End to Boston Common on Saturday. A number of local politicians were on
hand, but two were noticeably missing. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who opposed
same-sex marriage and continues to block out of state gay couples from marrying
in the state, was in Detroit at his high school reunion. Democratic Attorney
General Thomas F. Reilly also skipped the parade.
Reilly who says he supports gay marriage and
opposes a proposed amendment to ban it is seeking his party's nod to run for
governor. The other declared candidate for the Democratic nomination, Deval Patrick,
attended Pride events.
In Salt Lake City, the annual Pride Parade saw
record crowds. Organizers say the parade helped the community develop a
renewed sense of purpose following last year's bitter fighter over a
constitutional amendment which bans same-sex marriage in the state.
Gays also celebrated Pride in Washington, DC and
nearly a dozen other communities.
©365Gay.com 2005
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