Legendary TV icon Bob Newhart is set to headline an annual summit for the anti-LGBT Legatus Group, Jeremy Hooper reports for GLAAD.
Hooper notes a bit of the group's anti-gay history:
On November 1, 2012, Legatus magazine, the print publication of the conservative Catholic organization of the same name, listed five "non-negotiables" for voters about to head to the polls. Marriage equality (which the magazine labeled homosexual "marriage," smear quotes and all) was one of the five listed items, with the staff writer instructing Catholics "to avoid voting for candidates who endorse or promote policies that provide for any of these acts and to vote instead for those who promote policies in keeping with moral law." The phrase "intrinsic evil" was used seven times.
Although this organization's insistence that civil marriage equality is one of God's major unacceptables shouldn't come as a huge surprise, considering Legatus pushes the idea that homosexuality itself is a "disorder" from which one must be "cured." I'm not exaggerating when I say that. In a 2011 Legatus piece, Legate John Haas (whose family has close ties to the National Organization for Marriage, by the way) called for our "curing" in the clearest of language.
Also telling are the folks appearing with Newhart:
And get this: Newhart is scheduled to appear alongside such noted anti-LGBT figures as the Catholic League's Bill Donohue and Rick "man on dog" Santorum. Yeah, it's going to be that kind of a night. Why in Larry, Darryl, and my other brother Darryl's name would Mr. Newhart, legendary TV star and one of the most genuinely well-liked people to ever appear before a film camera, sign up for such a gig?!
GLAAD has reached out to Newhart's people "to let them know how, exactly, an appearance at this event will come across to LGBT people and allied voices."
