After I made my post back on Jan. 11 about Peter LaBarbera and the fact that he gave his hate-filled 'organization' a code of a gay and lesbian rights organization, some idiot on Pam's House Blend made a 'sniper' comment and then went on to make other threatening comments.  There is no excuse for that, and LaBarbera claims he has contacted the authorities about it, as he should.  I'll say it again in case it isn't clear:  there is no excuse for whoever this Barry Wick is to say things like that. NONE WHATSOEVER. It sounds like a threat to me and LaBarbera has every right to contact the police, the same as Jeremy at Good As You contacting the police about beefman500 and his threats.

It appears that this story about the 'sniper' comment first appeared at the Concerned Women For America site, in an article written by Matt Barber.  What this guy Matt Barber, who speaks for the Concerned Women For America, does not tell you is immediately after Wick's first comment, someone made the comment cutting down Wick’s comments. No, they wouldn’t tell you that, would they, since that would imply there are good gays and lesbians out there.  I didn't see the rest of Wick's comments since once a blog is a couple of days old, there is little point to keep checking back.  If you want to see them, they are repeated at Concerned Women For America's site and at American's For Truth About Homosexuality.  Jeez, you would think that if they demanded Pam to take these comments down, they wouldn't then post them on their own sites...

Anyway, LaBarbera has this to say yesterday:

There was only one controversial POST in question (which we saw) advocating violence; that post contained several violence-endorsing COMMENTS (by Barry Wick) in the overall thread. I apologize for the error–PL]

No, he must be referring to my post on his lying about being a gay and lesbian rights organization—and there is nothing in there about violence. Nothing whatsoever.  My post can be read by anyone, which exposes the lies that sits behind LaBarbera's Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.  Once again the president of AFTAH is lying...  And is he pretending to be ignorant, or is he really ignorant about blogs and the difference between a post and a comment?  He seems to have a lot of experience reading them.  He also states:

imagine if the situation were reversed and a Christian leader allowed a web post threatening violence against a homosexual activist spokesman to remain live and active on a “pro-family” for weeks on end.

For one thing, Peter LaBarbera is not a Christian leader by any stretch. And I remember a couple of months ago when Michelle Malkin gave the home addresses and home telephone numbers of a number of college students who were protesting the war in Iraq. They were inundated with hate and threats, but did LaBarbera speak out?  No.  So I guess that only applies to him...

He also states:

Please pray for Spaulding, “Barry Wick,” and all those whose embrace of homosexuality has led them to be consumed by hatred toward Christians and others who defend natural sexuality and marriage.

There he goes again--'natural sexuality and marriage.'  Natural?  What is so natural about a man who spends his adult life fighting against gays and lesbians?  That doesn't sound natural to me at all.  In fact, it sounds like he is pulling 'a Haggard,' if you ask me...  But just saying that he is practicing the 'natural sexuality' implies that gays and lesbians are practicing unnatural sexuality.  Why is he surprised that some people are offended by his comments?   He needs to pray very hard for himself.  Lying is an abomination, after all. 

Anyway, after I saw this mentioned yesterday, I sent the Concerned Women For America this email:

To whom it may concern,

This is regarding your post on Feb 7 CWA: Pro-Family Leader’s Life Threatened on “Gay” Web Site. I totally agree with you--what this Wick person did is totally uncalled for and disgusting. However, what Peter LaBarbera did not tell you is that he is the one to give his home address to the public. His organization, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, is a non-profit and therefore the information on it can be readily seen at guidestar.org. It is Peter LaBarbera who gave his home address there. As I said, this is freely available to the public, so if Peter LaBarbera was concerned at all, he would have never given his home address in the first place. Of course, this is in now way making excuses for this Wick person. And if you are wondering, LaBarbera not only lists his home address, he also gave the code for his organization as a gay and lesbian civil rights organization. Hardly the truth...

As I said, Peter LaBarbera gave his own address for his nonprofit, so there is no one to blame except for himself if someone checks the public records.  The Concerned Women for America cannot blame Pam for this--they need to contact LaBarbera himself and ask why he gave his own address out in the first place.  He should stop pretending to be so horrified when he gave this information. 

Following on, LaBarbera applauds Pam about her taking down those comments. She writes:

Peter,

That string of comments referred to as threats in the CWA piece [”CWA: Pro-Family Leader’s Life Threatened on ‘Gay’ Website”] clearly violates the community standards of the blog (http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3), and they have been promptly deleted once I was alerted. Those participating in that subthread have been notified as well.

I have never advocated for threatening physical harm to anyone, as I have been on the receiving end of the same treatment, along with having my home and phone information published. We may be on the opposite sides of the fence on most matters, but on this we can agree — our families (whether you regard mine as such or not) have a right to be safe.

I will also place a post on the blog to that effect.

–Pam  

But LaBarbera ends his thank-you with this:

At Americans For Truth, we believe that although our disagreements with pro-homosexual activists are great, we can and should debate the issue of homosexuality with civility, and without resorting to name-calling.–Peter LaBarbera

For one thing, I’m not sure what name-calling has to do with it, and I about choked when I read LaBarbera saying that people didn’t need to resort to it—that is ALL he does. Look what he just called Pam in just the previous two weeks (!):

A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist."
(Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)

"A nutty lesbian blogger."
(MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)

And this is just the nice things he has to say about gays and lesbians!  That LaBarbera is quite the card.  He makes himself out to be so righteous to his readers, but the reality is often quite different.  If he wants name calling to start, it might be a good idea to start with himself.

And let’s look at two more issues: Matt Barber at Concerned Women For America complains that Peter’s home address was printed. O.k.—fair enough, but why is it that Peter LaBarbera provided his home address as the address for his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality? As I said before, he runs this as a nonprofit, so the information he provides the government is available to anyone who wants to look it up at Guidestar.org. He gave his home address and can’t blame anyone but himself for giving it.  Who would have thought that the great organization, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, is run out of his basement (or wherever)?  It is public knowledge, provided by none other than Peter LaBarbera himself. 

So if he doesn’t want it there, he better change it.

The second issue? I see, as of yesterday, AFTAH is STILL listed as a gay and lesbian rights organization...