Anti-Gay 'Christian' Activist Cites Radical Anti-Semite
Peter LaBarbera has spent more than 20 years on the hard edge of the religious right, ranging from a stint as a reporter for The Washington Times to a as what he calls a 鈥渃onservative critic of the homosexual activist movement.鈥 He has been an official of far-right groups like Concerned Women for America, the , the Illinois Family Institute, and Accuracy in Media. The founder of the gay-bashing Lambda Report, LaBarbera is now president of Naperville, Ill.-based .
LaBarbera is no friend of gay people, whose lifestyles he characterizes as 鈥渁berrant鈥 and whom he accuses of working diligently to 鈥減enetrate鈥 the schools. But up until now, he hasn鈥檛 relied on the help of radical anti-Semites.
That ended the other day when LaBarbera 鈥 who claims to operate 鈥渋n a spirit of love and truth鈥 鈥 portions of an by one Ted Pike (right), the Oregon-based reverend who heads the National Prayer Network and who was described by LaBarbera as simply a 鈥減ro-family advocate.鈥 (Pike鈥檚 article described an April 12 encounter in Champaign, Ill., which ended with one college student charged with an anti-gay hate crime for attacking another.) Pike may or may not be pro-family 鈥 but he is most definitely anti-Jew, as reflected in his endless rants about the 鈥淛ewish origins of bolshevism, Jewish dominance of Hollywood and the media, [and] Jewish control of Congress.鈥 Last year, Pike that the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, 鈥渋s full of moral filth鈥 and attacked mainstream Christian evangelical leaders for 鈥渃arefully concealing the Jewish identity of those who corrupt Christian culture.鈥
Perhaps there鈥檚 a reason LaBarbera didn鈥檛 provide a link to Pike鈥檚 website.
Pike doesn鈥檛 go into his theories about 鈥渆vil Jewish leadership鈥 in his website posting. But right up there with the story in his site鈥檚 are headlines like these: 鈥淛ewish Media Corrupts Teen Girls,鈥 鈥淛ews Pressure Bush to Sign Hate Crime Bill.鈥 鈥淛ews Attack National Day of Prayer Committee,鈥 and 鈥淛ews Behind 鈥榯he Ten鈥.鈥
The that enraged both LaBarbera and Pike, the 鈥減ro-family advocate,鈥 occurred on April 12, when University of Illinois student Steven Velasquez was walking with a group of friends. Another student, Brett VanAsdlen, yelled something at Velasquez and the two had a physical confrontation that ended with Velasquez hospitalized for a head injury overnight. Pike and LaBarbera claim to have spoken to the mother of VanAsdlen 鈥 who LaBarbera describes as 鈥渁 strapping, clean-cut, All-American looking young man鈥 鈥 and heard assertions that throw doubt on officials鈥 contention that Velasquez was victimized.
LaBarbera wasn鈥檛 the only activist who latched on to Pike鈥檚 essay. So did David Duke, the notorious neo-Nazi and former Klan leader, who posted the article on his website under this banner headline: 鈥淶ionist-Inspired 鈥楬ate Legislation鈥 Railroading Christian Teenagers in Illinois.鈥