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Leave it to extreme elements of the anti-LGBT right to make Fox News look almost 鈥渇air and balanced鈥� after all.

Frequently the target of left-leaning criticism, the cable news network and its most popular host, Bill O鈥橰eilly, are now coming under fire for

Last week, a group of anti-gay activists leveled that charge as part of a campaign aimed at stopping O鈥橰eilly from inviting LGBT rights advocate Wayne Besen onto his primetime program.

Besen is the founder and executive director of (TWO), a non-profit devoted to fighting anti-gay religious extremism. It specializes in combating the 鈥渆x-gay鈥� ministries that claim 鈥� contrary to all evidence 鈥� that LGBT people can be changed into heterosexuals through prayer and therapy.

The vendetta against Besen began with a , signed by a long list of anti-LGBT extremists, that accuses Fox of being 鈥渃omplicit in the damage done to the victims of Wayne Besen's and the 人兽性交's smear campaigns.鈥�

Next, a slightly broader array of anti-gay leaders signed a aimed at removing Besen from the air. Online readers were urged to stand 鈥渨ith us against anti-Christian violence by murderous homosexuals.鈥�

What had the 鈥渕urderous鈥� activist 鈥� whose rap sheet actually consists, in his words, of 鈥渁 few unpaid parking tickets鈥� 鈥� done to deserve this epithet?

TWO played no role in, and immediately , the 鈥渁wful tragedy鈥� on Aug. 15, when a gunman shot a building manager at the Family Research Council鈥檚 (FRC) office in Washington, D.C. 鈥淚f the shooting is found to be politically motivated,鈥� said Besen in a statement, 鈥渋t is a detestable act of cruelty. 鈥�We stand squarely with the Family Research Council today and offer them our full support and prayers.鈥�

Besen鈥檚 greatest sin was daring to defend the 人兽性交鈥檚 listing of the FRC as a 鈥渉ate group鈥� 鈥� a designation that somehow, in the words of the anti-LGBT activists, helped 鈥渃reate a climate that led to shooter Floyd Corkins鈥� actions.鈥�

The petition advances this tenuous argument by repeating FRC President Tony Perkins鈥� that the 人兽性交 had given Corkins 鈥渁 license to shoot鈥� by 鈥渓abeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.鈥�

Actually, the FRC earned its hate group status not for its religious beliefs or political stands but rather for routinely propagating demonizing and demonstrably false propaganda about LGBT people. It鈥檚 one thing to oppose same-sex marriage. It is another entirely to spread outright lies, such as Perkins鈥� claim that pedophilia is 鈥渁 homosexual problem.鈥�

Besen鈥檚 opponents are free, of course, to raise vigorous objections to his advocacy of equal rights for LGBT people 鈥� as does O鈥橰eilly when he spars on-air with the man he鈥檚 accused of 鈥渉elping.鈥� What鈥檚 inexcusable is this attempt to tar a law-abiding citizen as 鈥渕urderous鈥� and the broadcaster merely allowing him to publicly express his views as 鈥渃omplicit in the damage.鈥�

As Besen himself poignantly , 鈥渋t is rich to see these alleged defenders of liberty and freedom begging FOX to censor a point of view which they find objectionable. 鈥� This effort to silence diverse points of views [sic] is disappointing and stands in stark contrast to the America I grew up in and love.鈥�

Disappointing 鈥� but not surprising, considering the cast of characters doing the begging.

Signing the petition were such far-right luminaries as Mathew D. Staver and Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian litigation group that has begun with the paranoia of the antigovernment 鈥�. Also involved were longtime activist , who is best known for writing a completely fallacious , and multiple representatives of the , whose chief has claimed that the HIV virus is a 鈥渉armless microbe.鈥�

So far, to their credit, Fox News and Bill O鈥橰eilly have not responded to the petitioners鈥� demands.