GLAAD has issued a call to action following degrading and defamatory anti-gay remarks from The War Room with Quinn & Rose host Jim Quinn on Clear Channel. The incident occurred on the Wednesday, July 28, 2010 show and the verbal bashing lasted roughly three minutes. Equating homosexuals to pedophiles and encouraging the discussion further, Quinn insisted, “I would give you that pedophilia is far more rampant among the gay community than it is among the straight community."
Casual irresponsible comments like the above made by Quinn contribute to the hateful messages being put into the heads of America’s youth and older generations already practicing intolerance. These hurtful actions contribute to further dividing us instead of drawing us closer together and bridging the gap between the gay and straight communities. There is no evidence whatsoever that states that pedophilia occurs more often in the LGBT community than the straight community.
The heated dialogue occurred when Quinn began to state his views and opinions on a federal case in which it was ruled that the city of Philadelphia could not bar a Boy Scouts chapter from city-owned property despite the organization’s anti-gay policy. Below is the controversial transcript from this part of the radio discussion (courtesy of GLAAD):
Transcript of Conversation Between Syndicated Radio Hosts Jim Quinn and Rose Tennent, The War Room with Quinn & Rose (Clear Channel), July 28, 2010
QUINN: By the way, speaking of the boy scouts and the gay community, there was recently a decision, much unheralded in the media, on behalf of the boy scouts. The court, I believe, in Philadelphia, ruled in favor of the boy scouts. They wanted to stay in this building in Philadelphia that they were renting. See the back story.. the back channel story to that is, and most people have forgotten, that the boy scouts built this building for the people of Philadelphia.
ROSE: Unbelievable.
QUINN: And then out of sheer altruism gave it to them, and then rented it, and now because of their position on gay scout masters, who by the way they’re defending themselves about a couple of gay scout masters who have engaged in pedophilia. They’re defending themselves in a couple of court cases right now. It’s perfectly logical. You don’t send gay men and young boys out together, okay?
ROSE: Not all gay.. I mean most gay men have nothing to do with the young boys..
QUINN: Of course, but..
ROSE: Make sure that you understand that.
QUINN: But I would give you that pedophilia is far more rampant among the gay community than it is among the straight community. Now you can argue that if you want to, but the bottom line here is, this is not about discrimination, it’s about chemistry. It’s about sexual chemistry. You just don’t put… You don’t send a 21-year-old male out with a bunch of girl scouts who are 13 and 14 years old.
ROSE: I don’t care what it is, to be honest with you. They have a right to decide who they want to lead their troops and who they do not. They probably… If they want to say they want no women leading Boy Scout troops, so be it. ?They have that right. I wouldn’t want to say that all gays, you risk any gay leader, you risk a pedophile moment, because that’s not true. I have many gay friends who would never even consider that. So the bottom line is that they can decide whatever they want. Whatever they wanna do, they have the right to decide, I feel. You don’t want a female leader, you don’t want a gay leader, whatever It’s your organization. Speaking of the gay community, did you hear what happened to Barney Frank?
QUINN: Well –
ROSE: I’m sorry, go on.
QUINN: Just before you go on, so the bottom line is that the city of Philadelphia wanted to deprive the boy scouts of the use of this building because of their position on gay scout masters, and it was just done out of sheer nastiness.
ROSE: Yes.
QUINN: And the court said to Philadelphia *makes noise* Anyway, what about Barney Frank?
ROSE: Right then.
QUINN: All right, I’m sorry.
ROSE: No I am. I forgot that we had to finish that story. We were talking about the gay community it made me think of Barney Frank.
QUINN: Of course.
Clear Channel Chief Communications Officer Lisa Dollinger made the following statement regarding the hateful rhetoric: “Recognizing that some members of our audience will inevitably disagree with him and at times may find his opinions flatly offensive, we believe that Jim Quinn’s commentaries and debates take place within the wide boundaries of that public forum. Differing views were presented in the broadcast itself and no apology for this discussion is warranted.”
Clear Channel states that they have a zero tolerance policy in place, but they have not yet publicly apologized for the remarks made on the July 28, 2010 show. GLAAD is encouraging everyone in the LGBT community to take action by writing to Clear Channel directly. A list of Clear Channel contacts can be found here along with suggested verbiage: Clear Channel: Take Action.
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