Does MSNBC Know It’s Giving a Platform to an Anti-Gay Hate Group?

CARLOS MAZA — Media Matters for America
Media • Views: 27,337

Media Matters

MSNBC hosted a spokeswoman from a notorious anti-gay hate group twice in one day to discuss controversial “religious freedom” legislation, failing to identify her as an extremist who has opposed the decriminalization of gay sex.

On April 1, American Family Association (AFA) spokeswoman Sandy Rios appeared twice on MSNBC during segments discussing a number of controversial “religious freedom” laws being debated in state legislatures. The AFA has been labeled an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of its history of anti-gay extremism, including blaming gay men for the Holocaust and supporting the criminalization of homosexuality.

Rios herself is an anti-gay extremist who has denies that homophobia motivated Matthew Shepard’s murder, opposed a Supreme Court decision decriminalizing gay sex, believes people can choose to “stop being gay,” and has stated that being gay is “broken hearts, it’s disease.”

More: Does MSNBC Know It’s Giving a Platform to an Anti-Gay Hate Group?

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21 comments
1 Iwouldprefernotto  Apr 2, 2015 8:19:39am

I’m not sure if MSNBC has a clue (about anything).

2 Dark_Falcon  Apr 2, 2015 11:00:57am

MSNBC likely feels it needs to have on someone who favors the Indiana asshole version of the RFRA on the air in the interests of balance.

3 klys (maker of Silmarils)  Apr 2, 2015 11:02:11am

I, for one, plan to stay out of the line of fire.

4 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Apr 2, 2015 11:03:14am

One man’s anti-gay hate group is another man’s advocate of religious freedom…

5 wrenchwench  Apr 2, 2015 11:06:15am

Do they care? If they did, it would not have happened.

I recently followed Carlos Maza. He’s good.

6 Kragar  Apr 2, 2015 11:07:02am
7 Dr. Matt  Apr 2, 2015 11:10:10am

What else should be expect? MSNBC starts every day with three hours of wingnut extraordinaire Holy Joe.

8 Mike Lamb  Apr 2, 2015 11:11:10am

Of course they know, because magical balance fairy…

9 b.d.  Apr 2, 2015 11:12:23am

re: #6 Kragar

[Embedded content]

I’ve never seen people this scared of peace in all of my life.

10 Lidane  Apr 2, 2015 11:12:53am

MSNBC sucks. I almost never watch cable news (Faux is on here in the office, but it’s muted, so yay — no derp for me!) but they’ve become increasingly worthless lately.

11 Lidane  Apr 2, 2015 11:13:12am

This is new. I had no idea this was even a thing:

12 wrenchwench  Apr 2, 2015 11:13:45am

re: #2 Dark_Falcon

MSNBC likely feels it needs to have on someone who favors the Indiana asshole version of the RFRA on the air in the interests of balance.

That’s not ‘balance’. That’s tipping (far) in the other direction.

13 Tigger2  Apr 2, 2015 11:15:57am

re: #12 wrenchwench

That’s not ‘balance’. That’s tipping (far) in the other direction.

Not if they are shown for what they are on air. But that is something that all media is failing to do right now.

14 Blind Frog Belly White  Apr 2, 2015 11:16:36am

re: #9 b.d.

I’ve never seen people this scared of peace in all of my life.

Yeah. Although I’m not sure it’s ‘scared of peace’ so much as it is the need to see one’s opponents grovelling in the dirt. No agreement which leaves Iran with any semblance of sovereignty is acceptable to them. Like Bolton’s great idea to bomb Iran and then give support to the opposition - as if ANY political group would touch us with a 10 foot pole after we bomb them; as if bombing Iran wouldn’t cement the hardliners in power for another decade.

Seriously, the aggressive stupidity runs so deep that the mind boggles.

15 Lidane  Apr 2, 2015 11:17:15am
17 klys (maker of Silmarils)  Apr 2, 2015 11:21:51am

re: #14 Blind Frog Belly White

In the last round of discussions, there was never any alternative presented to the talks.

Just a lot of outrage, both over the deal that no one knew anything about because it was still in progress and over the fact that people came to the logical conclusion that the combination of “no talks with Iran” and “Iran should have no nuclear weapons whatsoever” pointed at “must go to war with Iran to keep this from happening.”

re: #16 Charles Johnson

IN Q1, CNN POSTS DOUBLE-DIGIT GAINS vs. a YEAR AGO; MSNBC SHEDS ALMOST HALF ITS AUDIENCE

Let’s see. Once CNN hit bottom with the where’s the plane mess, they had nowhere to go but up?

18 Blind Frog Belly White  Apr 2, 2015 11:22:12am

re: #16 Charles Johnson

IN Q1, CNN POSTS DOUBLE-DIGIT GAINS vs. a YEAR AGO; MSNBC SHEDS ALMOST HALF ITS AUDIENCE

What’s happened to MSNBC? Is it folks like me who only watch during the runup to elections? It’s not like I switch to another cable news channel at other times.

19 Blind Frog Belly White  Apr 2, 2015 11:23:53am

re: #17 klys (maker of Silmarils)

In the last round of discussions, there was never any alternative presented to the talks.

Just a lot of outrage, both over the deal that no one knew anything about because it was still in progress and over the fact that people came to the logical conclusion that the combination of “no talks with Iran” and “Iran should have no nuclear weapons whatsoever” pointed at “must go to war with Iran to keep this from happening.”

Let’s see. Once CNN hit bottom with the where’s the plane mess, they had nowhere to go but up?

Gee, and the whole ‘no talks with Iran until they give up any nuclear ambitions, even nuclear power’ thing went SO WELL under Bush, when they went from 3000 centrifuges to 19,000.
//

20 Iwouldprefernotto  Apr 2, 2015 11:35:28am

re: #14 Blind Frog Belly White

Yeah. Although I’m not sure it’s ‘scared of peace’ so much as it is the need to see one’s opponents grovelling in the dirt. No agreement which leaves Iran with any semblance of sovereignty is acceptable to them. Like Bolton’s great idea to bomb Iran and then give support to the opposition - as if ANY political group would touch us with a 10 foot pole after we bomb them; as if bombing Iran wouldn’t cement the hardliners in power for another decade. century.

Seriously, the aggressive stupidity runs so deep that the mind boggles.

Fixed

21 makeitstop  Apr 2, 2015 11:36:37am

re: #10 Lidane

MSNBC sucks. I almost never watch cable news (Faux is on here in the office, but it’s muted, so yay — no derp for me!) but they’ve become increasingly worthless lately.

I stopped at a rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike while driving to Philly on Saturday, and they had CNN on.

I’m so glad I don’t watch any of them any more. What I saw was like news for third-graders.


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