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INSIDE GLEN EYRIE CASTLE:
The Organized Assault on Gay Rights
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By Skipp Porteous

(Reprinted from FREEDOM WRITER, August 1994, a publication of the
Institute for First Amendment Studies. Forwarded from the Internet.)

  In 1990, "The Freedom Writer announced the "rebirth" of the religious
right. At that time, many observers thought the movement had run out of
steam. Insiders knew better. "By the end of the decade," declared
evangelist Paul Cain, "the whole earth will view the church in a
different light. The church will no longer be mocked and despised, but
either loved or feared."

  Our readers were among the first to learn of the religious right's new
two-fold plan of attack. In a simple, but effective move, the religious
right changed its focus from national politics to local politics.
Additionally, the hard right abandoned its haphazard approach to
politics and instituted long-term planning to achieve its ultimate
objectives.

  Now, the mainstream media is working hard to bring its reporting up to
speed. Recently, "The New York Times" reported on the religious right's
efforts to take over the Republican Party. In the Nov/Dec 1991 issue of
"The Freedom Writer, Frederick Clarkson wrote that the Christian
Coalition "intends to take over the Republican Party from the inside,
and elect thousands of right-wing Christians to state and local
office--as well as the Congress--through a massive and disciplined bloc
of voters." He continued, "At their recent 'Road to Victory' national
leadership conference in Virginia Beach, almost every session was
devoted to instruction in the mechanics of how to do it."

  At that 1991 "Road to Victory" conference, Gary Bauer, of the Family
Research Council (an arm of Dr. Dobson's Focus on the Family ministry)
set the tone for the conference: "Obviously, this conference is about
the 1992 elections," he said. The reason this and all elections are
important, Bauer observed, is because "We are engaged in a social,
political, cultural civil war."

  While effective, the strategy of focusing on local elections and
planning for the long-haul is not enough. A movement requires another
ingredient. For years, in the shadow of communism, the hard right had a
villain. And they milked it for all it was worth. The religious right
took it a step further and ferociously attacked "secular humanism," the
philosophy the Rev. Tim LaHaye called "the world's most dangerous
religion."

  With the fall of communism, however, the hard right lost a valuable
element of its crusade. The movement was desperately in need of a new
devil. For a while, the hard right rode on the wave of anti-abortion
sentiment. Abortion is a losing political issue, though, and the
religious right has, to a large degree, let the ultra-radicals in the
movement deal with it. (One should not think that the fight to preserve
choice is over. In some ways, that war is intensifying, simply because
of the radical element carrying on the fight against abortion rights.

  The radical right thinks it has found the missing ingredient, the
important social issue to galvanize the movement. It is "the militant
homosexuals," or the "gay agenda."

  For almost three years now, the majority of fund raising material
coming from the religious right has focused on gay rights. These vicious
and hysterical fund raising letters are proven moneymakers. Most of the
top religious right groups have picked up on this theme.

  Groups such as the Oregon Citizens Alliance, and Colorado for Family
Values (CFV), started fighting gay rights in their states at the "grass
roots." They introduced the term "special rights" to imply that gays and
lesbians wanted more than equal rights. Only recently have larger
national groups become involved in strategy and planning.

  CFV succeeded in passing Colorado's Amendment 2, which denied equal
protection for gays and lesbians. Amendment 2, the only statewide
anti-gay rights measure to be approved by voters, was struck down by
Colorado courts as unconstitutional.

  Encouraged by its limited success, CFV held a small conference last
year to discuss future strategy. As a result, CFV produced "The Colorado
Model," a workbook designed to help anti-gay activists in other states
ban gay rights. The $95 workbook came with nine audio tapes featuring
the conference speakers. A newer version comes with two video tapes.
Conference speakers appear on one. The other video, "The Gay Agenda"
greatly influenced Colorado's vote against gay rights.

  Because leaders of religious right groups around the country responded
so favorably to CFV's material and leadership in fighting gay rights,
the Colorado groups scheduled another conference.

  According to a May 19, 1994 article in The Washington Times, "Leaders
of anti-homosexual-rights groups across the nation wrapped up two days
of top-secret meetings" in Colorado Springs. Representatives for about
35 states and national religious right organizations attended the
meeting, according to the article. The purpose of the meeting concerned
policy and strategy in dealing with the gay rights movement in the
United States.

  The Washington Times reporter, Valerie Richardson, noted that she was
banned from the meeting because the sponsoring group, Colorado for
Family Values, attempted to suppress media coverage. Nevertheless,
Richardson's article got our attention and contained enough data for the
"The Freedom Writer" to launch an investigation of the clandestine
conference.

  The conference, The Washington Times article said, took place at the
"gated" Glen Eyrie Conference Center. Glen Eyrie is operated by the
Navigators, an evangelical group based in Colorado Springs.

  The Freedom Writer commissioned a researcher and a photographer in
Colorado Springs to go out to the conference center and look around.
After clearance from security people at the main gate, the two enjoyed
limited access to the grounds.

  The centerpiece of Glen Eyrie is a massive stone castle. Various
dwelling places, or dormitories, dot the surrounding mountainous
landscape. The CFV conference, attended by about 40 people, was held on
a second floor meeting room in the castle.

  Some members of conservative Christian groups in Colorado Springs
provided helpful information, and, bit-by-bit, we pieced together the
names of most of the people from about twenty states who attended the
conference. In talking with some of them, we confirmed names, and
gathered more information.

  Some individuals interviewed by the The Freedom Writer"for this
article were extremely close-mouthed, while others even denied
attending. One, in particular, was deceitful. Representative Darlene
Cornfield of Kansas told The Freedom Writer, "I was not there. I don't
know where that came from! I don't know why anyone would say I was there
when I wasn't!"

  Judy Thomas, a reporter for The Wichita Eagle, told The Freedom
Writer that Jim McDavitt of the Kansas Education Watch Network told her
that he attended the conference with Darlene Cornfield. The significance
of a state representative at this meeting was not lost; that's why we
called Cornfield.

  Cornfield, a conservative Christian, is up for reelection in November.
Outspoken about her beliefs, Cornfield told The Freedom Writer, "I
believe the lord wanted me in the Legislature." She told us that she is
anti-choice, and opposed to gay rights. "I just believe the Bible from
cover to cover," she said.

  Asked if there is any reason she wouldn't want someone to know she
attended a conference of this type, Cornfield responded, "Of course not,
everything I do is wide open."

  Next we called the Kansas Education Watch Network and talked to "Mary"
McDavitt's secretary. She said McDavitt was away, and she denied knowing
anything about any conference in Colorado Springs. We learned later that
McDavitt was away speaking at a religious right conference in Indiana.

  Apparently, McDavitt told Judy Thomas of The Wichita Eagle that the
conference dealt with a number of different issues--not just gay rights.
However, this was not the case. It focused solely on devising a strategy
to deprive gays and lesbians of equal rights.

  The whole story came out when someone in Colorado Springs obtained
conference tapes from the Navigators. Recordings of the ten conference
speakers on seven tapes.

  One speaker, Robert Skolrood, president of the National Legal
Foundation, even referred to the wonderful work in Kansas of Darlene
Cornfield, "who is sitting in the audience."

  One conference attendee, Patricia Houston of WARRIORS NOT WIMPS FOR
JESUS, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, offered high praise for Jim
McDavitt of Kansas. "He was on fire for the Lord!" she told The Freedom
Writer. "He had information much further along than anyone else. I
learned a lot from him.

  Houston expressed surprise that not everyone at the conference was not
a born-again Christian. She mentioned that one of the speakers, Judith
Reisman, is Jewish. Houston said that McDavitt "witnessed strongly" to
Reisman, trying to convert her.

  "It was nice to see a legislator there," Houston continued, referring
to Darlene Cornfield. According to Houston, McDavitt and Cornfield came
together.

  Houston said she attended the conference with Margaret Kramer, a
spokesperson for a New Mexico group called Mothers Against Bad
Government. According to Houston, the religious right of New Mexico is
concerned about legislators who support gay rights.

  "We have two people," said Houston, "two of our most powerful
legislators, who openly endorse the homosexual movement." "One of them,"
she added, "has a son who is homosexual." "The legislator with the gay
son," she claimed, "is Manny Aragon, and the other legislator is Raymond
Sanchez."

  Since 1973, another legislator, Tom Rutherford, has been, according to
Houston, "introducing pro-homosexual legislation." "Though he's never
come out and announced it," Houston said, "I've since found out he is
homosexual."

  Houston said that she was impressed by the number of men at the
conference, including Jim Woodall, a vice president for management of
Concerned Women for America. "You know, men are the leaders of the
country," she said.

  According to Will Perkins, the purpose of the conference was "to come
out of here with a plan...how we can impact this nation--our groups, our
collective voices out there. If we have a good, strong, coordinated
approach..they don't know who to shoot at if we have all of us out
there."

  "We need to hold pastors and churches and denominations accountable,"
Perkins continued, "who are condoning homosexual behavior. And [we need
to] make the public realize that they are condoning adultery,
fornication, bestiality, and polygamy."

  "I feel," Perkins said, "that there is not a more important meeting
being held in these United States as is being held here these next two
days. If we lose this battle, there are no more moral absolutes left for
this nation."

  Robert Linden, the conference moderator picked up Perkin's theme. "The
absolute values that were established by God," he proclaimed, "are still
absolute."

  John Eldridge, the first speaker, brought "greetings and warm regards
from Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family." "Dr. Dobson," Eldridge told the
group, "and those of us at Focus on the Family in the public policy
fight, see this issue as one of the key issues of our time. So much
hinges on what happens with the full agenda of the militant gay
movement."

  Eldridge outlined an agenda for the religious right to follow. The
agenda must:

  *  Change public perception about gay rights
  *  Use ideas and language that appeal to the public
  *  Create the impression that the anti-gay movement is a
     grass roots movement
  *  Use lay people to keep the anti-gay movement going.
  *  Develop a long-term project to convince evangelical
     pastors to support the anti-gay movement.

  We need to "tell America WHY heterosexuality is best for individuals
and society." "That case," he said, "needs to be made strongly, and
supported by what Americans consider 'gospel truth' --that is empirical
science. That is the high priest of our culture."

  "Shrewdly," Eldridge continued, "we need to show why society needs to
make certain demands on people sexually." He added that public
perception has to be changed. "We must never appear to be attempting to
rob anyone of their rights--their constitutional rights. We must never
appear to be mean spirited or bigoted. We must be shrewd to get
consensus for our position by appealing to shared values and concern,
and issues of fairness and justice."

  Eldridge stressed that the anti-gay movement must be "perceived as a
genuine grass roots uprising." He said that "home rule" is important,
because a top-down approach doesn't work. If a community perceives that
an outside, national group is behind local activism, the community will
rebel against it. So, the perception of grassroots organizing, or home
rule, is critical. He explained that this is why Focus on the Family is
staying in the background. His national group, he noted, is like an
800-pound giant compared to Colorado for Family Values, which has a half
dozen people in a one-room office. (During the conference, Frank York of
Focus on the Family admitted that Focus on the Family now has a $150
million dollar-a-year budget. [Ed. note- Ground Zero readers are
directed to the attack by Dr. Dobson on Mel White when he repeated this
figure. Dobson claims that the real budget is a mere $97 million.
Obviously, the right hand doesn't know how much the left is taking in at
Focus].)

  "I would not say this in other cultural contexts," Eldridge explained,
"but the gay agenda has all the elements of that which is truly evil. It
is deceptive at every turn. It is destroying the souls of those who
embrace it."

   John Eldridge said several things troubled him greatly. "As an
evangelical, there is no question that the church, being a house
divided--having Mel Whites, Peggy Campolos, and that sort of thing--is
extraordinarily damaging to our movement. (Mel White is the gay ghost
writer who formerly worked with Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy
Graham, and Oliver North. He tells his extraordinary experience in his
fascinating book, Stranger at the Gate. Peggy Campolo is the wife of the
popular evangelical motivational speaker Tony Compolo. The Campolos have
expressed sympathy for gay rights.)

  More than one speaker, including Eldridge, said that the anti-gay
rights movement is being led by lay people, not the clergy. "Pastors are
terrified that this issue will split their churches," Eldridge remarked.
"The local church is a mess. The pastors are a long-term project."

  Robert Skolrood, president of the National Legal Foundation also
expressed ill feelings towards evangelical ministers. "Our pastors don't
know anything," Skoolrood declared. "AND MOST OF THEM ARE WIMPS."

  Skolrood, an attorney who formerly worked for Pat Robertson, sometimes
speaks more like a faith healer than a lawyer. He describes the war
against gay right as "a spiritual battle" and spoke of the need to keep
"demons from polluting the word of God."

  Pastors aren't the only ones avoiding the controversial gay rights
issue, Skolrood said, but "Christian legal organizations don't want to
touch the issue." He said his group is available to help other groups
initiate state referendums against gay rights.

  Frank York, another Focus on the Family spokesperson, also addressed
the gathering. He focused on computer and fax technology, which he
explained "is an essential part of the battle we're in."

  York encouraged the group to use computers and facsimile machines to
broadcast communications to: phone trees, congressmen and other
politicians, conservative college newspapers, and churches.

  Besides using computers to communicate within the religious right,
York suggested that computers be used to gather intelligence on the
enemy. "You have to know your enemy," he said. "Gays and lesbians are a
large part of the Internet."

  Monitoring on-line computer services, York said, "is an intelligence
gathering operation. They're not aware that you're gathering
information. It's very important to gather intelligence this way." He
claimed that by monitoring online computer services he learned in
advance of a lesbian sit-in at Focus on the Family.

  One speaker, Judith Reisman, a self-professed sex expert, perpetrated
the myth that gays try to recruit heterosexuals, bringing them into "the
homosexual lifestyle."

  "I would suggest to you," she said, "that while the homosexual
population may right now be one to two percent, hold your breath,
people, because the recruitment is loud; it is clear; it is everywhere.
You'll be seeing, I would say, twenty percent or more, probably thirty
percent, or even more than that, of the young population, will be moving
into homosexual activity."

  Buzz Harris, who works with Sue Hyde in the New England office of the
National Gay and Lesbian task Force's "Fight the Right Project," said,
"They want to stoke the flames of internalized homophobia in an attempt
to 'convert' us to heterosexuality." "It is irrelevant," he continued,
"to their closed-minded world view that the American Psychological
Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the U. N.'s World
Health Organization have all stated for many years that bisexuality and
homosexuality are a normal and healthy part of human love and sexual
expression."

  In concluding her talk, Reisman said, "You will not ever be able to do
anything about homosexuality until you address pornography in the
church, pornography in your own lives; it is interlocked and related."

  After all the speakers made their presentations, the group held a
series of brainstorming sessions. The final session led to the top two
"Primary Strategies."

  Comprised of two main parts, the first "Primary Strategy" involves
"Information and Data Exchange," and "Media." "Under "Information and
Data Exchange," the group aims to establish a computer network using a
bulletin board service (BBS) or commercial on-line service such as
America On Line (AOL). Focus on the Family, incidentally, is considering
AOL, as a way to distribute some of its publications.

  The second part of "Information and Data Exchange" is the development
of a central clearinghouse, with different organizations handling the
following responsibilities:

  *  A gay office holders and activists data bank
  *  Information resources about ministries to convert gays
  *  Record anti-gay successes
  *  Record anti-gay defeats
  *  Track scientific literature
  *  Monitor corporations/who they fund/where they spend
     their advertising dollars
  *  Religious tracking/where evangelical churches and
     pastors stand on gay rights
  *  Monitor people in the media/their stand on gay rights
  *  Monitor national and state political candidates and gay
     office holders
  *  Monitor crimes committed by gays
  *  News clipping service

  The second part of the first "Primary Strategy" deals with the media.
The group hopes to "get all conservative organizations united to promote
a mass-media blitz on Dr. Kinzey's child abuse data, calling for
investigation and cessation of all tax money funding sexuality programs,
until Kinsey's scientific fraud is proven."

  The second aspect of dealing with the media involves writing letters
and placing phone calls. The group plans to blitz newspapers with
letter, and radio talk shows with phone calls. One aspect is to "ID
favorable educators and get them involved with letters to the editor and
interviews."

  They also plan to buy radio ads in order to "access radio programs to
reveal truth of homosexual lifestyle vs. heterosexual marriage."

  Finally, the media blitz involves the development of "a base of letter
writers and callers who can respond on a regular basis to editorials and
news stories."

  The second of the two "Primary Strategies" deals with "Legislative /
Legal concepts. First, the anti-gay proponents want to "enact
legislation rewarding traditional families with tax rewards." Another
long-term goal is to "pass resolutions in legislatures in the 50 states
to affirm that the traditional mom and dad family is the superior or
ideal model." Their political agenda includes:

  *  Voter guides
  *  Precinct organization
  *  Leadership development
  *  Campaigning
  *  Voter education in the area of school board candidates
     and candidates for state legislatures
  *  Fund raising

  Particular attention should be paid to one area of the anti-gay right
agenda. It is the implementation of "Operation Spotlight." This is a
highly organized and detailed model currently underway in Ohio. The goal
is to take over all the legislative bodies in the state, including city
councils and the state legislature. A crucial part of the plan is to
identify exactly where every elected official and candidate stands on
gay rights. The next step is to get 25% of the voters to sign a pledge
not to vote for any candidate who supports gay rights. After the
designated law-making bodies are taken over, the next step is to
introduce new laws that ban gay rights. [Ed. Note--For a fuller
discussion of Operation Spotlight, a more compete exploration will
appear in the next GZ News).

  The religious right is convinced that pornography and homosexuality
are inextricably linked. The assumption is also made that organized
crime controls most of the production of pornography. Therefore, the
religious right concludes that gay rights lobbying is funded by
organized crime. With this in mind, the religious right intends to
"Educate the grassroots that homosexual, pornography and organized crime
lobbying is [sic] one in the same."

  Finally, the anti-gay rights movement is developing a litigation
strategy. To do this, it plans to share research, resources, and
coordinate involvement at the trial level. It intends to offer "legal
support for workers being sued by homosexuals. This presumably deals
with harassment in the workplace.

  In its effort to deny gays and lesbians equal rights with other
citizens, the religious right wants to take its agenda all the way to
the Supreme Court. Currently, the movement is seeking the best case to
take to the High Court. Utilizing "political experts, constitutional
lawyers, and public relations experts," it has proposed the formation of
an "advisory board to formulate the best case to take to the U. S.
Supreme Court."

  The Freedom Writer" finds it significant that Dr. James Dobson and his
Focus on the Family believe that gay rights is one of the most important
issues of our times. Focus on the Family is arguably the most
influential of all religious rights groups, leading in resources,
outreach, and organization. The involvement of Focus on the Family in
the anti-gay rights movement has profound implications.

  Hopefully, Americans concerned about true rights for all people,
regardless of religion, race, national origin, sex, or sexual
orientation, will see the anti-gay rights movement as another ploy by
the radical religious right to take political power.