Dan Savage's appearance...

When representatives of these hate groups appear on CNN, they spread disinformation about sexual minorities (coincidentally, an anti-gay troll here at Daily Kos published a summary of these arguments on Wednesday), pointing to flawed "scientific" research published in largely discredited journals. As Dan Savage pointed out, it's time for networks to question the legitimacy of the "other side" of the LGBT equality debate. If CNN would not allow someone to argue that whites are more intelligent than non-whites, then representatives of anti-gay hate groups such as the American Family Association and the Family Research Council should not be allowed to make equivalent arguments about sexual minorities. (I would quibble, though, with his assertion that this is unique to the LGBT community. During the Ground Zero Mosque debate, opponents of the mosque were allowed to make ridiculous arguments about Islam on TV).

GLAAD is now stepping with this petition:

CNN has long been one of America's most respected journalistic organizations on many issues, but for several years, it has had a giant blind spot when it comes to issues that impact the LGBT community. On December 21, John King USA ran a segment featuring Peter Sprigg from Family Research Council, but there are countless other examples. Out of a desire for 'balance' on these issues, CNN turned - as they often do - to the anti-gay industry to provide the counterpoint. Except all too frequently, the network doesn't book these people because they provide any actual expertise or experience on issues that impact LGBT people; their only qualification is that they are anti-gay.

The petition refers specifically to this exchange between an openly gay former Army intelligence officer, Alex Nicholson, and Peter Sprigg, a "senior fellow" from the Family Research Council on CNN. The rhetoric from Mr. Sprigg was so bad, that Tony Perkins had to walk back some of comments on MSNBC a few days later.

Please sign GLAAD's petition and tell CNN that it is time to end the anti-gay hate speech on its network.