Minnesota Public Radio's Integrity Problem

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO THUMBS NOSE AT INTEGRITY
Gay-bashing lunacy on the move!

by Scott Rose

Scandal surrounds the publication in MPR's "Commentary" pages of an absolutely ridiculous essay slopped together by Carrie Daklin, an apparent gay-basher. 

Daklin's dumb diatribe is titled Franken Missed An Opportunity to be Kind to a Witness.  Daklin lands into Senator Franken because -- get this! -- he wouldn't stand for Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery committing perjury at a Senate hearing. The hearing regarded proposed repeal of the notoriously anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by a heterosexual adulterer.

Daklin's main point, that Senator Franken should have been "kinder" to a gay-bashing witness guilty of perjury, is too disingenuously cutsie to merit examination. Nonetheless, as 1) Minnery's aims are maliciously anti-gay, and 2) as Daklin defended Minnery in his viciously anti-gay aims, it is 3) notable, and suspect, that the malignant National Organization for Marriage almost instantaneously reproduced Daklin's anti-gay, anti-Franken idiocy on its NOM blog. Readers are reminded that at a NOM-sponsored anti-gay hate rally in May in the Bronx, a Christofascist extremist hollered through a megaphone at a mob of gay-bashers that homosexuals are "worthy to death."  How kind of them - and how very kind of Carrie Daklin, also, now to give NOM grist for its gay-bashing propaganda mill.

Attempting to clarify whether Daklin is in cahoots with NOM, or just a naive dolt, or something, this reporter contacted her to pose the following three questions.  1) Do you favor full legal equality for LGBT Americans?  2) Do you support NOM's mission?  3)  Are you aware of Focus on the Family's history of maliciously distorting evidence in order to incite discrimination against LGBTers?

Instead of answering those questions, Daklin grew pathologically defensive. She claims she was only interested in the matter of civility, and that to her taste, Senator Franken was not "civil" enough to Minnery.  Daklin has never acknowledged that Minnery is guilty of perjury.  Daklin has never said whether she thinks Minnery is being "civil" with his unrepentant political malice against gay human beings.

As of this writing, NOM is using Carrie Daklin's photo on the NOM blog alongside excerpts from her gay-bashing, Franken-bashing drivel. Daklin personally had supplied the photo to MPR, meaning, if she told NOM that they may not use her photo, NOM would have to remove Daklin's photo from the NOM blog.  I told that to Daklin, and apparently, Daklin did not act.  The appearance is exceedingly strong that Daklin approves of NOM's use of her photo.

Additionally, online research of campaign contribution records shows that many Minnesota Public Radio Board members donated to the Senate campaign of Al Franken's Republican rival, Norm Coleman.  Coleman is a rabid opponent of marriage equality at the state and national levels.

Carrie Daklin could very easily dispel the appearance that she is a gay-bashing NOM shill, by unambiguously stating support for LGBT equality and opposition to NOM's anti-gay hate speech. (It's the kind thing for her to do).  MPR could very easily dispel the appearance that it is thumbing its nose at integrity, by having all of its Board members sign a declaration that 1) perjury is intolerable in U.S. Senate hearings and 2) Senator Franken is to be commended for having detected Minnery's perjury and for having called him out on it.

Failing those actions, Daklin must be presumed a NOM-collaborator, and MPR a Daklin-NOM enabler, with motives of the most highly dubious sort.