Save yourself Peter before it is too late...

The other day I started writing a letter to Peter LaBarbera, the departing Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute. I felt strongly that as a compassionate human being first (and seething mom second) I needed to do something to save him from what looked to me like impending doom. Unfortunately, according to John (Religious right leader in Illinois resigns after string of high-profile failures), my letter below may be too late.

I have been following Peter’s escapades for quite some time over at Pam’s place. And I confess it has been entertaining in a morbid sad kind of way. He just seems to stand out more than your average run-of-the-mill rabid foam-at-the-mouth antigay bigot hiding under the cloak of religion and family. What made watching him so entertaining were his undercover adventures which were supposedly aimed at exposing the gay underworld, but which really only succeeded in exposing him as a man with some possible issues of his own and earning him the nickname of Porno Pete in some circles.

But as time went on it became impossible not to notice that with each of Peter's failed endeavors there seemed to be an escalating sense of urgency and shillness and I started to feel more like a rubbernecker at the scene of a terrible car crash than a seething mom following the adventures of a guy whose only objective in life is to destroy my child’s life. I actually started to feel sorry for this guy. I definitely felt embarrassed for him. And call me crazy, but I felt I had to do something to save him from himself, so I decided to write him a letter:

Dear Peter LaBarbera,

Today I write you not as a Seething Mom but as a Worried Mom. Yes, I know I am not your mother, but if I were, I would be very concerned, in fact, I’d be on the verge of panic if you were my son. I have been following your failing crusade against gays over on Pam’s House Blend for quite some time now and um Peter, I think you need some professional help. Your problem has become too big for you to handle on your own and it is becoming alarmingly clear that it is getting worse. You should not be ashamed. Lots of people have overcome great hurdles and gone on to live productive normal lives. Paranoia and irrational obsessions can be very frightening, but there is help out there. Don’t let this problem you have take over your life, you have already admitted to 15 years down the tube monitoring a homosexual movement that is alive more in your imagination than in real life. If you are not careful, you could end up losing your job and destroying any credibility you have left.

Peter, as the mother of a gay child, I need to set you straight (no pun intended) on a few things. There is no gay agenda honey. And that sexual orientation agenda that you have worried yourself sick about, well it is not working its way into our children's education, what you are seeing is just a long overdue anti-bullying program that people like you have fought tooth and nail because it might mean that children perceived to be gay might be protected from bullying too. And Peter, Christians are not the victims of discrimination, no matter how hard you try to project victimhood upon the very people who are actually doing the victimizing, most people aren’t buying it. Oh and Peter, private schools are not promoting homosexuality to our children, I think you got the homobigot talking points messed up, it’s the evil public schools that are recruiting and poisoning our precious little ones – remember? And no Peter, Illinois will not be known as a homosexual tourist mecca because it hosted the Gay Games, in fact because of successful events like the Gay Games it is known as a beautiful, vibrant, progressive city that welcomes everyone. And Peter, as a straight woman, I hate to disappoint you, but your idea of sexual perversion is not limited just to homosexuals, there are plenty of heterosexuals who like kinky sex too. And no Peter, the world will not come to an end if two people of the same sex are allowed to marry and it looks like the people of Illinois get that, no matter how hard you tried to convince them otherwise. And as much as you wanted to make homosexual behavior an issue in the public’s mind and bring shame back to those who are practicing and advocating homosexual behavior, you have failed.

Peter you have lost the battle, and I believe you are well on your way to losing the war. The tides are turning. Gays and lesbians are coming out of the closet in greater numbers and people are just not finding them as scary as you do. It’s too late Peter, you can’t stuff the genie back in the bottle, no matter how hard you try. You need to come to terms with it. YOU LOST.

I understand that now that you are no longer working for the Illinois Family Institute you are going to work full time for a national organization that you have created called Americans for Truth. I hear that this organization will be dedicated solely to confronting the homosexual activist agenda. Well Peter let me be the first to wish you great success in your new endeavor ----- yep, you heard me right, success ---- you have done more to help people see how ugly bigotry of any kind is than all the efforts of gay activists put together. And you have taught this seething mom a lesson too: no amount of raging fury at the keyboard can match the strides you have helped gays and lesbians everywhere make. What better way to highlight the brink of insanity than to watch you teeter on it?