Anti-Gay "Truth Academy" Attracts Sparse Crowd

By Joseph Erbentraut in News on Aug 6, 2010 5:20PM

Yesterday, the SPLC-designated hate group Americans for Truth kicked off their three-day "Truth Academy" - designed to "‘de-brainwash’ young people of the many myths advanced by homosexual activists" - at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, attracting a counter-demonstration sponsored by the Gay Liberation Network.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the event reportedly attracted more protesters than academy attendees. According to bloggers at Truth Wins Out, a group whose mission is to "fight anti-gay religious extremism," only 20-30 people were present at the event, including one apparent spy who described the day as "tedious" and the event's speakers as "less charismatic than tree stumps."

Apparently mainstream media weren't feeling too motivated to take the drive out to the 'burbs to hear speakers including prominent anti-gay national leaders like Americans For Truth's Peter LaBarbera and Coral Ridge Ministries pastor Robert Knight. Though the group hosted a press conference last evening, we've yet to come across any media coverage from that event.

The rumored low attendance at the "Truth Academy" mirrors paltry turnouts at the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)'s "Summer For [Straight] Marriage" tour, which began last month and did not stop here in the Windy City. In Madison, Wis., pro-LGBT counter-demonstrators outnumbered anti-gay marriage attendees roughly 10 to 1. At the preceding stop in Indianapolis, Ind., one NOM supporter brandished a sign arguing the "solution to gay marriage" was the lynching of gays and lesbians.

On the heels of Judge Walker's ruling against the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 Wednesday, does it seem the LGBT equality-opposed side is losing its audience? Or will recent losses serve to reinvigorate their base heading into this fall's crucial election season?