The post, titled "Christian Compassion Requires the Truth About Harms of Homosexuality," accused "homosexual activist groups" like the Gay Lesbian and Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) of being the real bullies, pushing kids to come out and believe they can't change, which he argues  is "likely exacerbating the very problem they claim they want to solve."

As evidence, Perkins cites two studies, claiming that they show that depression amongst gays is not connected to discrimination. Trouble is, as Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway explains, the two studies show exactly the opposite. Which wouldn't be unusual for Perkins, whose group (as John Aravosis points out) often relies on the pseudo-scientific "studies" of the Family Research Institute, which, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "churns out hate literature masquerading as legitimate science." (Its head, Paul Cameron, once argued that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years.)

Yet Perkins is a regular in the corporate media Rolodex. In response to the push for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell (Extra!, 5/10), Perkins put out a press statement saying a repeal would "jeopardize our nation’s security to advance the agenda of radical homosexual lobby."  CNN felt that merited not one but two chances for Perkins to talk about the issue (Larry King, 2/2/10; Newsroom, 2/2/10). With Perkins so busy at CNN, MSNBC had to settle for his colleague Peter Sprigg (2/2/10), who warned that repealing DADT was "guaranteed" to lead to sexual assault--by, not against, gays.

The heartening thing about the Post column is that the comments on the post are overwhelmingly, and fiercely, critical of "On Faith" blog editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn's decision to give space to Perkins on this subject and not factchecking his propaganda. The question is, when will corporate media outlets finally start listening to them and stop lending legitimacy to bigots spouting lies?

UPDATE: If you'd like to contact the editors about their decision, here's the email: onfaith@washingtonpost.com

From the financial sector to the Roman Catholic Church, it has been a bad couple of years for--to borrow a phrase from a BP chieftain--"big, important" players in global life. Going only a bit further back in the decade, the occupation of Iraq and the response to Katrina seem to mark the beginning of an era in which apparently competent institutions have all too often proved incompetent. The history of these years fails to fit neatly into the ideological categories of left or right, for both public and private enterprises have managed to miss the mark in hours of crisis. Government is not the root of all evil; neither are corporations.

The pull quote in the print edition reads, "Recent debacles do not fit into the categories of left or right, for both public and private enterprises have failed spectacularly."

Huh. Actually, I think most of those examples do fit pretty nicely into one category: The left opposed the Iraq War, opposed financial deregulation and sounded warnings about the housing bubble. Meacham also cited the BP oil spill; the left has long opposed offshore drilling.  Meacham's trying to say that when "government" fails, it's evidence that the left is mistaken in putting so  much faith in government. But that would require one to attribute Bush's disastrous Iraq War to the "left."

If you stick to the examples Meacham offers, it would seem more logical to conclude that the left was right, and the right was mostly wrong. Unless, that is, Katrina and Catholic priest sexual abuse were ideas of the left.

Jon Meacham, who's the co-host of PBS's new Need to Know public affairs program, lives in a world where the answers are always found in the center-right part of the political spectrum. You really have to twist yourself in knots in order to try and get this to make any sense, though.

WNET.org president Neal Shapiro did not rule out the possibility of future synergies between Newsweek and Need to Know.

"We haven't talked about anything specific," he said. "But I think all kinds of natural synergies may happen."

Shapiro said he is not concerned that Stewart and Meacham, who has been a frequent guest on Charlie Rose as well as MSNBC's Morning Joe, will bring ideological baggage to the program.

"They are both are incredibly smart. And I think, given their intellect, neither are people you can pigeonhole left or right. I think they have a history of asking probing questions on all sides."

"Given their intellect" they can't be placed on the left or the right? Yeah, smart people are all centrists, I guess. And by "probing," Shapiro must mean something like treating sources with "charity and dignity and respect."

I'm also looking forward to public television giving us Newsweek synergies. It's hard to think of a better use of PBS resources than providing another platform for commercial journalism.  Maybe if we're really lucky we'll get some Mac Margolis on Need to Know.