Gene Mills and the Louisiana Family Forum Direct Supporters to Gay Pornographic Websites

In their most recent newsletter, Gene Mills and the Louisiana Family Forum directed thousands of subscribers and supporters to an apparently bogus story published by a website, Instinct Magazine, that describes itself as “America’s #1 Gay Men’s Magazine.” Quoting from the Louisiana Family Forum’s newsletter:

It’s weird enough that the Louisiana Family Forum would direct supporters to visit a website that features videos of gay men posing in their underwear on its front page (and I am not suggesting that this website is any more pornographic than the J.C. Penny catalog, though I imagine it’d make the overwhelming majority of the LFF’s membership more than a little squeamish).

This story is actually just a recapitulation of a tall tale told to another website, South Florida Gay News, describing the poor plight of an aspiring “ULL Law School student” (note: ULL does not have a law school) who, after spending time as a hardcore gay porn actor, had his dreams of opening his very own gay fraternity crushed by the ULL administration (who claim, on the record, that they have no idea what the hell this guy is talking about).

Instinct dutifully references its one and only source, South Florida Gay News, which dutifully references its one and only source about the student, which dutifully references gay porn sites. (I told Rising Tide to “do your homework” and “become an expert,” so, forgive me, but I’m not linking to pornography. You can find it on your own). 

I anticipate some may suggest I am not being fair, that the Louisiana Family Forum didn’t actually link to gay pornography; they just linked to a news story published by a website that prominently features photos and videos of half-naked gay men. But here’s the problem: If you actually care about the veracity of the story; if, like me, you wonder why this random online magazine and a website out of Florida are the only two publications in the world who are carrying this story, or why no one in the Louisiana media has caught onto this yet, or why this is important enough for the Louisiana Family Forum to distribute to thousands of its religiously right-wing followers and benefactors; if you are savvy enough to think, “Hey, this story seems a little sketchy;” or if you’re a small child who knows how to use a keyboard and a mouse: Fair warning, the Louisiana Family Forum, the State’s greatest advocate for traditional family values, just ensured that you’re two or three clicks away from hardcore gay pornography.

(As a postscript: It’s worth nothing that while it’s particularly ironic and bizarre that Reverend Mills would lead his supporters to gay pornography, it could have just as easily have been straight pornography. OK. Maybe not “just as easily.” It’s fairly obvious that the folks at the Louisiana Family Forum either troll gay websites OR, more likely, they’ve set their Google notifications to alert them any time “ULL” and “gay” appear in the same sentence).