When it was announced earlier this year that Star Trek: Discovery would be featuring the franchise’s first openly gay character—most fans of the TV show were overjoyed.
However, prominent ‘ex-gay’ activist Peter LaBarbera is not too happy that the program will not be exploring the lives of people who have “left the homosexual lifestyle”.
“We have yet to see an ex-gay, a former homosexual prominently portrayed in Hollywood,” he commented on a Voice of Christian Youth (VCY) America radio program.
“I guess all we can do is not watch Star Trek,” he says on the recording uploaded by Right Wing Watch, adding that he “wasn’t going to watch it anyway".
“This sort of propaganda… I think Americans are tired of it, they’re tired of political correctness and I think that’s why Trump won in the first place.”
LaBarbera is the president of an organisation called ‘Americans for Truth about Homosexuality’ and has previously called the fight for LGBT+ equality “satanic”.
Speaking to host Peter Lavelle on the VCY program Crosstalk, LaBarbera bemoaned the increased visibility of LGBT+ characters in film and TV.
“The homosexual activists are never satisfied. They always want more, more, more,” LaBarbera says.
Sonequa Martin-Green and Anthony Rapp in 'Star Trek: Discovery'. Image: Michael Gibson/CBS. Source: Michael Gibson/CBS
Lavelle then asks for advice on behalf of listeners who might be “wringing their hands” and wanting to “take action”.
“You can throw up your hands and say, ‘I can’t do anything about it’ but remember this: the other side never stops fighting,” LaBarbera warns. “There is a battle between good and evil in this country.”
He then urges listeners to “do something” and to call their congressman to support President Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from the military.
The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year and would improve anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT+ community in the United States.
“It would actually make it easier for homosexual activists and liberal attorneys to persecute people of faith for opposing this juggernaut which calls itself gay," LaBarbera says.
