EDGE Los Angeles

Gay blogger Joe Jervis of the blog JoeMyGod.com posted an item informing readers that anti-gay blogger Peter LaBarbera’s blog, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, would have a benefit dinner featuring keynote speaker Matt Barber, who has a new book titled Right Hook: From the Ring to the Culture War.

Jervis encouraged readers to book their seats at the dinner, slated to take place Oct. 24 at Christian Liberty Academy in Wheeling Township, Illinois, by calling Concerned Women for America’s Donna Miller.

In a response at his site, LaBarbera attacked Jervis as a "homosexual militant," saying that Jervis had "started a phone-harassment campaign against" Miller, whom LaBarbera described as a "staffer" for his blog.

LaBarbera’s posting went on to claim, "Homosexual militants despise Americans For Truth because we bring their radical agenda to light--and expose certain ’inconvenient truths’ like the fact that President Obama’s controversial ’Safe Schools’ chief, Kevin Jennings, chose a pro-NAMBLA publisher to produce and distribute his first two books. They also hate AFTAH because they know that they cannot intimidate us."

LaBarbera went on to say that Jervis was "using dirty tricks to harass AFTAH staffer Donna Miller and sabotage our keynote speaker Matt Barber’s new book ’The Right Hook.’"

The book in question shows Barber with his left hand raised and curled into a fist, with boxing gloves strung around his shoulders. It will be released on Nov. 3, but copies will be available for purchase and autograph at the Oct. 24 dinner.

LaBarbera also invited readers to sign up for the dinner by calling Miller, warning, "Just be prepared to go to her voicemail and get a call back--because she’s receiving a bunch of hate calls from homosexuals, including one fellow who phoned in this morning to call her the nasty C-word. Now how about that for ’tolerance’?...." LaBarbera also reminded readers unable to make the dinner they they could always donate money directly to his blog.

LaBarbera also questioned the ramifications of an anti-gay group or blogger calling down the wrath of his colleagues on a gay blogger. "If a Christian did this to a ’gay’ activist, would it be reported as a ’hate crime’?" wondered LaBarbera.

LaBarbera invited his readers to "check out this little bit of nastiness by New York City-based atheist homosexual blogger Joe Jervis, creator of the "Joe.My.God" website [WARNING: this is a very dirty and vulgar website]."

The blogger went on to claim that gays make a habit of "falsely equating traditional beliefs about homosexuality with malice and bigotry. But if this isn’t true hate and harassment, then nothing is."

Jervis fired back with an update to his earlier posting, writing, "Porno Pete is positively quivering with rage that I’m helping promote his gay soiree."

Jervis posted a snippet from LaBArbera’s anti-gay blog, and continued, "Petey, here’s where your analogy is wrong: I don’t work for any LGBT or progressive group. I only represent myself. And believe it or not, I genuinely would love for your event to sell out with the readers of this here website thingy. Sure would liven things up, no? And you must be hurting for advance sales, I found that phone number on at least four sites today--it’s not exactly a secret, you plugged it again today yourself. It’s more than a little bit hilarious for a person who devotes each and every day of his life to causing pain and unhappiness for his fellow Americans to get the fainting vapors when someone else reposts his own message, almost verbatim. But hey, at least for once you didn’t call me a ’leatherman.’ Thanks for that, I’ve gotten a lot of ribbing from my friends over it."

An Illinois GLBT group, the Gay Liberation Network, announced on its Web site that it was organizing a protest to take place during the benefit dinner. Text at the site urged readers, "Don’t let anti-gay hate
go unopposed!"

The site’s text continued, "’Americans For Truth Against Homosexuality’ is right here in Illinois and is as bigoted as it sounds--dedicated to opposing equal rights for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans people."

The text went on to take note of LaBarbera’s anti-gay political activities, recounting that he had been "the principal backer of two failed attempts to get anti-gay initiatives on the Illinois state ballot."

Added the site’s posting, "The best way to stop hate of this sort is to expose it and denounce it."