Roland Martin Goes to the Gay Confessional, Pledges to Avoid 'Ratcheting Up the Noise'

February 21st, 2012 8:26 AM

Blogger Richard Prince of the Maynard Institute reports on suspended CNN pundit Roland Martin meeting in Los Angeles with a representive of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. As part of the GLAAD "rehab" routine, Martin then dutifully marched on to the set of his TV One show "Washington Watch" to repent for the Super Bowl tweets that got him suspended.

But wait -- why didn't GLAAD get Martin suspended from his TV One program? (Here's a guess: TV One is owned by Comcast, a big supporter of GLAAD and "gay rights" advocates.) Martin explained how he repeated his apologies over breakfast with GLAAD's Herndon Graddick (a former producer at CNN):

Over breakfast for over 90 minutes, Herndon shared his thoughts with regards to my tweets and why he deemed them offensive to the LGBT community, and I reiterated my apology that — that if anyone who construed my comment[s] as being anti-gay or homophobic, or advancing violence, that was not my intent, and for that I was truly sorry.

It was a discussion that touched on many other areas, and as GLAAD expressed in a statement afterwards – and a sentiment with which I concur – “Both parties came away with a better understanding of one another and look forward to continuing this dialogue.”

Some might say this is just semantics; but, really, it isn’t. When anyone has a disagreement – whether public or private – there should be a call to sit down and sort it out, as opposed to both backing into corners, ratcheting up the noise to the point where no one hears one another. That benefits no one. [Anyone who thinks Martin's opposed to "ratcheting up the noise" with critics doesn't follow him on Twitter.]

Now, do we agree on all issues? No. But, ironically, I have historically supported many of the issues important to the GLAAD agenda, such as ending [the] 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy; gay adoption; and including gays in hate crimes laws. Those, folks, are facts. But it is only through dialogue do we get an opportunity to see each other’s perspective and learn what it is like to walk in that person’s shoes.

Prince noted GLAAD offered its own thoughts after the breakfast re-education:

On his show, Washington Watch, Martin today took another important step, acknowledging that his words had a negative impact, and making it clear that he understands how serious the issues of anti-LGBT bullying and violence are. This incident, along with recent incidents of violence directed at LGBT people, sparked a national dialogue centered around why the issue of anti-LGBT violence needs to be taken seriously.

"GLAAD’s meeting with Martin on Tuesday, February 14, was a good introduction. He has committed to meeting with GLAAD and other organizations in the near future for a more substantial dialogue. We support Martin’s commitment to use his media platforms to shed light on the harms of hate-inspired violence and look forward to continuing this dialogue.

PS: The gay forces of "dialogue" have also recently demanded that conservative pro-family leader Tony Perkins be banned from MSNBC:

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins has appeared on MSNBC 23 times since the Southern Poverty Law Center declared the FRC a hate group. Faithful America recently delivered 20,000 petitions to the cable network asking it to end their relationship with Perkins.

On the video, gay Bishop Eugene Robinson declared "We’ve got teenagers killing themselves because of what groups like this are saying...It’s killing us and it’s killing our kids. "