Dr. Laura Schlessinger has a PhD in physiology and no clinical background at all, but that did not stop her from dispensing therapy-sounding advice to callers on her popular radio talk show a few years back. She came across as something between a stern parent and a moralizing scourge. Audiences who like to hear someone else get raked over the coals loved it.
People who aren't sadistic (hit him again) or masochistic (thanks, I needed that) were horrified at her abusive, non-therapist type responses to callers with problems.
But her vehement anti-gay comments got her into such trouble that her career went into a downturn. Her fledgling TV show was canceled, and she lost many of her radio spots. Now, on a recent Larry King interview she was singing a different tune, saying that while she's no supporter of gay marriage, she supports same-sex relationships as a "very healthy and very positive thing."
SCHLESSINGER: I'm very big on human beings finding love, attachment and commitment and being faithful to it, because there's more to benefit when there is real true commitment and faithfulness to it. I still believe, as just every president has, and all the people who ran for office, that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman. So not calling it marriage works for me. But that two people would have that sort of commitment to me is very healthy and very positive thing in their lives and society as a whole.
KING: So, you favor marriage between a man and a woman, but you applaud the fact that even people of the same-sex can have that kind of commitment to each other.SCHLESSINGER: That's a beautiful thing and a healthy thing.
OK. We could argue about why not call it marriage; but the startling point here is that this seems a major reversal by the scourge who used to quote the Bible about homosexuality being an abomination. We'll never know how many vulnerable gay teenage kids listening to this were pushed over the edge to suicide.
It was such a big issue that a "letter to Dr. Laura" circulated on the internet for years, in which the writer asked for advice about some of the other "abominations" listed in the same Bible passage. Here are some choices passages:
"I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?"
"Lev.25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?"
"I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?"
Sometimes ridicule is the best defense.
Has Dr. Laura become enlightened? Has she had a change of heart, perhaps finding out that someone she knows well and loves is gay? Or is she still just the show-biz maven who realizes anti-gay bigotry is not the cash cow it once was and she'd better change her tune?
Ralph
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