LaBarbera Calls Gays Kleptos Over Hallmark Ornament Controversy

Earlier this week while members of the LGBT community were seeing red over Hallmark stigmatizing the word "gay" by dropping it from the lyric of a well-known Christmas carol, prominent anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera saw some scarlet of his own over the issue.

The item at the center of the debate is a seemingly innocent Christmas ornament bearing altered lyrics to "Deck the Halls." As Fox News reports, the greeting card company edited the iconic song's lyrics for its new Christmas ornament, taking out the word "gay" in "Don we now our gay apparel," and replacing it with "fun."

According to Fox News, a number of people have taken to Facebook to criticize Hallmark's decision to omit the word, with one post reading, "Hallmark is insinuating that gay people dress differently than anyone else. If I were gay, I would be more upset with that." Another Facebook user said that by changing the word, the company made an unnecessary political statement.

"Who could blame Hallmark for changing the Christmas carol from 'Don we now our gay apparel' to 'Don we now our fun apparel' because homosexual activists stole the word 'gay,'" LaBarbera said "It used to mean 'happy' and 'joyful' - and now it means, basically, identifying a sexual perversion: homosexuality. So I don't blame Hallmark for making this change."

According to conservative Christian news outlet One News Now, the anti-gay activist stated his theory that most people would not wear a shirt with the word 'gay' on it, so it makes sense not to put it on an ornament.

Claiming moral rights to the English language, LaBarbera further stated "Homosexual activists stole that word just like they stole the rainbow, [...] Now, I don't believe we should let these words go, but it looks like 'gay' is too far gone. We're not going to let the rainbow be used solely as a homosexual symbol, so we're going to fight that. But the fact is, homosexual activists are constantly stealing good things and adapting them to suit their sexual perversion."

According to One News Now, LaBarbera says the latest thievery on the part of homosexual activists is the word "equality," especially in terms of marriage.

A career homophobe, LaBarbera is the founder of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH). He started to organization as a part-time enterprise in 1996 while working as an editor for the Family Research Council.

According to Wikipedia :

In 2002, LaBarbera compared the alleged dangers of homosexuality to those of "smoking, alcohol and drug abuse."

In 2007, LaBarbera said there was "a disproportionate incidence of pedophilia" among gay men-a claim refuted by the American Psychological Association. The same year, he posted literature that made a series of false claims about gays running the German Nazi Party.

In 2010, AFTAH was designated as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for spreading hateful propaganda, and claiming that homosexuality can be "cured."

According to Reuters , Hallmark apologized about the lyric change via Twitter on Thursday, stating "We never intend to offend or make political statements with our products, and in hindsight we realize we shouldn't have changed the lyrics on the ornament.