Media biased when covering gay issues

In 1981, Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman released a blockbuster survey of 240 journalists about their political and social views and found that only 24 percent of the media elites agreed or strongly agreed that homosexuality was wrong. But 71 percent of Americans felt that homosexuality was morally wrong.

Today in 2011 polls have tightened up much more with many polls showing the country evenly split on gay marriage, civil unions and homosexuality. A new Gallup poll shows that even though the best data available put the prevalence of homosexuality at 1 percent to 4 percent of the U.S. population, on average American adults believe that 25 percent of the population is homosexual. How can this inequity exist unless the major media, the 900-pound gorilla in the game, is influencing public opinion by its coverage?

We all see how the media covers issues like civil unions. Do you ever hear or read about why marriage between one man and woman is one of the main reasons America has become the greatest country in the history of the world?

Our citizens see these civil unions as morally troubling not because they are haters or frightened or bigots or uneducated, but because they have carefully thought through the implications for our country and culture. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman -- same-sex unions cannot create new life. Marriage is vital to the stability and preservation of our society in which a father and mother raise and nurture children. There is a broad base of research that shows marriage to be the best structure for the successful raising of children.

Have you read about any of these truths of nature in your local or national media outlets lately?

Larry O’Neill

Palatine