Having attended three Promise Keepers events as opposition research, I thought I was prepared for sitting through two days of the Christian Coalition, I was wrong.

Everyone that was anyone on the Religious Right was there, and every person that was considering a run for president on the Republican ticket had a chance to express their opinions from the podium. We heard from Alan Keys, Dan Quayle, Steve Forbes, Senator John Ashcroft, and Gary Bauer. There were several Congressman there as well, such as Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Dick Armey, Tom Delay, Mitch McConnell, John Kasich, as well as other well knowns, such as Phyllis Schafly, Bill Bright, Jay Sekulow, Chuck Colson, Ollie North, and of course Ralph Reed, Randy Tate, and Pat Robertson.

As I sat and listened to speaker after speaker call for Bill Clinton's resignation (the most talked about topic of the convention), talk about what sad shape America is in, praise Ronald Reagan for his integrity, and uplift the work of Pat Robertson, I felt an overwhelming need to escape from it all.

One of the many things that depressed me was the large number of young adults, ages 16-25, who were supporting the Christian Coalition and their favorite Presidential candidate, a toss up between Dan Quayle and Gary Bauer.

The first night, Pat Robertson launched into a diatribe that can only be described as classic Pat Robertson, rambling, confusing, and filled with self-righteousness and "moral indignation". His speech centered around the need for military build up, and the threat of germ warfare, giving examples of what would happen if a bunch of spores was dropped over Washington DC, in an obvious attempt to scare people into supporting his view. Somehow, he tied all this into his brand of Christianity, and the need for America to get back to being a "Christian nation".

Throughout both days, I watched and listened to the thunderous applause and frequent standing ovations every time the abolishment of the NEA was mentioned, the outlawing of abortion, the immorality of homosexuality, and the greatness of Ronald Reagan and a need to return respect to the oval office. The thing that finally pushed me over the edge was the second day of speakers when Gary Bauer tiptoed into a diatribe about homosexuality. He started off by saying that we live in a live and let live society, and we teach our kids not to use derogatory terms, and never to hate, BUT.....

"But", Bauer continued, "there is a radical movement in the public square to redefine marriage, to use the schools to say that the marriage of two men or two women is the moral equivalent of traditional marriage, and to use the force of law to drop the resistance of the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts (to homosexuals) ."

I felt sick to my stomach as people applauded. His implication was clear to me, it is ok to hate gays and lesbians. My heart sank as I thought about my gay brother sitting next to me at the conference (also there for opposition research), who had to hear these words of hate. I felt pain for the closeted gays and lesbians that were in the audience. I felt shame that such hatred was spewed in the name of Christianity. I didn't hear much more of what was said as my mind tried to digest what I had just heard, and how I was feeling. As he finished his speech, and the applause thundered in the convention center and people jumped to their feet, I turned to my brother, looked at him, and gave him a sad and knowing smile, and walked out, never to return to the auditorium to hear the remaining 3 speakers.

After getting my stomach back, I attended the caucus for the Christian Coalition of Pennsylvania, and two workshops on Preserving Traditional Marriage and Defunding the National Endowment of the Arts.

The Marriage workshop started off with a typical anti-gay marriage, anti-gay rights speech by Carmen Pate of Concerned Women for America. She pointed out that there are three ways for any class of citizens to achieve protected class status is to prove that: a character trait is unchangeable, the class is politically powerless, or as whole is economically disadvantaged. She then proceded to give "facts" about the politically powerful homosexual lobbyists and the income of the average homosexual. She then said, in order the achieve the special rights of protected class status, homosexual activists have to be are able to persuade Americans that homosexuality is unchangeable, but we know the truth, that it can be changed. . At one point, she made the assertion that "apparently, children/adult sexual relations are not considered bad by the majority of homosexuals". I went up afterwards and asked for references. She could not give me any, but told me about NAMBLA, as if it were the "norm" of the gay community.

The Defunding of the Arts Workshop was a distorted picture from a rather small perspective. Bob Knight of the Family Research Council extended his view that the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) is the vanguard of smashing Biblical morality, has hurt art, and destroyed moral standards. He went on to say that he was not against good movies and good rock and roll, but parents should not be taking their kids to see the Titanic because girls see it and think that the have to be promiscuous in order to get a man, and boys see it and want more pornography. Even though Hollywood is not NEA funded, he claimed that they follow the lead "art" that is funded by the government through the NEA. He continued by saying the the NEA has always promoted the sexual revolution, and that liberals funded the sexual revolution through the NEA. His logic was that the liberals need the NEA because liberals know that the church and the family are blocks to their power. . He took additional potshots at liberals, claiming that liberals love the NEA because it "validates pornography and attacks American values".

He even made an ill conceived comment about the Amish, saying that as Christians, "we" have to live in our culture and cannot keep society out by circling the wagons like the Amish do.

While attending an evening bash for Gary Bauer, I stumbled across Scott Lively, author of the book, "7 ways to Recruit Proof Your Child: a parents guide to protection children from homosexuality and the "gay" movement". He gave me an autographed free copy. There is a special section on "non-gay" homosexual activists.

Heading: Recruitment also occurs through non-"gay" homosexualists. Quote, page 8-9: "Not all champions of the gay movement are homosexuals. For various reasons, many non-gay people are active in the cause of legitimizing homosexuality to children. (We use the word, homosexualist to refer to anyone, homosexual or not, who works to legitimize homosexuality in our society. Many non-homosexuals are homosexualists. Conversely, many non-political homosexuals are not homosexualists). Often, the non-gay homosexualists are more effective than gay activists in promotiong homosexuality to young people because they appear to be impartial observers not affected by gay self-interest. It is likely that many homosexualists are actually "in the closet" homosexuals (a great many active homosexuals, even political proponenets of homosexuality, are not open about their involvement in the gay lifestyle.) Many others are relatives or friends of gay activists who have been emotionally coerced or otherwise persuaded to the gay viewpoint. 'Whatever their motive, non-gay homosexualists play a big part in recruiting children into homosexuality, even though they themselves are not homosexual. (When in doubt about whether advocates of the gay agenda are homosexual or not, it is advisable to use the term homosexualist to avoid possible legal problems -- it is ironic that many aggressive non- homosexual defenders of the gay lifestyle consider the suggestion that they themselves are gay to be defamatory)."

Throughout the convention, I wandered around the exhibit halls and picked up armloads of literature from Coral Ridge Ministries, Family Research Council, The Freedom Alliance, Voice of the Martyrs, other associated "Christian- type" organizations like the NRA. I also picked up some videos, one of televisions spots of Gary Bauer calling for Clinton's resignation which are currently running in Iowa, a tribute to Oliver North, and "Coming Out of Homosexuality" by the Family Research Council.

After two days of listening to the right wing point of view on a myriad of topics, I am going to wait a couple of days before I begin sorting through all the propaganda and misinformation. My mind needs a break.