AAR in Memphis has RW fundie on in the 4-7 slot. Odd.

[grumpy old fart]

Local "liberal" Leon Gray does the afternoon spot on the Memphis AAR station 680 WWTQ. He's caused a firestorm with his fundie remarks on gays:

"I am deeply troubled by the fact voicing my opinion calling homosexuality wrong has hurt and angered so many people. Being a communicator, I’m certain more openly honest dialog will calm this storm created, at least this time, by the sound of Leon Gray II.

<snip>

The truth is I believe homosexuality is wrong because I don’t understand it, and while I can only speak honestly for myself, I feel comfortable, nonetheless, saying I’m surely not alone. In simplest terms, my ability to understand is totally based on how I was taught information I learned. For example: John has one apple; Jane gives him another. 1 plus 1 equals 2; the square root of 1 is 1, up versus down, left is opposite right..."

http://wwtq680.blogspot.com/

His show has been under attack for at least a week on the air, as he continues to rationalize his fundamentalist driven bigotry. There is hope in some quarters that Randi Rhodes's final hour, preempted for Gray's show, will return soon.

[shenmue]

1. Do what?

Well, that doesn't make any sense. Hope they restore the Rhodes show pronto.

In my area they have one AAR show on the local AM channel, which spends the rest of the day with right wing crapola, and if you're lucky, sometimes high school sports in the evening. So I tend to get my doses of AAR from the Internet stream.

Good luck to the Memphis people fixing that issue. Gray sounds like a bad apple.

[Rob H.]

2. He's also VERY socially conservative

In addition to being anti-gay, he thinks intelligent design should be taught in science classes and prayer in schools would be a good thing. (Someone actually had to point out to him--on the air!--that he isn't a host on a religious station.) Oh, and he's a big supporter of Bush's "faith-based initiative."

He also likened homosexuality to genocide because he thinks that if too many people "become" gay (yes, he thinks it's a choice) there won't be any future generations. I'm single with no kids--am I a genocidal maniac? I have friends who are childless by choice. What about them? What about couples where one partner is infertile or sterile?

An acquaintance of mine called in at the height of the furor and Leon kept muting him and actually cut him off at one point and called him a liar. Nice. Gray also couldn't define what he meant by "homosexual lifestyle" and he doesn't think gay rights is a civil rights issue, which has obviously caused quite a stir.

I've stopped listening to his show. He was on shaky ground with me to begin with since his show cuts off the first hour of The Majority Report, which I'd much rather listen to. Him airing his regressive ideas about gay people was the final straw. I'm done with him.

In the aftermath, he's framing it such that he's being attacked not just for expressing his opinion, but for actually having those opinions. That isn't the case. Not one caller has said that he isn't entitled to his opinions. He can believe any crazy, mixed-up bullshit he wants to believe, imo. He just needs to be prepared to take responsibility when he's inevitably called on it.</rant>

[DemFromMem]

3. One reason to listen to AAR on XM instead

[grumpy old fart]

4. Interesting comments on the WWTQ680 blog....

With every passing show, Leon's theocratic leanings become more and more obvious. And embarrassing.