Michigan TV Station Ditches Plans to Air Antigay 'Infomercial'

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (Observer Update) -A Michigan television station has rescinded its offer to air an hour-long antigay “infomercial” produced by the American Family Association this weekend on the heels of a campaign by the Human Rights Campaign to have the program yanked from airwave, advocate.com reported. Speechless: Silencing Christians had originally been scheduled to air on Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD TV Monday night prior to President Barack Obama’s 8 p.m. news conference. After briefly being moved to Wednesday, the network scheduled it to air sometime this weekend.

Early Wednesday afternoon the HRC launched an online action campaign to halt the weekend airing of the program.

“Make no mistake ... this is the opening salvo in a campaign designed to denigrate LGBT Americans and deny us our basic rights,” HRC president Joe Solmonese said in a statement. "Just as our community is at a point where measures protecting millions of Americans heads to Congress and a willing president, the AFA unleashes 60 minutes of lies and distortions to scare voters. The AFA and its allies have never been 'speechless' when it comes to promoting their own agenda, and that's driving a wedge in the very places where LGBT Americans work, live, and even pray.”

Just an hour after the release went out, WOOD TV released a statement on its website that the station no longer planned to air the program.

"We made a gesture of the 2-3 p.m. Saturday time period," WOOD TV general manager Diane Kniowski said in a statement. "It's been 24 hours and we had no response. Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else's fight. Ours was a fair offer and we are removing ourselves from this matter."

"I am so proud of our members who answered the lies and distortions of the AFA and stopped this campaign of hate and deception," Solmonese said in a follow-up statement. "Our community stood up and would not let those lies stand."

Earlier this week WOOD TV program director Craig Cole told the blog JoeMyGod that he had received about 100 letters on the documentary and said opinions on whether the station should air it are evenly split.

The HRC says the documentary is the centerpiece of the AFA's newly relaunched website, which features a plea for donations.

A letter from the American Family Association arguing in favor of airing the documentary reads that most Americans receive "information about the homosexual movement from the secular news media and Hollywood, which not only support but promote the gay agenda. What people know is tainted by pro-homosexual propaganda."