New York Times Puff Piece About Focus On The Family Ignores Its Regular Anti-LGBT Rhetoric

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly

On Friday, the New York Times ran a puff piece about Focus on the Family, claiming that under the leadership of its president Jim Daly, the organization is softening by becoming one that “invites civil dialogue” and “turns down the rhetorical temperature on the debate.” It goes on to claim that Daly is “attesting to the divine love and grace that he firmly believes saved his life.”

Jeremy Hooper and David Badash have already penned extensive retorts, outlining the many odious anti-LGBT positions that Focus on the Family still holds. As a simple test of whether Focus on the Family and its political arm CitizenLink are engaging in more “civil dialogue,” here’s a look at some of the rhetoric they’ve put out over just the past six months:

Marriage equality will “shut down businesses” and is actually about “silencing Christian voices in the public square.”Marriage equality is a “pernicious lie of Satan.”Gender and sexuality are determined by procreation, not anybody’s own sense of their identities.Homosexuality isn’t a “super sin,” but it’s still a sin, just like adultery, lying, cheating, and gossiping.There’s no such thing as being gay; it’s just a “political statement.”Marriage equality passed in November because voters are “unchurched” and care more about themselves than about children.Transgender identities are unhealthy disorders that result from childhood trauma.Trans people should pursue ex-trans therapy to rectify their “confusion” with their “God given gender identity and destiny.”Gay people are in “pain” and at battle with God.Heterosexuality is society’s ideal because affirming homosexuality would be “normalizing brokenness.”“Satan roams the earth like a lion, using sexual and relational brokenness to destroy individuals, families, churches, groups, businesses.”Parents should be able to prevent their children from learning that gay people exist.There are “a variety of roads into homosexuality” including molestation, parents’ divorce, and trouble conforming to gender roles.

And that was just the rhetoric that ThinkProgress happened to cover since last September. Of course, Focus on the Family also sponsors the annual “Day of Dialogue,” which encourages Christian students to condemn their gay peers — a counterprotest to the “Day of Silence,” which is designed to bring visibility to that very kind of bullying.

The New York Times should better clarify that not a single position has changed at Focus on the Family. As the article inadvertently demonstrates, the organization has simply achieved better PR when individuals aren’t paying attention to what they actually believe.

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Booker: ‘Clearly’ interested in Senate bid, but focus now on helping win state races

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Sunday that he would focus his attention on helping his state elect a Democratic governor before addressing a possible 2014 Senate bid.

Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” if he would seek the 2014 seat to be vacated by retiring Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Booker said “clearly it’s a job that I’m interested in.”

“I’ll spend the coming months working on and exploring that, but right now we have one election in New Jersey and that’s our state-wide gubernatorial and legislative elections. As a Democrat in New Jersey, that’s where my focus is,” he added. “Next year’s election for Senate will take care of itself.”

Booker’s path to the Senate opened up this week after Lautenberg announced Thursday that he would retire from the upper chamber. 

"While I may not be seeking reelection, there is plenty of work to do before the end of this term and I'm going to keep fighting as hard as ever for the people of New Jersey in the U.S. Senate,” said the 89-year old senator.

Booker had indicated earlier this year that he was exploring a run for Lautenberg’s seat in 2014, but had not said whether he would be willing to launch a primary challenge against the long-serving fellow Democrat.

His decision, though, had sparked criticism from other Democrats in the state, who had hoped Booker would instead challenge incumbent GOP Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) this year.

Lautenberg’s decision will likely clear a path for other possible contenders, including Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), whom many sources say is considering a bid. 

 “I hope to be one of those people that the residents of New Jersey will consider giving me that honor to fight for them on a federal level,” said Booker on Sunday.

But he added: “We in New jersey take one election at a time. 2014 is a long way off.”

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Earnings Preview: Pfizer to focus on new drug OKs

Pfizer Inc. will tout a surge of new drug approvals, and an acquisition that's brought the world's biggest drugmaker another new medicine, when it reports fourth-quarter results Tuesday morning.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: CEO Ian Read will note the key approvals, led by Eliquis, a potential blockbuster that's part of a new generation of blood thinners.

Read likely will update investors on efforts to boost revenue and streamline Pfizer by shedding noncore businesses, including the pending $11.5 billion sale of its nutrition business to Nestle SA and the planned spinoff of the $4.2 billion-a-year animal health business. Last week, Pfizer disclosed plans to sell 86.1 million stock shares in the new company, Zoetis, for $22 to $25 each.

Company executives should discuss early sales trends for the newest drugs and one approved in September: Bosulif for treating the blood cancer chronic myeloid leukemia in patients with a specific genetic variation.

The New York-based company really needs the drugs. Generic rivals are wiping out sales of roughly two-thirds of its medicines. While its rivals also face generic competition, Pfizer has a particularly daunting job: trying to make up for billions lost since cholesterol fighter Lipitor got U.S. generic competition in December 2011.

Lipitor had reigned for about a decade as the world's best-selling drug, with peak sales around $13 billion. It still brought Pfizer more than $10 billion annually when the generics hit. Patent protection also has ended in many other big markets.

Lipitor sales plunged 71 percent to $749 million in the third quarter, cutting net income 14 percent. None of the new drugs can replace those billions, but together they'll help.

Pfizer and partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. plan to launch Eliquis, a twice-a-day pill, with lots of fanfare in early February. It was approved the last week of December in the U.S. and Japan, the two biggest prescription drug markets, after getting European Union approval in 2011.

Analysts rate Eliquis the best of three new anticlotting drugs. However, Pradaxa, from German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim, and Xarelto from partners Johnson & Johnson and Bayer Healthcare, have been on the U.S. market for at least 18 months. It could be tough to persuade patients and doctors satisfied with Xarelto or Pradaxa to try Eliquis.

Meanwhile, Xeljanz, or tofacitinib, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in November to slow progression of rheumatoid arthritis. It's the first drug in a promising new class called JAK inhibitors.

Pfizer's blockbuster vaccine against meningitis and other pneumococcal infections, Prevnar 13, got EU approval on Jan. 8 for children aged 6 to 17. It was already approved for younger children and adults 50 and older, and is approved in the U.S.

In October, Pfizer won conditional EU approval for Xalkori, for lung cancer patients with a particular genetic mutation. Pfizer must submit data from a recently completed study to get full marketing approval.

And in late November, Pfizer bought NextWave Pharmaceuticals Inc., gaining its recently approved long-acting liquid medicine for attention deficit disorder, Quillivant XR. It was launched in the U.S. on Jan. 14. NextWave is also developing an extended-release chewable version.

Pfizer executives likely will note recent results from two studies of its smoking cessation pill Chantix, particularly one that found it safe for patients with depression. It's been on sale since 2006, but EU regulators requested the study because of concerns over side effects, including depression and suicidal thoughts. The results will help Pfizer fight more than 2,000 lawsuits blaming the drug for psychiatric side effects.

The company also should give a 2013 profit forecast.

WHY IT MATTERS: Pfizer's top-selling drugmaker crown is threatened by all the generic competition to its drugs for the masses. It's been cutting costs by slashing jobs and selling factories and office buildings since its $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth in 2009. Now it needs to rebuild its revenue base, and the recent spike in medicine approvals helps.

Before those approvals, Pfizer had been frustrated by numerous failures of experimental drugs late in expensive patient testing. Read has narrowed the fields in which Pfizer is developing new drugs as it focuses more on expensive cancer and other targeted drugs.

WHAT'S EXPECTED: Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect, on average, earnings of 44 cents per share and sales of $14.35 billion.

LAST YEAR'S QUARTER: Pfizer posted net income of $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, on revenue of $16.75 billion.

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Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

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