Rockford No Haven For Anti-Gay Bigots

Members of the Gay Liberation Network traveled to Rockford, IL Thursday night to confront a lecturer, Charlene Cochrane, claiming to tell us "How Homosexuality Destroys Families, Not Just Values."

Charlene Cochran used to run a magazine oriented towards African American lesbians until about a year ago, when she apparently decided that the pickings would be more lucrative on the far-right "ex-gay" lecture circuit.

En route to the lecture, GLN learned that it had supposedly been moved from the Rockford Holiday Inn's "Hoffman House" to a nearby church. Attendees were supposed to show up at the hotel and then be re-directed to the church. The reason that "Concerned Citizens For America" gave for the change of venue was a supposed threat they had received.

Far Right "Christians" Bear False Witness

The truth, it turns out, was something very different. At the hotel there was no one directing people to the supposed alternate venue. Indeed, a Hoffman House manager said he "cancelled that [event] this morning, I cut it off" after receiving an email "telling me what it was about."

It seems that "Concerned Citizens For America" wasn't exactly forthcoming about what their event was about. The manager said he "doesn't choose either side, but I don't go for things like that."

So rather than admit that their event was canceled because they lied to the hotel management, they just made up another lie about the venue change being due to a "threat." Playing the victim card when instead they'd simply been lying about the nature of the event all along.

While GLN's impending counter-protest may have played a small role in getting the gay-hating event canceled, the main credit goes to local people in Rockford who weren't going to allow themselves to be used by the far right cretins.