The Weekly Standard blames a breakdown in its vetting process for an advertisement emailed to readers that warned of a gay conspiracy to "create a new America."
The advertiser, Public Advocate of the United States, claimed "radical homosexuals" such as Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado had infiltrated the government with a plan to "indoctrinate an entire generation of American children with pro-homosexual propaganda and eliminate traditional values from American society."
"Their ultimate dream is to create a new America based on sexual promiscuity in which the values you and I cherish are long forgotten," the email warned about the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill
from Polis that would ban discrimination against students based on their sexual orientation.
The Human Rights Campaign called on
The Weekly Standard's editor, Bill Kristol, a Fox News regular, to condemn the ad. But
Politicoreports that he won't. Instead, the conservative magazine's publisher has tried to explain how the ad was mistakenly published.
"This is obviously not the sort of advertising that we would accept, nor will we accept it in the future," publisher Terry Eastland told
Politico, claiming the ad had not been "fully vetted in the way it should be."
HRC president Joe Solmonese had called out Kristol specifically in its response to the email, decrying the
Standard's spread of "outrageous lies" and asking him to "apologize and distance his publication from the hateful information."
"It is alarming to see a political media outlet push this hateful rhetoric and act as a platform for the fundraising efforts of such an extremist group," said Solmonese in the
statement. "It is reprehensible and irresponsible for
The Weekly Standard to partner with this fringe group."
