Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday
explained his reasons for withdrawing from an upcoming conference
organized by an anti-gay Catholic group.
Baier last week announced that he would
not be speaking at next week's Legatus 2015 Summit at the
Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. Actor Gary Sinise and Coors
Chairman Peter Coors have also withdrawn from the event.
The reversals came after GoodAsYou.org
pointed out that Legatus describes homosexuality on its website as “a
selfish act that cannot fulfill the divinely ordained purpose of the
reproductive powers” and encourages gay people to live a “chaste
and celibate life.”
In a 2011 article, the group's John
Haas wrote that people suffering from “same sex attraction
disorder” can be cured.
“[T]here is hope for those who suffer
from the disorder,” he wrote. “The National Association for
Research and Therapy of Homosexuality reports that significant
numbers of homosexual persons have undergone treatment and had their
sexual drives properly ordered.”
Baier
explained in an email that Fox asked him not to speak at the
event.
“I pulled out of the speech at Fox’s
request – because of the controversy surrounding some of these
articles and editorials that have been published in the Legatus
magazine,” he said. “I am a lifelong mass attending Catholic –
I'm a lector at my parish. I consider myself to be in line with my
Church on most things. This isn't about me.. but, describing
homosexuality as a ‘disorder’ and talking about ways to ‘cure’
people from it – does not seem to line up with the loving,
accepting Church that I know. Nor does it match up with how Pope
Francis has talked about the issue recently. I couldn't speak
because of that – I don't wish the group any harm, but after Gary
Sinise pulled out.. as a newsman, Fox agreed that I could not be
surrounded by that controversy… as much as I would have loved to
have talked about my book, my faith, and my son's battle with
congenital heart disease. That is the truth.”