The Daily Update

Protest Paramount
- March 21, 2000

Read our Press Release

News from StopDrLaura.com

StopDrLaura.com in the News

  • Newsweek, March 12, 2000, "Dr. Laura, Talk Radio Celebrity"
  • Time Magazine, March 20, 2000, "Dr. Laura, Heal Thyself"
  • Entertainment Weekly, March 17, 2000, "A proposed Dr. Laura TV show outrages gay activists"
  • Associated Press, March 11, 2000
  • LA Times, March 11, 2000
  • People Magazine - March, 20 2000 - HEAT WAVES Radio Provocateur Dr. Laura Schlessinger Raises a Ruckus with Controversial Talk About Gays
  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Criticism sends ‘Dr.' Laura into a tizzy," March 8, 2000
  • New York Daily News, "Gay groups turning up the heat on radio host Schlessinger," March 8, 2000
  • New York Post, March 7, 2000 "No one spared as radio shrink boils over"
  • New York Times, "Gay Groups Campaign Against Radio Host´s Plan for a TV Show" March 6, 2000
  • San Francisco Chronicle, "Dr. Laura Talk Show Provokes Backlash," March 4, 2000
  • Channel 2000, "Gay Activists Step Up Dr. Laura Campaign," March 4, 2000
  • TVSPY.COM, March 3, 2000
  • PoliticsOnline.com, "Activists Go Online to Stop Dr. Laura," March 3, 2000
  • Los Angeles Times, "Site-ing Dr. Laura," March 2, 2000
  • USA Today, "Talk show host's TV spot sparks a protest site," March 2, 2000
  • CNN, March 2, 2000
  • Access Hollywood, March 2, 2000
  • Salon, "StopDrLaura.com," March 1, 2000
  • BBC Radio, March 1, 2000
  • CNet Radio, March 1, 2000
  • Potomac Tech Wire, March 1, 2000
  • Southern Voice, "'Frasier' Producer Slams Paramount on Dr. Laura," Feb. 24, 2000
  • O'Reilly Factor, FOX News, Feb. 18, 2000
Outside Links

PLEASE KEEP CALLING VIACOM CHAIRMAN SUMNER REDSTONE
TEL 212-258-6310, FAX 212-258-6311 - Viacom owns Paramount
Don't let them pass you to another number, politely insist they take a message.
Message: "Why is Viacom supporting prejudice? Cancel the Dr. Laura TV show."
Sumner Redstone, Viacom International, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

TAKE AN ONLINE POLL ABOUT DR. LAURA
Click here, and select the "Dr. Laura Poll" link in the right-hand column.

SEE THE PICS FROM THE CHICAGO PROTEST
Pictures from the Chicago protest are online - click here then scroll down until you see 'Dr. Laura Protest Pics'.

ORGANIZE A PROTEST IN YOUR CITY
In addition to our successful Los Angeles rally, protests are now being organized in Chicago, and Dallas (see below). Help us build on this momentum by organizing a 'Stop Dr. Laura' protest in your city! If you're interested in helping take the lead in your home town, contact StopDrLaura.com organizer Robin Tyler at RTStopDrLaura@aol.com. Remember: with gay pride celebrations happening all summer, there are lots of opportunities for launching your own 'Stop Dr. Laura' call to action.

5/3/00: DR. LAURA TARGETS GAYS AGAIN
 After several weeks of silence on gay isuses - reportedly Paramount had asked her to stop attacking gays, and endangering their multi-million dollar TV deal - Dr. Laura has broken her silence and is now promoting a book "healing homosexuals" on her Web site home page. So much for Paramount's promise that Dr. Laura's gay-bating days were over. Read more...

5/3/00: UPCOMING PROTESTS IN SF, ST. LOUIS, SEATTLE, ATLANTA
- San Francisco announces Laura protest for May 8.
- St. Louis announces Laura protest for May 13.
- Seattle announces Laura protest for May 20.
- Protests announced in Atlanta (5/9)
- Laura cancels 5/3 NY book signing in face of protests!
- ToysRUs distances self from Laura, telling customers: 'You will be glad to know, the advertisement on the Dr. Laura show is no longer running.'

here.

MORE PROTESTS ANNOUNCED IN ATLANTA AND SEATTLE
In addition, more StopDrLaura protests have been anounced in Atlanta for May 9, and Seattle for May 20. We promised Paramount, Viacom and CBS a long, hot summer - and we meant it.

4/19/00: EXCLUSIVE: DR. LAURA'S 1ST TV TAPING BOMBS
"It was an ethical dilemma worthy of the "Dr. Laura" radio show. A gay Hollywood "extra" shows up for a taping of the "Leeza" TV show at Paramount Studios. But he suddenly finds that Leeza Gibbons has been canceled, and in her place is the queen-of-mean herself, anti-gay radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger...." Read the whole story here.

4/16/00: CHICAGO, DALLAS PROTESTS A SUCCESS ATLANTA ON THE WAY!
The Chicago and Dallas StopDrLaura protests were a great success. Several hundred people attended each protest, and another protest is now being planned for early May in Atlanta. Pictures from the Chicago protest are online - click here then scroll down to bottom half of page until you see 'Dr. Laura Protest Pics'
. More details on each protest will be coming shortly.

Also, SF Radio did in fact drop Dr. Laura, demoting her to a much-less powerful station without nearly the reach of her prior station. Radio Digest, an industry media outlet, says the move is most definitely a "demotion." Laura has been moved from the more serious station to the more raucous one reserved for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and other conservative shock jocks.

4/10/00: PRO-LAURA ADS; SF RADIO TO DROP LAURA?; VT RADIO DROPS LAURA
With friends like these... The fundamenalist lobbying group 'Family Research Council' announced that it was launching an ad campaign in favor of Dr. Laura. The Family Research Council - a group Schlessinger routinely relies on for her anti-gay 'science' - has said this about gays:

"...one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order." - "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," Family Research Council, July 1999.

According to Radio Digest, the San Francisco radio station currently carrying Dr. Laura, may drop her show in what is clearly being seen as a "demotion." And finally, the radio station carrying Dr. Laura in Vermont has just announced that they will no longer carry her show.

CHICAGO AND DALLAS ANNOUNCE PROTESTS - APRIL 15
CBS Affiliates Targeted for Airing Laura Show
Gay activists in Chicago and Dallas have announced that they will be holding simultaneous protests on Saturday April 15 against local CBS affiliates intending to air the Dr. Laura television show.

DALLAS: The Dallas protest is at 1PM at CBS affiliate KTVT Channel 11, located at 10111 N. Central Expressway, Dallas. For more information on the Texas protest, contact John R. Selig at 214-521-3553 or e-mail seligafc@aol.com -- Read more about the Dallas protest.

CHICAGO: The Chicago protest is at 3PM at CBS affiliate WBBM-TV Channel 2, 633 N. McClurg Court, Chicago. For more information on the Chicago protest, contact Andy Thayer at 773-878-4781 or e-mail thayer1917@aol.com -- Read more about the Chicago protest.

ANOTHER ADVERTISER DUMPS LAURA
 BoxLot.com, the world's largest privately-held Internet-based auction company, will no longer run advertisements on Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio show, the company announced April 3rd. BoxLot is the third company in a week to drop Schlessinger after receiving complaints from consumers angered by the radio host's anti-gay rhetoric.

"As soon as I learned that we were advertising on Dr. Laura's radio program I made some inquiries and requested that all the advertising be stopped," Tom Watkin, founder of San Diego-based BoxLot, told StopDrLaura.com. "As far as I'm concerned, there wont be any future advertising done on her programs, either television or radio."

Just last week, More.com and Amica Insurance (a 90-year old insurance company) pulled their ads from Schlessinger's radio show after receiving complaints. Amica (www.amica.com) is the oldest mutual insurer of automobiles in the nation, while More.com offers health, beauty and wellness products online. Amica is headquartered in Providence, RI, and More.com is based in San Francisco, CA.

BoxLot's Watkin says he regrets being tied to Schlessinger's anti-gay rhetoric. "We're going to be more intelligent about selectively excluding hateful and bigoted people like her from our advertising mix," Watkin said. "We just didn't know how bad she really was, and she's about as bad as they get."


TWO ADVERTISERS DUMP LAURA
Two national advertisers have canceled commercials during Laura Schlessinger's radio program, according to information obtained today by StopDrLaura.com. The companies' decisions come in the midst of a growing controversy over Paramount's plans to offer the "Dr. Laura" show on television this fall.

StopDrLaura.com learned of the companies' decisions in e-mails from company executives. An executive with More.com, an online pharmacy, wrote to one concerned customer: "We do not want to have any association with Dr. Laura." The message was written by Alessia Johnson, customer contact specialist for More.com, in direct response to a customer concerned about Schlessinger's anti-gay statements. "We certainly do not want to give our valued customers the wrong idea about more.com," Johnson continued. "We do not support her views and we refuse to advertise with her again."

Another national advertiser, Amica Insurance, has also decided to stop advertising during Schlessinger's radio program. In another e-mail obtained by StopDrLaura.com, an Amica executive wrote: "We have also asked the buyer to verify that no spots will air during that show on any station in the country on which we are advertising." The message was written by John Connors, Amica's senior vice president. Read more about this story.

BILLY CRYSTAL BLASTS LAURA AT OSCARS
Academy Awards master of ceremonies Billy Crystal got a jab in at Dr. Laura during the first 10 minutes of the Oscars Sunday night. The text of his comments will be posted shortly. This is quite significant as the Oscars are televised to over one billion people worldwide.

MURDER STALLS DR. LAURA NYC SHOW
CBS Flagship Fears Backlash After Gruesome Anti-gay, Racist Killing
A source at CBS Television in New York has said that the flagship station may hold off on signing a final deal to air the upcoming Dr. Laura TV show, in view of a growing uprooar over the gruesome murder of a young gay black man, discovered dismembered and burned in acid yesterday in New York City. Read the story.


THE PRICE OF PREJUDICE
Gay man in NYC found chopped up, burned with acid
New York Daily News, March 23, 2000.
According to today's New York Daily News, "Cops say John Fenrich had a terrible secret. Enraged by his stepson's homosexuality, the Long Island father is suspected of dismembering the teenager, burning the skin off the head with acid and scrawling racist and anti-gay epithets on the bleached skull, police sources said." Read the story.

ADDITIONAL PICTURES FROM TUESDAY'S PROTEST
(click image to see a larger, clearer version - Photographer: John R. Selig)



DR. LAURA/PARAMOUNT CONTROVERSY IN THE NEWS:
These are particularly good articles:
Times of London, "'Protest at anti-gay TV host," March 22, 2000.
Los Angeles Times, "Hypocrisy is Just Another Word for Hollywood Profit," March 22, 2000.
Los Angeles Times, "TV Programming Under Fire From New Quarters," March 20, 2000.
Channel 2000, "Sorry, Dr. Laura, No Lunch for You," March 15, 2000.

March 23, 2000
STOPDRLAURA.COM SOARS TO 1M HITS IN ONE DAY, 14M TO DATE
- Coalition to launch 6-month strategy
 (Washington, DC) StopDrLaura.com received a record 1m hits yesterday, its biggest day of traffic to date. The group's protest at Paramount on Tuesday has ratcheted up interest in the issue, driving an incredible total of 14 million hits to the site since its launch on March 1.

"Interest in this issue is not abating," said John Aravosis, co-creator of the site. "We will build on this momentum, and soon announce a 6-month strategy of offline and online strategies. We will continue to make our case known not only to Paramount, but to every station and advertiser that signs up for 'Dr. Laura.' "

StopDrLaura.com was launched as a Web site, and coalition, three weeks ago to protest Paramount Television's announced intent to syndicate the Dr. Laura Schlessinger TV show next fall. A growing chorus of civil rights advocates have called on Paramount to drop the show, as a result of Schlessinger's references to gays and lesbians as "biological errors," sexually deviants, and akin to pedophilia and bestiality. Among the hundreds of organizations opposing the show: StopDrLaura.com; HateWatch.org, the Horizons Foundation; the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and AIDS Action.

While Aravosis refused to disclose any specifics until the final plan is complete, he would say that the coalition will be making Paramount, individual stations, and prospective advertisers a hot topic at a number of high-profile events in the coming months.

"Paramount is well aware of the bad publicity they've gotten after only three weeks of StopDrLaura.com." Aravosis said. "We've got a good six months of actions planned till Dr. Laura's show launches. It's going to be a long hot summer for Paramount and any station that decides to give a platform to prejudice."

PARAMOUNT PROTEST A HOME RUN!!!
On March 21, over 500 protesters descended on Paramount Studios in Hollywood to demand Paramount Chairman Kerry McCluggage cancel the Dr. Laura TV show. The turnout was great, the media was everywhere, and there were so many protesters, in fact, that the police had to close down Melrose Ave. and the main entrance to Paramount itself.

Protesters held signs signaling their anger at Paramount for syndicating the Dr. Laura show, including: "I am my kid's lesbian mom," "Hate is a Paramount concern," and "Show Dr. Laura the Door-a." A small handful of pro-Schlessinger protesters were also on hand, holding signs protesting "inter-species" relationships.

A large variety of speakers were present, including David Lee (pictured at right), Producer, Frasier Joan Garry, Executive Director, GLAAD Gwen Baldwin, Executive Director LA Gay &Lesbian Center Barry Karas, Board of Directors, HRC Rev. Troy Perry, Moderator, UFMCC Peter Teague, Executive Director The Horizons Foundation Lynette Sperber-LA PFLAG (Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays) Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami Carol Anderson, Southern California cochair of CAPE (California Alliance for Pride & Equality), LA lawyer Gloria Allred (pictured below at right), and Robin Tyler (pictured at right), long-time activist and representative of StopDrLaura.com (Robin also organized the entire event).

Of equal, if not more significance than the speakers, was the attendance of the senior management of the "Frasier" TV show, a Paramount hit. Frasier-creators David Lee, Peter Casey and David Angell were on hand at the protest (Lee also spoke), as was Frasier Executive Producer Joe Keenan. Their presence is indicative of a bigger split inside Paramount between senior employees who bring in the big bucks and the management which has remained obstinate in its defense of Schlessinger. Other celebrity attendees included star Mitchell Anderson, of the hit series "Party of Five" (pictured at left).

The protest lasted about an hour and a half, and was so loud that it could be heard well across the Paramount lot (this was tested with a cell-phone call to someone "on the inside"). Senior aides to Paramount's top brass tried to belitte the protest to telephone callers, saying the crowd "wasn't that large."

But with the StopDrLaura.com Web site having a record number of visits today - we're already at well over 800,000 hits for the day, and 13m hits overall - it's getting increasingly difficult for Paramount and its parent, Viacom, to ignore our pleas.

[Photo credits: Ed. de la Torre]

SCHLESSINGER ALLY EQUATES GAYS WITH BESTIALITY, PEDOPHILIA
Robert Knight of the Family Research Council - a religious right group that Laura Schlessinger relies on for much of her gay-related "science" - last night (March 21) equated homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia. His quote, below, is followed by Ms. Schlessinger admitting her esteem for FRC's information.

Mr. Knight was asked on the FOX News show "Hannity and Colmes": "when you lump sex with animals, sex with children, homosexuality. And you lump cross -- when you lump it all together, that's kind of a misstatement, then, isn't it?"

Knight responded:

ROBERT KNIGHT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: "Well, I think that's what's happening. Once you take sex outside marriage and you say there are no longer any barriers, you are going to get bestiality and pedophilia... We have seen efforts recently to lower the age of consent for sexuality all over the world. In Britain, most prominently by homosexual activist groups. We've seen two major women's magazines feature ads with women and dogs interacting sexually...The gates really are wide open..." (Hannity & Colmes - FOX, Mar. 21, 2000)

Ms. Schlessinger admits that she has great admiration for Mr. Knight's organization:

DR LAURA ON THE FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: "There's a lot of information published by the Family Research Council out of Washington, D.C., and they offer a lot of very helpful resources on homosexuality.... It's important to read these things so that you have informational, non-hysterical things to read so you can make informed decisions.... I don't recommend many organizations -- certainly not as highly as I recommend them -- for factual information and intelligent points of view and intelligent arguments. With, I should add, absolutely no name-calling. How is that possible? That's because they have intelligent things to say -- and they're not mean." (Aug. 24, 1999)

Editor's note: The "Britain" example Mr. Knight gives above was not an effort to sanction pedophilia, as Mr. Knight implies, but in fact was an effort to bring the gay age of consent in the UK (now 18) IN LINE WITH the heterosexual age of consent (which is only 16). Are these the kind of "intelligent arguments" we have to look forward to, courtesy of Paramount Television and Viacom?

Other anti-gay quotes by Robert Knight and the Family Research Council:

Gays will recognize pedophiles as prophets
"...one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order." - "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," by Robert Knight and Frank York, the Family Research Council, July 1999.

Gays are pedophiles, and want to promote youth promiscuity
"There is a strong undercurrent of pedophilia in the homosexual subculture. Homosexual activists want to promote the flouting of traditional sexual prohibitions at the earliest possible age....they want to encourage a promiscuous society - and the best place to start is with a young and credulous captive audience in the public schools." - by Robert Knight, "The Homosexual Agenda in Schools," Family Research Council, May 17, 1993.

March 20, 2000
BREAKING NEWS - AIDS ACTION CALLS ON PARAMOUNT TO DROP SHOW
Action, one of the nation's premiere AIDS advocacy organizations, has called on Paramount today to drop the Dr. Laura show, after concerns have beenraised that Dr. Laura's message about HIV is "uninformed".

TUESDAY PROTEST AT PARAMOUNT Tuesday morning (March 21st) is our StopDrLaura.com protest at the gates of Paramount in Hollywood. It's at 8:30AM PST at 5555 Melrose Avenue (corner of Melrose and Windsor). There will be a ton of people, with pre-made signs - so if you get there early you can even get your own sign! And if you can't be in LA on Tuesday, please visit our Web site again, and use Tuesday to call the senior execs at Paramount and lodge your protest by phone and fax - we've just posted on our home page additional direct phone and fax lines for another 10 top execs at Paramount.

PLEASE USE OUR WEB SITE AT STOPDRLAURA.COM ON TUESDAY TO CALL ALL OF PARAMOUNT'S TOP BRASS

It's amazing that what started as a bit of bad publicity for Paramount has turned into a virtual torrent. In addition to all the bad press in Time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, the LA Times, the NY Times, etc., - and in addition to the 7m hits our Web site has gotten, as well as the almost 15,000 emails that have been sent to Paramount via our site - look at how much worse things have gotten for Paramount in the last week alone.

1. Dr. Laura recanted on her apology.
2. GLAAD broke off talks with Paramount and called for the show to be dropped.
3. HateWatch.org joined our protest, calling Dr. Laura's words "bigotry."
4. Susan Sarandon endorsed our Web site.
5. Far-right-winger Brent Bozzell has said that our protests are not infringing on Dr. Laura's rights to free speech (i.e., defending us).
6. The ACLU agreed that our protests are not impinging on Dr. Laura's rights.
7. Big-time Paramount exec David Lee, the Executive Producer of 'Frasier', has agreed to speak at the protest tomorrow. Lee has been quite outspoken about Paramount needing to drop Dr. Laura.
8. We ran a full-page ad in Variety last Thursday announcing the protest.
9. GLAAD, HRC, PFLAG, MCC, and other big gay poo-bahs will now be at the protest as well.
10. The head of entertainment for all of NBC implicitly criticized Paramount in today's LA Times.

As for the protest itself, as I've already mentioned, there's quite a celebrity line-up of Hollywood big-wigs and gay political leaders scheduled to speak (see below). Cameras from Access Hollywood, ABC News, and the local stations will be there. I just saw on CNN today that they'll be reporting on it tomorrow as well. READ A GREAT LA TIMES STORY Don't miss today's front-page Los Angeles Times story on the protest - it's excellent.

WEIGH IN ON A DR. LAURA POLL You might also want to weigh in on the About.com poll about Dr. Laura's show - you can find the poll at (full disclosure - I'm running the US Politics Web site there now, it's my poll, so feel free to drop by and check out the entire site)

SPEAKERS AT TUESDAY'S PROTEST INCLUDE: David Lee, Executive Producer, "Frasier" Gwen Baldwin, Executive Director, LA Gay & Lesbian Center Peter Teague, Executive Director, The Horizons Foundation Rev. Troy Perry, Moderator, United Federation of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) Joan Garry, Executive Director, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Rabbi Denise Eger, Congregation Kol Ami Steve Martin, West Hollywood City Councilman Barry Karas, Board Member, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Carol Anderson, Southern California co-chair of CAPE (California Alliance for Pride & Equality-our State LGBT lobbing organization) Lynette Sperber - LA Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG) Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Ph.D. Robin Tyler, Veteran Activist and Coordinator of the Protest, StopDrLaura.com

March 15, 2000
BREAKING NEWS: DR. LAURA RECANTS APOLOGY - GLAAD DECLARES WAR ON PARAMOUNT
In a rather surprising move, Dr. Laura came out today and took back her "apology" she made last Friday. GLAAD, who's been trying to negotiate with Paramount, finally has had it with Paramount and Dr. Laura, and has issued a press release calling for Paramount to drop the show. The timing couldn't be better, with our full-page ad running in Variety on Thursday, and our protest at Paramount next Tuesday. This means all out war between the gay community and Paramount, and Paramount just lost the only friend they had (GLAAD).

Plans for the Tuesday March 21st 8:30-10:30 a.m. protest at the gates of Paramount are moving ahead nicely - and talk about the additional energy now that Dr. Laura has taken back her apology! We had a great planning meeting in LA last night, and are getting tons of emails from people planning on attending not just from LA, but from as far away as Florida! The Web site is still chugging along - we're at 5.5m hits today (the 2-week mark), and the site has been used to send over 12,000 emails to Paramount. And if you think you're not getting their attention, think again. I was contacted yesterday by some with UPN, a sister company of Paramount, complaining that too many people are contacting them about the Dr. Laura show, when in fact they are not Paramount Television. Considering we didn't even send people their way, it's amazing that they're getting that many calls and emails - it means that Paramount TV must be getting even more.

We also have launched plans for a "virtual vigil" to be held on the same day as the protest, March 21. We're asking folks to send a PROTEST PICTURE along with their name, city/state and a quick quote to AgainstHate@aol.com. We'll send free StopDrLaura.com t-shirts to the best 5 entries we get - BUT, you HAVE to send us a photo with you protesting in some way, perhaps holding up a protest sign, or even wearing your own StopDrLaura t-shirt. For more info on the virtual vigil, click here.

A small tease: an Academy-Award winning celebrity has graciously agreed to add their photo and quote to our StopDrLaura.com home page. We can't tell you who, yet, but you'll be reading about it in Thursday's papers, and I think you’ll be impressed…

Coming attractions: A lot of you have been asking about the other TV stations airing Dr. Laura's show. We have a list of them, and will be posting them shortly. In addition, after Tuesday's protest, we'll be broadening the target list even beyond the other stations that have agreed to syndicate Dr. Laura’s TV show. As of next Tuesday, any company that decides to sponsor the Dr. Laura TV show will be prominently featured on our well-visited home page our site got over 800,000 hits yesterday alone - with appropriate links to let them know how you feel.

And finally, those darn t-shirts. Come on folks. You know you want one. Go back to our home page, click on the t-shirt picture, and buy your own StopDrLaura.com t-shirt (in black or white) from our good friends at Don't Panic. Don't Panic is donating all the profits to StopDrLaura.com (in case you didn't realize, we're all doing this for free). With the March on Washington coming up, you might as well get one for that - in April, Washington, DC is already well into springtime, and the weather is beautiful.

Thanks again for everything, and if you can, give Paramount another phone call - I've received reports that the religious right has published Paramount's phone number and is asking their supporters to call the studio and save Dr. Laura. And now that Dr. Laura is back on the anti-gay wagon, we need to call Paramount one more time and say "enough is enough."

March 10, 2000
SPECIAL UPDATE: PROTEST PARAMOUNT ON MARCH 21!
StopDrLaura.com joined the California-based Horizons Foundation today in announcing a day of protest on Tuesday March 21st at the gates of Paramount Television. As you know, Paramount TV intends to air the Dr. Laura TV show this fall. The protest will be from 8:30a.m. until 10:30a.m., just in time to catch Chairman Kerry McCluggage, Co-President Frank Kelly, and all the other execs on their way in to work. Please tell all of your friends, and be sure to check back here for frequent updates on the protest (within a few days, we'll have a special section devoted to the protest).

In other news, we're well over 3m hits on the Web site, and we've sold over 400 StopDrLaura.com t-shirts. If you're in California and can attend the protest, please consider buying a t-shirt to wear that day, and even if can't attend, the more t-shirt you folks buy the more people will stop you on the street and ask what the shirt is all about. In terms of news coverage, we're doing a ton of radio interviews, and got more press in the Connecticut papers and elsewhere. And a fun little aside, a number of militant fundamentalist lobbying groups are now demanding their own meeting with Paramount, with a number of "ex-gays" in tow. If I were Paramount, I'd cancel this program fast, because there's nothing like the radical right crowd to really get our folks enraged and engaged.

Click here to read our press release announcing the protest.

March 9, 2000

The Paramount public relations debacle rolls on... Today, we crossed the 3m hit mark on our Web site. Great articles came out in Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine, and People reported that Dr. Laura had to hire a crisis management team to handle the onslaught of bad PR. The local press around the country and beyond is now picking up the story - articles have appeared in Calgary, Milwaukee, we were on the NPR affiliate in Wisconsin, CNet Radio, and more. A prominent California Rabbi has added her quote and testimonial to our home page, as has Web-cam king Sean Patrick of SeanPatrickLive.com.

And the biggest news: this week in Los Angeles, and across the country, members of the lesbian and gay community, StopDrLaura.com and members of national organizations are meeting to plan massive protests at the gates of Paramount and at local Paramount and CBS stations nationwide. Be sure to check back here frequently so that we can let you know where they are and when, and how you can participate. StopDrLaura.com is committed to keeping the heat on Paramount, with your help!

March 8, 2000

The anti-Paramount bandwagon keeps rolling. The StopDrLaura.com Web site is now at well over 2.5 million hits, in only one week, and we got over 650,000 hits just yesterday! Dr. Laura's fans have been speaking out in her defense, and we found their words so moving we decided to devote a new page on the site exclusively to them. The t-shirts are moving along nicely - we sold 100 of them in our first day, but hope you folks will buy more (why not get some for the March on Washington next month, or as a gift for a friend?). In terms of media, the New York Daily News ran a great piece today, and Entertainment Weekly should come out with a story tomorrow, along with People magazine on Friday. In addition, TomPaine.com published a blistering quarter-page ad in the op-ed section of today's New York Times - the ad calls Dr. Laura the "Queen of Hate."

As for Paramount, we've added new fax numbers for the top two execs, and have found a direct line to the co-president of Paramount Domestic Television, Frank Kelly. We're also now asking everyone to contact KPIX-TV in San Francisco. KPIX is one of the stations that will be running Dr. Laura's talk show in the fall. Please give them a call, email, fax and letter, and let them know your feelings. (We'll be expanding this list shortly, but why not focus all our energies on one station to be more efficient). All in all, a really impressive effort by all of you in the online and offline community - thanks everyone.

March 6, 2000

Lots of updates today, folks. Our StopDrLaura.com t-shirts are now live on the site and for sale - proceeds go to help finance this pro bono effort, and frankly they're just cool! The New York Times today ran a great story about the Dr. Laura controversy, saying that Paramount is being "besieged" by phone calls and emails - good work everyone. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is in the midst of voting on a resolution critical of Dr. Laura and of the local TV station that's planning on airing her show (see the updated alert at left). San Francisco Supervisors Tom Ammiano, Mark Leno and Leslie Katz are adding quotes and pictures to our virtual testimonials on the home page. And former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder asked today if she could be added as well! And finally, the site is at 1.7m hits!

March 5, 2000

STOPDRLAURA.COM GETS OVER 1M HITS
In its first four days of operation, the StopDrLaura.com Web site got 1.4 million hits. Our most recent press hits include Access Hollywood, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, and prepare for some big media hits next week. Thanks for everyone's help in making this online campaign against intolerance a tremendous success....so far. We still need to convince Paramount that double standards on civil rights issues are never acceptable. To date, Paramount is showing signs of strain. Their employees have admitted that they're getting inundated with phone calls, and they even had to unlist the phone number of one of their top executives after we targeted him for calls. Actually, as a funny aside, some callers have reported that the employees tasked to answer the phones have admitted that they actually agreed that Paramount should drop Dr. Laura!

In other news, openly-gay screenwriter/director Christopher Landon has graciously added his photo and quote to our StopDrLaura.com home page. [For folks who may not have realized, when you click on the people's photos on the home page, you get a virtual testimonial that's extremely cool - check it out.] The SF Chronicle reported yesterday that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be taking up a resolution critical of Dr. Laura, which is sure to only add fuel to the controversy. And with the vote on the anti-gay Knight Initiative taking place in CA on Tuesday March 7, pro-gay tensions in California are only going to rise. If I were Paramount, for the next six months I'd go on a LONG vacation. Perhaps we should mail them brochures for Sandals Resorts in Jamaica and the Bahamas? You know, the one that bans gay couples.

NEW TARGET - MEDIA RELATIONS
To date we've been targeting two of Paramount Television's top executives - Frank Kelly and Kerry McCluggage. As Paramount has decided to unlist the phone number of Frank Kelly, we're now referring people's complaints to Michelle Hunt, their media relations person. Please keep calling Paramount Chairman Kerrey McCluggage at phone (323) 956-5076 - it's the direct line to his office. But also start a new round of calls to Michelle Hunt at phone 323-956-8266, fax 323-862-1323, email

T-SHIRTS? OH YEAH!
Yes, it's true. Within a very short time, you too can get your own StopDrLaura.com t-shirt. I'm not gonna spill the beans too far on this one, yet, but there will be a couple of versions, they won't be expensive, they will be fabulous, and you'll be able to buy them online. The proceeds will go towards financing our efforts to continue this battle (as you all may know, we've all have other jobs, and have been doing this for free on our own time, and dime, including construction and maintenance of the Web site). Just imagine the faces of the Paramount Execs when they see our StopDrLaura.com t-shirts walking around downtown LA.