On Tuesday, Glenn Beck hosted Robert George on his Fox News program offering the Princeton University professor an opportunity to articulate the pillars of the anti-LGBT Manhattan Declaration which George co-authored:

The New York Times described the Manhattan Declaration thusly back in November:

Citing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to civil disobedience, 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples.

[...]

The document was written by Mr. Colson; Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, who is Catholic; and the Rev. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School, an evangelical interdenominational school on the campus of Samford University, in Birmingham, Ala.

They convened a meeting of Christian leaders in Manhattan in September to present the document and gather suggestions. The 4,700-word document is called the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.” The New York Times obtained an advance copy.

The document says, “We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent.”

The Manhattan Declaration folks appear to have a great deal in common with Beck -- not the least of which is an affinity for citing Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to legitimize their right-wing points of view.

The very next day, viewers of Beck's Fox News show were likely surprised when the host seemed to defend several gay and lesbian service members who hand-cuffed themselves to the White House fence in Lafayette Square Park to protest President Obama's slow movement on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Don't jump to any conclusions. Beck hasn't turned over a new leaf in his treatment of the LGBT community. He's just as homophobic as ever.

In fact, Beck only sprang to the defense of these brave men and women because he saw an opening to attack the President and his ominous “government” while simultaneously painting a menacing picture for his robotic followers -- Obama will come after you too!

It should be noted that the White House didn't keep reporters from covering the truly newsworthy protest -- the blame reportedly rests with the U.S. Park Police. Politico's Ben Smith reports:

The U.S. Park Police is taking responsibility for chasing reporters away from the White House as six uniformed members of the armed services were arrested after handcuffing themselves to the White House gate to protest “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” yesterday.

“That was strictly the U.S. Park Police that screwed up - that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the Administration,” said Park Police spokesman Sergeant David Schlosser of the incident, which drew complaints from reporters and online speculation about darker motives.

The whole episode is just further proof of Fox News' love/hate relationship with its gay “friends” which I wrote about in greater detail last week.

Related:

• Fox News' love/hate relationship with its gay “friends”