Andrew "I'm Sorry" Marin is making the rounds on the blogs again—Chris Bodenner praised Marin's efforts in a recent post at Sullivan—and people are calling bullshit. Sorry or not, Marin is out there peddling the same line of love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin bullshit as his not-pretending-to-be-sorry bigoted coreligionists. Only Marin is media savvy enough to peddle his hate at gay pride parades wearing "I'm Sorry" t-shirts instead of waving "God Hates Fags" signs. Chris tries to see the bright side:

Starting with the fact that Marin named his foundation after himself, he does appear to be a shameless self-promoter (though he's certainly not the only one profiting off the struggle). Still, his approach is a hell of a lot better than protesting outside gay couples' houses or screaming "God hates fags" in people's faces. Perhaps his greatest influence on the culture wars will be a lowering of the temperature rather than anything he does directly, since "homosexuality is a sin" is a pretty intractable and pointless position.

If Marin were interested in "lowering the temperature," if he genuinely disapproved of the kind of anti-gay rhetoric that employed by homosexually-obsessed rightwing Christian bigots, then Marin would have nothing to do with the likes of, say, Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. LaBarbera is a deranged hater with some very serious issues. (Porno Pete just can't stop going undercover at gay leather/fetish/BDSM events to snap expose-the-truth pictures of all the dirty—despite the fact organizers of these events are only to happy to post pictures on their own websites of all the dirty.) So does Marin distance himself from LaBarbera? Nope. Marin sticks his forked tongue right up LaBarbera's vile ass:

The Marin Foundation builds bridges with the gay and lesbian community. Americans for Truth erects fences to contain the influence of that community. Some may see them as opponents. But in reality, Marin and LaBarbera simply represent two sides of the same coin. Marin emphasizes God’s love; LaBarbera stresses God’s truth. But both do God’s work.

Fortunately, LaBarbera and Marin understand this reality and don’t fall into the opposition mentality that plagues so many believers. Too often, Christians with such divergent calls fail to see they’re on the same team. They’re like an offense unable to see that the points their defense prevents matter every bit as much as the points their offense scores. Marin and LaBarbera, however, demonstrated remarkable maturity during a segment on the Morning Program last week. Marin was discussing his ministry to gays when LaBarbera called in. Some might expect LaBarbera—given the antipathy gay activists express towards his work—to chide Marin for cavorting with the enemy.

But LaBarbera rightly understands that his struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil. Gay activists are not our enemies. They’re victims of the evil one—deceived and in need of the same redemption God’s granted every believer. That’s why LaBarbera could bless Marin’s work. And he could thank God that Marin is engaging people in spiritual discussions who otherwise never would talk to a born-again believer.

Similarly, Marin praised LaBarbera for his work, reminding listeners that this defender of truth—quote—“takes the bullet for all of us.” Understandably, LaBarbera may make Marin’s work more difficult. By opposing the gay agenda in politics and schools, he’s angered many gays and lesbians and possibly made them more resistant to the gospel. But Marin rightly understands that Christians can’t remain silent while the culture capitulates to Satan’s schemes.

A fundamentalist Christian who was sincerely interested in "lowering the temperature" would be calling out the vile, homophobic, unapologetically hateful Peter LaBarbera. But Marin isn't interested in "lowering the temperature" or building bridges. He's interested in working an angle.

Marin is a scam artist who preys on emotionally vulnerable gays and lesbians, men and women who have been spiritually wounded by his coreligionists, and his goals are indistinguishable from those of LaBarbera and the American Family Assocation and George Reker: convince us that God does indeed hates fags, that our loves are abominations, that our desire for intimacy is a sin, and turn us away from each other, our families. The only thing that distinguishes Marin from LaBarbera is that Porn Pete isn't selling t-shirts.

Signorile has done a great job exposing Marin for the vile scam artist he is—see here, here, and here.