Gay rights group asks Dr. Laura to tone down her rhetoric

(San Francisco-AP) -- A gay rights group is taking on the nation's top-rated radio talk show host.<br><br>The group accuses Dr. Laura Schlessinger of harming children by calling gay people "deviants"

Thursday, February 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(San Francisco-AP) -- A gay rights group is taking on the nation's top-rated radio talk show host.

The group accuses Dr. Laura Schlessinger of harming children by calling gay people "deviants" and biological errors whose
sexuality can be changed through therapy.

The San Francisco-based Horizons Foundation is running newspaper ads accusing Dr. Laura of helping to create an environment that
allows anti-gay prejudice to thrive, and where slurs too often turn into harassment and violence.

A letter to Schlessinger asking her to tone down her language was signed by 180 child welfare organizations, health associations,
civil liberties groups, rabbis and other religious leaders.

Schlessinger says she's never made anti-gay commentary, only anti-gay activist agenda commentaries.

Schlessinger's three-hour, five-day-a-week program airs on 500 stations. It attracts 20 (m) million listeners, more than Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern.