Dr. Falwell never said Tinky Winky was gay. An Associated Press reporter by the name of David Reed said Dr. Falwell did.

The article in question was not written by Rev. Falwell. It was written by J.M. Smith, senior editor of the National Liberty Journal.

Furthermore, Mr. Smith simply documented information already reported by Time, People, The Washington Post, CNN and other news sources.

In the “parents’ alert” article, Smith used a editorial from the Washington Post that said Ellen DeGeneres is “out” and “Tinky Winky, the gay Teletubby” is “in” (Jan. 1, 1999).

Time magazine was the one to bring up Tinky Winky, the boy who carries a purse in the July 20, 1998 issue. It was a Dec. 28, 1998 article of People that stated “gay men have made the purse-toting Tinky Winky a camp icon.”

It’s time we give credit where credit is due. Leave Falwell alone. If the media can’t seem to leave people of strong faith alone, at least report the truth.

But I know they can’t handle the truth. David Reed only used Dr. Falwell’s name to smear the Christian man.

Any powerful Christian seems to be fair game in this world of liberal media. And unless you do your research, you have no idea what you hear in the news is the truth or not.

So before you slam a person, know the truth. And the truth is not the 6 o’clock news.

Anyone named Tinky Winky sounds gay to me.

Justin Fritz

Senior

Mechanical engineering