Advice for Brian Lamb

There's a wonderful new documentary playing in theaters that first appeared in April at the Tribeca Film Fest called 'A "Saint's" life.' It's a touching portrait of the life story of Father Mychal Judge, a chaplain for New York City's fire department who was killed administering last rites during the World Trade Center disaster. He's the Franciscan monk immortalized in a famous photograph of firefighters and NYPD carrying his limp body from the wreckage. I hadn't heard of the movie until I sat down last night and caught an interview with the film's director on the one of last remaining nonpartisan television networks, C-SPAN.

While the director of the film, Glenn Holsten, remained openly candid about his subject's sexuality (Father Judge was gay), I thought CEO Brian Lamb was brazenly curt and nescient about the whole issue. The chief on-air host delivered a list of meddlesome, dead-pan questions that fostered a prejudice that he may or may not have. Whether he knows it or not his questions revealed that he thought celibacy was only possible in heterosexuals, that small town America is intolerant, and that firemen are too masculine to accept a gay priest. The director, Glenn Holsten (also gay) looked more like he was on trial defending his and his subject's biology rather than the merits of the man. At one point, Lamb bluntly asked a personal question about Holsten's own adoption of a baby boy from Vietnam.

"Now, how were YOU able to adopt from Vietnam?" asks a straight-faced Lamb.
With a smile, Holsten adds..."Ahhh, the usual way...through the adoption process."

Not that I'm looking for the 50 years experience of a guy like CNN's Larry King or the compassionate reporting of NPR's Terry Gross but it would be nice if Mr.Lamb re-examined his crass elocution and compulsive reactions before he does another Q&A, not just for the viewers sake but the person he's interviewing as well.