Lester Kinsolving

Charles Lester Kinsolving (December 18, 1927 – December 4, 2018) was an American conservative political Episcopal priest, newspaper columnist, and talk radio host. He was known for his pesky questions during the White House briefings.

In 1966, he began writing a religion column for the San Francisco Chronicle. By the 1970s, Kinsolving's column on religious matters was widely syndicated. Based at the San Francisco Examiner, he began an exposé on the Peoples Temple which was discontinued when the followers of Jim Jones responded by protesting and threatening lawsuits.

Kinsolving had a minor role as Confederate General William Barksdale in a couple of films: Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.

He hosted a radio show on WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland.

Views on gay rights Kinsolving was an outspoken opponent of gay rights organizations – "the sodomy lobby," as he referred to them – mainly because of his religious beliefs.

He is known for being the first White House correspondent to ask questions about the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the Reagan administration; he continued to ask questions about the disease even though press secretary Larry Speakes and some other correspondents made light of it; Speakes joked that Kinsolving had an "abiding interest in the disease" because he was "a ". Kinsolving first asked questions about AIDS in 1982; President Reagan would not acknowledge the epidemic until 1985, after reelection, by which time more than five thousand people had died from the disease in the United States.

Death Kinsolving died on December 4, 2018, at his home in Vienna, Virginia.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1993 Gettysburg Brig. Gen. William Barksdale 2003 Gods and Generals (final film role)