Friday, March 29, 2013

Know Your LGBT History - 'THE GAYS ARE COMING TO GET YOU' documentaries

One thing the lgbt community has had to deal with over the years are homophobes with cameras, movie equipment and a vivid imagination. From Gay Rights, Special Rights to They Are Coming To Your Town, the religious right have made many a pretty penny and scared many an American with documentaries full of propaganda about a supposed gay conspiracy out to destroy America and harm children. The following trailer - The Criminalization of Christianity - is no different. Enjoy it if you can:

 

As you can no doubt tell, this trailer is filled with all sort of lies. However, I want to especially want to point one out because it involves a very good twitter buddy of mine, Chai Feldblum.

At 1:09, there is a huge photo Feldblum, head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with the following words next to the photo: "Gays Win, Christians Lose."

For a long time, the religious right accused her of making that statement, but she never said such a thing. Like so many other things they push, the controversy about that alleged statement is an ugly lie.

Right Wing Watch says the following about the trailer:

Faith 2 Action is out with a low-budget trailer for a new movie warning America that “time and freedom are running out” in the fight to stop the gay rights movement.

The ominous trailer claims gay rights advocates are “threatening marriage,” “threatening our children” and “threatening freedom” and makes references to the Jerry Sandusky abuse case and a Michael Swift article which Religious Right activists apparently don’t realize was satire.

“If homosexual activists achieve their goal,” the trailer warns, “it will be the criminalization of Christianity.”

The trailer’s credits say the film was written, of course, by F2A president Janet Porter, the author of The Criminalization of Christianity who in 2009 predicted that the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act would “send pastors to prison.”

But they are still looking for an executive producer and a costume designer, so dust off those résumés!

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

Anti-gay legislation rooted in lies, not Scripture

Dave Agema
For those who wonder why bloggers like me "pay attention" to the religious right and spotlight their lies, the following post is you: 

Michigan Republican Committeeman: Homosexuality ‘Usually Leads To Early Death’ - During the Supreme Court hearings this week on Prop 8 and DOMA, Michigan Republican Committeeman Dave Agema posted on his Facebook page something called Statistics on Homosexuality, a vicious anti-gay list of lies, including:

Many homosexual sexual encounters occur while drunk, high on drugs, or in an orgy setting.

Homosexuals live unhealthy lifestyles, and have historically accounted for the bulk of syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, the "gay bowel syndrome" (which attacks the intestinal tract), tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus .

 25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics .

 Of homosexuals questioned in one study reports that 43% admit to 500 or more partners in a lifetime, 28% admit to 1000 or more in a lifetime, and of these people, 79% say that half of those partners are total strangers, and 70% of those sexual contacts are one night stands (or, as one homosexual admits in the film "The Castro", one minute stands).

 Also, it is a favorite past-time of many homosexuals to go to "cruisy areas" and have anonymous sex.

 78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs. 50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals The median age of death of homosexuals is 42 (only 9% live past age 65). This drops to 39 if the cause of death is AIDS. The median age of death of a married heterosexual man is 75. The median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79.

Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered (usually by another homosexual) than the average person, 25 times more likely to commit suicide, and 19 times more likely to die in a traffic accident. 

 It wasn't that long ago that "high-profile" religious right groups such as the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, the National Organization for Marriage, and Concerned Women for America peddled this information free and unashamed. They still do peddle these lies, but only covertly.

NOM upset over Piers Morgan segment on marriage equality

NOM is upset over this segment on Piers Morgan in which a member of the Heritage Foundation, Ryan Anderson, was heavily outnumbered and outgunned by Piers Morgan and Suze Orman.

While NOM does have a minor point - at times it did get uncomfortable how Anderson was getting battered - for the organization to whine about unfair debates is totally hypocritical.

For the longest time, those debating on behalf of NOM - i.e. Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown - haven't necessarily behaved themselves during a debate.

 Part of me would think of that "we don't want to stoop to their level" argument. But then another part of me doesn't exactly feel all that bad that when knocked off of his talking points, Anderson couldn't rise to the challenge.  Perhaps the treatment he received stemmed from the fact that when asked questions, he repeated the same talking points in an unconvincing manner thereby giving Morgan, Orman, and the audience the impression that unless provoked a bit, he was going to duck and dodge.

But judge for yourself: