Reaping benefits of helping yourself

I spoke to my publisher today and my book is on deck for sometime in May/June 2007.

This entire progress has been tiring and I have gone through many "changes" so to speak. As this two-year odyssey of writing and publishing my first book comes to an end, I am been having a few epiphanies. These epiphanies are also because of the recent passage of the anti-marriage equality amendment in my state of South Carolina, something I fought to prevent.

While I have been writing this book, I have received some support from those who understand why a book like this is important.

Unfortunately, there have also been some who cannot understand why the gay community needs to chart and record the distortions of the anti-gay industry. This is the set of people I like to call "old school."

When I say "old school," I mean those activists who think that anything that causes attention to our cause is a good thing. They seem to be stuck in past, where tactics of direct action was appropriate. During those times, loudly bringing attention to our causes was needed.

But now is the time for pragmatism and planning, building our base, and giving our community spiritual and psychological boosts against the slings and arrows of ignorance some throw against us.

It is also time that we distinguish between the purveyors of anti-gay propaganda and those who fall for their lies. We should confront people like Lou Sheldon and organizations like Focus on the Family with dignity and control of our image. Our fight is not against those who think that homosexuality is a sin, but with those who exploit those beliefs.

With that in mind, the following is a draft of the back cover of my upcoming book. Feel free to tell me what you think:

Why do the Traditional Values Coalition continue to use studies against the gay community that it has acknowledged as being incorrect?

Why did Robert Knight, James Kennedy, and other religious conservatives cite a Netherlands study to make the case against same sex marriage even though the study had nothing to do with marriage at all?

Why do religious conservative pundits continue to claim that gay men have short line spans, even though their claim has been refuted several times, including by the originators of a study they continue to cite?

Why have several researchers and professors gone on record claiming that religious conservatives either distort their original work or take their findings out of context?

Why do religious conservative groups continue to cite the work of Paul Cameron, even though he has been censured and rebuked by several legitimate organizations including the American Psychological Association?

In their attempts to prove the worst about the gay community, so-called “pro-family” groups have created a house of pseudo-scientific studies made up of distortions, lies, and legitimate studies taken out of context.

These studies are then pushed by fake experts and Ph.D.s and repeated by conservative columnists and ignorant people of faith all willing to sacrifice their integrity on the altar of an alleged higher calling.

For the very first time, a book analyzes these deceptive tactics of Concerned Women for America, the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association, and other so-called “pro family” groups as they not only demonize the American gay community but exploit the beliefs of people of faith.