The passage of the pro-lgbt non-discrimination ordinance in San Antonio on Thursday brings to my mind yet again the urgency of the lgbt community needing to call out the propaganda spread about us via deliberate liars such as Todd Starnes and Fox News and funneled by ignorant folks blinded by their interpretations of Biblical truth.
Before San Antonio voted for the ordinance, members of the lgbt community had to sit through demeaning testimony which cast gays as "abominations" or went into grotesque detail in regards to how we supposedly engage in intercourse. I personally felt nauseated when I read the tweets of testimony. I felt as if I was strapped down into some time machine and transported back to when Anita Bryant was trumpeting the false idea that gays recruit children.
It was such a long time ago since that happened but here we are decades later hearing the same lies. The problem is we don't take this junk seriously until after the fact. We laugh at the outrageous comments uttered by Bryan Fischer and the rest but in doing so, we underestimate these comments. We forget that they do in fact move a significant part of the population either due to their religious beliefs or when Fischer and company can infuse fear of a gay takeover into their minds.
We are under the false belief that addressing this propaganda gives it power, but we have the entire idea backwards. NOT confronting this propaganda is the thing which gives it power.
Until the lgbt community and our leaders declare war against the lies and liars and makes a serious effort in confronting this propaganda head on, America will have serious problems seeing the real lgbt community:
Instead, the lgbt community will have to contend with this:
And this:
Make no mistake about it. Those who spread anti-gay propaganda are only part to blame when that propaganda successfully hinders gay equality. The other part of the blame has to go to the powers-that-be in the lgbt community with the power to educate about this propaganda beforehand but will do nothing but gripe and groan after it does its work.
To hell with being reactive. We need to be proactive.
Related post: How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America - a short, but definitive guide in calling out and refuting homophobic propaganda.
Before San Antonio voted for the ordinance, members of the lgbt community had to sit through demeaning testimony which cast gays as "abominations" or went into grotesque detail in regards to how we supposedly engage in intercourse. I personally felt nauseated when I read the tweets of testimony. I felt as if I was strapped down into some time machine and transported back to when Anita Bryant was trumpeting the false idea that gays recruit children.
It was such a long time ago since that happened but here we are decades later hearing the same lies. The problem is we don't take this junk seriously until after the fact. We laugh at the outrageous comments uttered by Bryan Fischer and the rest but in doing so, we underestimate these comments. We forget that they do in fact move a significant part of the population either due to their religious beliefs or when Fischer and company can infuse fear of a gay takeover into their minds.
We are under the false belief that addressing this propaganda gives it power, but we have the entire idea backwards. NOT confronting this propaganda is the thing which gives it power.
Until the lgbt community and our leaders declare war against the lies and liars and makes a serious effort in confronting this propaganda head on, America will have serious problems seeing the real lgbt community:
Instead, the lgbt community will have to contend with this:
And this:
Make no mistake about it. Those who spread anti-gay propaganda are only part to blame when that propaganda successfully hinders gay equality. The other part of the blame has to go to the powers-that-be in the lgbt community with the power to educate about this propaganda beforehand but will do nothing but gripe and groan after it does its work.
To hell with being reactive. We need to be proactive.
Related post: How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America - a short, but definitive guide in calling out and refuting homophobic propaganda.
5 comments:
I'm working on a psych degree and I intend on studying sexuality. One thing I want to do is study the actual effects of what is called ex-gay therapy on the psyche of those who go through it.
I have no doubt that things will be said about me if I get to the point where what I say is used to fight against anti-gay laws. If I get to this point I will be waiting for someone to say something about me based on the stereotype of gays. I plan to sue them for defamation of character. That is what should be done as a matter of cores. We say that since they are generalizing then we can't do anything, but I've seen, on your page, times when specific things have been said about specific people and no one does anything.
Is that a Dick Haefer comic?
Yes it is, anonymous. I own an original copy of his awful book Deathstyle. It was the basis of my booklet, How They See Us.
Nothing surprising in this. I recall some of the derogatory bovine effluent during marriage equality hearings here in RI.
But now the bigots can go cry in their bowl of milk because marriage equality is a reality here in RI.
Plus we have EHCNDA - Employment, Housing and Credit Non Discrimination codified in law for the entirety of the LGBT spectrum.
Convicting Scott Lively of crimes against humanity could be used as proof that words matter. The slander and defamation spewed vile lies have an effect on the people listening. Some take action against us. Everyday some LGBT person is attacked, beaten, house set fire and killed. Usually by someone who with "deeply held beliefs". Linda Harvey, Tony Perkins, Brian Brown and my favorite one to hate.....Bryan Fischer all have said and instigated hateful things about LGBT people, Muslims and Jews. He comments on everything on Twitter and it ALWAYS is connected to the Gay Agenda. He could connect the dots from a box of oat meal to the homosexuals.
I wish we had laws against hate speech like the Brits do. We could shut them ALL down.
Alas, this is the downside to our freedom of speech.
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