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| Tweets such as this are exposing hypocrisy of religious liberty argument. |
‘Religious liberty’ argument reignites interest in homophobic
propaganda
COLUMBIA,
SC -- An online booklet on
anti-gay propaganda published in 2013 is enjoying a huge resurgence of
readership because it exposes the homophobia behind some of the religious right
leading voices who claim their positions are based on religion, not animus. And
this is taking place at the very time in which these voices are moving to
enshrine anti-gay discrimination into the law under the guise of “religious
liberty.”
How
They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America was
published by lgbt blogger and activist Alvin McEwen in January 2013. It is a short, graphics-intensive booklet which
demonstrates how religious right groups distort research, science, and
religious beliefs in order to create negative memes about the lgbt community; memes
such as gay men molest children at a high level, the lgbt community has a
shorter lifespan than heterosexuals, and that homosexuality in general is a
lifestyle more dangerous than cigarette smoking.
At the time of its publishing, the
booklet found a receptive audience through social media, particularly on
Twitter where much of this conversation played out.
Two years later, the audience has become larger and even more
receptive due to SCOTUS declaring marriage equality legal. Religious right
groups began converting their message from one of blatant anti-gay animus into
one of victimhood against a supposedly encroaching gay agenda in attempts to
pass “religious liberty” laws which would legalize various forms of anti-lgbt
discrimination.
In response to this, McEwen converted snippets of past homophobic
statements made by religious right leaders from his booklet into jpegs and sent
them out on Twitter along with a link to the booklet. The response has been
immediate and remarkable. In less than a month, How They See Us garnered
over 7,000 hits.
McEwen said his actions were an effort to keep these groups from conveniently
omitting their past history of homophobic actions and statements. He also said he has been receiving various
reactions from the tweets but he regards it all as positive.
“People have expressed either amusement or repulsion, but the vast
majority of them have clicked on the link to the booklet and then began retweeting
it,” McEwen said. “And that’s the fact which matters the most as far as I’m
concerned. The information is getting out on a level it didn’t before. People want either new information about
these groups or reminders of the homophobia they peddle."
In his booklet, McEwen exposes religious right groups such
as the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and the
National Organization for Marriage. One particular group which McEwen focuses briefly
on is the Liberty Counsel. The Liberty Counsel has been in the news recently for
counseling a Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, to not give out any marriage licenses
to gay couples in spite of the fact that a federal judge ordered her to. The organization
would have people to believe that it is solely concerned about Davis’s “religious
liberty.” However, unprofessional statements published in McEwen’s booklet
- which he also tweeted – by Liberty Counsel member Matt Barber demonstrates
how homophobic animus is playing a huge part in the organization’s actions.
McEwen said aside from reminding people about the religious right’s
bigotry, awareness of how they stigmatize the lgbt community is important because
this stigmatization plays a part in negative lgbt health issues. According to groups such as the Centers for Disease Control,
members of the lgbt community do in fact have serious issues with depression,
alcoholism, and sexually transmitted diseases. However, the CDC has never said
these negative health issues are indicative of being lgbt. Instead, the CDC
places the blame on homophobia, societal rejection, and how this causes lgbts
to not receive good health care or feel isolated.
“When anti-gay groups and personalities cite CDC data, they
emphasize the negative health issues in the lgbt community, but omit that the
CDC also said these behaviors are the effects of homophobia and societal
rejection,” McEwen said. “By doing this, anti-gay groups add to the aura of
stigmatization which create these negative health issues in the first place,
which they then exploit to falsely claim that homosexuality is a dangerous
lifestyle. It’s the equivalent of a
bully repeatedly striking his or her victim while saying ‘stop hitting
yourself’ after each blow.”
The following are various other tweets sent out by McEwen:
Alvin McEwen is 44-year-old
African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC. McEwen's blog, Holy
Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by
Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com,
MSNBC, The Washington Post, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com,
Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Newsweek, and
Foxnews.com. He is a two-time GLAAD
Media Award nominee, three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award
from SC Pride, and a 2015 recipient of the Pride Index Esteem Award.
