In terms of homophobic personalities and groups in American society, I've broken them down into two entities - One group is sly because they practice passive-aggressive tactics. The other group is simply gross because they attempt to make almost every LGBTQ debate one about gay sex.
1. The Dodgers - The Dodgers consist of groups like the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, people like Franklin Graham and Todd Starnes. The best way to describe them is to compare them to David Duke when he attempted to clean up his image by claiming to be "pro-white" rather than "anti-black."
In that same mind frame, the Dodgers claim that they aren't anti-gay, but are "pro-family." This is done so that they can appeal to so-called common Americans while publishing columns, giving interviews, or appearing on news programs. Their goal isn't to scare without saying the word "Boo!"
They generally attempt to make the narrative about how the Christian community is supposedly in danger because of the so-called "gay agenda." They use and distort anecdotes portraying people on their side with the highest degree of innocence. A woman who refuses to serve gays in her flower shop is made over into a "Christian grandmother being driven out of business by a homosexual couple who targeted her." A government employee who undermines a gay couple attempting to get their wedding license is transformed into "a Christian woman who is thrown in jail because she won't compromise her faith."
The Dodgers never speak specifically about LGBTQs, unless they are trying to label us as angry and threatening. They categorize us as a nameless, faceless, raging horde. They never speak about gay children nor same-sex households. They never acknowledge us going through the day-by-day paces of life. And don't even talk about admitting that some of us are religious. To them, it's all about erasing our humanity and putting us in opposition to people of faith.
2. The Ick Factor Fanciers - These folks are simply consumed with talking about gay sex. They are anti-LGBTQ activists and groups such as Mike Huckabee, Mass Resistance, Brian Camenker, Matt Barber, and (of course) "Porno Peter LaBarbera who have at least once openly espoused talking about gay sex because they feel such talk would nauseate people against LGBTQ equality. Almost every conversation and debate about LGBTQ equality - whether it be about adoption rights, marriage, anti-discrimination ordinances - is broken down to talking about things such as "sodomy." "the thinness of the rectum" or "spilled semen."
Take this clip of Mission America's Linda Harvey for example. According to Right Wing Watch:
The Dodgers want to dehumanize the LGBTQ community. In contrast, the Ick Factor Fanciers seek to caricature us into the following:
So these are two groups attempting to curtail LGBTQ equality. One is dangerous, while the other is simply nasty. And both are extreme pains in the ass.
1. The Dodgers - The Dodgers consist of groups like the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, people like Franklin Graham and Todd Starnes. The best way to describe them is to compare them to David Duke when he attempted to clean up his image by claiming to be "pro-white" rather than "anti-black."
In that same mind frame, the Dodgers claim that they aren't anti-gay, but are "pro-family." This is done so that they can appeal to so-called common Americans while publishing columns, giving interviews, or appearing on news programs. Their goal isn't to scare without saying the word "Boo!"
They generally attempt to make the narrative about how the Christian community is supposedly in danger because of the so-called "gay agenda." They use and distort anecdotes portraying people on their side with the highest degree of innocence. A woman who refuses to serve gays in her flower shop is made over into a "Christian grandmother being driven out of business by a homosexual couple who targeted her." A government employee who undermines a gay couple attempting to get their wedding license is transformed into "a Christian woman who is thrown in jail because she won't compromise her faith."
The Dodgers never speak specifically about LGBTQs, unless they are trying to label us as angry and threatening. They categorize us as a nameless, faceless, raging horde. They never speak about gay children nor same-sex households. They never acknowledge us going through the day-by-day paces of life. And don't even talk about admitting that some of us are religious. To them, it's all about erasing our humanity and putting us in opposition to people of faith.
2. The Ick Factor Fanciers - These folks are simply consumed with talking about gay sex. They are anti-LGBTQ activists and groups such as Mike Huckabee, Mass Resistance, Brian Camenker, Matt Barber, and (of course) "Porno Peter LaBarbera who have at least once openly espoused talking about gay sex because they feel such talk would nauseate people against LGBTQ equality. Almost every conversation and debate about LGBTQ equality - whether it be about adoption rights, marriage, anti-discrimination ordinances - is broken down to talking about things such as "sodomy." "the thinness of the rectum" or "spilled semen."
Take this clip of Mission America's Linda Harvey for example. According to Right Wing Watch:
Last week, anti-LGBTQ activist Linda Harvey of Mission America spoke at the Bringing America Back to Life Convention, where she addressed “The Intersection of Sexual Anarchy, the ‘LGBT’ Agenda, and the Pro-Life Movement.”
“One has to consider, first of all, the horrifying possibility that this complete sexual and human identity meltdown could be an aspect of God’s judgment on us for aborting millions of our children,” she said. “It is very possible that as an instrument of God’s judgment, he is using the punishment to come on us through our children, the corruption of our children.”
“The same-sex pair purposely avoids vaginal intercourse in favor of everything but,” Harvey stated. “God has given us a quick way to assess the worth of two males or two females; these avoidance and substitution relationships involve not literal or symbolic life creation, but the opposite. They involve the waste functions of the body or empty relations with spilled sperm or substitutes for the male organ. You get the idea. They are dead-end, degrading passions.”
“There is no life and there is often disease,” she added. “It’s the recipe for personal, societal, cultural, and spiritual disaster. Death is the central driving force for the abortion movement—the death of a person. Death and the absence of new life are also the connection among the LGBT movement. Without the rejection of heterosexual norms— husbands and wives who create babies—the LGBTQ movement has no reason to exist.”
The Dodgers want to dehumanize the LGBTQ community. In contrast, the Ick Factor Fanciers seek to caricature us into the following:
So these are two groups attempting to curtail LGBTQ equality. One is dangerous, while the other is simply nasty. And both are extreme pains in the ass.
“There is no life and there is often disease,” says Linda Harvey. What is her definition of Life, or for disease for that matter?
ReplyDeleteMy late partner and I were doing quite well in life. She had her college degree in education and was working part-time as a teacher in a nearby high school. When she got established she would be the breadwinner while I returned to college for my degree. Our wild life of debauchery mostly consisted of her sitting at the dining room grading papers while I did the various chores around the house. Sometimes I'd finish things up and join her at the table to read a book and keep her company.
She was a Mormon, at least until her family had her excommunicated. That hurt her, a lot. I was at best a lukewarm Missouri Synod Lutheran but she wasn't comfortable with it. And the Southern Baptists made us want to throw up. So Robyn and I generally stayed home on Sundays. We didn't leave religion, religion left us.
Disease? Colds, flu, I had pneumonia, not uncommon with people like me that have Cystic Fibrosis. Not exactly being eaten up by terrible diseases.
So sorry, Linda. We had a perfectly normal life of two college students. Trying to get by and make a place for ourselves in the world, same as everybody else. And Linda, you don't know WTF you are talking about!