There doesn't seem to be much going today when it comes to the LGBTQ community and the anti-LGBTQ industry, so I thought I would take a jaunt through the history of homophobic images via a publication I have used on many occasions.
Homosexuality: Legitimate, Alternate Deathstyle was created and published in the mid 1980s by a man named Dick Hafer. As you can see below, it spotlit all of the anti-LGBTQ stereotypes of the day and presented them as facts. And as you can also see by the second image, several noted public figures at the time (including a Congressman who died this year), endorsed it as fact. There really is no need to refute this booklet because it basically refutes itself. But it's important for that things like it be remembered for two reason:
1. It is a wonderful, albeit nauseatingly foul, historical resource on homophobia in the United States.
2. If you took a look at the images, you would see that the religious right/anti-LGBTQ industry are saying pretty much the same things about our community as this book, but with more subtlety and less shock. It's not that hard to go from "homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle" to "Christians need religious liberty to protect their rights from the homosexual agenda."
(Click on the images to make them larger)
Editor's note - I own a copy of Deathstyle but you can here and here to see excerpts from it.
Homosexuality: Legitimate, Alternate Deathstyle was created and published in the mid 1980s by a man named Dick Hafer. As you can see below, it spotlit all of the anti-LGBTQ stereotypes of the day and presented them as facts. And as you can also see by the second image, several noted public figures at the time (including a Congressman who died this year), endorsed it as fact. There really is no need to refute this booklet because it basically refutes itself. But it's important for that things like it be remembered for two reason:
1. It is a wonderful, albeit nauseatingly foul, historical resource on homophobia in the United States.
2. If you took a look at the images, you would see that the religious right/anti-LGBTQ industry are saying pretty much the same things about our community as this book, but with more subtlety and less shock. It's not that hard to go from "homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle" to "Christians need religious liberty to protect their rights from the homosexual agenda."
(Click on the images to make them larger)
Finally, my favorite image from this book:
Editor's note - I own a copy of Deathstyle but you can here and here to see excerpts from it.
BlackTsunami,
ReplyDeleteAh more terrible cartoons that should be featured at the Museum of Tolerance, if they're not already.
Did this thing come with a bibliography?
ReplyDeleteYep and it's crap.
ReplyDelete