On Sunday, this blog reached a milestone of 20 years in existence. I can barely believe it myself. This blog, which began as a way to publicize a book which I was self-publishing, took a life of its own and has lasted this long.
And after 20 years, over 10,000 posts, over 10 million hits, national and international acclaim (including one GLAAD Media Award and seven nominations), I think I still have work to do.
To put it plainly, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters is an extension of my anger at how the anti-LGBTQ industry was poisoning our existence with lies they spread about us.
You know what lies I am talking about:
We are violent,
we are constantly trying to have sex with kids,
we are "recruiting" or "grooming" kids,
we have a multitude of diseases, we have hundreds to thousands of encounters,
we have no capacity to love, we hate and want to hurt Christians,
we lead unhappy lives and will go to hell when we die.
I can remember an America before Pete Buttigieg, 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' and gay marriages and it wasn't a pleasant place to be.
So many of us lived in rock solid or plexiglass closets even where we had to endure the constant possibility of violence which could kill us, ugly whispers which could be turned into vocal rumors threatening our employment and family relationships, and very vocal AIDS jokes which denigrated our dignity as we lay dying while government officials did very little about it. LGBTQ people were fed a steady diet of reasons why we should hate ourselves and we had very little power to push back. To some, those awful situations I described still exist, but the difference is we have the power to push back and we do.
It's rather funny to contemplate all of this now that I am older, but back then when I was trying to navigate my way through college and young adulthood in the 1990s, it was a huge detriment to know that there were people out there judging me and throwing roadblocks in my life designed to maneuver me (and so many others) in directions self-hatred. And not because of anything I had done, but because they felt they were ordained by God Himself tell me what my life will entail. They were so determined to save my soul from the fires of hell when I died that they have no problem making my life a living hell while I'm alive
And they didn't have any problems telling lies to accomplish their goals. That's where my blog came in. When I was in college, I promised myself that I would do something about it. That "something" came over 10 years later. The book I was trying to self-publish came and went as disasters generally do.
But this blog has lasted. It has endured. For 20 years, I have attacked, called out, and brought receipts against just about every lie about LGBTQ people. I have called attention to the deliberate falsehoods, bad science, cherry-picked science, and basic bullshit that groups like the Family Research Council and people like the late James Dobson have thrown at us. And I'm still doing it when it comes to the new haters like Donald Trump and Libs of Tiktok.
I hope that folks who view this blog become empowered by what they read. I also hope that they use it as a historical and reference guide. Our community has come a long way since 2006. Some of it has been wonderful, some of it has been ugly and disappointing, but through it all, here we are. And while it may not seem so at times, we are in a much better place than we were in 2006.
I think my blog contributed to that. It's my legacy and contribution to LGBTQ people and our history. It's been a hell of a ride, but it ain't over yet.
Not by a long shot. Thank you all for taking this journey with me.
Below what I wrote as the first post of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters 20 years ago. It clarifies the goals of this blog for folks who remain curious:
There are a bunch of organizations in this country who thrive on ignorance, fear, and a sense of entitlement.
They refer to themselves as "pro family" and even members of the gay community regard them as the religious right
With all due respect, I don't see them as that. They are an anti-gay industry who seeks to gain political power by building on the religious beliefs and ignorance of people of faith. And they have been pretty successful.
Central to this success are their so-called studies on the gay community. In order to prove that gays and lesbians should not have any protection of laws, they have created a written and oral pattern of deception that is not only blatant in its attempts but shameful in its audacity. In their zeal to prove the worst about the gay community, the anti-gay industry runs roughshod over science and truth. They have created a houses of pseudo-scientific studies based on distortions, lies, headless monsters, and legitimate studies taken out of context, which are then pushed by fake experts, Ph.D.s, conservative columnists and bloggers, and ignorant people of faith all willing to sacrifice their integrity on the altar of an alleged higher calling.
We know the claims these studies make:
gays have a short life span
gays molest children at a higher level than heterosexuals
lesbians abuse their partners at a high level
gays are more violent and are prone to crimes
gays are promiscuous and cannot handle the concept of marriage.
For two years, I have studied the methodologies of so-called "pro family" groups (i.e. Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the Traditional Values Coalition, etc) and am glad to say that their claims are rooted in lies, outright deceptions, and legitimate studies with portions cherry picked out.
In 2007, I will publish my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, detailing just what how the anti-gay industry propagandizes about the gay community. Through this blog, I will publish some of my findings and update everyone as to the progress of my book. I will update this blog on a weekly basis.
Now I must emphasis that I am not attacking anyone's religion. I respect a Christian's right to believe that homosexuality is an abomination. I also respect the right of the Boys Scouts of America to prohibit gays from serving as members. Of course, I also believe that if the organization had any integrity at all, it should refuse any form of public monies because some of this money is derived from gay sources via taxes. And isn't accepting money from those who you feel will not conform to your moral code just as bad as allowing them in your group.
But I digress.
What I am saying through my book and my blog is that distortions and lies in the name of God are still distortions and lies. And anyone who knowingly uses them and can still refer to themselves as a person of faith needs to examine themselves.