And the lies continue

Why can't they just admit what they did and apologize?

While the rest of us are caught up with the election, Heath Ledger's death, and the rest of the world's affairs, members of the anti-gay industry are consistently trying to cover up their big gaffe concerning the MRSA infection.

Recap: Members of the anti-gay industry (especially Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth) distorted a study regarding a drug resistant MRSA staph infection. Because the study found that there was a number of gay men who received in the infection in San Francisco, Barber and LaBarbera went out press releases inferring that the infection was a result of "homosexual behavior" and could possibly be seen as AIDS was in the early 80s.

When the Centers for Disease Control and the authors of the study repudiated Barber and LaBarbera's ridiculous notions, they whitewashed their past comments through straw arguments and the "blame game" on "homosexual pressure groups."

Today's piece in right-wing CNS News.Com is a continuation of this whitewash. Jeremy from Goodasyou.org breaks it down rather nicely.

But let me throw a little piece into the situation. There are things I noticed about today's article:

1. "We never suggested that it was a sexually transmitted disease," CWA's Barber countered. "We only talked about the specific behaviors that are causing this infection to spread."

Oh really, Matt? What do you make of this statement?

“The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease. In recent years we have seen a profound resurgence in cases of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, rectal gonorrhea and many other STDs among those who call themselves ‘gay."

"The human body is quite callous in how it handles mistreatment and the perversion of its natural functions. When two men mimic the act of heterosexual intercourse with one another, they create an environment, a biological counterfeit, wherein disease can thrive. Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences."

In recent years our culture has adopted a laissez faire attitude toward sexual deviancy. Television shows like Will and Grace glorify the homosexual lifestyle while our children are taught in schools that homosexuality is a perfectly healthy, alternative sexual 'orientation.' 'Stay out of our bedrooms!' we're often commanded by militant 'gay' activists.

"Well, now the dangerous and possibly deadly consequence of what occurs in those bedrooms is spilling over into the general population. It's not only frightening, it's infuriating.

"Citizens, especially parents, need to stand up and say, 'No More! We will no longer sit idly by while politically correct cultural elites endanger our children and larger communities through propagandist promotion of this demonstrably deadly lifestyle.' - Epidemic Feared - 'Gays' May Spread Deadly Staph Infection to General Population, January 15, 2008

2. I also noticed that Peter LaBarbera wasn't quoted in today's article. And maybe that was intentional. You see, if you read my last post you would know that Peter did in fact make a very interesting assumption about the MRSA infection and AIDS.

This was a press release sent out by him on January 15, 2008:

Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories 25 years ago about AIDS -- then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease)? It is unfathomable that after that plague, disease specialists and the media are now surprised at the correlation of new infections with homosexual behavior;Wake up, medical and political establishment: homosexual behavior is unhealthy -- no matter how many secular sermons you preach against "homophobia." Due to liberal political correctness, which treats aberrant -- even deadly -- behaviors as a "civil right," we as a society don't seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic - LaBarbera: New MRSA Staph Risk Spread by Gay Men Shows Risks of 'Second-Hand Sodomy'

So wouldn't these two facts make Barber's statement a lie? I think so.

3. This was also included in today's article:

Internationally known infectious disease specialist Dr. John Diggs is siding with the conservatives. The Massachusetts-based physician said treating any infection in a politically correct manner could be dangerous. Treating MRSA that way could prove fatal.

The article continues with a long interview with Diggs. But what it does not do is to inform readers of Diggs's history.

Diggs has a very interesting history in anti-gay distortions. A study he wrote, the Health Risks of Homosexuality, is included in my book as an example of a legitimate physician distorting medical research.

Diggs even appeared in Florida supporting Mayor Jim Naugle in his ludicrous crusade against the gay community there.

Please bear in mind that my problem is not with Diggs. Even though his work is fradulent, my problem is with the article. Peter Winn, the author, had a duty to inform the reader of Diggs's history. But he does not, making it seem that Diggs is an objective voice in this matter.

And I can't help but wonder whether or not that was intentional.

But really, it amazes me that the more Barber and company tries to whitewash their lies, the deeper they sink. While they may convince others sharing their beliefs of their side of the story, in the long run, this situation is going to get a lot worse for them.

Wouldn't it have been more Christian for them to have apologized?

Anatomy of a lie

An email sent to me by Peter LaBarbera (Americans for Truth) on January 25, 2008:

Never called it a "Gay Plague," the New AIDS, etc., and you know it . . . The study itself was ABOUT gay and MRSA.We wrote about the study.


An press release sent out by Peter LaBarbera (Americans for Truth) on January 15, 2008:

Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories 25 years ago about AIDS -- then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease)? It is unfathomable that after that plague, disease specialists and the media are now surprised at the correlation of new infections with homosexual behavior;

Wake up, medical and political establishment: homosexual behavior is unhealthy -- no matter how many secular sermons you preach against "homophobia." Due to liberal political correctness, which treats aberrant -- even deadly -- behaviors as a "civil right," we as a society don't seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic - LaBarbera: New MRSA Staph Risk Spread by Gay Men Shows Risks of 'Second-Hand Sodomy'

I apologize if I have been dwelling on this issue too much but I believe in constant reminders. We should never forget how the anti-gay industry tried to distort news of the MRSA staph infection.

And we must make sure that they never forget it too.

WAAAAAAAAAAAH! THE BIG BAD GAY ACTIVISTS ARE PICKING ON US!!!

I knew that mea culpa was bullshit.

Earlier this week when faced with the reality that they misrepresented a report on a skin infection (unfairly linking it to the gay community), Concerned Women for America and other anti-gay industry groups sent out a press release saying that they wanted to work together with gay rights groups in order to stop the spread of the infection.

And their platitudes were not believed, mostly because they did not mention one word of apology regarding how they first lied about the infection.

Now it is looking like those who didn't believe their bullshit had good justification.

You see the mea culpa was just a tactic strategy. The second part of said tactical strategy came today via a column written by Matt Barber (Concerned Women for America.)

The column blames the so-called gay pressure groups for "bullying" the researchers behind the story. Of course Barber does not go name the pressure groups in question nor does he say how the bullying took place.

He totally mischaracterizes the statement by the CDC about the infection; omitting the part of the statement that says conclusions cannot be drawn about all gay men based on the gay men in the study.

And he cited an book written over 10 years ago as proof of how his original bullshit about the infection was accurate.

But where his column appears is the most important part of the story. It appeared on Townhall.com, a right wing webpage. That in itself may not seem like a big thing, but it is.

You see Barber doesn't have to work too hard there to convince readers of his bullshit. From the comments I have seen (including references to Paul Cameron's research), readers there already have a preconceived notion of homoseuxality and it ain't good.

It only goes to show that Barber's column was written as part of a plan. I hope I do not seem paranoid when I say this, but I am guessing that Barber and other members of the anti-gay industry (i.e. Peter LaBarbera) recognized that they really screwed up here.

So much so that they called in reinforcements. I was surprised to see that Barber's predecessor in Concerned Women for America, Robert Knight, was taking part in some of the damage control.

And joining together (probably email and cell phone), they have crafted this plan of retreat while throwing bombs at the enemy.

Well maybe for Matt, Peter and company, it will have to do. And maybe they can get a little traction by claiming yet again that the "invisible but POWERFUL gay lobby" strong armed them, but a retreat is still a retreat.

And a loss is still a loss. And you may convince minds at Town Hall and other right-wing webpages that you did nothing wrong.

But they are the only ones you can convince of your so-called innocence.

UPDATE 1:

Slowly but surely Matt Barber's nonsensical column is being featured on several webpages including Renew America. How long will it be before Peter features it. In interviews, Barber is playing innocent:

"They're saying that we're saying that this is the new HIV ... gay disease," said Matt Barber, policy director of Concerned Women for America, on Thursday. "We never said that. We simply reported what this study has reported – that there's an outbreak among certain segments of the homosexual community," he added. - Conservatives Fear Gay Outcry Downplays MRSA Outbreak, January 25, 2008

But just a few days beforehand:

“The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease. In recent years we have seen a profound resurgence in cases of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, rectal gonorrhea and many other STDs among those who call themselves ‘gay.’

“The human body is quite callous in how it handles mistreatment and the perversion of its natural functions. When two men mimic the act of heterosexual intercourse with one another, they create an environment, a biological counterfeit, wherein disease can thrive. Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences.

"In recent years our culture has adopted a laissez faire attitude toward sexual deviancy. Television shows like Will and Grace glorify the homosexual lifestyle while our children are taught in schools that homosexuality is a perfectly healthy, alternative sexual 'orientation.' 'Stay out of our bedrooms!' we're often commanded by militant 'gay' activists. "Well, now the dangerous and possibly deadly consequence of what occurs in those bedrooms is spilling over into the general population. It's not only frightening, it's infuriating.

"Citizens, especially parents, need to stand up and say, 'No More! We will no longer sit idly by while politically correct cultural elites endanger our children and larger communities through propagandist promotion of this demonstrably deadly lifestyle.' - Epidemic Feared - 'Gays' May Spread Deadly Staph Infection to General Population, January 15

True, Matt didn't say that the infection is the new AIDS crisis (way to set up that straw man argument, Matt) but the language he used goes far beyond simply reporting a story.

Nice try, Matt but neither you nor Peter nor Concerned Women for America is going to easily wash THIS egg off your face.

UPDATE 2: Bullshit in action

The following is a perfect example of how anti-gay industry distortions of legitimate science can in fact harm the lgbt community.

Imagine if you will, the MSRA infection brouhaha being used to make the case against lgbts adopting children. I found the following on a blog. Regardless of whether or not this blog has significant readership, the fact of the matter is that it serves as an example of how folks try to manipulate science against us:

In addition, the recent revelation that gay men are much more susceptible to drug resistant MRSA "gay" flesh-eating bacteria because of their propensity for anal intercourse should provoke additional caution. This strain is so virulent that a gay dad could spread it to his kid merely by touch.

Unbelievable.

When so-called good people create media events

I won't post a big entry today because I am resting. Mother goes in for surgery EARLY tomorrow morning and I have to make sure I can get her up when the morning comes.

But I do want point out something courtesy of Equality Loudon. It seems that the anti-gay industry group there is getting so desperate for folks to sign their petition that they are creating media events:

Well, it seems that the story of “the man wearing a blue ruffled skirt” in the ladies’ locker room has badly unraveled. That didn’t take long.

According to two reports on the Teach the Facts blog, here is what folks have discovered:

It turns out that a woman named Theresa Rickman, spokesperson for the group “Citizens for a Responsible Government” (which has previously gone by at least two other names as the group adjusted its mission, so they are now known as CRWhatever) was actually in the lobby of the health club when the stunt happened. One of the many suspicious things about this incident from the beginning was that CRW had apparently called Channel 7, and was being interviewed within an hour of the initial complaint. A manager at the health club confirmed the presence of “an activist” who she assumed to be associated with a group that sure sounds like CRW (”the people at the grocery store with petitions”). It’s not stated why the manager recognized her as such - has she encountered Rickman at the grocery store? Was Rickman distributing propaganda in the lobby? - but she did.

Pathetic mea culpa courtesy of Concerned Women for America

I have been interested in how the anti-gay industry will attempt to quell this new controversy they helped to create regarding the MRSA infection.

After their platitudes that this infection could be the new AIDS crisis and the very verbal smackdown they received from the Centers For Disease Control as well as the authors of the study, just what were they going to do?

We got our answer today, and jeez it's a biggie:

Because Concerned Women for America (CWA) cares deeply for the health and well being of all Americans, CWA is sending letters inviting the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, GLAAD and Lambda Legal to put aside profound ideological differences with CWA — for the sake of the lives and health of their members — and to call for commonsense steps to help curb the spread of a potentially deadly strain of Staph infection.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA bacteria, is infecting men who have sex with men in major cities at an alarming rate. A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that "gay" men are 13 times more likely to contract the infection.

The study determined that the spread of MRSA, "among men who have sex with men is associated with high-risk behaviors, including use of methamphetamine and other illicit drugs, sex with multiple partners, participation in a group sex party, use of the internet for sexual contacts, skin-abrading sex, and history of sexually transmitted infections." But ultimately, the study warned that, "Having male-male sex seems to be a risk factor for [MRSA]."

Dr. Binh Diep, the researcher who led the study, told Reuters, "Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable." The study found that the "[MRSA] epidemic probably started in San Francisco and has been disseminated by the frequent cross-coastal travel of men who have sex with men."

Matt Barber, CWA's Policy Director for Cultural Issues, said, "We now have a wonderful opportunity for ideological opponents to come together for the common good. Steps must be taken to keep this MRSA outbreak, which is occurring within certain segments of the homosexual community, from becoming a more widespread epidemic.

I know I am repeating probably what every gay blog has been saying when reading this press release, but I want to say this to Matt Barber and the CWA in my own way:

YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MOTHER#^&@* MIND!!

Where the hell is your apology? After spending days incorrectly linking this infection to lgbts, you want to all of the sudden take on the form of Florence Nightingale and "come together with us" to stop it.

You will forgive me for not trusting you. I have a sneaky suspicion that this cry to come together is phony. You know damned well that for all of their faults, the lgbt leadership isn't stupid.

And when they either ignore you or tell you to go screw yourselves in a nice, polite way, you are going to act all shocked. Most likely you will send out press releases and appear on Fox News lying about how the gay leadership has no interest in fighting disease in our community.

I beg to differ. And I don't blame the gay leadership (and lgbts in general) for having no interest in coming together with group who tries to fuck us without giving us the courtesy of a reacharound.

Okay that was totally wrong of me but believe me when I say I didn't write half the stuff I wanted to.

But in my defense, come on!!!! I think this is the most galling thing I have ever seen from the anti-gay industry.

And I really thought I had seen it all from them.

I cannot stand that “I Have A Dream” speech.

Every year around this time, Americans come together to celebrate the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And every year around this time, I am overwhelmed people citing that one speech he made in 1963.

You know the speech

What I want to know is why do people want to define Dr. King by that one speech? And why do they always do this while forgetting the fact that if it weren’t for the sacrifices of a dedicated OPENLY GAY BLACK MALE (now there is a phrase you hardly ever see), the speech probably wouldn’t have even taken place.

And I have had enough. In fact, I hate that speech.

Here in South Carolina, we have a march to the state capital every year where we hear speeches from various public officials.

I didn't go this year. I really didn’t want to go mainly because if I hear the call and response of “Fired up! Ready to go” one more time, I am liable to make a detour from the march to nearest mental hospital. Or some other place where I can render myself deaf.

This holiday gets on my nerves. More to the point, I cannot stand how we have simplified King and the effect he had on American society.

I cannot stand the fact that one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century has been whittled down to a single simplistic speech that does not even begin to scratch the surface of the complexities behind the man.

King was more than a reverend. He was more than a speaker. The man was a visionary who was just coming into his own just before he was assassinated.

So in what should be the true spirit of this holiday, let me do something different.

For you see, I too have dreams. And while they may not be rooted in the American Dream, they are rooted in the single universal dream that people will one day stop wasting time bullshitting and get down to the downs that’s keeping us all down.

I have a dream

that when I open a gay-themed magazine, I will not be told how much I should fight for lgbt rights while at the same time be made to feel less than substantial just because I can’t afford some ridiculous doodad like a $300 crocodile leather case for my “ipod."

I have a dream

that the Advocate magazine can get through one year without putting the following on the cover - Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Lance Bass, Tammy Lynn Sigler, or some “hot”white guy who happens to be straight.

I have a dream

that BET will no longer show the following movies: Soul Plane, Next Friday, Menace II Society, Baby Boy, Leprechaun N Da Hood II

I have a dream

that the media stops paying attention to Britney Spears and her mother takes the guise of a stereotypical black mother and slap some sense into the child.

I have a dream

that our gay children stop emulating and worshipping the next ingenue coming down the pike.

I have a dream

that we get to November 2008 as quickly as possible and elect someone who can begin to start undoing the damage.

I have a dream

that people start recognizing just how overrated and preachy South Park is and pay attention to the Boondocks, a much better program.

I have a dream

that people stop carrying whether or not Clay Aiken is gay

I have a dream

that it will be discovered that more conservative Republicans have out-of-wedlock black daughters.

Finally, I have a dream

that people will pick up a book about Dr. King and read about just how complex the civil rights movement was. Stop simplifying Dr. King. In fact, stop simplifying period. Use your damned brains for once.

Intentionally Causing Chaos

Yeah I know everyone is concerned over Mike Huckabee’s bullshit. And to a degree, I am too.

But I have to say something else about this staph infection mess that been in the news for the past couple of days.

I think the voices in our community have responded well to this nonsense, but I also think more needs to be said.

The first thing is that this exploitation of crucial medical information by the anti-gay industry is nothing new:

1979 - Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg publishes Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women. This was a study looking at gay men in the city of San Francisco in the early 1970s. Over 30 years later, the anti-gay industry cites the book as a correct representation of the sexual habits of the entire gay community. They do this despite the fact that Martin and Weinberg clearly said - “. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.”

The Gay Report is published. This book, looking at the sex habits of gays and lesbians, was based on 1,900 sex survey responses from gay men; 1,000 from lesbians; and 2,500 responses from a gay magazine questionnaire. The authors even say, “We agreed at the outset not to pretend that these percentages represented the practices and views of all gay people—they reflected only our respondents.” However, just like Homosexualities (see above entry), The Gay Report will be used to generalize about the sexual habits of all lgbts even 30 years after its publishing.

1994 - Joanne Hall, Ph.D. of the University of Tennessee’s College of Nursing publishes a study looking at the patterns of behavior for 35 lesbians who had self-identified alcohol problems. Her study is later used by various anti-gay industry groups to claim that lesbians in general have a problem with alcohol abuse and that gay adoption is not a good idea. Hall later writes a letter of complaint to one of the groups distorting her study (the Family Research Council). Her complaint is ignored.

2001 - Six researchers (Robert S Hogg, Stefan A Strathdee, Kevin JP Craib, Michael V. O’ Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin T Schechter) write a letter to the editor to the International Journal of Epidemiology accusing the anti-gay industry of distorting a study they published in 1997 in order to claim that gay men have a short life span. They said they were speaking of a hypothetical outcome that would take place if there were not better practices regarding safe sex in that particular area. They also said that conditions have improved; therefore the outcome they predicted (i.e. gay men not reaching their sixty-fifth birthday) had been averted.

So there is a history of the anti-gay industry distorting credible medicinal information. And I am concerned as to what it can lead to.

Dealing with medical matters is walking a very thin tightrope. There is a fine line between informing segments of the public and demonizing them. And if that line is crossed, it builds mistrust.

For the most part, the medical community have done all they can to inform and educate about this staph infection without demonizing the lgbt community.

Then people like Americans for Truth (in name only), Concerned Women for America and the rest of the phony “pro-family” groups stick their dirty fingers into the situation.

These groups don’t care about the potential danger of the staph infections. Let’s face it; if there was not a gay angle, these groups wouldn’t care. They are only interested in the fact that gay men are affected; the better for them to hint Paul Cameronesque lies about gay man, anal sex, and feces.

I wonder how long it will before they start referring to gerbils?

To tell these groups to keep their shrill voices quiet probably wouldn’t do any good. I hate to say it, but a part of me thinks that they know what they are doing.

Part of me thinks that they are intentionally trying to sow seeds of mistrust between the lgbt and medical communities.

Many studies show that it is the lack of access to good healthcare information that spreads disease in the lgbt community. At the root of this mistrust is a fear coming from lgbts as to how their physicians will react if they out themselves.

Where there is no trust, there is no dialogue. Where there is no dialogue, there is no access to good healthcare. Where there is no access to good healthcare, there is disease.

That old adage about “for want of a nail” plays on an extreme level here.

And meanwhile, the anti-gay industry stands to benefit as they divest themselves from the self-actualizing dichotomy they have caused.

Very Machiavellian, but not very Christian.

UPDATE - Way to go, Centers for Disease Control!!!

The CDC has issued a statement on the staph infection. Part of it reads as follows:

CDC Statement on MRSA in Men Who Have Sex with Men

MRSA is a common cause of skin infections throughout the United States. These infections occur in men, women, adults, children, and persons of all races and sexual orientations, and are known to be transmitted by close skin-to-skin contact. In this issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Diep et al looked at isolates of MRSA - USA300 strains containing a particular plasmid associated with additional drug resistance. The paper shows that multidrug-resistant USA300 has emerged as an important source of disease among men with have sex with men in 2 geographically distinct communities.

The strains of MRSA described in the recent Annals of Internal Medicine have mostly been identified in certain groups of men who have sex with men (MSM), but have also been found in some persons who are not MSM. It is important to note that the groups of MSM in which these isolates have been described are not representative of all MSM, so conclusions can not be drawn about the prevalence of these strains among all MSM.