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.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Anti-gay industry grabs on to story about bacteria and don’t let go
or
Homophobia In Action
To paraphrase one of the most excellent writers of all time, Rod Serling, submitted for your approval, a difference between two agendas.
One encompasses demonizing and other encompasses informing.
It is relatively easy to guess which is which. But just in case you can't guess, I drop a hint or two:
A so-called Christian newswire site in Canada:
SAN FRANCISCO, January 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new medical study appearing in the Annals of American Medicine shows that homosexuals are spreading a new, highly-infectious and extremely dangerous bacteria amongst themselves, most probably through anal intercourse.
The bacterium, called MRSA USA300, is impervious to front-line antibiotics and can only be treated with rarer drugs, primarily Vancomycin. Researchers say that the bug, which is a type of staphylococcus, is primed to develop immunity to that drug as well. Infected patients may have inflammation, abscesses, and tissue loss in the affected areas. Although the bacterium does not literally "eat" the body, it manufactures toxins that can cause "necrosis" - the death of surrounding tissue.
The study's authors note that the strong link between unhealthy behavior, particularly among homosexuals, is the driving force behind the disease. "Spread of the USA300 clone 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," the authors write.
"The same patterns of increased sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men - which have resulted from changes in beliefs regarding HIV disease severity with the availability of potent antiretroviral therapy - have been driving resurgent epidemics of early syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections in San Francisco, Boston, and elsewhere," add the researchers.
The study, which focused on clinics in the San Francisco area, found that in some cases up to 39% of patients had the MRSA USA300 infections in their genitals or buttocks, although the disease can be spread by general skin-to-skin contact and can even be picked up from surfaces.
Observing that "Infection with multidrug-resistant USA300 MRSA is common among men who have sex with men," the study timidly concludes that "multidrug-resistant MRSA infection might be sexually transmitted in this population," and counsels "further research."
It is estimated that in San Francisco's Castro District, which has the highest concentration of homosexuals in the country, the infection rate is 1 in every 588 residents. One in every 3,800 residents of San Francisco are infected. Homosexuals are 13 times more likely to be infected than others in the city.
The disease is not only spreading in San Francisco, but also Boston, New York and Los Angeles. In addition to homosexuals, people who are ill or have weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible. MRSA and other types of staphylococcus bacteria, often spread in hospitals, kill more than 19,000 Americans each year, a rate higher than deaths due to AIDS.
Peter LaBarbara (yes they mispelled his name), president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, is hoping that the revelation of yet another homosexual epidemic will have an impact on the public's perception of homosexual behavior. "I think that the media, and Hollywood, and a lot of our policy makers and certainly academia are in a world of 'let's pretend' with regard to homosexual behavior and its consequences," he told LifeSiteNews. "They don't want to focus on the special risks that homosexual behavior, especially between men, have in the public health arena, and issues like this keep coming up."
However, LaBarbara acknowledges that the major media will "invariably spin things in a homosexual direction."
"We saw the identical thing happen 25 years ago with the reporting on AIDS," he said, "but ironically the whole AIDS crisis strengthened the homosexual lobby in this country."
The New York Times:
A new, highly drug-resistant strain of the "flesh-eating" MRSA bacteria is being spread among gay men in San Francisco and Boston, researchers reported on Monday.
In a study published online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the bacteria seemed to be spread most easily through anal intercourse but also through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces.
The authors warned that unless microbiology laboratories were able to identify the strain and doctors prescribed the proper antibiotic therapy, the infection could soon spread among other groups and become a wider threat.
The new strain seems to have "spread rapidly" in gay populations in San Francisco and Boston, the researchers wrote, and "has the potential for rapid, nationwide dissemination" among gay men.
The study was based on a review of medical records from outpatient clinics in San Francisco and Boston and nine medical centers in San Francisco.
The Castro district in San Francisco has the highest number of gay residents in the country, according to the University of California, San Francisco. One in 588 residents is infected with the new multidrug-resistant MRSA strain, the study found. That compares with 1 in 3,800 people in San Francisco, according to statistical analyses based on ZIP codes.
A separate part of the study found that gay men in San Francisco were about 13 times more likely to be infected than other people in the city.
The San Francisco researchers suggested that scrubbing with soap and water might be the most effective way to stop skin-to-skin transmission, particularly after sexual activities.
MRSA, for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was once spread chiefly in hospitals. But in recent years, a number of healthy people have acquired it outside hospitals.
Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States from MRSA infections in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.
The infection can cause unusually severe problems, including abscesses and skin ulcers. The bacteria can invade through the skin to produce necrotizing fasciitis, giving them the popular name of flesh-eating bacteria. They can also cause pneumonia, damage the heart and produce widespread infection through the blood.
Among gay men in the study, MRSA was spread by skin contact, causing abscesses and infection in the buttocks and genital area.
The new strain is closely related to earlier ones. Both are known as MRSA USA300.
The strain is much more difficult to treat because it is resistant not just to methicillin, but also many more of the antibiotics used to treat the earlier strains, said Dr. Henry F. Chambers, an author of the new study.
The new strain contains a plasmid called pUSA03.
"This particular clone is resistant to at least three other drugs, clindamycin, tetracycline and mupirocin," Dr. Chambers said in a telephone interview.
Of the alternatives recommended by the C.D.C. and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim), clindamycin and a tetracycline, "this strain is resistant to two of those three," he added. "In addition, the new strain is resistant to mupirocin, which has been advocated for eradicating the strain from carriers."
or
Homophobia In Action
To paraphrase one of the most excellent writers of all time, Rod Serling, submitted for your approval, a difference between two agendas.
One encompasses demonizing and other encompasses informing.
It is relatively easy to guess which is which. But just in case you can't guess, I drop a hint or two:
A so-called Christian newswire site in Canada:
SAN FRANCISCO, January 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new medical study appearing in the Annals of American Medicine shows that homosexuals are spreading a new, highly-infectious and extremely dangerous bacteria amongst themselves, most probably through anal intercourse.
The bacterium, called MRSA USA300, is impervious to front-line antibiotics and can only be treated with rarer drugs, primarily Vancomycin. Researchers say that the bug, which is a type of staphylococcus, is primed to develop immunity to that drug as well. Infected patients may have inflammation, abscesses, and tissue loss in the affected areas. Although the bacterium does not literally "eat" the body, it manufactures toxins that can cause "necrosis" - the death of surrounding tissue.
The study's authors note that the strong link between unhealthy behavior, particularly among homosexuals, is the driving force behind the disease. "Spread of the USA300 clone 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," the authors write.
"The same patterns of increased sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men - which have resulted from changes in beliefs regarding HIV disease severity with the availability of potent antiretroviral therapy - have been driving resurgent epidemics of early syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections in San Francisco, Boston, and elsewhere," add the researchers.
The study, which focused on clinics in the San Francisco area, found that in some cases up to 39% of patients had the MRSA USA300 infections in their genitals or buttocks, although the disease can be spread by general skin-to-skin contact and can even be picked up from surfaces.
Observing that "Infection with multidrug-resistant USA300 MRSA is common among men who have sex with men," the study timidly concludes that "multidrug-resistant MRSA infection might be sexually transmitted in this population," and counsels "further research."
It is estimated that in San Francisco's Castro District, which has the highest concentration of homosexuals in the country, the infection rate is 1 in every 588 residents. One in every 3,800 residents of San Francisco are infected. Homosexuals are 13 times more likely to be infected than others in the city.
The disease is not only spreading in San Francisco, but also Boston, New York and Los Angeles. In addition to homosexuals, people who are ill or have weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible. MRSA and other types of staphylococcus bacteria, often spread in hospitals, kill more than 19,000 Americans each year, a rate higher than deaths due to AIDS.
Peter LaBarbara (yes they mispelled his name), president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, is hoping that the revelation of yet another homosexual epidemic will have an impact on the public's perception of homosexual behavior. "I think that the media, and Hollywood, and a lot of our policy makers and certainly academia are in a world of 'let's pretend' with regard to homosexual behavior and its consequences," he told LifeSiteNews. "They don't want to focus on the special risks that homosexual behavior, especially between men, have in the public health arena, and issues like this keep coming up."
However, LaBarbara acknowledges that the major media will "invariably spin things in a homosexual direction."
"We saw the identical thing happen 25 years ago with the reporting on AIDS," he said, "but ironically the whole AIDS crisis strengthened the homosexual lobby in this country."
The New York Times:
A new, highly drug-resistant strain of the "flesh-eating" MRSA bacteria is being spread among gay men in San Francisco and Boston, researchers reported on Monday.
In a study published online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the bacteria seemed to be spread most easily through anal intercourse but also through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces.
The authors warned that unless microbiology laboratories were able to identify the strain and doctors prescribed the proper antibiotic therapy, the infection could soon spread among other groups and become a wider threat.
The new strain seems to have "spread rapidly" in gay populations in San Francisco and Boston, the researchers wrote, and "has the potential for rapid, nationwide dissemination" among gay men.
The study was based on a review of medical records from outpatient clinics in San Francisco and Boston and nine medical centers in San Francisco.
The Castro district in San Francisco has the highest number of gay residents in the country, according to the University of California, San Francisco. One in 588 residents is infected with the new multidrug-resistant MRSA strain, the study found. That compares with 1 in 3,800 people in San Francisco, according to statistical analyses based on ZIP codes.
A separate part of the study found that gay men in San Francisco were about 13 times more likely to be infected than other people in the city.
The San Francisco researchers suggested that scrubbing with soap and water might be the most effective way to stop skin-to-skin transmission, particularly after sexual activities.
MRSA, for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was once spread chiefly in hospitals. But in recent years, a number of healthy people have acquired it outside hospitals.
Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States from MRSA infections in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.
The infection can cause unusually severe problems, including abscesses and skin ulcers. The bacteria can invade through the skin to produce necrotizing fasciitis, giving them the popular name of flesh-eating bacteria. They can also cause pneumonia, damage the heart and produce widespread infection through the blood.
Among gay men in the study, MRSA was spread by skin contact, causing abscesses and infection in the buttocks and genital area.
The new strain is closely related to earlier ones. Both are known as MRSA USA300.
The strain is much more difficult to treat because it is resistant not just to methicillin, but also many more of the antibiotics used to treat the earlier strains, said Dr. Henry F. Chambers, an author of the new study.
The new strain contains a plasmid called pUSA03.
"This particular clone is resistant to at least three other drugs, clindamycin, tetracycline and mupirocin," Dr. Chambers said in a telephone interview.
Of the alternatives recommended by the C.D.C. and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim), clindamycin and a tetracycline, "this strain is resistant to two of those three," he added. "In addition, the new strain is resistant to mupirocin, which has been advocated for eradicating the strain from carriers."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Going for blood out of the gate
My mother is doing well.Thanks to everyone expressing concern.
In the middle of yesterday's drama, I noticed the following:
A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.
The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston.
My eyes rolled for two reasons. First I get spooked when I hear of any new calamities that are out and could potentially affect us all.
The second reason is because I knew what would happen next. I was just telling a friend today that we can expect an one-sided article from One News Now. The article will most likely cite quotes from a so-called "pro-family" leader while omitting comments from any lgbts or anyone directly involved in the situation.
But of course our friend, Peter LaBarbera, had to be first on the list with his comments. I imagine him chomping at the bit as he wrote the following:
Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories about AIDS — then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease) – 25 years ago? 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 insists on treating aberrant — even deadly — behaviors and lifestyles as a "civil right," we as a society don’t seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic. This latest news begs some serious questions:
Why aren’t all schoolchildren being taught that there are special health risks associated with homosexual behavior and that they should "just say no" to homosexuality? (Instead, schools are willy-nilly working to spread the PC idea among youth that certain people are naturally "gay," and that this is a harmless identity);
Why won’t the news media make the common-sense connection between these frequent stories about (male) homosexual behavior and disease — to the idea that perhaps it’s probably not smart for society and pop culture to celebrate homosexuality and bisexuality ?;Why isn’t there a concerted government effort — akin to the current anti-smoking campaigns — to reign in homosexual promiscuity – beginning with closing down all sex businesses (bathhouses) that facilitate homosexual perversion? (Of course, we favor closing down straight prostitution businesses as well.) We know that bisexual behavior (men on the "down low") help spread dangerous diseases to the general population: how many deaths and illnesses have to result from "second-hand sodomy" before authorities take corrective action? (Curiously, even President Bush’s White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, recently abruptly cut off a question by reporter Les Kinsolving critical of homosexual bathhouses);
If any other behavior were as closely linked to death and disease as male homosexuality, would we be so careful not to criticize it – or would we offer healthy alternatives to it like abstinence and the ex-"gay" movement?
Well I am one never to get alarmed at a snake when he acts like a snake, so Peter's exploitation of this situation to promote his political bullshit does not surprise me.
But it does bother me a little.
I would suggest everyone read the entire San Francisco Chronicle article and not just Peter's rehashing of it. Amongst other things, it says the following:
Just why the new, more drug-resistant variety is concentrated among gay men is not yet known. Patients infected with HIV appear to run a higher risk of infection, but the study suggests that gay men are being infected with the staph germ regardless of whether they are HIV-positive.
One factor that could be in play is a medical history of heavy use of antibiotics, which creates conditions for breeding drug-resistant strains. Any patient, HIV-positive or not, who has had high previous exposure to antibiotics might be more susceptible.
The good news is that, once the public is aware of the risk, there are ways to prevent the spread of drug-resistant staph. It can be as simple as soap and water.
"Taking a shower after sexual contact may minimize contamination," said Dr. Chip Chambers, director of infectious diseases at San Francisco General, a co-author of the study. "Ordinary soap will do. It dilutes the concentration of bacteria. You don't need antibacterial soap."Chambers stressed that some people, no matter how fastidious, could be more prone than others to staph infections.
They could have unknown genetic traits or a history of antibiotic use that raises the risk. "Despite one's best efforts, it is still possible, of course, to get a staph infection," he said. "This is why if one has a cut or open wound that it is important to clean it out and keep it clean."
Peter is quick to point out the early history of AIDS and HIV.
He, however, conveniently omits that the demonization of lgbts via Anita Bryant's crusade, the Briggs Amendment, and various other petty correalations between homosexuality and anti-social behavior were small but crucial factors in the spread of HIV.
Some gays beaten down by those lies had no credibility in objetive information coming out telling them about HIV and AIDS. They viewed them as yet another attack.
And this a huge problem when it comes to lgbts and disease prevention, particularly in the case of STDs. Many times, while heterosexuals are given adequate care to prevent sexuallytransmitted diseases (STDs), the gay and lesbian community finds itself being blamed for the outbreak of STDs.
The anti-gay industry, in particular, blame gay sexual orientation rather than the sexual behavior of individual people or how societal rejection contributes to the sexual behavior of individual gay men.
This can contribute to a stumbling block to gay men receiving adequate health care.
According to the article Health Care Screening for Men Who Have Sex with Men, gay men can be at a high risk for preventable diseases for a number of reasons, including:
the patient being fearful to come out to his or her doctor, the personal discomfort the doctor may feel about having a gay or lesbian patient, possible open hostility of the doctor to having a gay or lesbian patient, and concern that the patient’s employer may learn his or her orientation and terminate their employment.
I would sincerely hope that no one takes Peter's nonsense seriously. No one, that is, except for the usual suspects. After all, isn't that what we have come to expect from them?
UPDATE - And it looks like all of the dipsticks are coming out the woodwork.
My mother is doing well.Thanks to everyone expressing concern.
In the middle of yesterday's drama, I noticed the following:
A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.
The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston.
My eyes rolled for two reasons. First I get spooked when I hear of any new calamities that are out and could potentially affect us all.
The second reason is because I knew what would happen next. I was just telling a friend today that we can expect an one-sided article from One News Now. The article will most likely cite quotes from a so-called "pro-family" leader while omitting comments from any lgbts or anyone directly involved in the situation.
But of course our friend, Peter LaBarbera, had to be first on the list with his comments. I imagine him chomping at the bit as he wrote the following:
Is this not an eerie reminder of the initial stories about AIDS — then called GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease) – 25 years ago? 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 insists on treating aberrant — even deadly — behaviors and lifestyles as a "civil right," we as a society don’t seem to have learned much from the AIDS pandemic. This latest news begs some serious questions:
Why aren’t all schoolchildren being taught that there are special health risks associated with homosexual behavior and that they should "just say no" to homosexuality? (Instead, schools are willy-nilly working to spread the PC idea among youth that certain people are naturally "gay," and that this is a harmless identity);
Why won’t the news media make the common-sense connection between these frequent stories about (male) homosexual behavior and disease — to the idea that perhaps it’s probably not smart for society and pop culture to celebrate homosexuality and bisexuality ?;Why isn’t there a concerted government effort — akin to the current anti-smoking campaigns — to reign in homosexual promiscuity – beginning with closing down all sex businesses (bathhouses) that facilitate homosexual perversion? (Of course, we favor closing down straight prostitution businesses as well.) We know that bisexual behavior (men on the "down low") help spread dangerous diseases to the general population: how many deaths and illnesses have to result from "second-hand sodomy" before authorities take corrective action? (Curiously, even President Bush’s White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, recently abruptly cut off a question by reporter Les Kinsolving critical of homosexual bathhouses);
If any other behavior were as closely linked to death and disease as male homosexuality, would we be so careful not to criticize it – or would we offer healthy alternatives to it like abstinence and the ex-"gay" movement?
Well I am one never to get alarmed at a snake when he acts like a snake, so Peter's exploitation of this situation to promote his political bullshit does not surprise me.
But it does bother me a little.
I would suggest everyone read the entire San Francisco Chronicle article and not just Peter's rehashing of it. Amongst other things, it says the following:
Just why the new, more drug-resistant variety is concentrated among gay men is not yet known. Patients infected with HIV appear to run a higher risk of infection, but the study suggests that gay men are being infected with the staph germ regardless of whether they are HIV-positive.
One factor that could be in play is a medical history of heavy use of antibiotics, which creates conditions for breeding drug-resistant strains. Any patient, HIV-positive or not, who has had high previous exposure to antibiotics might be more susceptible.
The good news is that, once the public is aware of the risk, there are ways to prevent the spread of drug-resistant staph. It can be as simple as soap and water.
"Taking a shower after sexual contact may minimize contamination," said Dr. Chip Chambers, director of infectious diseases at San Francisco General, a co-author of the study. "Ordinary soap will do. It dilutes the concentration of bacteria. You don't need antibacterial soap."Chambers stressed that some people, no matter how fastidious, could be more prone than others to staph infections.
They could have unknown genetic traits or a history of antibiotic use that raises the risk. "Despite one's best efforts, it is still possible, of course, to get a staph infection," he said. "This is why if one has a cut or open wound that it is important to clean it out and keep it clean."
Peter is quick to point out the early history of AIDS and HIV.
He, however, conveniently omits that the demonization of lgbts via Anita Bryant's crusade, the Briggs Amendment, and various other petty correalations between homosexuality and anti-social behavior were small but crucial factors in the spread of HIV.
Some gays beaten down by those lies had no credibility in objetive information coming out telling them about HIV and AIDS. They viewed them as yet another attack.
And this a huge problem when it comes to lgbts and disease prevention, particularly in the case of STDs. Many times, while heterosexuals are given adequate care to prevent sexuallytransmitted diseases (STDs), the gay and lesbian community finds itself being blamed for the outbreak of STDs.
The anti-gay industry, in particular, blame gay sexual orientation rather than the sexual behavior of individual people or how societal rejection contributes to the sexual behavior of individual gay men.
This can contribute to a stumbling block to gay men receiving adequate health care.
According to the article Health Care Screening for Men Who Have Sex with Men, gay men can be at a high risk for preventable diseases for a number of reasons, including:
the patient being fearful to come out to his or her doctor, the personal discomfort the doctor may feel about having a gay or lesbian patient, possible open hostility of the doctor to having a gay or lesbian patient, and concern that the patient’s employer may learn his or her orientation and terminate their employment.
I would sincerely hope that no one takes Peter's nonsense seriously. No one, that is, except for the usual suspects. After all, isn't that what we have come to expect from them?
UPDATE - And it looks like all of the dipsticks are coming out the woodwork.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Okay, who the hell has roots on me . . .
I would love to address several things today, including the following I found on goodasyou.org
And I would like to announce and further elucidate on the fact that I posted a huge update on my other web page's time line.
But I won't.
My mother and I just came back from the hospital. She slipped earlier today and broke her ankle in two places.
She is fine right now. She is at home and resting. And I am very grateful that her injury wasn't worse.
So please forgive me for taking a break tonight. I will be back tomorrow.
I would love to address several things today, including the following I found on goodasyou.org
And I would like to announce and further elucidate on the fact that I posted a huge update on my other web page's time line.
But I won't.
My mother and I just came back from the hospital. She slipped earlier today and broke her ankle in two places.
She is fine right now. She is at home and resting. And I am very grateful that her injury wasn't worse.
So please forgive me for taking a break tonight. I will be back tomorrow.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters featured in Carolina lgbt publication
Q-Notes, a newsmonthly dealing with lgbt issues in the Carolinas, ran an article about my book. .
Click here if you are curious as to what I look like.
Don't laugh too long.
S.C. author takes on the anti-gay industry
Alvin McEwen’s new book details the Religious Right’s distortion tactics
by Jack Kirven . Q-Notes staff
Alvin McEwen put years of research into the tactics and strategies employed by the anti-gay industry to exploit misinformed and religion-based stereotypes about LGBT people.
There is a distinction between spirituality and bigotry based on “sacred” prejudices. This point is the focus of author Alvin McEwen’s new book, “Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry.”
Boiling the work down to a central thesis, McEwen says “there has been a consistent war waged on the gay community by people who hide behind their pseudo-religious beliefs.”McEwen posits that because it is not possible in this country to create laws that purely further religious thought, opponents of LGBT equality seek other means to demonize our community.
“Once these groups dehumanize LGBT people it then becomes easier to create a sense of need for regulations based on assumed religious justifications.”
In other words, by creating a notion that there is a “dangerous lifestyle” present, a need is then created to suppress that “danger.”McEwen does not use the term Religious Right. He prefers “anti-gay industry.” For good reason, too. The people and organizations who campaign the most furiously against LGBT equality make large amounts of money doing it. It is an industry, one that caters to fear and sells discredited research to people of faith who often do not have a chance to put a human face on LGBT family, friends and colleagues. Professional gay-bashers generate enormous amounts of cash to repay their efforts at fostering hate.
McEwen decided to examine the issue of institutionalized homophobia after he read a magazine article that quoted an hysterical mother who expressed concern for her children’s safety. In the middle of his own coming out process, McEwen was “upset that a woman whom I didn’t know would spout that kind of hate about me. She was telling lies about me. I was vulnerable at that time and I thought about it a lot. I realized how dangerous misinformation can be to LGBT people.”
After following stories in such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and various medical and scientific journals reporting that researchers are upset by the ways their studies are misused by hate mongers, McEwen realized that the anti-gay industry employs six primary distortion tactics. As detailed in his book, these deception tactics include: misinformation, repetition, conspiracy theories, dire consequences, phony experts and dehumanizing semantics.
“Understanding how the industry deceives people gives us a means to counter their tactics,” he says.
Misinformation
This includes taking studies out of context, purposefully misreading information, applying data to unrelated topics and other forms of abusing reputable studies by respected scientists.
One example that employs all of these strategies concerns a study that focused on approximately 35 lesbians with pre-existing alcoholism. The findings were misused by the anti-gay industry to argue that lesbians are more likely to develop addictions and express violent behaviors. This was, in turn, used to argue that lesbians should not be allowed to care for children.
Repetition
This tactic requires little explanation. As George W. Bush said in Greece on May 24, 2005, “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
Conspiracy theories
This tactic is commonly used as the dreaded “Gay Agenda.” “By telling people that our country is a Christian country, and telling them what good Christians believe, it then becomes possible to say that someone who does not believe as you do is trying to take all that away from you,” says McEwen.
This tactic plays on social and political fears and usually focuses on extrapolations with no basis in reason or fact (i.e., the argument against same-sex marriage that says people will then be able to marry their dogs).
Dire consequences
This is a strategy that seeks to predict a terrible outcome after a chain of cataclysmic events arise from some undesirable change. An example might include the claim that the Roman Empire collapsed because homosexuality became universally practiced and accepted. To further the distortion, homophobes would equate current problems in the U.S. with that completely unrelated historical situation.
Phony experts
This tactic is exactly what it sounds like. Discredited researchers, outdated studies and disgraced leaders are quoted incessantly, despite the fact that they have no authority or credibility. An example is Michael Johnston’s continued appearance on the cover of the American Family Association’s (AFA) “ex-gay” video “It’s Not Gay.” In 2003, after the video’s release, Johnston was revealed to be participating in unsafe sex at drug-fueled, same-sex orgies without disclosing his HIV-positive status. He is still the “ex-gay” face used to sell the AFA video.
Dehumanizing semantics
The anti-gay industry’s use of language plays on assumptions and is tailored to exploit ignorance concerning the LGBT community. “If someone says, ‘…and this is because gay men live a destructive life,’ it is based on the assumed notion that God created heterosexuality, He disapproves of homosexuality, homosexuality is evil and therefore gay men are destructive,” explains McEwen.
In his book, McEwen highlights quotes from religious leaders that utilize dehumanizing semantics. Such as one evangelist who claims that Christians have been “bullied into submission” by the “aggressive homosexual agenda” that’s taking over public schools.
“Ultimately,” says McEwen, “as a person of faith I would tell people to not take the word of an outsider. Pray, talk directly to God yourself to find out what He has to say about your sexuality. We can’t dialogue with the anti-gay industry, but we can talk to other people of faith. The bigots will expose themselves soon enough. People can hear a lie only so many times before it begins to sound untenable to them. We need to educate ourselves and be informed about our enemies.
“For my part, I am documenting our history so that one day a young person can pick up from our first steps and go even further.”
info: For more information, visit http://www.holybullies.com/,
http://www.holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/
AntiGayLiesAndLiars.blogspot.com
“Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters” is available for purchase at http://www.amazon.com/.
Q-Notes, a newsmonthly dealing with lgbt issues in the Carolinas, ran an article about my book. .
Click here if you are curious as to what I look like.
Don't laugh too long.
S.C. author takes on the anti-gay industry
Alvin McEwen’s new book details the Religious Right’s distortion tactics
by Jack Kirven . Q-Notes staff
Alvin McEwen put years of research into the tactics and strategies employed by the anti-gay industry to exploit misinformed and religion-based stereotypes about LGBT people.
There is a distinction between spirituality and bigotry based on “sacred” prejudices. This point is the focus of author Alvin McEwen’s new book, “Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry.”
Boiling the work down to a central thesis, McEwen says “there has been a consistent war waged on the gay community by people who hide behind their pseudo-religious beliefs.”McEwen posits that because it is not possible in this country to create laws that purely further religious thought, opponents of LGBT equality seek other means to demonize our community.
“Once these groups dehumanize LGBT people it then becomes easier to create a sense of need for regulations based on assumed religious justifications.”
In other words, by creating a notion that there is a “dangerous lifestyle” present, a need is then created to suppress that “danger.”McEwen does not use the term Religious Right. He prefers “anti-gay industry.” For good reason, too. The people and organizations who campaign the most furiously against LGBT equality make large amounts of money doing it. It is an industry, one that caters to fear and sells discredited research to people of faith who often do not have a chance to put a human face on LGBT family, friends and colleagues. Professional gay-bashers generate enormous amounts of cash to repay their efforts at fostering hate.
McEwen decided to examine the issue of institutionalized homophobia after he read a magazine article that quoted an hysterical mother who expressed concern for her children’s safety. In the middle of his own coming out process, McEwen was “upset that a woman whom I didn’t know would spout that kind of hate about me. She was telling lies about me. I was vulnerable at that time and I thought about it a lot. I realized how dangerous misinformation can be to LGBT people.”
After following stories in such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and various medical and scientific journals reporting that researchers are upset by the ways their studies are misused by hate mongers, McEwen realized that the anti-gay industry employs six primary distortion tactics. As detailed in his book, these deception tactics include: misinformation, repetition, conspiracy theories, dire consequences, phony experts and dehumanizing semantics.
“Understanding how the industry deceives people gives us a means to counter their tactics,” he says.
Misinformation
This includes taking studies out of context, purposefully misreading information, applying data to unrelated topics and other forms of abusing reputable studies by respected scientists.
One example that employs all of these strategies concerns a study that focused on approximately 35 lesbians with pre-existing alcoholism. The findings were misused by the anti-gay industry to argue that lesbians are more likely to develop addictions and express violent behaviors. This was, in turn, used to argue that lesbians should not be allowed to care for children.
Repetition
This tactic requires little explanation. As George W. Bush said in Greece on May 24, 2005, “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
Conspiracy theories
This tactic is commonly used as the dreaded “Gay Agenda.” “By telling people that our country is a Christian country, and telling them what good Christians believe, it then becomes possible to say that someone who does not believe as you do is trying to take all that away from you,” says McEwen.
This tactic plays on social and political fears and usually focuses on extrapolations with no basis in reason or fact (i.e., the argument against same-sex marriage that says people will then be able to marry their dogs).
Dire consequences
This is a strategy that seeks to predict a terrible outcome after a chain of cataclysmic events arise from some undesirable change. An example might include the claim that the Roman Empire collapsed because homosexuality became universally practiced and accepted. To further the distortion, homophobes would equate current problems in the U.S. with that completely unrelated historical situation.
Phony experts
This tactic is exactly what it sounds like. Discredited researchers, outdated studies and disgraced leaders are quoted incessantly, despite the fact that they have no authority or credibility. An example is Michael Johnston’s continued appearance on the cover of the American Family Association’s (AFA) “ex-gay” video “It’s Not Gay.” In 2003, after the video’s release, Johnston was revealed to be participating in unsafe sex at drug-fueled, same-sex orgies without disclosing his HIV-positive status. He is still the “ex-gay” face used to sell the AFA video.
Dehumanizing semantics
The anti-gay industry’s use of language plays on assumptions and is tailored to exploit ignorance concerning the LGBT community. “If someone says, ‘…and this is because gay men live a destructive life,’ it is based on the assumed notion that God created heterosexuality, He disapproves of homosexuality, homosexuality is evil and therefore gay men are destructive,” explains McEwen.
In his book, McEwen highlights quotes from religious leaders that utilize dehumanizing semantics. Such as one evangelist who claims that Christians have been “bullied into submission” by the “aggressive homosexual agenda” that’s taking over public schools.
“Ultimately,” says McEwen, “as a person of faith I would tell people to not take the word of an outsider. Pray, talk directly to God yourself to find out what He has to say about your sexuality. We can’t dialogue with the anti-gay industry, but we can talk to other people of faith. The bigots will expose themselves soon enough. People can hear a lie only so many times before it begins to sound untenable to them. We need to educate ourselves and be informed about our enemies.
“For my part, I am documenting our history so that one day a young person can pick up from our first steps and go even further.”
info: For more information, visit http://www.holybullies.com/,
http://www.holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/
AntiGayLiesAndLiars.blogspot.com
“Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters” is available for purchase at http://www.amazon.com/.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Why can't Peter LaBarbera stop misrepresenting
I have talked to Peter LaBarbera via email and I can tell you this: he truly believes that homosexuality is a sin.
And there is nothing wrong with believing this.
However, Peter crosses the line when he stoops to misrepresentations to further his beliefs.
Today's post on his Americans for Truth (in name only) page further accentuates this point.
Peter takes a bunch of quotes from gay authors and columnists (many over 10 years old) to further the lie that lgbts on the whole are promiscuous and that we want to destroy the institute of marriage.
First of all, the opinions of a few lgbts do not speak for the entire community. Anyone with a small shred of common sense knows this.
But I guess Peter thinks that common sense don't matter when one is fighting a "holy war."
And to make matters worse, he misrepresents big time. I want to talk about two.
The first is when he pulls a quote from noted gay author Micheangelo Signorile:
“[Legalizing “same-sex marriage”] is also a chance to wholly transform the definition of family in American culture. It is the final tool with which to dismantle all sodomy statutes, get education about homosexuality and AIDS into public schools, and, in short, usher in a sea change in how society views and treats us.”–Michelangelo Signorile, “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do,” OUT magazine, May 1996, p. 30.
The misrepresentation of this quote is nothing new and Peter is not the first to do it. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition used the same quote to claim that lgbts want to destroy marriage:
“Traditional marriage is under attack. Homosexual activist Michelangelo Signorile, writing in Out! in its Dec./Jan. 1994 issue, says that homosexuals should ‘fi ght for same-sex marriage
and its benefits and then, once granted, redefi ne the institution of marriage completely to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution.’”—Lou Sheldon, Traditional Marriage Is Worth Protecting!, The Traditional Values Coalition
Signorile was quick to cry foul. The following passage is from my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters:
As it turns out, Sheldon’s usage of Signorile’s quote is a distortion. Signorile complained about it in a column entitled Opponents Peddling Selective, Defective Readings. He said the quote in question was written about a same-sex marriage controversy in Hawaii in 1993.
Signorile said he had interviewed people in the gay community with different opinions on same-sex marriage. He also said he quoted those who said same-sex marriage was oppressive and that gays should not attempt to partake in it. Others he talked to said marriage is a good way for gays to civilize and assimilate themselves.
He further said:
“Both of these positions, I found were pretty extreme. I looked at still other points of view and I also proposed what ‘might’ be a compromise— I didn’t even say whether or not I agreed with it or not—stating that redefining the institution of marriage to change its negative aspects while demanding full marriage rights was one way to go.”
In other words, Sheldon (and LaBarbera) took Signorile's comments out of context.
Now let's look at this second misrepresentation:
“Take sex. Traditionally, a commitment to monogamy — to the extent that it was not simply an adjunct of property law, a vehicle for guaranteeing property rights and succession — was the chief mode of sacrifice imposed upon or adopted by married couples as a means of showing their sacred valuing of their relation. But gay men have realized that while couples may choose to restrict sexual activity in order to show their love for each other, it is not necessary for this purpose; there are many other ways to manifest and ritualize commitment. And so monogamy (it appears) is not an essential component of love and marriage. The authors of “The Male Couple” found that:
[T]he majority of [gay male] couples, and all of the couples together for longer than five years, were not continuously sexually exclusive with each other. Although many had long periods of sexual exclusivity, it was not the ongoing expectation for most. We found that gay men expect mutual emotional dependability with their partners [but also believe] that relationship fidelity transcends concerns about sexuality and exclusivity.
The big question here is what exactly is The Male Couple and why didn't Peter give more information regarding the book.
Probably because The Male Couple was published in 1984 (over 20 years ago), which would make it an out-of-date source.
Also, the authors of The Male Couple, McWhirter and Mattison, said that their book should not be generalized to represent the entire gay community:
“We always have been very careful to explain that the very nature of our research sample, its size (156 couples), its narrow geographic location, and the natural selectiveness of the participants prevents the findings from being applicable and generalizable to the entire gay
male community.”
Maybe Peter missed that part.
Or maybe he just doesn't give a damn. You tell me.
Now his last quote is a hoot:
Make Anti-Gays Look Nasty
“We intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to disassociate themselves from such types.”–Marshall K. Kirk and Erastes Pill, “The Overhauling of Straight America,” The Guide (homosexual) magazine, November 1987.
Well Peter, when you lie as pathetically as you did in this column, you make our jobs easier.
I have talked to Peter LaBarbera via email and I can tell you this: he truly believes that homosexuality is a sin.
And there is nothing wrong with believing this.
However, Peter crosses the line when he stoops to misrepresentations to further his beliefs.
Today's post on his Americans for Truth (in name only) page further accentuates this point.
Peter takes a bunch of quotes from gay authors and columnists (many over 10 years old) to further the lie that lgbts on the whole are promiscuous and that we want to destroy the institute of marriage.
First of all, the opinions of a few lgbts do not speak for the entire community. Anyone with a small shred of common sense knows this.
But I guess Peter thinks that common sense don't matter when one is fighting a "holy war."
And to make matters worse, he misrepresents big time. I want to talk about two.
The first is when he pulls a quote from noted gay author Micheangelo Signorile:
“[Legalizing “same-sex marriage”] is also a chance to wholly transform the definition of family in American culture. It is the final tool with which to dismantle all sodomy statutes, get education about homosexuality and AIDS into public schools, and, in short, usher in a sea change in how society views and treats us.”–Michelangelo Signorile, “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do,” OUT magazine, May 1996, p. 30.
The misrepresentation of this quote is nothing new and Peter is not the first to do it. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition used the same quote to claim that lgbts want to destroy marriage:
“Traditional marriage is under attack. Homosexual activist Michelangelo Signorile, writing in Out! in its Dec./Jan. 1994 issue, says that homosexuals should ‘fi ght for same-sex marriage
and its benefits and then, once granted, redefi ne the institution of marriage completely to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution.’”—Lou Sheldon, Traditional Marriage Is Worth Protecting!, The Traditional Values Coalition
Signorile was quick to cry foul. The following passage is from my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters:
As it turns out, Sheldon’s usage of Signorile’s quote is a distortion. Signorile complained about it in a column entitled Opponents Peddling Selective, Defective Readings. He said the quote in question was written about a same-sex marriage controversy in Hawaii in 1993.
Signorile said he had interviewed people in the gay community with different opinions on same-sex marriage. He also said he quoted those who said same-sex marriage was oppressive and that gays should not attempt to partake in it. Others he talked to said marriage is a good way for gays to civilize and assimilate themselves.
He further said:
“Both of these positions, I found were pretty extreme. I looked at still other points of view and I also proposed what ‘might’ be a compromise— I didn’t even say whether or not I agreed with it or not—stating that redefining the institution of marriage to change its negative aspects while demanding full marriage rights was one way to go.”
In other words, Sheldon (and LaBarbera) took Signorile's comments out of context.
Now let's look at this second misrepresentation:
“Take sex. Traditionally, a commitment to monogamy — to the extent that it was not simply an adjunct of property law, a vehicle for guaranteeing property rights and succession — was the chief mode of sacrifice imposed upon or adopted by married couples as a means of showing their sacred valuing of their relation. But gay men have realized that while couples may choose to restrict sexual activity in order to show their love for each other, it is not necessary for this purpose; there are many other ways to manifest and ritualize commitment. And so monogamy (it appears) is not an essential component of love and marriage. The authors of “The Male Couple” found that:
[T]he majority of [gay male] couples, and all of the couples together for longer than five years, were not continuously sexually exclusive with each other. Although many had long periods of sexual exclusivity, it was not the ongoing expectation for most. We found that gay men expect mutual emotional dependability with their partners [but also believe] that relationship fidelity transcends concerns about sexuality and exclusivity.
The big question here is what exactly is The Male Couple and why didn't Peter give more information regarding the book.
Probably because The Male Couple was published in 1984 (over 20 years ago), which would make it an out-of-date source.
Also, the authors of The Male Couple, McWhirter and Mattison, said that their book should not be generalized to represent the entire gay community:
“We always have been very careful to explain that the very nature of our research sample, its size (156 couples), its narrow geographic location, and the natural selectiveness of the participants prevents the findings from being applicable and generalizable to the entire gay
male community.”
Maybe Peter missed that part.
Or maybe he just doesn't give a damn. You tell me.
Now his last quote is a hoot:
Make Anti-Gays Look Nasty
“We intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to disassociate themselves from such types.”–Marshall K. Kirk and Erastes Pill, “The Overhauling of Straight America,” The Guide (homosexual) magazine, November 1987.
Well Peter, when you lie as pathetically as you did in this column, you make our jobs easier.
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