Repost: Something guaranteed to piss you off

I ran into something a while back that I have been itching to show on this site.

This 1986 comic was created by a man named Dick Hafer and it is a vile representation of some of the most evil anti-gay lies out there.

This is for the many young folks who don't remember what it was like in the 1980s when the AIDS crisis was in full bloom, ignorance was all around and Paul Cameron was a credible name.

It is a representation of how far we have come and how far we have to go. You will recognize how some of the same arguments are still being used, although not as explicitly. Check out the comic's list of supporters shown on the last graphic. One of them is Beverly LaHaye, the founder of Concerned Women for America - a religious right organization that continues to fight against lgbt equality.

The next time you hear one of their representatives whining about "intolerant gays," bring this comic to his or her attention.

You can click on the pictures to get a better view of the pages - more are at the bottom (even though I don't think it's work safe). And if you want to see the entire comic (God help you) go here.

Editor's note - The webpage featuring this comic is not anti-gay. It's a site that looks at "problem-based comics" from the past.

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

First of all, my prayers and kind thoughts go out to the family of African-American gay author E. Lynn Harris who died today at age 54. The cause of death has not been determined.



I bet a lot of you never heard of this 1976 movie starring star of Sanford and Son Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey.

Be glad you didn't because nothing can prepare you for how strange it is.

Foxx has just found out that his wife, Bailey, has left him for his brother. So he goes to Los Angeles to tell his son, played by Michael Warren.

But what he doesn't know is that his son is in a same-sex relationship with a white man, Garson (Dennis Dugan). And Garson is highly, highly flamboyant. Needless to say that Foxx is not at all pleased to find out that his son is gay.

And to complicate matters, his wife pays a visit after leaving his brother.

All I can say is that they tried. Too bad that the following preview didn't include the most surreal scene of the movie where Foxx has a nightmare that he is getting an award for being the most homosexual person or something or another. The vision of Foxx with a Liberace wig and speaking with a lisp is something that I never want to see again.

(Editor's note - A reader just sent me a clip of the scene which I have just spoken of. The link is in the comments section. View it with barf bag in hand.)

Past Know Your LGBT History postings:

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda'

Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community

Arrest in murder of gay navyman, Carrie Prejean, and other Friday midday news briefs

Sailor charged in Camp Pendleton shooting death of seaman - This is a first step to some good news in this awful situation.

Ex-Miss California Carrie Prejean heading to Florida to help Republicans - Oh God, why do we have to continue to deal with this woman.

Landmark D.C. law grants parental status to two mothers - Here is some good news for today.

Equality Florida: AAA South to recognize married gay couples in policies - More good news never hurts.

The more things change... - A little history on the lies of Maggie Gallagher courtesy of Goodasyour.org

Peter LaBarbera throws public tantrum, flaunts his irrelevance

Last month, our anti-gay buddy Peter LaBarbera and a few assorted (be nice, Alvin) had held a press conference in Chicago to speak against President Obama's supposed "radical homosexual appointments and overall “gay” agenda."

Religious right figures such as Matt Barber, Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern, and Diane Gramley appeared.

Well the press conference came and went, but we heard nothing about it. I couldn't find any articles about it. And Peter never mentioned it on the Americans for Truth webpage.

That is until today. Apparently, even though several religious right "dignitaries" showed up at Peter's press conference, the media took a serious rain check.

Peter alluded to this fact in a piece that I guess was supposed to make fun of the recent protest by lgbts against the San Diego Mormon Temple.

Lgbts and heterosexual allies held a "kiss-in" at the temple this week to support a gay couple cited for trespassing after they shared a kiss on temple grounds.

Apparently according to Peter, since only 30 people showed up to protest, and the media almost outnumbered the protestors (his words), then the protest was a flop.

In comparison, no media showed up at his press conference last month, and Peter was mad over that:

What is over-the-top, however, is the liberal (”mainstream”) media treating every “queer” protest and event as important news. (Meanwhile, Associated Press and all national media skipped our coalition press conference in Chicago against President Barack Obama’s “gay” agenda — held on the very day that Obama was capitulating to the “Gay” Lobby by signing an Executive Order supporting “domestic partners.”) If homosexual activists do succeed in destroying the influence of the church and ushering in the oxymoronic notion of government-supported homosexual “marriage,” the woefully biased American media will be able to claim major credit.

Twenty-five members of the media showing up at a press conference means success. No media showing up your press conference means failure, Peter.

It's one thing to be irrelevant, but it's another to flaunt your irrelevancy.

Lgbts have long suspected that no one longer cares for your ramblings, Peter. Thank you for proving our point.

And for putting a smile on my face this Friday morning.

Illinois Family Institute drops Paul Cameron-cited piece

From Goodasyou.org some interesting news.

In March of this year, the Illinois Family Institute raised holy hell because Southern Poverty Law Center declared it an official hate group.

Apparently the group had a Paul Cameron-cited article on its webpage and refused to remove it, thereby causing the SPLC to give them the designation.

The SPLC also considers Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, as a hate group because it Cameron's tendency to outright lie about the lgbt community.

Well according to Goodasyou.org, the Illinois Family Institute has removed the article, thereby causing SPLC to remove them from the hate group status.

Two questions:

1. Why didn't the Illinois Family Institute just remove the article from the get-go?

2. Will these other groups follow IFI's example and remove Cameron's work from their webpages?

Oklahoma Republican embarrassed by Sally Kern, Janet Porter meets someone nuttier than her and other Thursday midday news briefs

A top OKC PR firm owner emails GOP chairman re: Kern’s ‘judgmental rhetoric on morality’ - Oklahoma Republican embarrassed by homophobe Sally Kern. What took her so long?

Can Someone Be Too Crazy For Janet Porter? Yes and No - Uh oh. The religious right gets in bed with a racist. Now there is a nasty picture.

Oxnard teen to stand trial in gay classmate's killing - Lawrence King's murderer will be tried as an adult. That is good news indeed.


Gay T-Shirts In Windows A Problem For American Apparel - Damn there goes the mind control plot via hypnotic t-shirts

Why we should care about Paul Cameron

In the past days, I have talked about discredited researcher Paul Cameron.

In case you want a long recap, go here and here.

But if you want a short recap:

Paul Cameron is the head of the Family Research Institute, an organization declared an official hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He has been censured, rebuked, and called the carpet on numerous occasions by people on the left and the right for his tendency to use bad research techniques as well as manipulate data to claim that lgbts are leeches on society.

He has been caught making up tales about gay men castrating children in restrooms, and called out on his claims that gays have a "short life span," molest children at a high rate, and engage in extremely deviant sexual practices (including those involving feces and gerbils).

In 1983, he was dismissed from the American Psychological Association after refusing to cooperate in an investigation brought about by member complaints of his work.

Since I’ve written this series I have been disappointed with the reaction of some in the lgbt community.

"Who cares."

"This isn’t a big deal."

"Paul Cameron is just a crackpot."

"You are wasting your time talking about him."

It's a mistake to dismiss Cameron as a mere crackpot when one looks at his connection to so-called legitimate religious right groups.

He has been and still continues to be the go-to guy (although covertly at times) by them when it comes to pushing bad theories about lgbts.

In the past, they relied on Cameron heavily.

In 1991, a Colorado amendment was created to ban gay-rights ordinances. Backers of this amendment, Amendment 2, used Cameron’s data in their position statement. Also, the week before the 1992 vote over 100,000 copies of one of his pamphlets, What Homosexuals Do, went across Colorado. Not surprisingly, the amendment passed. (It was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.)

In 1992 during the anti-gay referendum campaign in Colorado, Cameron was the “chief scientific consultant” for organizations for the referendum.

In 1994, when gays and lesbians challenged the validity of Amendment 2, state Attorney General Gail Norton paid Cameron $15,000 for his research and wanted to use him as an “expert witness.” When informed of his reputation, Norton used neither him nor his research.

Anti-gay spokesperson Robert Knight (formerly of Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council), in 1994, cited Cameron's work in testimony in front of Congress opposing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Since that time, Cameron's work was cited here and there but his effectiveness lessened due to his dubious reputation.

However, he did enjoy a short resurgence when George Bush was re-elected president in 2004.

In May 2005, Cameron announced the completion of another study that supposedly proved that homosexuality is more dangerous than cigarette smoking and being overweight.

What he did was take over 10,000 obituaries from the gay newspaper the Washington Blade and compare them to a CDC report entitled AIDS Cases in Adolescents and Adults, by Age—United States, 1994-2000.

He claimed that this supported his gay life span study. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said otherwise.

Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, said Cameron uses bad methodology.

He also said:

“[The CDC] does not collect statistics on the life span of gay men. While gay men continue to be severely impacted by HIV and AIDS, AIDS-related death data cannot be used to indicate that homosexual men live shorter lives than heterosexual men overall.”

In June 2005, when Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a “defense of marriage” bill, accompanying him was televangelist Ron Parsley. Parsley had this to say about homosexuality:

“Gay sex is a veritable breeding ground for disease. Only one percent of the homosexual population in America will die of old age. The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States discounting AIDS is forty-two years of age . . . A lesbian can only expect to live to be forty - five years of age . ."

Parsley now heads the Center for Moral Clarity, an organization dedicated to "Christian grassroots organization that advocates for public policies based on biblical principles."

Cameron’s claim that homosexuality is more dangerous than cigarette smoking even made its way to the lower echelons of the Bush Administration.

In July 2005, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter asked that the national Health and Human Services look at a certain web site because it allegedly showed inaccurate information about homosexuality and contraception.

The web site, 4parents.gov, received information from an organization called the National Physicians Center for Family Resources. The chairman of the National Physicians Center for Family Resources board, John Whiffen, said the organization was correct regarding what it had printed about homosexuality.

“It’s fairly well-accepted that smoking is not a good idea. It takes seven years off of your life. It appears that male homosexuality takes more than that off your life."

That's the trouble with some "crackpots." If you leave them alone to cause mischief, they will.

The lgbt community should care about Paul Cameron for a multitude of reasons. He is masquerading as a legitimate researcher and his mess continues to hurt the us.

But for me, it mostly comes down to this:

We reacted because the police kept harassing us as Stonewall,

We reacted because Anita Bryant told those lies about us in the 70's,

We reacted because of the AIDS crisis,

We reacted because of the Proposition 8 vote.

Our history seems to be a pattern of reacting.

When you react, you lash out and are on the defensive. You are not in control of the situation because you are trying to rally yourself from whatever calamity that has been thrust upon you.

And that has been our problem.

We are constantly trying to rally ourselves after being slapped. We wait until we have been wronged before we act and then we try to take care of the situation with a rushed public display of anger.

I hate to say it but let’s take a tip from those people who claim that Obama was not born in the United States.

The only reason why the "birthers" have gotten so much attention is because they have been insistent in pushing their point. They have been on the offensive from the beginning.

And we certainly have a more legitimate case than the "birthers." Paul Cameron has made a career out of lying about the lgbt community. He couldn’t be believed if his blood was replaced with truth serum.

Yet the right continues to cite him either overtly or covertly.

But we are just sitting by and letting it happen without challenge.

We are wasting a valuable opportunity to not only put the religious right on the defensive but bring attention to the fact that they are neither religious in their tactics nor right in their claims.

Sometimes winning the fight is not reacting after being kicked but doing the kicking yourself.

With that in mind, please be aware of the following:

According to the webpage Box Turtle Bulletin, Cameron's work continues to be cited in the following pieces, which are still present and available on each corresponding group's webpage:

Publications:

Journal of Biosocial Science

Psychological Reports

American Family Association:

Targeting Children, Part Four: Access to children: Homosexuality and Molestation — Ed Vitagliano, June 2001.

Targeting Children, Part Three: Activists Encouraging Experimentation — Ed Vitagliano, May 2001.

Homosexuality in America: Exposing the Myths (PDF: 299 KB/24 pages) — Robert G. Howe, 1994.

Americans For Truth:

Study Shows “Gay Married” Lifespans Average 24 Years Shorter than Hetero Marrieds in Norway, Denmark — Peter LaBarbera, April 5, 2007.

Canadian Research Suggests only 1.4% of Adults Homosexual — Peter LaBarera, March 27, 2007.

Stanford Nurse Details Lethal Consequences of Engaging in Promiscuous Anal Intercourse — Kathleen Melonakos, Dec 2, 2006.

Courage:

Living In Truth: Unsure Of Your Sexuality? — unsigned, 2000

Concerned Women For America:

Indianapolis Rejects Domestic Partner Benefit — Robert H. Knight, Aug 2, 2002

‘Sexual Orientation’ and American Culture — Robert H. Knight, July 10, 2002

Rosie and the Docs Peddle Bad Medicine (PDF: 62 KB/7 pages) — Robert H. Knight, May 2002.

Pediatrics Academy Joins Crusade for ‘Gay Parenting’ — Robert H. Knight, Feb 7, 2002

Ears To Hear:

Myths, Facts, and Consequences of the Homosexual Lifestyle — unsigned, April 30, 2007.

Evergreen International:

Gay Identity and the Gay Rights Movement — Jason Park, 1996.

Behavior (FAQ) — Jason Park, 1996.

Why Am I Attracted to Men? — Jason Park, 1996.

Lifesite News:

Canadian Research Suggests only 1.4% of Adults Homosexual — Unsigned, March 27, 2007.

Expert Research Finds Homosexuality More Dangerous Than Smoking — Unsigned, April 3, 2007.

US Sexuality Survey Shows Gays 107% More Likely To Engage In Criminal Activities — “JJ,” June 13, 2005.

Yet Another Study Confirms Gay Life Expectancy 20 Years Shorter — “JJ,” June 6, 2005.

Same-Sex Parenting is Harmful to Children Says REAL Women of Canada — Unsigned, March 2004.

The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage (Originally published in Crisis magazine) — Tim Leslie, January 2004.

Homosexuals Declare War On Boy Scouts — Unsigned, August 23, 2000
.
National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH):

Joseph Nicolosi e Linda Ames Nicolosi, Omosessualità. Una Guida per i Genitori, (PDF: 174 KB/5 pages) (Italian: Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi. Homosexuality. A Guide for Parents) — Roberto Marchesini, October 2005.

Conversion Therapy Revisited: Parameters and Rationale for Ethical Care — Christopher H. Rosik, Spring 2001.

Revisión de la Terapia Teparativa: Parámetros y Fundamento Para el Cuidado Ético (PDF: 280 KB/18 pages) (Spanish: Conversion Therapy Revisited: Parameters and Rationale for Ethical Care ) — Christopher H. Rosik, Spring 2001.

Pediatrician Says Childhood Gender Identity Disorder Requires Treatment, Not Sex-Change Surgery — Ross Olson, undated (updated April 20, 2006).

Father-son Relationships and Male Sexual Development — Gregory Dickson, undated (Updated Sept 30, 2002).

Renew America:

Attorney, Group Blast Bishops Over Sex Ed — Matt C. Abbott, August 21, 2005.

Sometimes, Where There’s Smoke, There’s the Fired — Selwyn Duke, February 11, 2005

Virtue Online:

Expert Research Finds Homosexuality More Dangerous Than Smoking — “David Virtue,” April 4, 2007.

1.4% of Adults Homosexual? — “David Virtue,” March 23, 2007.

Sites like Box Turtle Bulletin should be commended for their diligent work in cataloguing all of this nonsense.

But the question needs to be asked - why have we let this go on for so long without raising hell about it?

The only reason why the religious right gets away with citing Cameron is because no one calls them on it.

Isn't time for us to do a little calling out?

Other HB/HM articles on Paul Cameron:

More homophobic lies from the Paul Cameron Poland tour

Homophobic 'researcher' Paul Cameron in all of his repulsive glory