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| Reluctance to confront lies like this is why we lose. |
I've read so many opinions about the lgbt community's devastating loss in Houston and frankly I am sick of the analytical bullshit which skips over the elephant in the room.
You know why we lost in Houston? The same reason why we been put on the defensive about our lives these many years. We fail to take the opposition seriously and take steps to contain them.
The lgbt community faces a huge plethora of interconnected and sometimes non-connected organizations whose sole purpose is to either deny us equality or make our lives hell. It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie and I wish it were a fictional flight of fancy. But it's real. From the Family Research Council to the American Family Association to the Alliance Defending Freedom to the Liberty Counsel and to the World Congress of Families, we are talking about a veritable machine of homophobia which constantly churns out propaganda.
This madness about transgender women being predators and men invading women's restrooms is just the latest in a long line of horror stories and lies which began before I was even born.
We lost in Houston and we lose in other places because we have yet to confront this machine. If anything, we underestimate it. We laugh at the verbal insanity of people like Pat Robertson and Linda Harvey while ignoring the fact that people like James Dobson and Tony Perkins not only have connections with the United States Congress but also state government officials and various statewide so-called pro-family groups. These organizations have been cooperating with legislators and writing laws right under our noses, such as the now defunct DOMA law. And while we twiddle our thumbs or talk about the latest non-controversy involving folks I don't even know, they are making inroads and alliances with black pastors paved with dollars.
So what's to do? Start taking these people seriously. We should be demanding that our networks, our publications and our leaders not wait until referendum votes like the one in Houston come up to call these people out. Pre-emptive strikes never hurt. Lgbts have been explaining our right to equality since day one. I think it's necessary that these groups start explaining why they feel we have no right to equality and above all, the tactics they have undertaken to deny us said equality.
And individually, we need to educate ourselves on who these groups are, how they lie, and above all, do not trivialize their lies.
Enough with the kumbayah stuff. The pursuit of lgbt equality is a war. It always has been and it will always be.
Perhaps we need to start thinking more like live warriors and less like dead peacemakers.
For your edification, here is a list of 17 lies spread about lgbts. Recognize any?
1. Homosexuality is a lifestyle more harmful than cigarette smoking.
2. Gay men have a short life span.
3. The gay and lesbian community have a high rate of domestic violence.
4. Unhealthy behaviors (i.e. substance abuse, promiscuous sexual behavior) is indicative of the gay or lesbian orientation.
5. Gay men molest children at a high rate.
6. Gays and lesbians want to silence Christians.
7. Gays and lesbians recruit people, particularly children, to their "lifestyle."
8. Gays and lesbians are following a six-point plan to take over America.
9. Any judge who rules in favor of the gay and lesbian community in a case is an "activist judge."
10. Anal sex is "homosexual behavior."
11. Gays and lesbians can change their orientation.
12. Gays and lesbians want to force acceptance.
13. Gay bowel syndrome is a legitimate medical term.
14. A man who molests a boy or a woman who molests a girl is automatically homosexual.
15. A convenience sample or out-of-date study can be used to generalize about an entire community.
16. The average gay man has many sexual partners.
17.
Laws created to protect transgender men and women from discrimination will make it
easier for sexual predators to come into womens' bathrooms and locker
rooms.
