Sunday, July 26, 2009

Peter LaBarbera repeats Paul Cameron lie about homosexuality and cigarettes

Yet more proof regarding what I said last week about the religious right and their links to discredited researcher Paul Cameron has come about via our friend (and I use that as an extreme euphemism) Peter LaBarbera and his phony Christian group American for Truth:

LaBarbera Calls for Federal Studies on the Health Risks of Homosexual Behavior

More Dangerous than Smoking? Men who have had sex with men since 1977 have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population and 800 times higher than first time blood donors, the FDA reports. When it comes to combating cigarettes, the government not only restricts, taxes and bans smoking, it also funds and encourages anti-smoking messages and advertisements. Given the immense health risks of male homosexual sex, shouldn’t the federal government do a comprehensive study on the matter, tax sodomitic establishments, and educate the public and especially young people about the dangers of “gay” sex?

Speaking Friday at the annual Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ conference in Edmond, OK, Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) President Peter LaBarbera called for government study on the heath risks of homosexual behavior.

LaBarbera read from a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) report explaining why “men who have sex with men” (MSM) cannot donate blood due to the high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases linked to MSM. He noted that since government agencies and politicians are active in confronting the health risks of smoking (using taxpayer dollars), they should do the same for homosexual sex — especially between men — which appears to be as dangerous or more so than smoking cigarettes.


LaBarbera is linking badly. No study done by any medical group has said that homosexuality is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. No legitimate researcher or physician has ever said this either.

But Paul Cameron has.

Unless I am inaccurate, it was Cameron who first espoused this lie in 2005.

Of course Cameron's claim was disputed by folks who have actual expertise in the area but he continued to persist with his charade.

Now in all honesty, some folks may dispute my links claiming that since they are "pro-gay" sources, they are biased.

Well another source here from the rightwing Free Republic bear up my contention that Cameron was the first to push the lie that "homosexuality is as dangerous as cigarette smoking:"


Studies have shown that years of smoking shortens the lifespan of the smoker from 1 to 7 years. But analysis of the age of death in Norway and Denmark for gays who are legally married suggests that engaging in homosexual behavior reduces the lifespan by 24 years!

So reported Drs. Paul and Kirk Cameron at the annual convention of the Eastern Psychological Association on March 23.

"What justification is there for condemning smoking and endorsing homosexuality?" asked Dr. Paul Cameron, of the Family Research Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. "Today, all across the Western world, school children are being taught the acceptability of homosexuality and the wrongness of smoking.


So the question here is not whether or not there should be research regarding the supposed health risks of homosexuality.

The question here is why would LaBarbera, who is supposed to be a Christian man, stoop to channeling the research of a total fraud?

But here is the most important thing to remember - While Paul Cameron's name may fall back on the dungheap of ridicule, his lies will always plague the lgbt community unless we call them out every time they pop up.





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Saturday, July 25, 2009

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.







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Friday, July 24, 2009

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



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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




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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.




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Thursday, July 23, 2009

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?



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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




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