by Gary CottleLast week “historian” David Barton claimed something rather remarkable on a radio program. He said that the leading pediatric association in America had sent letters to superintendents of nearly all school districts in the country warning them that anti-bullying programs which teach kids to respect LGBT people would cause some to become homosexual. He claimed that, according to this supposedly “leading pediatric association”, such programs planted a kind of gay seed in the minds of young people that could take root and flourish.
Well, it turns out that this “leading pediatric association” Barton referred to is the American College of Pediatricians (ACP), which should not be confused with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The difference between them is huge. The American Academy of Pediatrics has over 60,000 members. It is, in fact, the leading pediatric association in America. The American College of Pediatricians, on the other hand, has at most a few hundred members. And this group was formed for the purpose of advancing anti-gay Christianist beliefs. It is not the leading pediatric association in America, far from it. And their claims are not scientific but faith based even though they’re packaged in pseudoscientific language. The things they claim about gay people do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Barton may as well have cited the American Telepathy Syndicate and tried to pass it off as AT&T.
So basically, Barton lied. I’m sure he would claim he didn’t, and that he just has a different opinion as to what the leading pediatric association in America is. And I’m sure many of his devotees would believe him. I, however, am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have seen the pattern, and not just with David Barton, but with the whole Christianist establishment. They have grown used to lying about us.
Here’s a list of some of their false claims:
--Gay people choose to be gay.
--Homosexuality is caused by a distant and/or hostile father.
--Homosexuality is caused by an overbearing mother.
--Gays were molested by other gays as children, and that turned them gay.
--Kids turn gay when they’re seduced into the lifestyle by gay adults.
--When kids hear about homosexuality in anything other than condemnatory terms, they might be tempted to turn gay.
--Gay kids aren’t bullied.
--More gay kids than straight kids commit suicide because they know being gay is wrong.
--Unhealthy activity engaged in by gay kids is proof that they have chosen or were seduced into a dangerous lifestyle.
--Most gays are promiscuous. Most have hundreds if not thousands of sex partners.
--Gays are far more likely to molest children.
--Gays want to seduce or indoctrinate children so they can increase their numbers.
--Most gays have HIV/AIDS.
--Gays have a shorter lifespan.
--Gays are more violent than straights.
--Gays are responsible for the Nazi Party.
--Gays are really not interested in marriage. They just want to subvert the institution of marriage and destory the family.
--Gays aren’t good parents.
--Gays want to destroy religious liberty and create a totally secular society.
--Gays want to destroy this country.
--Gays hate God.
--Gays can become straight if they want to.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.
The propaganda war against LGBT people began a long time ago. As soon as LGBT Americans became more visible in our society back in the 1970’s, Christianists--Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant for example--began to ratchet up their anti-gay rhetoric. From the start, they didn’t rely on strictly Biblical arguments. They used to their advantage the common misconception that gay men seduced teenage boys into being gay. They claimed that LGBT Americans were out to upend the moral foundation of our society and that they were a threat to children.
When the medical establishment began moving away from the idea that homosexuality is a disease and research scientists began to explore the possibility that homosexuality is inborn, it was decided that Bible thumping and the reliance on old myths wouldn’t be enough. So Christianists began to manufacture “evidence”. To the uneducated and to those who want to believe the lies, this “evidence” sounds very convincing, but on closer inspection, the fake scientific arguments fall like a house of cards. The citations of so-called research coming from organizations such as NARTH and ACP and individuals such as George Rekers, Joseph Nicolosi, and Paul Cameron is very telling. NARTH, just as ACP, is not a mainstream organization. Their claims do not hold up to peer review. And men such as Rekers--who has advocate severe punishment for boys deemed effeminate--Nicolosi and Cameron are widely dismissed as kooks by scientists and medical professionals, but Christianists present them in such a manner that you’d think they were Nobel laureates.
When Christianists claim that they know gays can become straight, they do not rely on real science to back up this claim. Instead, they turn to the anecdotal testimony of people like Allen Chambers who has admitted that he’s still attracted to men and to Janet Boynes who has admitted that she was never exclusively lesbian.
And Christianists aren’t above manipulating and misrepresenting data from scientists doing legitimate research. For example, Sen. Al Franken recently caught Focus On The Family’s Thomas Minnery misrepresenting the facts on Capital Hill about gay parents.
Our society has underwent a paradigm shift in the last one hundred and fifty years. Women began demanding the right to vote, there was a relaxation of gender roles, and the concept of sexual orientation was introduced. The shift kicked into high gear in the 1960’s with the marketing of effective birth control, the Sexual Revolution, the modern Women’s Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement. How we as a society viewed sex, sexuality and gender roles changed rapidly. But the dissemination of accurate information didn’t always keep pace with changing times. Some caught on to the concept of sexual orientation quicker than others. And even now some older people may be honestly confused. But, in my opinion, younger people--say those under 50--who are still holding onto their homophobia don’t want to know the truth.
Christianists have decided to draw the line in the sand at homosexuality. Divorce, premarital sex, babies born to unwed mothers, sex and nudity in movies, magazines and on the internet, women refusing to be obedient to husbands, women earning their own money, unmarried couples living together, mixed marriages--both in terms of race and religion--are all common now. These things are generally viewed as simply being inescapable facts of life even by many of those who disapprove. But there are still enough bigots out there willing to think the worst of LGBT people to make scapegoating the gays profitable and politically advantageous.
So what are we to make of these Christian extremists, these Christianists who are spreading the lies? I think that our society has a tendency to let people slide if their unusual or unfounded beliefs are based on their faith. In many respects, this is a good thing. But the Christianists are hurting people. They are engaged in a sustained, deliberate, orchestrated, decades-long attack on LGBT people that has not only slowed the advance of LGBT rights, but the attacks have lead directly to instances of depression, suicide and homelessness among our youth. Most, Christian and non-Christian, view vicious and hurtful lies with disdain. Of course few of us are above telling lies. Many of us even occasionally tell vicious lies with the intention of hurting those we don’t like. But the Christianists have constructed a hate machine designed to pump out lies and distortions on a daily basis, and the machine has been in full swing for years. So I think it’s time we stop letting Christianists off the hook simply because they claim their ideas about homosexuality and gender stem from their religion. Even by the standards of their own religion, Christianists are involved in something that is despicable. They may claim to be Christian, they may claim to be righteous, but a lie is a lie.
Well, it turns out that this “leading pediatric association” Barton referred to is the American College of Pediatricians (ACP), which should not be confused with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The difference between them is huge. The American Academy of Pediatrics has over 60,000 members. It is, in fact, the leading pediatric association in America. The American College of Pediatricians, on the other hand, has at most a few hundred members. And this group was formed for the purpose of advancing anti-gay Christianist beliefs. It is not the leading pediatric association in America, far from it. And their claims are not scientific but faith based even though they’re packaged in pseudoscientific language. The things they claim about gay people do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Barton may as well have cited the American Telepathy Syndicate and tried to pass it off as AT&T.
So basically, Barton lied. I’m sure he would claim he didn’t, and that he just has a different opinion as to what the leading pediatric association in America is. And I’m sure many of his devotees would believe him. I, however, am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have seen the pattern, and not just with David Barton, but with the whole Christianist establishment. They have grown used to lying about us.
Here’s a list of some of their false claims:
--Gay people choose to be gay.
--Homosexuality is caused by a distant and/or hostile father.
--Homosexuality is caused by an overbearing mother.
--Gays were molested by other gays as children, and that turned them gay.
--Kids turn gay when they’re seduced into the lifestyle by gay adults.
--When kids hear about homosexuality in anything other than condemnatory terms, they might be tempted to turn gay.
--Gay kids aren’t bullied.
--More gay kids than straight kids commit suicide because they know being gay is wrong.
--Unhealthy activity engaged in by gay kids is proof that they have chosen or were seduced into a dangerous lifestyle.
--Most gays are promiscuous. Most have hundreds if not thousands of sex partners.
--Gays are far more likely to molest children.
--Gays want to seduce or indoctrinate children so they can increase their numbers.
--Most gays have HIV/AIDS.
--Gays have a shorter lifespan.
--Gays are more violent than straights.
--Gays are responsible for the Nazi Party.
--Gays are really not interested in marriage. They just want to subvert the institution of marriage and destory the family.
--Gays aren’t good parents.
--Gays want to destroy religious liberty and create a totally secular society.
--Gays want to destroy this country.
--Gays hate God.
--Gays can become straight if they want to.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.
The propaganda war against LGBT people began a long time ago. As soon as LGBT Americans became more visible in our society back in the 1970’s, Christianists--Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant for example--began to ratchet up their anti-gay rhetoric. From the start, they didn’t rely on strictly Biblical arguments. They used to their advantage the common misconception that gay men seduced teenage boys into being gay. They claimed that LGBT Americans were out to upend the moral foundation of our society and that they were a threat to children.
When the medical establishment began moving away from the idea that homosexuality is a disease and research scientists began to explore the possibility that homosexuality is inborn, it was decided that Bible thumping and the reliance on old myths wouldn’t be enough. So Christianists began to manufacture “evidence”. To the uneducated and to those who want to believe the lies, this “evidence” sounds very convincing, but on closer inspection, the fake scientific arguments fall like a house of cards. The citations of so-called research coming from organizations such as NARTH and ACP and individuals such as George Rekers, Joseph Nicolosi, and Paul Cameron is very telling. NARTH, just as ACP, is not a mainstream organization. Their claims do not hold up to peer review. And men such as Rekers--who has advocate severe punishment for boys deemed effeminate--Nicolosi and Cameron are widely dismissed as kooks by scientists and medical professionals, but Christianists present them in such a manner that you’d think they were Nobel laureates.
When Christianists claim that they know gays can become straight, they do not rely on real science to back up this claim. Instead, they turn to the anecdotal testimony of people like Allen Chambers who has admitted that he’s still attracted to men and to Janet Boynes who has admitted that she was never exclusively lesbian.
And Christianists aren’t above manipulating and misrepresenting data from scientists doing legitimate research. For example, Sen. Al Franken recently caught Focus On The Family’s Thomas Minnery misrepresenting the facts on Capital Hill about gay parents.
Our society has underwent a paradigm shift in the last one hundred and fifty years. Women began demanding the right to vote, there was a relaxation of gender roles, and the concept of sexual orientation was introduced. The shift kicked into high gear in the 1960’s with the marketing of effective birth control, the Sexual Revolution, the modern Women’s Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement. How we as a society viewed sex, sexuality and gender roles changed rapidly. But the dissemination of accurate information didn’t always keep pace with changing times. Some caught on to the concept of sexual orientation quicker than others. And even now some older people may be honestly confused. But, in my opinion, younger people--say those under 50--who are still holding onto their homophobia don’t want to know the truth.
Christianists have decided to draw the line in the sand at homosexuality. Divorce, premarital sex, babies born to unwed mothers, sex and nudity in movies, magazines and on the internet, women refusing to be obedient to husbands, women earning their own money, unmarried couples living together, mixed marriages--both in terms of race and religion--are all common now. These things are generally viewed as simply being inescapable facts of life even by many of those who disapprove. But there are still enough bigots out there willing to think the worst of LGBT people to make scapegoating the gays profitable and politically advantageous.
So what are we to make of these Christian extremists, these Christianists who are spreading the lies? I think that our society has a tendency to let people slide if their unusual or unfounded beliefs are based on their faith. In many respects, this is a good thing. But the Christianists are hurting people. They are engaged in a sustained, deliberate, orchestrated, decades-long attack on LGBT people that has not only slowed the advance of LGBT rights, but the attacks have lead directly to instances of depression, suicide and homelessness among our youth. Most, Christian and non-Christian, view vicious and hurtful lies with disdain. Of course few of us are above telling lies. Many of us even occasionally tell vicious lies with the intention of hurting those we don’t like. But the Christianists have constructed a hate machine designed to pump out lies and distortions on a daily basis, and the machine has been in full swing for years. So I think it’s time we stop letting Christianists off the hook simply because they claim their ideas about homosexuality and gender stem from their religion. Even by the standards of their own religion, Christianists are involved in something that is despicable. They may claim to be Christian, they may claim to be righteous, but a lie is a lie.
All I can see in my mind is that scene from "A Clockwork Orange" with the device that was used to prop open the eyelids. Would that I could put every Christianist in the world into that device and make them read this.
ReplyDeleteLove you, brother.