Prelude to the Series
The fact that there is a gay agenda, at least on the part of the leaders of the Gay Rights Movement, should not be understood as anything out of the ordinary. All movements have agendas, including political parties, religious organizations and nonprofit enterprises like the Red Cross. So simply having goals they want accomplished should not be off-putting. It is a normal function of modern movements that want to advance their causes.
However, many opponents of the gay agenda are trying to make it look like there is something underfoot akin to the subversive activities of the communists of the 1950s, along with a corresponding witch hunt. When I finish with this series which focuses on the publicly declared and commonly held items of this agenda, I will list some of the more outrageous charges that act more as red herrings than actual concerns. I hope to show that, regardless of the hysteria surrounding the reality of a gay agenda, these are reasonable, responsible and valuable contributions to the public square. (Not withstanding the outlandish charges masquerading as part of the agenda, but are only made up by the opposition.) This is why I chose an opponent of the gay rights movement's (John Rankin) list of what he sees as the gay agenda, as it is, except for the last two, a fair assessment of it.
"Elevate 'gay' relationships to a place of moral superiority for the wider culture to honor and emulate."
So far, each of what Rankin identifies as the gay agenda I uphold as not only true, but welcome in a free society. However, this item goes beyond anything that the mainstream gay leadership has proposed. Rather than "elevating 'gay' relationships to a place of moral superiority," they merely want to level the playing field; they are after simple equality with heterosexual rights and privileges.
Here is a representative sampling of such goals:
So far I have not used the word homophobia in this blog. I have avoided it, not because it doesn't exist, but because it too easily reduces the opposition to an easy target, which is what straw men are for. Yet, it is true that those who are viscerally opposed to homosexuality will use any means whatsoever to bolster their prejudice. They will look for the most absurd or extreme form of an argument to hang their hat on. I am afraid that much of the hysteria surrounding the gay agenda amounts to that. The ideas that gays want to turn all children into homosexuals, that all child molesters are gay, that gay teachers are a threat to our children, that free speech is opposed by gay leaders, that gays are out to destroy the traditional family, and the like, have their supporters, but they are not supported by the experts who have given their lives to the study of these issues, nor are they a part of the broad consensus of gay rights leaders. They are lies that are packaged with seemingly good evidence, yet lack factuality.
Conspiracy theories abound. The "gay threat" is the perfect combination of atmospherics that lend themselves to conspiratorial thinking. When you don't like gays, don't know many gays, don't trust gays, are afraid of gays, and think they tend to congregate together in dark places, you can imagine most anything is possible. They are labeled abominations, deviants, psychologically disturbed, intrinsically disordered. They allegedly hate themselves, hate the Bible, distrust Christians, and mostly meet in bars. What are they up to? What's going on when they are secreted away?
There are those who still believe that the moon landing is a hoax and that Elvis is alive, and that the gay threat is the most urgent concern for Americans. There is nothing we can do for these folk. As more and more LGBTs "come out," we discover that they are much more like us than not, wanting no more than what any respectable human wants, and deserves to be treated like the rest of us. The day is coming, and very quickly, when the rest of this foolishness will be as silly to us as having ever thought that races shouldn't intermarry.
Here's a video that shows a debate between someone who believes in the radical gay agenda, and those who don't. It's dated, and about 10 minutes long, but just over half is devoted to our subject.
Here is a representative sampling of such goals:
In a 1987 speech to the National Press Club in Washington, homosexual spokesperson Jeff Levi remarked, "We are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a protection from wrong. We also have a right — as heterosexual Americans already have — to see government and society affirm our lives."
In an article entitled "Gays on the March" in 1975, Time magazine quoted gay activist Barbara Gittings who stated: "What the homosexual wants, and here he is neither willing to compromise nor morally required to compromise — is acceptance of homosexuality as a way of life fully on a par with heterosexuality."The only way the gay rights agenda can be expanded to include more than simple equality is to parade the fringe elements that don't speak for the majority. It's like saying the Republican Party is for killing abortion doctors because those killers have been conservative Republicans. Or that Democrats are soft on defense because some peaceniks are Democrats. Any representation that goes beyond wanting homosexuality to be considered anything other than as normal as heterosexuality is a straw man that easily draws the uninformed to the side of the dissenters.
So far I have not used the word homophobia in this blog. I have avoided it, not because it doesn't exist, but because it too easily reduces the opposition to an easy target, which is what straw men are for. Yet, it is true that those who are viscerally opposed to homosexuality will use any means whatsoever to bolster their prejudice. They will look for the most absurd or extreme form of an argument to hang their hat on. I am afraid that much of the hysteria surrounding the gay agenda amounts to that. The ideas that gays want to turn all children into homosexuals, that all child molesters are gay, that gay teachers are a threat to our children, that free speech is opposed by gay leaders, that gays are out to destroy the traditional family, and the like, have their supporters, but they are not supported by the experts who have given their lives to the study of these issues, nor are they a part of the broad consensus of gay rights leaders. They are lies that are packaged with seemingly good evidence, yet lack factuality.
Conspiracy theories abound. The "gay threat" is the perfect combination of atmospherics that lend themselves to conspiratorial thinking. When you don't like gays, don't know many gays, don't trust gays, are afraid of gays, and think they tend to congregate together in dark places, you can imagine most anything is possible. They are labeled abominations, deviants, psychologically disturbed, intrinsically disordered. They allegedly hate themselves, hate the Bible, distrust Christians, and mostly meet in bars. What are they up to? What's going on when they are secreted away?
There are those who still believe that the moon landing is a hoax and that Elvis is alive, and that the gay threat is the most urgent concern for Americans. There is nothing we can do for these folk. As more and more LGBTs "come out," we discover that they are much more like us than not, wanting no more than what any respectable human wants, and deserves to be treated like the rest of us. The day is coming, and very quickly, when the rest of this foolishness will be as silly to us as having ever thought that races shouldn't intermarry.
Here's a video that shows a debate between someone who believes in the radical gay agenda, and those who don't. It's dated, and about 10 minutes long, but just over half is devoted to our subject.
TOMORROW: The last in this series, Pt. 6
Is the Gay Agenda really trying to "remove the First Amendment liberties of anyone who disagrees, including those of ministers, rabbis and priests who refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies; and at the extreme, remove the protection of unalienable rights for dissenters to this 'new orthodoxy'"?
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