[googlevideo]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3501440730972344004 [/googlevideo]YouTube Link
In response to GLSEN’s “Day of Silence” where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth remain silent to protest the silencing effect discrimination and harassment has on LGBT youth, the far right Alliance Defense Fund created a “Day of Truth” one day after the pro-gay “Day of Silence.”
This video, written and narrated by former XGW author Daniel Gonzales and released by Truth Wins Out, examines the real motives behind the Day of Truth and the organizations surrounding its promotion.
Source: Truth Wins Out
I’m amazed by the quality of this video. Daniel, you truly are a hero.
Daniel your videos have been the most effective way I’ve been able to share my interest in these issues with my friends in the Queer community. Thanks!
Its a great video and I really think it gets the point across effectively. The “day of truth” is rife with misleading and flat out wrong information.
I do however, have one minor concern about the video. The video makes mention of Zach Stark as a symbol of being forced into LIA/R’s program, as he certainly was. My concern is that by including him the video is violating Zach’s wishes and apparently XGW’s official policy. It’s certainly not my place to tell XGW how to run this site nor am I the arbiter of your policies. I do wonder if its appropriate to use someone who was a minor at the time without their consent in the way the video uses him.
Responding to Kendall,
The misuse and manipulation of the young, while temporarily sacrosant in the US and some other countries, is unethical and immoral. It is immaterial what a young man who has been brainwashed for 8 weeks and is probably under strict supervision says — we are well aware psychologically of several things that often happen in situations like the one in which Zach found himself — including the Stockholm syndrome of course, but also including more direct reactions to fear and hatred.
Zach Stark’s family, in response to learned bigotry and lies spewed from theocratic organizations, elected to harm their child. They put him into a forced brainwashing program — and I suggest that anyone who wants to paint it otherwise, undergo a similar program over which they have no control. An adult COULD NOT by law be treated in such a way, unless they were a felon — and even then generally not in the US.
So, they harmed their son. The Zach that came out of a the Christian “bootcamp” was not, on a presentation level, the same as the Zach that went in. Someday he may be that person again, or he may spend his life as an unhappy man who is never truly at peace, but I very much doubt that any other resolution is likely.
I pity him, and pray for him. However, his example DOES need to be held up, no matter what the final resolution, in order to protect others, yet innocent of such horrendous and grossly immoral interventions, from the same lies and distortions that led to his brainwashing. I would believe the same if it were me — providing that enough of my persona and superego had survived the techniques used by the camp so that I (the person that I am) could believe anything. The good of the many truly does outweigh attempts to honor the desires that Zach, the real Zach, may or may not actually have.
Regards,
Reyn
I agree, the parents started the harm and exploitation of their son. That doesn’t mean its justified to continue that exploitation. I mean, if it was me, and I was subjected to that brainwashing (thankfully I wasn’t) I know that I’d want it put behind me and as forgotten as possible. The kid is 18 now and so legally an adult, but the LIA/R fiasco was foisted on him at 16, and I can only imagine he doesn’t need yet more publicity about that horrible time in his life.
I say the let poor kid go and talk about the people that are actively harming our community.
Kendall, I’m not sure the comments you linked to constitute any “official policy” exactly. He was a minor and entitled to privacy against the constant probing of the press and blogs at the time. However, what happened to him is a matter of record, placed there by the events that took place, his own blogging and the public comments of his father on a talk show. It’s rather absurd to expect that no one will ever refer to those events again.
Just for the record, Zach is now an adult.
That’s true David, although Mike DID advise “Stark should indeed be left alone — by both gay-equality and exgay advocates. ” So perhaps I read too much into it because he’s the founder of the site. I agree he’s an adult and I agree that its reasonable in some instances to refer to Zach Stark’s circumstances because, well, they did indeed happen. Still, somehow it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth to refer to someone who is essentially an innocent bystander in the struggle for equality and try to turn him into a cause célèbre for our position without his consent.
He’s an adult, why not ask him what he wants? He’s obviously not engaging in public rhetoric for or against us, should he be dragged into every discussion whether he wants to be or not? Isn’t that essentially what the parents did, try to force him to become something he wasn’t? In their case straight, in our case a symbol for what’s wrong with ex-gay programs?
I think you are making way too much of this. However, If you want a strict interpretation, the video is not ours anyway so why would our policy, if it was such, apply?
Again, what happened to Zach is history now and while he may or may not like that, it won’t change. No one is parading down the street with his likeness on a stick, Daniel correctly (I believe) referred to what happened to him as a historical example – less than 5 words and a few seconds on screen.
I can’t agree with your assertions, but we can agree to disagree and let this thread go back on track 😉
Zortnac,
I’m sure you meant no harm, but not all of us wish to be associated with the term “queer.”
This thread is cursed. Franc is sending bad karma over my nitpicking, that’s the only explanation. Uncle!
ADF would have you believe the Day of Truth is for Christians to give their side of the story. Now on the surface that sounds reasonable in a free society, the free expression of ideas, but when you look more closely you realize that ADF is merely using students as pawns in the politics of sexual orientation. All you need to confirm that is to read the Day of Truth’s website. And I quote “…the Day of Truth, which was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.” Counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda? Express an opposing viewpoint? What a complete load of crap this is. And why, well let’s compare with the Day of Silence which is the event that the Day of Truth supposedly counterpoints. This is from the Day of Silence’s website: “The Day of Silence is an annual event held to commemorate and protest anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools.” Am I to believe that protesting bullying, harassment and discrimination is an agenda? Am I to believe that there is an opposing viewpoint regarding bullying, harassment and discrimination? Am I to infer that ADF and its supporters are for bullying, harassment and discrimination against LGBT people? Wait a second, I think I’m on to something here! The truth is much uglier than I want to admit, I think this is exactly what I’m supposed to infer. I mean it’s so clear, because the Day of Silence is not about the morality of homosexuality at all, it’s about how we treat LGBT people, and if ADF and its allies wish to protest that, their message is clear, they do actually believe in mistreating LGBT people. They are willing, based on their moral views of homosexuality and transgender, to justify mistreatment because to do otherwise is somehow equivalent to promoting what they disagree with.
Mark,
Sorry, “Queer” is a term I’ve gotten used to using on my campus as another word for LGBT. Of course I have no wishes to impose an identity or a term on anyone.
PW….BRILLIANT!
Day of Silence IS about mistreatment. I remember children here in Los Angeles participating, and meeting similar responses for their activity.
There is legitimate URGENCY in Day of Silence. The reality of DESTROYED lives because of this persistent prejudice.
Does the ADF encourage engagement, or discussion of what the DOS kids are saying?
Do they ASK about the statistical information on the destroyed school careers, home life or physical safety of kids?
Even the ones PERCEIVED as gay?
What if that Harper kid were on the receiving end of anti gay bullying?
Would he be angry at the gay people, or the atmosphere which fosters the bullies?
What does that say about the moral clarity of Harpers’ supporters to not know the difference, but claim some kind of morally superior function?
The actions taken by ADF, DOES infer that they have a problem with a challenge to threat and harassment and other forms of negative actions against gay students.
Indeed, to what end…and what positive outcomes could POSSIBLY be proven to continue to treat gay kids this way?
These are fair questions that the ADF isn’t prepared to answer.
Believe me, I called them up directly MANY times and asked them.
This attitude against gay folks has commanded inflence for a long time. And where it might falter, is because of DOS.
Interesting to note, that they have no other solutions to eliminate the harassment, except that gay people de facto disappear.
And there is absolutely NOTHING loving or compassionate in the message that an entire group of people disappear, and because they can’t, the alternative is mistreatment.
NAZI propaganda films featured pretty white kids and a smooth voice asserting how compassionate it was to euthanize the handicapped…others with perceived undesirable characteristics.
Which is why this video gave me chills. They may not promote outright mercy killing….but their eventual goal is the same.
Making gay people go away. Period.
The ADF taking offense at the promotion of anti bullying and mistreatment really does say something about the hypocrisy of their words, and the mean spiritedness of their intent.
In response to the previous comment, never relate anyone to the Nazi’s or Hitler. You are stepping in the biggest mud hole in the entire world’s history. By posting that you have just insulted millions of people dead and alive. No one in this time could ever understand the horror of the Nazis. There are many people across the world that aren’t even in this debate who you just as good as slapped in the face. Speaking of such a thing is an abomination. There is nothing you could have said right then more discussing, underhanded, or cruel. To refer to Hitler in that way shows that you have no idea what you are talking about. Neither you nor I could in ten life times feel as much pain as one person felt in those death camps. The argument over gay rights is insignificant compared to WWII; it is so small compared to the suffering of that time that I do not thing your tiny mind could handle it.
This comment is aimed specifically at Regan DuCasse alone. Any one who has a comment on this piece feel free to send it to runningbook20@yahoo.com.
Jake,
A fundamental aspect of studying and remembering the Holocaust, Hitler and Nazi activities during and before WWII is to make sure that it never happens again.
Unfortunately, genocide has happened since WWII. Cambodia and Rwanda are tragic examples.
Violent systematic genocides or ethnic cleansings do not happen overnight. The people must be prepared. The Nazi’s started very early with their propaganda to prepare the population to be supportive or at least indifferent to the fate of the Jews, Gypsies, Socialists, handicapped and yes, gays. The Kmer Rouge in Cambodia worked very hard on indocrination (particularly of the young) to reject everything and everyone who represented modernity, knowledge or contacts with the West in order to justify the killing of about 1/4 or 1/3 of the Cambodian population. And the Hutus spread their propaganda of hate against the minority Tutsis long before the bodies of dead Tutsis were floating down the river into Lake Victoria.
The point is that hate needs to buid up before it can be fully expressed in its’ most violent forms. If you go to Holocaust Museums anywhere in the world, they point out the importance of speaking out early to counter the voices of hate, because if you do not speak out early, it will be too late.
Hitler and the Nazi atrocities of WWII are the best examples of where hate can lead. It is appropriate to point out to hatemongers where the path that they are on can lead to.
The Holocaust is a lesson that we must all take to heart, and we must always remember what can happen when hate isn’t countered. But it is never off limits, and people need to be reminded so that we can never forget.
I thought Regan’s comments were appropriate. It is a mistake to believe the Nazi’s are unique and that no one living today can understand them. It is also a mistake to believe that only The Victim can speak to evil with moral authority. Regan has a unique voice and many of us welcome her ideas.
David,
LOL! So voodoo DOES work.
Jake,
Thank you for attempting to take a very valid, historical and relevant example off the table, to prevent any reminder of the fact that wholesale, institutionalized prejudiced resulted in the torture and death of gay men.
The Pink Triangle, seen now as a reclaimed symbol by GLBTQ people – was instituted by the Nazi’s. With your remarks here, you have savaged the memory of the gay men who were tortured, and slaughtered by the Nazi’s, as well as the many who, when the camps were liberated, were simply sent on to prison.
https://www.holocaust-trc.org/homosx.htm
“The argument over gay rights is insignificant compared to WWII;”
The argument over gay rights is a legacy of WWII, but, unlike the other victims of the Nazi’s, the gay victims of the Nazi’s were neither recognized nor repatriated. The institutionalized bias continues to this day.
I learned a long time ago that whenever some attempts, as you have, to ban an argument or example, to prevent its appropriate use, they are declaring that it is not only appropriate and relevant, but convincing enough to be a threat to their position.
I think you’ve grossly underestimated other people’s capacity for compassion and understanding as well. Contrary to your claim: “one in this time could ever understand the horror of the Nazis” the overwhelming majority of the people I’ve known over the years, quite fully understand the horror the Nazi’s perpetrated.
From your post, though, it appears that you do not.
Hi,
Great blog!
I like the office view!
If you have time, please submit the view to my new blog: http://www.viewfromoffice.com and in return I’ll include a link to your blog!
Thanks!