So Wayne Besen has been likened to Adolf Hitler by a notoriously extreme ex-gay proponent for whom the extra attention of mentioning his name would be undeserved. (And so I won’t.)
By no means is every ex-gay or every person who disagrees with homosexuality a Nazi or a fascist. But there is a particularly ugly anti-gay type who, it seems to me, is the natural descendant of Nazi anti-semitism. This is the type who trades in on vicious insinuations and accusations of paedophilia, depravity and disease-spreading.
In The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right, Didi Herman writes:
These themes of disease and seduction are strongly reminiscent of older, anti-Semitic discourses. Jews historically were associated with disease, filth, urban degeneration, and child stealing (see, e.g., Gilman 1991; Mosse 1985). Some of these antigay themes also draw upon anticommunist discourse … Although Communists were not represented as carrying physical disease, their ideology was likened to a germ, infesting and desensitizing the innocent. Jim Woodall of Concerned Women for America (interview by author, 1995) similarly used the word “desensitization” in relation to the “gay agenda” and youth. The fate of children is paramount within both genres.
The accusations have all been heard before. The claim that a certain group of people are corrupting society, spreading disease and seducing the young into perversion has been made of others before us. And when gays and lesbians have long since ceased being an acceptable scapegoat, the same accusations will doubtless be hurled at others.
A lengthier comparison of anti-Jewish and anti-gay rhetoric is available here.
It goes farther than that, such as claims that gays don’t need antidiscrimination protections because they are already wealthier, more educated, hold higher positions on the corporate ladder, etc.
It’s also blended with actual anti-semitism. Claims that homosexuality is promoted by the “liberal media” and “Hollywood liberals” are just veiled references to Jews supposedly owning the media and Hollywood. That’s why the SPLC and the ADL focus as much attention on the anti-gay right as on the anti-semitic right–they’re the same thing.
The comparison of gays to Nazis is truly bizarre but nonetheless remains popular in certain sections of society. For example, The Pink Swastika by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams goes so far as to say that the Nazis supported homosexuality of the masculine or “butch” variety. Scott Lively heads the California branch of the American Family Association and is president of Abiding Truth Ministries, which provides a sizable number of anti-gay articles. Various other organizations also use the Nazi propaganda theme in comparison to gay activism.
Unfortunately, the actual history of persecution by the Nazis is ignored in favor of hyperbolic propaganda. However I do not think the anti-gay groups are the only abusers, as some gay groups go too far in accusing their opponents of behaving like Nazis. Such rhetoric devalues the reality of past events and numbs us to the true horrors of that period. With that caveat, I think that much of the anti-gay rhetoric easily falls closer to Nazi language than the pro-gay variety.
The fictional narrative of marginalized groups preying upon children has a rich history: The Gypsies steal ’em, the Jews eat them, and the gays rape them.
I cannot tell you how many times in discussions with antigay posters I have been confronted with “evidence” being gay is “unhealthy” and that gays are “likely to die young.” I have yet to find anyone who can demonstrate for me how a monogamous gay couple who do not use IV drugs are more likely to contract HIV or any other STD than a monogamous, non-drug-using straight couple.
Lorian, the irony is that many of these same accusers are doing everything they can to prevent gays from having healthy, monogamous relationships.
So true, Dave.
Monogamy is to be rewarded and encouraged among heterosexuals, but to be discouraged at all costs among homosexuals. The same people who claim we are all a bunch of promiscuous perverts are the very people who wish to deny us the protections and incentives of state-recognized monogamous marriage.
Serious hypocrisy happening there.
Lorian
Sadly, even in my beloved U.S. Episcopal Church, the far right can be heard using this bizarre rhetoric: Gay Lobby = Steamrolling Brown Shirts (courtesy of Father Jake’s blog).
I have yet to find anyone who can demonstrate for me how a monogamous gay couple who do not use IV drugs are more likely to contract HIV or any other STD than a monogamous, non-drug-using straight couple.
This is a very important point. These kinds of distortions get in the way of real, legitimate HIV/STD prevention efforts.
Get this: in a recent national probability-sampled survey, people who were religious were twice as likely to erroneously believe that two HIV-negative men can catch AIDS through same-sex intercourse. *
Pretty sad.
* According to: Herek, Gregory M.; Widaman, Keith F.; Capitanio, John P. “When sex equals AIDS: Symbolic stigma and heterosexual adults’ inaccurate beliefs about sexual transmission of AIDS.” Social Problems 52, no. 1 (February 2005): 15-37.)