Recent discussions on this site and others have revolved around whether Christians who are parents, pastors, grandparents or friends of gay people and that attend anti/ex-gay conferences are motivated by hate. The authors and frequent participants of XGW agreed that fear and misunderstanding of gay people were more likely to be the true reason for these people to be open to the ex-gay message.
But that is not to suggest that there are not those who feed those fears with false claims about gay people and “the homosexual lifestyle”. It may be that some of those who spread lies are doing so out of their own fears but I do believe that there are some anti-gay activists who are motivated by hatred. It is evident in everything they say and do.
Some anti-gay activists are obvious haters: Paul Cameron with his portfolio of bogus “research”; Lou Sheldon with his rants and sermons; James Hartline with his paranoid delusions; Michael Marcavage with his disruptions and banners.
Others, such as James Dobson and Alan Chambers, probably see anti-gay activism as a source of money or political power. I doubt that they hate the gay people that they know, but the money is good and there’s a rush that comes from brokering votes for a President.
But there are others who are more difficult for me to categorize. One such person is Linda Harvey, “the Founder and President of Mission America, which focuses on homosexuality and its destructive impact on youth.”
Linda is always quick with a nasty word and a vicious lie. But some of her beliefs about gay people are so peculiar that it’s hard to tell whether she’s cynically found herself a “ministry” or whether she’s motivated by a desire to do harm to the lives of gay people. It’s clear that her screeds generate from within and do not reflect even the latest positions of the other religious or ex-gay movements. But is this because it’s a game to her and she couldn’t bother to read anyone else? Or is it because it’s all a reflection of some internal fire that comes spewing out like some volcanic eruption?
Linda’s latest piece is A Seven-Point Plan to Protect Christian Youth Against Homosexuality which is published on LifeSite, an anti-individual-liberties website. Linda warns that “homosexuality is secretly destroying the Christian faith of millions of teens, whether they are involved in the behavior or not”. And her seven points to “rescue them from the darkest and the most destructive of beliefs” are:
1. Teach your youth group the clobber passages.
2. Indoctrinate youth to mistrust science. And lie to them.
Repeat, and repeat again, and repeat again, that there is no evidence in Scripture or in science that homosexuality is inborn.
3. Dehumanize gay people and equate them with pagans.
Increasingly today, “pansexuality” is being encouraged and this is consistent with pagan, ungodly sexuality as depicted both in Scripture and in ancient pagan history and archaeology.
4. Openly gay people who don’t become ex-gay are “condemned forever”.
What condemns a person is refusing to accept Christ as Saviour and lack of repentance, while willfully, deliberately continuing to sin. This is a good place to discuss the number of former homosexuals who are now publicly telling their stories.
5. Embrace homophobia.
Also emphasize that Christians do not have to apologize for what the Bible says about homosexuality… Sentences that start with, “I’m not homophobic, but….” are concessions to a framework of thinking that those advocating homosexuality have developed and our culture often now accepts, but Christians should not.
6. Scare children with wild claims about the health risks of “the homosexual lifestyle” and try to convince them that condoms don’t work.
It’s important to cover HIV risks, the lack of protection of condoms, the risks of oral sex, and the risks of anal sex. Also, one should mention the highly promiscuous nature of adult, homosexual lifestyles as most live them.
7. Don’t let your kids have gay friends.
Finally, we need to caution our kids against friendships with people practicing homosexual behavior, and with those who condone it, particularly those who call themselves Christians.
It’s pretty clear that Linda has taken Number 7 to heart. Considering the wild claims she’s made over the years, it’s fairly evident that Linda has no close relationship with gay people (especially gay Christians) and likes it that way.
But is that because she fears gay people? Or because she hates them?
Fear is a kind word.
We are not talking about strangers, but one’s own flesh and blood.
One’s own to be considered as part of everything they always have been.
Fear is a kind word. Over and over again, the opportunity to know who gay people are, what gay people feel and what gay people dream to do.
And yet…people like Linda Harvey entreats people to NEVER do that.
Never learn that gay people are not so different and she instructs not allow free exchange and the chance to learn more.
As if HER beliefs and methods have never failed and caused more unnecessary tragedy and divided families.
This isn’t fear in the face of opportunity and evidence.
THIS….is cowardice.
I’ll say hater motivated by fear. Obviously. I have other words, too.
And obviously she hates us Pagans as well. She uses ignorance to feed more ignorance, fear to feed more fear, hate to feed more hate. I think that Pagan-hating and LGBT-hating tend to go together. Lucky me, I’m in *both* demographic groups, and they’re *both* hot, especially in October, which contains both Coming Out Day and Halloween.
She’ll see just how well her “protection” works when the kids grow up and wriggle out from under their parents’ thumbs and manage to see that the world is bigger and better than what their pastors told them. I know how that works as well as anybody.
Sentences that start with, “I’m not homophobic, but….” are a signal you’re about to say something homophobic.
Well, hey, look on the bright side! Gays at least can evade condemnation by becoming ex-gay, but miscegenators will never, ever be forgiven:
As for whether these people are motivated by hatred, fear, ignorance, or other… how much does it matter, aside from trying to be factually correct in what aspersions you use to describe them? The effect is the same.
skemono,
What’s that a quote from? If i’m going to be condemned forever, I’d like to know by whom.
Oh, silly me, I forgot to attribute it. My apologies, Mr. Kincaid. That’s from page 30 of the pamphlet “The Negro: What is His Ethnological Status?” by one pseudonymous “Ariel”, believed to be a Mr. Bucker Payne. Most of it is available on-line here. They’re missing page 29, unfortunately, but I seem to recall finding the text on some other website; perhaps if you Googled it…. That is, if you’re interested in one missing page of text.
You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught From SOUTH PACIFIC
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
_______________________________
I always loved this musical, even this song, though I well understood the lesson it taught that was opposite to its sentiment. Mom had (still has!) the original recording from the Broadway cast and I would play it over and over. Still remember as a kid wondering why all those guys were singing “nothing like a dame” when they had each other…..
At least racists will claim that “some of their best friends are black” before spewing vile. Linda Harvey is promoting pure blind hate.
I just can’t believe that someone in a position such as Ms. Harvey is not operating out of some sort of hate. Surely she has the access to see statistics and reports that disprove what she claims, but she doesn’t care. To me, that is hate, because her fear would have been assuaged by the truth.
In reference to this quote:
“Linda warns that “homosexuality is secretly destroying the Christian faith of millions of teens, whether they are involved in the behavior or not”.
I’d like to offer that Ms. Harvey and other ardently anti-gay folks are the ones destroying the Christian faith of millions of teens. She and people like her are spreading the message that if you are gay, you cannot be a Christian. Simply put, she’s pushing gay people away from God.