Subtitle: A Biblical and compassionate response to same-sex attraction.
Main authors and editors: Joe Dallas, Nancy Heche.

Part 1, Part 2

This book is an anti-gay training manual. A veritable bible on how to be the best anti-gay Christian you can be. There are a list of key points at the end of each chapter, some of which include mock debates.
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SUICIDE, BULLYING AND VIOLENCE

Nancy Heche on gay teen suicide:

Nancy Heche: A number of studies over the past decade have indicated that rates of suicide attempts, depression, and unhealthy behaviors are higher among gay teens than among their heterosexual counterparts … So the question we face is not “Where’s the blame?” Instead, it’s “Where’s the church?” [p353]

A’hem, Dr. Heche, what say you if the church is to blame?

She also writes the chapter on hate crime legislation. I realize the federal hate crimes law has already been enacted, but I think their defensive posturing on the matter deserves another healthy dose of attention.

Nancy Heche: So when we’re told that additional state and federal laws are statues are now needed, we should request the facts and documentation proving the point. [p439]

“facts and documentation?”

To quote Cecil Terwilliger of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob’s younger brother):

Cecil Terwilliger: Goodness, I had no idea! For you see, I have been on Mars for the last decade, in a cave, with my eyes shut and my fingers in my ears.

She finishes the chapter with the proverbial cry of persecution.

Under the heading: “A Christian Response,” she says “Resist and oppose oppressive laws,” and then quotes George Orwell on the “evils of totalitarianism”:

…inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them. [p440]

(btw, 75% of the U.S. population identifies as Christian)

From Rational Wiki:

Deconstructing the Persecution Complex: What Are Individual Rights?

…no-one has a right to institutionalize legal discrimination against an innocent group, no matter how much they want to, and no matter what “values” this goal of discrimination is based upon. Thus, “persecution” of discriminators is justified.

Put another way, the individual has the right to do anything that does not infringe upon the rights of others. Unjust discrimination infringes upon another’s rights, and is thus not a right that should be valued.

The only other place that references gay youth suicides is in the chapter “Pro-Gay Education in Schools.” Contributing author, Mike Haley, author of “101 Frequently Asked Questions about Homosexuality,” former “gender analyst” for Focus on the Family, and former Love Won Out speaker has this to say:

Mike Haley: One of the more popular “findings” states, “Gay youth account for 30% of all teen suicides.”

As a foundation for his study, which states 10 percent of the population is homosexual (the real figure is around 2 to 3 percent). [Paul] Gibson reported that 3000 gay youth commit suicide each year, when the 1998 Statistical Abstract of United States states there were only 2200 suicides among all youth. [p425]

Taking that at face value (which I don’t), he does nothing to dispute the 30% gay youth suicide figure, he just uses it as a springboard to condemn “gay activists” for using the 10% (of the population is gay) figure.

And there you have it. What amounts to one page of this 501 page anti-gay training manual is devoted to the issue of gay teen suicide. And all of it rooted in the effort to abdicate themselves of any role in fostering an environment in which gay teen suicide is allowed to thrive.

Joe Dallas, author and editor of the book in review, trivializes the issue further in a previous book of his called “The Gay Gospel? How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible” (2007).

This is rich. The scary part is that this is what he came up with after having thought it through.

Does teaching that homosexuality is wrong, or preaching against homosexual behavior, or speaking publicly against pro-gay laws … really “help kill,” “spread hate,” and give “crazies and excuse to go on a witch hunt? I’m convinced it does not.

Teaching and preaching moral beliefs simply does not incite violence. If it did, every time a pastor preached on the evils of lying, cheating, or fornicating [or gossips, drunks, idolaters, rebellious teenagers p141], his parishioners would leave the sanctuary and attack the first liar, tax-evader, or fornicator they ran into. Logic tells us, then, that preaching or speaking against a certain sin cannot in itself move people to attack the person committing the sin…

…Seldom if ever have gay bashers approached a victim saying, “We just came from church and heard you’re a sinner, so we’re going to assault you.” [p140, em mine] —
Standing for biblical values has by no means contributed to the death or emotional damage of homosexuals. [p142, em mine]

Mr. Dallas, the “sin” of homosexuality is in a category of its own, because it deals with an intrinsic part of the human experience — sexuality.

Heterosexuals are by nature repulsed by the idea of having sex with a member of the same gender, just as homosexuals are by nature repulsed by the idea of having sex with a member of the opposite gender. By continually bringing attention to our bedrooms you conjure up images of disgust, visceral disgust.

And given that the anti-gay movement is religion based, every anti-gay TV appearance is a sermon. And every sermon defining our human-sexuality — our humanity — as perverted, sanctifies that visceral disgust.

As we’ve recently seen so vividly, hatred kills. No “we-just-came-from-church” excuse required.

Sticks and Stones
[youtube width=”200″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE5yINOn4N4&playnext=1&videos=bvACQKZTxf0&feature=mfu_in_order[/youtube]

www.bullyfree4me.com
www.bullypolice.org

On a much more inspiring note…

The Trevor Lifeline was established and became the first and only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention lifeline [1-866-488-7386] for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

Via the Trevor Project: “It Gets Better”
[youtube width=”210″ height=”190″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeKI8biAglU[/youtube]

patrick.fitzgerald@exgaywatch.com

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