Thursday, April 9, 2009

Backlash lies: One group tries to connect marriage equality to mass murder

Seriously read Pam's finding and the actual article.

I would add my query as to whether the author - Robert Peter, President of Morality in the Media - has considered the connection between demonizing gays and mass murder, namely anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes.

For years during the 70's, 80's, and even in the 90's anti-gay advocates have use shoddy "scientific" studies to create false links between gays and disease, pedophilia, drug addiction, etc. THIS was what America was listening to before the modern gay rights movement could effectively counter. THIS was the "medical advice" given to parents who discovered their kids were gay. THIS was the "expert testimony" given to policy makers who were unsure of the issues, but just wanted to do the right thing. When all these people are told, by people who claim to be scientists, that gays are the cause (or "are linked to") of child molestation, drug use, mental illness, murder, etc...it's far easier for otherwise good people to think that the gays and gay rights have to be stopped.

Police raided several gay clubs back in the 70s for no reason other than there were gay people. It was only in 2003 that the federal government made it clear that private sexual activity for adults was NOT criminal. That was 6 years ago in Lawrence v Texas. The case was argued because this country has a legal tradition of state laws that criminalize people for having sex in their own homes. The justification used was that these people were gay and they had no right to have sex.

Old tricks never die, and now the anti-gay folks are scared by the recent progress: the end of anti-gay White House and Congress, the marriage victories, the less publicized non-discrimination laws (Gainesville, FL), and the poll numbers that show, more and more, Americans don't give a damn and even some TV pundits (not FOX) are sympathizing with the pro-gay side in the debates. I'll give you some examples, but Chris Matthews had a debate between Joe Solmenese and Maggie Gallagher, and was showing more inclined towards Joe.

It's well known that age is a big determinant of support, with younger people - the generation that will replace the aging bigots - supporting gay equality in strong numbers.

The anti-gay pundits have reason to be scared, so their throwing every fear into the imaginations that they can put in a storm cloud commercial.

Personally, I'd rather they just leave the fear of thunder to the weather channel and go the fuk away.

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