Anti-LGBT rhetoric

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Anti-LGBT demonstration in Seattle, Washington, United States

Anti-LGBT rhetoric is a term used by (LGBT) activists to dismiss and demean all opinions that dissent from their own ideology and agenda. They resist argument on basis of fact, science, morality or social impact, countering them all with charges of " bigotry" and so-called "hate speech".

The activists use labels and jargon including terms such as heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia all of which carry a presumption that no dissent from their views is valid, and expressing it is a crime.

Terms like "homophobia" imply that the demands of activists are automatic rights and no discussion of the harms of their lifestyle are acceptable.


Declaration that same-sex desire is unnatural

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This particular charge dates back to Plato, who argued in the Laws I 636c and VIII 841d that homosexual sex was "out of nature" (para phusin).

Though the psychiatric establishment once medicalized same-sex desire, homosexuality was later removed in 1974 as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) after noisy and aggressive protests by activists who did not use scientific argument.[1][2] There has been significant controversy over this decision.[3] However, according to another rebuttal of this argument, held by, among others, The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, there are some behaviors exhibited by many animals that most would consider unnatural in humans, such as cannibalism.[4] The counter argument to this claim is that it confuses "unnatural" with "wrong," and that this is therefore simply a restatement of the claim that homosexuality is morally wrong (like cannibalism), not unnatural.[5] These issues are complicated by the polysemous character of the terms "natural" and "unnatural" which can be used in many equivocal ways.[6]

A modern Christian slogan expressing this view is "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve".[7]

Conflation with child abuse

There is considerable evidence of the close connection between male homosexuality and pederasty. The worldwide LGBT movement has consistently advocated the normalization of pedophilia and campaigned to lower or abolish all age of consent laws everywhere. Many leading LGBT activists have been open pedophiles. See Homosexuality and Pedophilia: the connection

Homosexual sex acts as sin

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Religious protest of homosexuality in San Francisco

Many conservative denominations of Abrahamic and other religions consider homosexual acts to be inherently sinful based on scripture (e.g., Leviticus 18:22 "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable," and Leviticus 20:13 "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads" as well as 1 Corinthians 6:9 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals...will inherit the kingdom of God.") Many Christian denominations and a number of Christian fundamentalists (e.g., Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell) cite Biblical texts to advocate that same-sex sexual intercourse is sinful. These individuals and congregations believe that such sexual acts as anal and oral sex (along with fornication of any kind) are forms of sexual immorality that should be advised against. One slogan is the commonly used phrase "love the sinner and not the sin." These churches tend to speak out against violence and hate towards those who are attracted to the same gender.[8][9] Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has said:

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I desire now to say with emphasis that our concern for the bitter fruit of sin is coupled with Christlike sympathy for its victims, innocent or culpable. We advocate the example of the Lord, who condemned the sin, yet loved the sinner. We should reach out with kindness and comfort to the afflicted, ministering to their needs and assisting them with their problems.[8]

Some conservative churches reject the idea of a homosexual orientation and view homosexuality as being an urge towards sinful homosexual behavior and thus something everyone may experience from time to time. Various inflammatory and controversial slogans, including some listed in the next section, have been used by opponent congregations and individuals, particularly by Fred Phelps, founder of the website godhatesfags.com and the independent Westboro Baptist Church. These slogans have included "God Hates Fags", "Fear God Not Fags", and "Matthew Shepard Burns In Hell".[10] Other congregations, including the Metropolitan Community Churches, commonly affirm homosexuality and believe that neither homosexuality nor homosexual sex acts are a sin.[11]

Homosexuality is also frequently considered sinful in Islam. In some Middle Eastern countries, acts of homosexuality is punishable by death. The only country that recognizes same sex relationships in the Middle East is Israel, although homosexuality is legal in a few other countries. Along with Israel, same-sex sexual activities have been legal in the Palestinian territories (West Bank) since 1951. Homosexuality between women, however, is legal in more Islamic countries than homosexuality between men.

Based on this, the Rev. Jerry Falwell blamed homosexuals (among others) for indirectly causing the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001, by provoking the aggression of Islamic fundamentalists. On the broadcast of the Christian television program The 700 Club, Falwell made the following statement (for which he later apologized):

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I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle—the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."[12]

Some Buddhists also condemn homosexuality. For example, in 1997, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso said, "From a Buddhist point of view, men-to-men and women-to-women is generally considered sexual misconduct."[13]

AIDS as a gay disease

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A common theme of anti-gay slogans is that AIDS is a "gay disease". One example is the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead", a parody of the advertising slogan "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead", the tagline used in television advertising for the SC Johnson insecticide.

The slogan appeared during the early years of AIDS in the United States, when the disease was mainly diagnosed among male homosexuals and was almost invariably fatal. The slogan caught on quickly as a catchy truism, a chant, or simply something written as graffiti. It is reported that the slogan first appeared in public in the early 1990s, when Sebastian Bach, the former lead singer of the heavy metal band Skid Row, wore it on a t-shirt thrown to him by an audience member.[14] A variant of this is "AIDS cures fags."

The phrase has been used by religious opponents of homosexuality. It was for example seen in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a victim of anti-gay violence, when Fred Phelps and his followers chanted it in front of the gathering.

According to the World Health Organization, women comprise 50% of people living with HIV.[15] According to the Centers for Disease Control, among male adults in the United States, MSM (men who have sex with men) accounted for "61% of new HIV infections in the US and 79% of infections among all newly infected men."[16]

The proportion of HIV cases that can be attributed to the result of homosexual relations varies according to geography.[17] In Russia, among newly registered HIV cases in 2006 where the mode of transmission was known, about one half was due to heterosexual intercourse, and this proportion has been steadily increasing.[18] Almost 60% of cases were attributed to unsafe sex between men.[19] In the Caribbean, it is estimated that about 40% of reported HIV cases are the result of unsafe sex between men.[20][21] About 53% of newly diagnosed HIV infections in the United States, in 2005, were among men who have sex with men.[22] The largest proportion of new HIV infection in Canada, in 2002, was accounted for by unprotected sex between men,[23] whereas in Western Europe the highest proportion was accounted for by heterosexual intercourse.[19]

Anti-transgender themes

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Some transphobic slurs like shemale, trap, and ladyboy capitalize on the idea that trans women are 'men masquerading as women.' The concept of a person identifying to a gender that does not correspond with their physical sex identity has often been twisted into jokes about how repulsive such a person must be.[24] For example, in response to a growing push for anti-discrimination bills regarding public restrooms, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee delivered this message to a National Religious Broadcasters Convention during his 2016 bid for the presidency:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

We are now in city after city watching ordinances say that your seven-year-old daughter, if she goes into the restroom cannot be offended, and you can’t be offended, if she’s greeted there by a 42-year-old man who feels more like a woman than he does a man. Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE. I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.’

Huckabee goes on to say, “that there is something inherently wrong about forcing little children to be a part of this social experiment." Huckabee's joke prompted backlash from LGBT leaders including Rebecca Issacs the executive director of Equality Federation who said in an email to The Huffington Post: "Everyone needs to use the restroom and everyone cares about safety and privacy. Mr. Huckabee's comments contribute to a climate in which, despite recent gains in visibility, transgender people continue to face extraordinarily high rates of discrimination and violence."[25]

See also

References

  1. JAMA: Gay Is Okay With APA (American Psychiatric Association); available online: http://wayback.archive.org/web/20100324080417/http://www.soulforce.org/article/642
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  4. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. "Defending a Higher Law". [1], page 89
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  11. MCC. "MCC's International Statement on Marriage Equality" Metropolitan Community Church. [2]
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  13. San Francisco Chronicle, 06/11/1997, Dalai Lama Speaks on Gay Sex / He says it's wrong for Buddhists but not for society, http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dalai-Lama-Speaks-on-Gay-Sex-He-says-it-s-wrong-2836591.php
  14. Michael Musto. "La Dolce Musto", village voice, 2000. http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0022,musto,15284,15.html
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  16. [3], CDC: HIV among Gay and Bisexual Men. Revised May 2012
  17. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO). AIDS epidemic update: December 2007. http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf
  18. Ladnaya NN (2007) The national HIV and AIDS epidemic and HIV surveillance in the Russian Federation. Presentation to “Mapping the AIDS Pandemic” meeting. 30 June. Moscow.
  19. 19.0 19.1 EuroHIV (2007). HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe: end-year report 2006, No 76. Saint-Maurice, Institut de Veille Sanitaire. Available at http://www.eurohiv.org.
  20. Caribbean Commission on Health and Development (2005). Report of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development for the 26th Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government: Overview. 3–6 July. Saint Lucia. Available at http://www.cpc-paho.org/publications/publication.aspx?id=59.
  21. Inciardi JA, Syvertsen JL, Surratt HL (2005). HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean Basin. AIDS Care, 17(Suppl. 1):S9–S25.
  22. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO). AIDS epidemic update: December 2007, page 39. http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf
  23. Public Health Agency of Canada (2006). HIV and AIDS in Canada: surveillance report to June 30, 2006. Ottawa. Available at http://wayback.archive.org/web/20130117223520/http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/index.html#surveillance.
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