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| 10 Hateful Anti-Gay Myths Debunked |
¨Hate crime laws will lead to the jailing of pastors who criticize homosexuality and the legalization of practices like bestiality and necrophilia.¨
THE ARGUMENT:
Anti-gay activists, who have long opposed adding LGBT people to those protected by hate crime legislation, have repeatedly claimed that such laws would lead to the jailing of religious figures who preach against homosexuality — part of a bid to gain the backing of the broader religious community for their position. Janet Porter of Faith2Action was one of many who asserted that the federal Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act — signed into law by President Obama in October 2009 — would “jail pastors” because it “criminalizes speech against the homosexual agenda.”
In a related assertion, anti-gay activists claimed the law would lead to the legalization of psychosexual disorders (paraphilias) like bestiality and pedophilia. Bob Unruh, a conservative Christian journalist who left The Associated Press in 2006 for the right-wing, conspiracist news site WorldNetDaily, said shortly before the federal law was passed that it would legalize “all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or ‘paraphilias’ listed by the American Psychiatric Association.” This claim was repeated by many anti-gay organizations, including the Illinois Family Institute
THE FACTS:
The claim that hate crime laws could result in the imprisonment of those who “oppose the homosexual lifestyle” is false. The Constitution provides robust protections of free speech, and case law makes it clear that even a preacher who suggested that homosexuals should be killed would be protected.
Neither do hate crime laws — which provide for enhanced penalties when persons are victimized because of their “sexual orientation” (among other factors) — “protect pedophiles,” as Janet Porter and many others have claimed. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation refers to heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality — not paraphilias such as pedophilia. Paraphilias, as defined by the American Psychiatric Assocation, are disorders characterized by sexual urges or behaviors directed at nonhuman objects or non-consenting persons like children, or that involve the suffering or humiliation of one’s partner.
Even if pedophiles, for example, were protected under a hate crime law — and such a law has not been suggested or contemplated anywhere — that would not legalize or “protect” pedophilia. Pedophilia is illegal sexual activity, and a law that more severely punished people who attacked pedophiles would not change that. HERE
¨Ever since born-again singer and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant helped kick off the contemporary anti-gay movement more than 30 years ago, hard-line elements of the religious right have been searching for ways to demonize homosexuals — or, at a minimum, to find arguments that will prevent their normalization in society. For the former Florida beauty queen and her Save Our Children group, it was the alleged plans of gays and lesbians to “recruit” in schools that provided the fodder for their crusade. But in addition to hawking that myth, the legions of anti-gay activists who followed have added a panoply of others, ranging from the extremely doubtful claim that homosexuality is a choice, to unalloyed lies like the claims that gays molest children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalization of bestiality and necrophilia. These fairy tales are important to the anti-gay right because they form the basis of its claim that homosexuality is a social evil that must be suppressed — an opinion rejected by virtually all relevant medical and scientific authorities. They also almost certainly contribute to hate crime violence directed at homosexuals, who are more targeted for such attacks than any other minority in America.¨
Most days throughout this Holiday Season 2010 my blog will present you and yours with the GIFT OF TRUTH AND REAL FACT regarding 10 key myths propagated by the anti-gay movement, along with the truth behind the propaganda. Truth is a big gift and we give thanks to our blog-world-associates Evelyn Schlatter and Robert Steinback. Leonardo Ricardo HERE
· Thanks to Evelyn Schlatter and Robert Steinback
· Thanks to The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute
· Thanks to SPLC INTELLIGENCE REPORT/AlterNet
· Thanks to Flickr Photosharing, Moonjazz
· Thanks to The Reverend Dr. Jerry Maneker HERE
· Thanks to Professor Gregory Herek, University of California, Davis
· Thanks to The American Academy of Pediatrics
· Thanks to The American Psychological Association
· Thanks to The American Psychiatric Association
· Thanks to The Child Welfare League of America
· Thanks to A Christian Voice for Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender, sidebar
· Thanks to National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization
· Thanks to Christine Mueller, professor of history at Reed College
· Thanks to Historian Jon David Wynecken
· Thanks to Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act
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1 comment:
Hate crime laws should and do protect all of us, not just those who are attacked.
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