Gay agenda
"Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a term used by sectors of the
.The term refers to efforts to change government policies and laws on
Origins and usage
Origins
In the United States, the phrase "gay agenda" was popularized by a video series produced by a California evangelical religious group called Springs of Life Ministries.[1] The first video of the series, The Gay Agenda, was released in 1992 and distributed to hundreds of Christian right organizations.[2] Tens of thousands of copies of the video were sold, it was distributed to the
The Gay Agenda was followed by three other video productions made available through Christian right organizations and containing interviews with opponents of LGBT rights, intended to expose the lesbian and gay movement's secret plans for America: The Gay Agenda in Public Education (1993), The Gay Agenda: March on Washington (1993), and a feature-length follow-up to the original, Stonewall: 25 Years of Deception (1994).[2]
Usage in the United States
The term "gay agenda" or "radical gay agenda" has been used by members of the Christian right to refer to efforts to change government policies and laws on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (
ColumnistThe term has been used in response to efforts to include protections for LGBT people under local and state anti-discrimination laws,[8] as well as U.S. Supreme Court cases that granted new rights to LGBT individuals, such as Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges, which respectively held that private acts of consensual sex between same-sex couples and the right of same-sex couples to marry were fundamental rights guaranteed under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.[9] In his 2003 dissent in Lawrence, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said the court had become embroiled in a culture war by seeking to protect homosexuals from discrimination, writing that the decision reflected a "law-profession culture, that has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda".[10]
Conservative Christian groups such as the
In 2004, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn called the "gay agenda" the "greatest threat" to Americans' freedoms.[12] In 2005, James Dobson, director of Focus on the Family, said the goals of the "homosexual activist movement" were:
universal acceptance of the gay lifestyle, discrediting of scriptures that condemn homosexuality, muzzling of the clergy and Christian media, granting of special privileges and rights in the law, overturning laws prohibiting pedophilia, indoctrinating children and future generations through public education, and securing all the legal benefits of marriage for any two or more people who claim to have homosexual tendencies.[13][third-party source needed]
American conservative Christian groups such as the
American conservative Christian organizations have continued public screenings of videos alleging a homosexual agenda as of 2022.[17]
Usage outside the United States
Africa
American
The concept was used in a series of talks in 2009 by American evangelical Christians in
In 2021, the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference called for LGBT rights organizations to be kicked out of their office space in Accra because of the belief that they promote the homosexual agenda.[22]
Europe
In Hungary, László Toroczkai, former vice president of the far-right political party Jobbik, has complained of the perceived "homosexual agenda".[23] Toroczkai introduced a law banning public displays of affection by gay people in 2017.[24]
Central America
Before
International organizations
In 2019, two prominent
Speakers from many nations inveigh against the perceived homosexual agenda at the
Responses
The
Some writers[who?] have described the term as pejorative.[28][unreliable source?] Commentators have remarked on a lack of realism and veracity to the idea of a gay agenda per se.[29][30] Such campaigns based on a presumed "gay agenda" have been described as
At a press conference on December 22, 2010, U.S. Representative Barney Frank said that the "gay agenda" is
to be protected against violent crimes driven by bigotry, it's to be able to get married, it's to be able to get a job, and it's to be able to fight for our country. For those who are worried about the radical homosexual agenda, let me put them on notice. Two down, two to go.[33]
Satire
A
We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all-male clubs, in your house of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions to do our bidding. They will be recast in our image; they will come to crave and adore us.[35]
The term is sometimes used satirically as a counterfoil by people who would normally find the term offensive, such as the spoof agenda found on the
On a 2007 episode of
Reappropriation
Some LGBT activists seek to reappropriate the term "gay agenda" for their own use.[39]
In 2008, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson declared that "Jesus is the agenda, the homosexual agenda in the Episcopal Church"[40] and that the "homosexual agenda [...] is Jesus".[41]
A political action committee (PAC) named Agenda PAC was inspired by the notion of the gay agenda. The PAC is led by LGBT politicians including Malcolm Kenyatta and Megan Hunt, and advocates for greater LGBT political representation.[39] American rapper Lil Nas X thanked the "gay agenda" in his acceptance speech at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.[42]
See also
- After the Ball (Kirk and Madsen book) – 1989 book about LGBT rights
- Anti-gender movement – International movement opposed to an alleged gender ideology
- Anti-LGBT rhetoric – Rhetoric against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people
- Human Rights Campaign – LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group
- LGBT grooming conspiracy theory – Conspiracy theory falsely accusing LGBT people of child grooming
- LGBT movements – Social movements
- Rainbow capitalism – Capitalist appropriation and assimilation of sexual diversity
- Russian gay propaganda law– Russian anti-LGBT law
- Societal attitudes toward homosexuality – How societies view, stigmatize or value homosexuality
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4408-5277-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-2263-2764-7.
- ^ Colker, David (22 February 1993). "Anti-Gay Video Highlights Church's Agenda". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-1993-6359-9.
- ^ Alvarado & Churchill (2019), pp. 351–353.
- ^ Sources:
- Ford, Zack (9 July 2012). "Hate Group: 'Homosexual Activists' Try To 'Confuse Children' To 'Build Their Numbers'". ThinkProgress.
- Friedersdorf, Conor (6 January 2012). "A Peek at Conservatism's Anti-Gay Conspiracy-Theorist Fringe". The Atlantic.
- Ring, Trudy (23 December 2014). "The Year's Craziest Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About LGBT People". The Advocate.
- Goodstein, Laurie (14 March 2012). "Ugandan Gay Rights Group Sues U.S. Evangelist". The New York Times.
- "Bryan Fischer: Gay Rights, Abortion And Environmentalism Are 'The Work Of Satan Himself'". HuffPost. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- "Caiden Cowger, Conservative Teen Radio Host, Slams President Obama For 'Making Kids Gay'". HuffPost. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- Uy, JD (18 January 2010). "Anti-gay Maryland legislator, Emmett Burns, moves again to cut off recognition of out-of-state gay marriages". Metro Weekly. Washington, D.C.
- ^ Kirchick, James (31 May 2022). "The Long, Sordid History of the Gay Conspiracy Theory". Intelligencer. New York.
Homophobia still had a conspiratorial tinge, to be sure, but the fearsome machinations of the 'Homintern' were updated to that of a 'homosexual agenda' whose goals (equality in marriage, military service, and the workplace) were now out in the open.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-1668-7.
- ^ Alvarado & Churchill (2019), p. 352.
- ISBN 978-1-4381-2549-7.
- ^ a b c d Beirich, Heidi (July 2013). Dangerous Liaisons: The American Religious Right & the Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize (PDF) (Report). Montgomery, Ala.: Southern Poverty Law Center.
- ^ Moulitsas, Markos (5 May 2005). "Kissing the tarantula". The Guardian.
To the newly elected Republican senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, the 'gay agenda' is a more pressing danger than terrorists flying planes into buildings and killing allied troops in Iraq. 'The gay community has infiltrated the very centres of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power ... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today,' he said during the 2004 campaign. 'Why do you think we see the rationalisation for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda.'
- ^ Dobson, James (n.d.). "Marriage Under Fire". Focus on the Family. Archived from the original on 6 October 2005.
- ^ Thompson, A. C.; Lee, Patrick G. (6 February 2017). "Claims of 'Homosexual Agenda' Help Kill Hate Crimes Laws in 5 States". ProPublica.
- ^ Eckholm, Erik (6 November 2010). "In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda". The New York Times.
- ^ "Washington Update". Family Research Council. n.d. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010.
- ^ Vaughan, Carson (15 July 2022). "Minds polluted? Film claims teachers are 'grooming' students. Experts say it's filled with falsehoods". Flatwater Free Press.
- ISBN 978-0-915987-26-9.
- .
- ^ a b Gettleman, Jeffrey (3 January 2010). "Americans' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ a b Kaoma, Kapya (Winter 2009). "The US Christian Right and the Attack on Gays in Africa". The Public Eye. Vol. 24, no. 4. Political Research Associates. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ Neliba, Arnold (23 February 2021). "Church Warns European Union against Pushing Homosexual Agenda in Country". Catholic Information Service for Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "Hungarian top court overturns village's ban on mosques and LGBT displays". TellMAMA: Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Benke, Erika (7 February 2021). "The village aiming to create a white utopia". BBC Victoria Derbyshire programme. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "Catholic cardinals urge end of 'homosexual agenda'". BBC News. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ Provost, Claire (6 June 2017). "'This is a war': Inside the global 'pro-family' movement against abortion and LGBT rights". OpenDemocracy.net. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "GLAAD Media Reference Guide: Offensive Terms to Avoid". GLAAD. 9 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-945778-01-1.
- The Advocate. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Sa'at, Alfian (10 March 2007). "Iced Bandung – What Is The Gay Agenda?". Trevvy.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-1875-9.
- ISBN 978-1-876067-04-5.[page needed]
- ^ "Barney Frank Reveals Gay Agenda". The Advocate. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ Halsall, Paul, ed. (2023). "People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook | Michael Swift: 'Gay Revolutionary'". Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Fordham University. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ Herman (1997), p. 85.
- ^ "Thanks to Betty Bowers, homosexuals' sneaky little secrets are now revealed to the godly: The Homosexual Agenda!". Bettybowers.com. n.d. Archived from the original on 9 October 2000.
- ^ Howlings, Eva (21 January 2020). "Prague's only LGBTQ comedy troupe cracks jokes, topples barriers". Expats.cz. Prague. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ Masaki, Lyle (15 August 2007). "Jon Stewart spells out the gay agenda". Logo TV. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ a b Riley, John (1 September 2022). "'Agenda PAC' launches to defeat anti-LGBTQ candidates". Metro Weekly.
- ^ Robinson, V. Gene (14 June 2006). "'Jesus is the Homosexual Agenda'" (Address at the 75th Episcopal General Convention). Retrieved 5 November 2022 – via Beliefnet.com.
- ^ De Santis, Solange (13 July 2008). "Church need not be afraid, New Hampshire bishop tells Putney gathering". Episcopal Life Online. Archived from the original on 17 July 2008.
- ^ Exposito, Suzy (12 September 2021). "Lil Nas X wins video of the year at the 2021 MTV VMAs: 'Thank you to the gay agenda!'". Los Angeles Times.
Further reading
- Adler, Libby (2009). "The Gay Agenda". Michigan Journal of Gender & Law. 16 (1): 147–216. ISSN 1095-8835.
- OCLC 28634756.
External links
- "The 1972 Gay Rights Platform: Platform created at the National Coalition of Gay Organizations Convention held in Chicago in 1972". Rslevinson.com. n.d. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. – Historical text cited by social conservatives as evidence of a "gay agenda"