Recently, courtesy of People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, I read Ohio anti-gay activist Phil Burress make a claim that gay men have "as many as 200 sex partners."
A day later, Burress' outrageous claim continued to haunt me not only for its inanity but because it brings to light something which has been dwelling in my mind for a long time in little bits and pieces.
I've read and heard so many accusations against the LGBT community by the religious right that I've now come to the conclusion that these folks are just sloppy with what they say. Seriously, it's as if they don't care that eventually someone will demonstrate just how incoherent their claims are.
So with that in mind, bear with me here. The following are the claims made about the LGBT community over the years by religious right and anti-gay activists:
Gays are sick people:
Their [gay] minds are perverted, they're frankly sick people psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. - Bishop EW Jackson
Yet almost all gays make lots of money:
You know, I saw yesterday how much -- how much money the homosexual community has. I mean, good gracious, the average homosexual makes four times more than I do . . . I mean, they're not -- these people are not in poverty or hurting or denied or anything else. - Donald Wildmon, American Family Association
Gays are only a small part of the population:
Relying on three large data sets: the General Social Survey, the National Health and Social Life Survey, and the U.S. census, a recent study in Demography estimates the number of exclusive male homosexuals in the general population at 2.5 percent and exclusive lesbians at 1.4 percent. - Family Research Council in its inaccurate brief "Homosexuality and Child Abuse"
Yet gays "control" the culture:
Homosexual activists in many ways, drive our culture, they decide what's going to be in a movie, we see all the portrayals, homosexuals are the most positively portrayed in the movies and on television. - Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth
Gays "bully" all of those who oppose them:
Instead, what we have is the gay Gestapo who go out and try to intimidate morally, economically, professionally, and personally anyone who speaks out against the homosexual agenda. - Jeffrey Kuhner, The Washington Times
Gays "Recruit" children:
. . . Folks who cannot reproduce want to recruit your children. What we are facing is a radical force of people who want to change what America looks for the next twenty years . . . - Bishop Harry Jackson
And are plotting to either destroy or change America and "silence" Christians:
Those special gay rights would require Christians not to speak against -would require us Christians not to speak against homosexual rights . . . because if we did, we could be charged with bullying or censored for it. - Buster Wilson, American Family Association
Through a carefully crafted, decades-old propaganda campaign, homosexuals have successful cast homosexuals - many of whom enjoy positions of influence and affluence - as a disadvantage minority - Matt Barber, Unmasking the "Gay" Agenda
And while generating all of this mayhem, gays still manage to find time to have all sorts of mind-boggling wild sex with multiple partners:
Homosexual activists claim their lifestyle, which in some cases includes thousands of sexual partners, should be sanctioned, protected, and granted special rights by society. Would you critique this stance? - a question on Dr. James Dobson's web page. Dobson is the former head of Focus on the Family.
Allow me to surmise. According to the religious right, the LGBT community is comprised of sad and sick individuals who make a lot of money, who are only a very small of the population but yet control the culture, bully those who oppose us, recruit children and work to silence Christians and alter America while finding the time to have lots and lots and lots of sex.
Wow! How do we find time to do all of that? How do we find time to be all of that? At least let me in on the sex part.
But what boggles my mind even more is the claim by Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel that we have been engaging in a "propaganda campaign" for decades. Barber is neither the first nor the only anti-gay activist claiming that the LGBT community has been engaging in a long-term Machiavellian plan to control America and supposedly cast ourselves as victims.
How come this is the first time I've heard of such a plan?
Seriously, who's in charge of this thing? Is it the Gay Mafia or, as some anti-gay activists call us, "Big Gay?" How do I become a member? And if I do, can I be given a super cool alter-ego.
No joke. I've always imagined myself as sort of a James Bond villain with a alter-ego name like "Coochie Everlasting" or "Baron von Superbitch." I can just see myself leading an army of killer drag queens who wear razor blade studded wigs like actress Pam Grier wore in Coffy. Or better yet, they can convert their stiletto heels into miniature machines guns and shoot heat seeking missiles from their false brassieres.
It could totally work.
In all seriousness, while it is fun to laugh at the ridiculous lies anti-gay activists say about us, let's not forget that there are people who take these claims as fact. And unfortunately, as we have seen in places like Russia and Uganda, these people generally act upon that ignorance.
So let's not spend so much time laughing that we forget to call out anti-gay propaganda for the lies that they are.