Fundamentalist Christians' obsession with homosexuality baffles me. That anyone at all would care what two consenting adults do in the bedroom points, I humbly submit, to an unhealthy psychology. I can't say I have much reason to give gay people and their private lives a moment's thought, and my best friend in the world is a femme lesbian who makes most Hollywood actresses look like five miles of bad road. The homophobia of the Christian Right has been a long-established reality, but it takes on a whole new character when they start having conferences and symposia on the subject.
The Exodus Freedom Conference has been running for 31 years now, teaching gay people that they have to deny their identities and hate themselves if they want to achieve "Christ-likeness". It's a practice we saw work so very well in the case of Ted Haggard. Anything at all is better than catchin' teh gay, and the Exodus people are there to help!
Just looking through the list of seminar topics, we see just how much these folks' views on every area of human sexuality that doesn't fall under the rubric "straight married Christians makin' a baby Christian" is informed by fear, confusion, guilt, and mistrust of one's own body and biological urges. Here we see the Christian mantra of "sin" driven in with a sledgehammer; these tingly feelings you have are evil, you're evil for having them, and you need to get right with God pronto if you have a hope of entering dem pearly gates.
The Sin Cycle: Breaking the Cycle of Repetitive Sin and Moving Forward
Sometimes it is hard to see the possibility for change when our lives seem dominated by repeated and cyclical destructive behavior. But Change does happen and the cycle of sin can be broken. This workshop will explore an amazing picture of how we get stuck in cycles of sin and, most importantly, how to open your self to change and how to move forward in freedom.
Cyclical destructive behavior is quite an ugly reality when it comes to things like drug abuse, violence, or criminal activity. But remember, the Exodus folks are using this label to guilt people of a Particular Sexual Preference, and that's pretty ugly too.
Things get weirder further on. Just who the fark would get up in front of a roomful of people and identify themselves as a "chronic masturbator"? You might as well guiltily confess, "I'm a former bag-a-day chocolate chip cookie eater," with the only difference being that masturbation doesn't have all the saturated fat.
Finding Freedom From Masturbation
Often in our recovery we trade one vice for another in an effort to medicate from our pain. Many have given up sex with others in exchange for self-sex, considering it the lesser of two evils. A former chronic masturbator shares her struggle to overcome her habit and the shame, guilt, and contempt that accompanied. This class will explore whether masturbation is sin, are there special circumstances when it is not, tips and techniques to increase self-control, the importance of accountability, and the role of thought life.
I'd love to have a transcript of this one; I'm sure it's at least as delightful as the legendary Mormon Guide to Self-Control.
Now with this one, things get both hilarious and surreal.
Escaping the Gaytrix
In the blockbuster trilogy, The Matrix, moviegoers are challenged to explore a fundamental theme we can all relate too: what is the truth underlying reality? This workshop will challenge and explore how gay defined reality is a complete system of beliefs, moral code and philosophy presented as imposed reality on all those who have same sex attraction. Christ presents a complete paradigm shift that initially feels like Morpheus’ statement “Welcome to the desert of the real,” but in reality, while Truth may be initially foreign and difficult, Jesus leads us to the abundant Life found in contentment in Christ. This workshop will help us all view life with same sex attraction in the Light of Truth instead of imposed gay ideology.
You think these wackjobs are projecting just a wee bit when they go on about "imposed ideologies"?
Here's a fascinating article on just how wrong-headed and simplistic the Exodus folks are in their attempts to examine human sexuality and "cure" gays, and the way in which these "ex-gay" ministries are actually, repellently, exploiting emotional vulnerabilities in order to inculcate more guilt and rake in a whole new flock of dependent followers.
"Sure, there are some people out there who say that they've been cured," he says. "Either they're greatly in denial and they are living a life to satisfy the perceived demands of a harsh God or they are bisexual, which is a rare possibility, or that they were really never gay in the first place. There are a lot of people in ex-gay groups who were molested and therefore think they're gay."
Again, one only needs to go back to The Wonderful Week of Haggard to contrast the shame and scandal surrounding his outing — loaded down as it was with the baggage of Christian anger, fear, and loathing — with the very positive, happy and healthy vibes radiating from celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris and Lance Bass, who were coming out around the same time. Being gay is just a reality for some people. Deal with it. Attaching self-loathing and guilt to it is abominably abusive, especially when it's a guilt tied to fear of the wrath of a nonexistent deity.
I'm not sure where I read it, but somewhere on the internet it has been suggested that "Focus on the Family should change their name to Focus on The Anal Sex".
ReplyDeleteI still chuckle about it.
I notice the Xians have a huge stake in the "debate" (not really much of a debate) about "born" gay vs. "made" gay. They don't want to believe their god would genetically code "sin" into a person. Ergo, nobody can be born gay.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny, though, is that even if I give them this "point" (which I don't), I'm still left with "why is this wrong--besides 'god said so'?" Why does your god arbitrarily assign the label "evil" and "abomination" to something so benign as who somebody else enjoys having sex with?
So then they have to make up all sorts of fake "harm" to justify their need to make homosexuality "bad." One that always makes me laugh (and that I have actually been confronted with) is that gay people cause/spread AIDS. When I pointed out that BY FAR, the spread of AIDS is currently very much predominantly a HETEROsexual concern, with more "straight" women falling victim each year than any other world-wide group--I was told that was untrue. When I looked it up and showed the stats, I realized it was pointless. It didn't matter if straight people were the ones spreading AIDS--straight wasn't wrong; and gay was still "wrong." So, the made up "harm" was just a red herring. Even if there really is no harm--it's still "bad" because "god says it's bad."
So, god, it seems, does just arbitrarily assign the term "evil" to whatever he likes--it doesn't really have to be something harmful or hurtful.
What else makes me laugh is the "It's unnatural" argument. I wish I had a buck for every straight god-fearing man who told me it's "wrong" because it's "unnatural"...of course the blow jobs they so enjoy are totally natural, I guess? Yes, the male penis is obviously designed to go into a woman's mouth.
To be fair, some Xians do decry all forms of "unnatural" sexual activity. But I notice they wear clothing--and sometimes makeup--and drive autos and watch TVs. All just part of the "natural" world.
If "unnatural" = evil, then we're all living in a hot bed of evilness here in the U.S. in our homes, cars, jobs, entertainment, etc. Is there anyone in the U.S. left who lives their life in a totally "natural" state?
Oh, but it's just another red herring. These "unnatural" things aren't sinful. So, really, it's not a matter of "unnatural" being evil--because we all engage in unnatural activities, and it seems to be OK for everything else in the world. So "unnatural" isn't really the problem. Gay is wrong because, again, "god says it's bad."
The problem I find with arguing with Xians is that they sidetrack the point with fake "issues" like this to no end; they make up arguments they don't really believe or even care about. And when you argue it down to the point where they see it doesn't make sense, they just jump back to "god said so," or toss out another herring--so an hour and a half of logic, proofs, stats, history...doesn't mean squat. It was all smoke and mirrors from the get go. And the atheist is left with one less hour and a half of his life, and the Xian still standing before him saying, "I don't care, it's still _wrong_, god said so."
It has taken me a huge amount of time to understand that Xians don't argue with intellectual honesty. They _want_ to sidetrack. They _want_ to detract from the real point at hand. Then, as soon as you leave, that same Xian, the moment someone else comes along is right back to "It's unnatural and harmful"--with the next poor sucker--as if your proofs, arguments, illustrations, facts, figures, never even happened.
Brainwashing is a terrible thing. And I'm not being facetious. The reason REASON won't sink in, is that they're arguing from a facade that has been meticulously built over many decades by a network of other trusted and authoritative brainwashed individuals; and they have been engrained with the idea that anything that disagrees with or threatens this system is _evil_. If it starts to make sense to them--you're on the side of Satan; and they just stop hearing you and your "clever lies." It's a RARE break when you can put forward some sliver of info that will create a chink in the armor. But somewhere, very deep inside, is a REAL person with REAL ideas of their own--hopefully still left, anyway.
That's been my experience. And it's hardly more clear than when you argue "homosexuality & morality" with a fundie.
Yes, the male penis is obviously designed to go into a woman's mouth.
ReplyDeleteJust like a banana!
(Of course, if any ID proponent actually uses blowjobs as evidence for intelligent design, I'd have to say I'd like to shake that designer's hand!)
You're right about the red herrings. Tell a fundie homophobe that 75% of the world's AIDS cases are in southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and are spread almost exclusively heterosexually, they'll just brush it off. Because in the end, they just wanna hate faggits, and if the justifications they bring to bear don't hold up, well, they're still gonna hate the faggits no matter whut you fag-enabling commie hippie libruls think.
(Of course, if any ID proponent actually uses blowjobs as evidence for intelligent design, I'd have to say I'd like to shake that designer's hand!)
ReplyDeleteYou might want to be sure you wash your hand afterwards as the creator has only gotten laid once and probably spanks the monkey religiously.
An intelligent designer would have added big ears to women and made the tops of their heads flat so the banana theory won't hold water.
You might want to be sure you wash your hand afterwards as the creator has only gotten laid once
ReplyDeleteYes, but I understand it was a big bang!
Tracie wrote:
ReplyDeleteI notice the Xians have a huge stake in the "debate" (not really much of a debate) about "born" gay vs. "made" gay. They don't want to believe their god would genetically code "sin" into a person. Ergo, nobody can be born gay.
On the other hand, some gay people seem to have a huge stake in that debate, from the other side. They would like science to prove that homosexuality is purely in their genes. I think that's just as misguided, and they're just setting themselves up to rely on a proposition that's not true. To me, whether it's nature or nurture, or (more likely) a combination of the two, they still are just as deserving of a decent life as anyone else.