The Gay Agenda?

In perhaps what is one of the stupidest videos I have yet run across on the internet, we see another attempt at portraying the gay agenda.

I have to say that people who say there is a "gay agenda" come off as conspiracy theorists and homophobes. Some of those people are friends of mine, but I dissent on that view. Still, lets take a look at the video.



Obviously, the point of the video is to undermine support for the LGBT "Day of Silence" protests carried out in schools, writing them off as a product of the gay agenda. I point this out only because the video reads like a good parody, but, from what I can tell, seems serious.

The quote from Lincoln to undermine the principle of the "Day of Silence" is an interesting one, and part of why I didn't personally participate in the silent part of the day at my high school (though I happily acted as one of the organizers for the event, because it's an issue that I think should be talked about).

The attempt at poetry is kind of mundane, but if the writing was the only problem with the video, I probably wouldn't be posting this.

My first beef is with the invocation of Jesus, but it always is. I've come to accept the fact that the vast majority of Americans are Christians, but as someone who grew up enjoying the story of the Exodus, I should say that the Easter talk gets annoying after a while. The "Resurrection of Jesus Christ" bit is a clear telegraph of where this is going, somewhere not fun. The invocation of it aside the removal of "Patriots' Day" is to attempt to equate American values with Christianity.

I will say that they do get the purpose of the "Day of Silence" right, which is excellent. At least they had the decency to correctly portray what they're talking about.

The truth is, though, in correctly discussing the nature of the "Day of Silence," they make an excellent point about it. Students and teachers are "asked." I was asked. I declined. I support the struggle anyway, but, if I didn't, I'm welcome not to participate.

A large part of this video is an attempt to illustrate coercion. It would be nice if they displayed an example, but they don't. This notion that gay rights are being forced on people is a little strange, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised (the same thing happened during various racial civil rights movements). People think that rights are a limited resource, that the rights of some impose on their own. I'm not sure why that preconception exists, but it does.

Also, it's not about racism, but, that's a totally semantic bit of stupidity.

This notion that homosexuality has been projected as "cool" and "hip" is true in some respects, and utterly moronic in others. The fact of the matter is, many shows do cast gay men as fashion forward, affectionate individuals. They also portray them as effete and selfconscious, constructing and capitalizing on stereotypes in the same way that a show which casts black men as great athletes with large penises might also paint them as bad in school and tending towards promiscuity.

This notion that gays are not presented with character flaws on television is a little bit ridiculous. Straight people are portrayed as basket cases, but often because basket cases make for good comedy. Gay people, it's worth noting, are also often portrayed as basket cases.

I don't know what studies they're citing that suggest homosexuals are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs. Probably the same set of polls that suggest blacks or latinos are more likely to abuse drugs and have unsafe sex outside of wedlock. Even if it were true (which I seriously doubt), we don't get to take rights away from a group because of a predisposition to use drugs.

There was a pastor from the Fresno area who proudly presented me with a poll, in a debate, which pointed out that the children of gay couples score lower on standardized tests. There are also polls which demonstrate that minorities perform more poorly on tests than white children, and that rich kids to better than poor kids. Does that mean we should take away the rights of poor minorities to get married? No. It's a ridiculous and irrelevant point.

Now, this notion that we secular humanists are going to force Christians into the closet is absolutely ridiculous. As loud as we may yell, this notion that Christians are going to go back in the closet is absurd.

Rick Warren, bigot that I think he is, has sold 30 million copies of his book.

Of the major political forces, how many of their leaders are "secular humanists."

As much as I would like to believe in this conservative propaganda that the Christians are being forced into the closet, it simply isn't true. Christianity is the norm. I think we should work to change that by educating people, and I have no problem with religion in the public square, I just have a problem with it not being opposed while it's being taught.

Anyway, I hope the video was enlightening (even if it was frustrating). Always interesting to hear the voices of those you disagree with.