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Holy Bullies and Headless
Monsters
For
“Blogwatch” this time, we invited
Alvin
McEwen
to talk about his blog – and book of the
same name – Holy Bullies and Headless
Monsters. Here he breaks down the lies
of the American religious right.
In so many
minds here in the United States, there seems
to be some type of culture war going on with
the LGBT community cast as evil outsiders
looking to gain influence via indoctrination
and deception.
What many
don’t seem to realise is that phoney image
of the LGBT community is an intentional
cultivation by organisations who masquerade
as “pro-family” or “traditional morality”
groups.
These
groups, such as the American Family
Association, Concerned Women for America,
the Family Research Council and their
affiliate state-wide organisations, pretend
to be for God and family, but a closer look
under their cover finds the stink of
corruption.
That is the
purpose of my blog,
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters –
a sort of revealing of facts about these
phoney “pro-family” groups.
Eternal outsiders
Holy
Bullies and Headless Monsters
began in 2006 as a blog companion to
my book of the same name (published in
2007). The blog has taken a life of its own,
becoming more successful than the book. Its
purpose is to examine and break down just
how phoney “pro-family” groups exploit the
fears and beliefs of people of faith to
claim that LGBTs are the “other” or the
eternal outsiders looking to destroy
American values.
In their
zeal to prove the worst about the gay
community, these groups run roughshod over
science and truth. They have created a house
of pseudoscientific studies based on
distortions, lies and legitimate studies
taken out of context, which are then pushed
by fake experts, PhDs, conservative
columnists and bloggers, and ignorant people
of faith all willing to sacrifice their
integrity on the altar of an alleged higher
calling.
And this
echo chamber of phoniness is the main reason
for many of the lies told about the LGBT
community. I’m sure you have heard these
lies at one point or another:
-
gay
men account for the largest number
of child-molestation cases;
-
gay
men have shorter life spans than
heterosexual men;
-
lesbians are inflicted with more
diseases than heterosexual women
because of their unhealthy
lifestyles;
-
gay
men have more than 500 sexual
partners per year.
Via Holy
Bullies and Headless Monsters, I break
down these statements for the lies that they
are, as well as demonstrate just how easy it
is for phoney “pro-family” groups to
continue to spread them.
I blog three
times a day, Monday through Friday. On
weekends, I repost older blog entries. The
responses I receive have been highly
positive because a lot of people are very
receptive to receiving this information.
Through
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, I’ve
been able to establish six distortion
techniques the religious right uses to
dehumanise LGBTs including:
My blog also
examines the strange personalities who make
up these phoney “pro-family” groups,
including one Peter LaBarbera.
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Peter LaBarbera |
To the LGBT
community, LaBarbera is known by the moniker
of “Porno Pete” because of his tendency of
attending subcultural events such as
“leather conventions”, taking pictures and
giving detailed accounts of alleged
activities of gay men attending them, while
conveniently omitting the alleged behaviour
of heterosexuals attending the same events.
Wide generalisations
Another
character is Paul Cameron. Cameron is a
discredited researcher who has been kicked
out of the American Psychological
Association, and censured by such groups as
the American Sociological Association for
his allegedly bad research techniques, such
as relying on a study of little over 60 gays
and lesbians to make wide generalisations
about the entire community. However his bad
studies continue to be cited by the
religious right, even when they are aware of
his dubious reputation.
For over 30
years, these groups have maligned and
dehumanised LGBTs. My blog is a way to
expose these liars for what they are as well
as arm the LGBT community with the facts
about our lives.
Here are
just three fairly recent postings on Holy
Bullies and Headless Monsters:
“Time magazine covers Ugandan
anti-gay bill, calls attention to Rick
Warren’s cowardice”
“Latest
smear against Kevin Jennings revisits
familiar lie – ‘Little Black Book’ ”
“Exposing the ‘ex-gay movement’ and other
Wednesday midday news briefs”
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