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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
A week after calling for the “criminalization of homosexual behavior,” the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer has continuously attempted to justify his comments.
But he should have quit while he was ahead because yesterday, he finally hit the nadir of nuttiness with the following:
As the Family Research Institute reports, historian Paul Johnson has written that decriminalizing homosexuality, which was done beginning in the 1960s for ill-conceived reasons of supposed compassion, has left us now today with a “monster in our midst” – a powerful, vicious, and punitive homosexual cabal that is determined to overthrow completely what remains of Judeo-Christian standards of sexual morality in the West.
As he points out, the process took place in three stages. First, homosexual behavior was decriminalized, while still being regarded as a “great moral evil.” But decriminalization enabled homosexual activists to openly organize, until they pressed for and received declarations that not only was homosexual conduct not an evil, but was in fact the moral equivalent of heterosexuality.
Then once this milestone was achieved, homosexual activists pressed beyond equality to privilege, where now today homosexual behavior has been given special protections in public life, protections which come at the expense of religious liberty, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and freedom of association and lead to the punishment, intimidation and harassment of any who oppose their agenda.
I'm totally unfamiliar with Paul Johnson but I am very familiar with the Family Research Institute. We all should be.
It is deemed an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center mostly because its founder, Paul Cameron, has spent a considerable amount of time over the years creating junk science and outright lies to demonize the lgbt community:
“Right now, here in Lincoln, there is a 4-year-old boy who has had his genitals almost severed from his body at Gateway in the rest room with a homosexual act… It’s really awkward. I could see where Gateway would want to suppress this. I could see where the parents would want to suppress it. It could be just a rumor. But enough things have happened recently so that such a thing doesn’t have to be invented.” – Paul Cameron told this story to a group in 1982 in Lincoln, Nebraska in an attempt to kill a gay rights ordinance. The police discovered the story to be false but the ordinance was defeated.
“(Cameron) misrepresents my findings and distorts them to advance his homophobic views. I make a very clear distinction in my writing between pedophilia and homosexuality, noting that adult males who sexually victimize young boys are either pedophilic or heterosexual, and that in my research I have not found homosexual men turning away from adult partners to children . . . I consider this totally unprofessional behavior on the part of Dr. Cameron and I want to bring this to your attention. He disgraces his profession.” – Dr. A. Nicholas Groth in 1984 after discovering that Cameron distorted his work.
“Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists – American Psychological Association, 1983
The science and profession of psychology in Nebraska as represented by the Nebraska Psychological Association, formally dissociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality. Further, the Nebraska Psychological Association would like it known that Dr. Cameron is not a member of the Association. Dr. Cameron was recently dropped from membership in the American Psychological Association for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists – Nebraska Psychological Association, 1984
Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism” – American Sociological Association, 1985
The Canadian Psychological Association takes the position that Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism and thus, it formally disassociates itself from the representation and interpretations of scientific literature in his writings and public statements on sexuality. – Canadian Psychological Association, 1996
If Fischer thought citing anything from this discredited hate group would give him credibility in his attacks on the lgbt community, then he is sadly mistaken.
However if he was gearing to demonstrate just how morally empty he and the American Family Association are, then he wins the blue ribbon.
Related posts:
Homophobic 'researcher' Paul Cameron in all of his repulsive glory
More homophobic lies from the Paul Cameron Poland tour
Why we should care about Paul Cameron
Hat tip to Right Wing Watch
27 Comments
I believe they might mean this Paul JohnsonFrom the Wikipedia entry for Paul Johnson (writer):
And for what it’s worth, my first thought was to read the report itself. Alas, my company’s web-blocker has the FRI website flagged as “Intolerance or hate” and I cannot get to it. Go figure.
“powerful, vicious, and punitive homosexual cabal”Oooooooooh, the scary gays!
Oh, and about Paul CameronHere is a handy set of pages that everyone here should keep bookmarked:
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_cameron.html
The site is maintained by the psychology department at the University of California, Davis.
Judeo-Christian standards of sexual moralityFischer said, “a powerful, vicious, and punitive homosexual cabal that is determined to overthrow completely what remains of Judeo-Christian standards of sexual morality in the West.”
He makes it sound as if it were a bad thing!
Well…
Unfortunately, if you think that reality, logic, or decency would prevent any of these people from mining the pit of exterminationist insanity that is Paul Cameron, you were sadly mistaken.
These people continue to repeat what is discredited because they know that at least some media outlets somewhere will repeat their fake research and empty analysis either without checking it for vapidnes or because they actually are Cameronists. It is the same reason that one continues to see approving citations to the fraudulent, anti-transsexual Meyer-Reter ‘study’, Janice Raymond’s Transsexual Empire, and the work of Paul McHugh and J. Michael Bailey. With all, there is some willing and/or ignorant media echo chamber and some element of the populace that is either convinceable or reinforceable.
But there IS such a cabal!It’s the network of self-loathing closet cases that run groups like the AFA.
The rest of us, gay and straight, pretty much want to be left alone to get on with our lives, including, but not limited to, the sweaty parts.
Ooooh, but you left out this tasty little tidbit from the same Wikipedia entry . . .
Note 21 is a reference to:
http://www.salon.com/media/199…
where there is an interesting article about “Spanker” Johnson.
And spoil the fun of discovery?Anyway, he is a hard right-wing Talibangelical, despite being British. That he has been involved in a sex scandal goes without saying.
You are, sadly, correct in this analysisNews media just love to use these wingnuts to provide “balance” to their coverage – and unless they’re like Rachel Maddow, the media doesn’t tend to even scratch the surface of the ravings, which lends the wingnuts a veneer of decency that they actually lack.
It is all part of the vast left-wing media conspiracyWhy and to what end, I have no idea.
“cites hate group as reason for criminal sanctions”I misunderstood the title — no worries, nothing bad, just an interesting alternative interpretation.
I thought that he was citing the existence of a pro-gay group (what he and his ilk might consider a hate group) as a reason we should be criminalized. Because this is stuff they’ve said for a while now (especially folks like MassResistance).
Either way, he’s a bad man.
won’t someone please think of the lesbians?I really wish the anti-gay people would please think of the lesbians when they talk about criminalizing “gay behavior” “like we criminalize injection drug users” and then try to pass it off as something to benefit public health.
Because if they really wanted to cut down on STI transmission and public health costs and resource use, they’d outlaw any sexual activity involving men save for solo masturbation and only allow lesbians to have sex.
No pregnancy risks.
Lowest risk of HIV transmission.
Lowest overall risks for other STI’s.
But somehow, they don’t offer this as the best solution to their imaginary strawmonster argument.
“unless they’re like Rachel Maddow”Yup – I doubt seriously if “Richard Cohen, M.A.” will try to take on Dr. Maddow again anytime soon.
I would say it is the best solution to their imaginary strawmonster argumentAt least for us, as it shows very clearly how little straw their monster actually has.
It’s always the men who have a problem with where other men put their penises. Wonder why? Is it because the secretely want to do it themselves so they have to make it criminal/taboo just to keep themselves in check?
See the above note about spanking, though.It may be that he wants us to be “punitive” towards him. I’ll pass.
This is so 17th centuryThese clods seem to think we’re still living in Puritan America, where a prime function of the government was to punish SIN–however broadly defined. It’s as if the constitution never existed (which is exactly what they want, of course).
that was awesomeRachel eviscerated Mr. Cohen
mad4maddowscore one
Spanky and his GangThese Cults of Jesus Inc lunatics are discredited, ultimately discreditable and not worthy of response but the truth is that with the advent of Civil Rights for persons of Color the Cults of Jesus Inc required a new demon, a new “other” to rant and rail against. The LGBT community is it.
Right Wing Watch has their number and what these vile hate-mongers put out there I’m able to disarm and dismiss within 30 words.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention but these Cults of Jesus Inc are seen by more and more mainstream humans as lunatic fringe.
When my neighbor of many years duration brought Cameron’s book to my attention after her Bible thumping Baptist Church told her about it I just blew her away with the truth. She no longer attends the Church that lied to her and in coming out, in being a good citizen I’ve gained another ally in our fight for Equal Justice under the law.
The truth wins out every time.
Fischer Has Been Vicious Latelywith wanting to have teh gays treated like criminals, locked up, killed and whatever else.
He must have an awful lot on his mind; most likely shot down in flames by a failed ManHunt fling, got called “old” and “nasty” among other things.
That, or he’s trying to deflect attention from some evildoings of his own that would get him punished like a criminal in the REAL world. Has anyone left their little boys alone with him lately?
Thanks.Yep, every single one of us should know who and what Paul Cameron is. Virtually all anti-gay rhetoric that is not religious in nature, but rather hides behind a veneer of scientific-sounding jargon, comes from Paul Cameron. He is good at publishing what appears to the uninitiated lay person as “research”; Cameron’s “work” comes with statistics, citations, and other “science-y” sounding things that make it seem sort of respectable. Even though it is all 100% grade F horse shit.
When you hear someone claim that gay people molest children more often than straights; or we die at earlier ages; or we routinely ingest fecal matter, then you know you’re dealing with Paul Cameron.
BTW Dr. Greg Herek, the guy whose name is on that website Techbear posted, was called as an expert witness in the federal Prop 8 trial. He is an expert on sexual orientation. And he kicked ass.
I find that I agree with him on one of his talking points
The sad thing is, he’s right.
The cabal wants to replace what remains of Judeo-Christian standards of sexual morality in the West with:
Monogamy, codified in same sex marriage.
You’d think that would be a Good Thing ™…
I am the leader of that Internationaist Anti-Clerical CabalMe and the gang, Marat, Robespierre, the Mujeres Libres from the Spanish Civil War, the tens of thousands of dead at the hands of murderers incited and inspired by the Churches, some old friends from Mexico…
At least give me credit, Bryan and Paul. I am the one forever preaching anti-clericalism, not the leaders of the movement who cringe at the thought of facing you all down.
I am not cringing.
Hypocrite at many levels:Johnson’s book Intellectuals launches an attack on secular, leftist intellectuals by scrutinizing the personal lives of twelve prominent thinkers and artists from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, arguing that their personal failings invalidated their authority to tell the rest of the world how it should behave. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, and Jean-Paul Sartre count among those Johnson included in his assessment.
Now, by that standard Johnson ought to be competely disregarded
More proof, from an essayist on Johnson:
.
Paul Johnson – a man in denial about his Roman Catholic ChurchApparently he believes that if gays were hunted out of the RCC, there would be a reasonable number of native-born priests left in the most-developed countries. Even Ireland has to import priests today. The usual guesstimate about the American priesthood is that about half of the native-born and educated priests are gay.