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Fundie Says Obama is Gay, Imprison Gays Before They Kill Kids

By: Hrafnkell HaraldssonMay. 15th, 2012more from Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Discredited former psychologist Paul Cameron

Conservatives can’t get enough of Obama’s support for marriage equality. Just watch FOX News, visit the right wing blogosphere, or scan Right Wing Watch for some examples: He is out of step with America’s values (even though most Americans support marriage equality). He is doing the work of Satan and consigning souls to hell even though probably most of those souls don’t believe in Satan’s existence. Things have gotten so hysterical on the right that Obama himself is now gay and his policies are gay. It’s a trifecta of hate for the right: gay, black, and Muslim.

It has always been only a matter of time before the ideology behind the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws were applied by another totalitarian group to the LGBTQ community. We haven’t quite gotten to the legislation portion of that process yet but the groundwork has certainly been prepared by homophobic demagogues like Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute. Just as bigots backed by pseudo-science came out of the woodwork in Germany of the ’30s once a bigot-friendly regime was in place, they are positioning themselves now for a bigot-friendly regime in 2012.

We have seen arch-fiend Bryan Fischer go down that road repeatedly and he is one of those most vociferous in his egging on of Mitt Romney, demanding that he show his trustworthiness by being as nasty and despicable as Fischer and his hate group, the American Family Association. There is no doubt at all that LGBTQs will become second class citizens in the event of a Talibangelical-friendly regime in Washington.

The punishment of death endorsed by fundamentalists in Africa will likely not work here, where they realize the illegality of their dreams places certain limitations on their actions, but that does not stop them from expressing their sick fantasies. The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue who hates people to tell truth to power (the Catholic Church) but loves to hate everyone else says that “gay people have been disqualified from nature” (even though nature is full of gay animal life). The implication is clear: if nature has disqualified them what are humans doing given them rights? It’s at its heart the same sort of reasoning employed by the National Socialist regime with regards to the Jews: if they’re not really people we can do whatever we want with them.

And Towleroad relates the efforts of one Virginia lawmaker to block the appointment of a judge on the grounds that he is gay: this is directly out of the fifth century Christian playbook known as the Theodosian Code. Fundie loudmouth Jim Garlow is playing with facts to position Christian opponents of marriage equality as future martyrs but we all know from which categories the true martyrs will arise: atheists, gays, lesbians, transgenders, women, Pagans, Muslims, and others.

Paul Cameron, for example, is saying that gays should be imprisoned before they can rape little kids. He is, reminds Right Wing Watch, cited “as an “expert (much as is David Barton) “by groups like the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the American Family Association, among others in the Religious Right. While his claims have been consistently discredited, Cameron is still a favorite of opponents of gay rights and appeared last week on Crosstalk with Jim Schneider of VCY America (Voice of Christian Youth).”

Watch the video from Right Wing Watch:

Well, the timing is I think miserable for his reelection. I would have expected him, as you did, to wait until he was the new president and say, “Guess what? I’ve changed my mind,” or, “I’ve evolved.” But homosexuality is the one sin, or the one habit, that is 24/7. It is homosexuality all the time. And actually, while I’m not sure about the claims by the various people who have reported that Obama has at least participated at times with them in homosexual acts, this certainly lends some credence.

…

Mark my words clearly; the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try. They will not rest until every one of our children at least gets to try, has the opportunity and maybe is forced to at least once experience homosexual acts. There is no retreating from that, they made it very clear earlier on—now they don’t take about it—but that’s what they want, they will not be happy until they get it, marriage is just a step along the way.

First thing you need to know here about Cameron’s opinion is that he is not a licensed psychologist or sociologist or an expert of any kind, but because conservatives present him as an expert, we are obligated to examine his claims and to refute them, just as we do David Barton’s.

The American Psychological Association dropped his membership in 1983 for an ethics violation; In 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it ”formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality”[1]; in 1985 In 1985, the American Sociological Association (ASA)adopted a resolution which asserted that ”Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism” and noted that ”Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research.”[2]

A committee was appointed with the task of “critically evaluating and publicly responding to the work of Dr. Paul Cameron,” and at its August, 1986 meeting, the ASA officially accepted the committee’s report and passed the following resolution:

The American Sociological Association officially and publicly states that Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and condemns his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research.

This is, in short, a man with no official standing whatsoever except in the eyes of his fellow bigots.[3]

Now back to his inexpert claims: Leaving aside nobody caring what Cameron thinks is and is not a sin, his tone seems to fall more under the category of wishful thinking on his part than anything else. The conservative obsession with sex acts knows no bounds – their fevered imaginations seemingly seizes on those acts which most fascinate them (and science backed this theory in 1996 and continues to do so) – so again, we are learning quite a bit about Mr. Cameron and very little about President Obama and gays. Perhaps Cameron joined the wrong denomination. Just sayin’.

In the end, all Cameron can do is double down on the hate. And let’s forget all Jesus’ talk about loving and helping:

Cameron: Part of the problem with the Christian Church in the United States today is that’s it’s be psychiatricized or psychologilized [sic], we seem to think that it’s our job to be counselors or do something to help people change. The fact is that the Christian Church for 2000 years tried to and eventually got homosexuality to be made illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people don’t get into it because it’s illegal, when you make it illegal a lot of people get out of it because it’s illegal, when you say ‘we don’t want to be unkind’—Hey, we have to protect our children! We have to have a future!

The Christian Church until just recently, just the last few years of time, said we must prevent homosexuality from corrupting our society, corrupting our kids, and so that’s the area where I think we ought to go. If you stake your efforts on trying to convert people who are into drinking heavily or drugging heavily or homosexuality you are going to fail by far most of the time. Some of them will come over but there is no known technique to take someone who is in a besetting sin like this and free them.

Schneider: But for the power of God.

Cameron: Yes but the Christian Church for almost 2000 years said we will protect the rest of society from these miscreants and we will be kind to those who come to us individually and say ‘help me blah blah blah’ and that’s fine. I hear Christian spokespersons saying things like ‘we must be kind to the homosexuals because we must get them to come to church and listen to us and maybe they’ll convert,’ good luck! Sometimes that happens but you’re really running a very bad bet and you’re going way outside of mainstream Christian history.

Romney’s more or less figurative message seems to be the same: drop dead.

It’s amusing to think that making homosexuality illegal would put an end to homosexuality. Repression is ineffective because homosexuality is natural. In 2000 years repression hasn’t worked. You can’t repress somebody into being straight. Homosexuality is with us still because it is as natural as heterosexuality.

Obviously, conservatism denies this and because they refuse to accept the science they continue to insist you can make gays straight. Cameron differs only on the means employed to make this happen – not therapy but brute force.  And crazy as things have gotten in the ranks of the right’s culture warriors, it would be unwise to suggest that they can’t get crazier. Hate, after all, knows no bounds, as history has shown again and again.

 

[1] [Nebraska Psychological Association. (1984, October 19). Resolution. Minutes of the Nebraska Psychological Association. Omaha, Nebraska: Author.]

[2] [Sociology group criticizes work of Paul Cameron. (1985, September 10). Lincoln (NE) Star.]

[3] For a full list of actions taken against Cameron see Paul Cameron Bio and Fact Sheet

Fundie Says Obama is Gay, Imprison Gays Before They Kill Kids was written by Hrafnkell Haraldsson for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, May. 15th, 2012. All Rights Reserved

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