Anti-LGBT rhetoric

Anti-gay slogans are themes, catchphrases, and slogans traditionally used to condemn or disparage sexual relations between people of the same sex, usually between males. They often work together to create an anti-gay ideology. In the modern West they are regarded by some as manifestations of homophobia.

These slogans, along with scriptural prohibitions, have a long history, with some dating back at least as far as Classical Greece 2500 years ago. They range from the demeaning and pejorative to those expressing antipathy on religious, medical, or moral grounds. They may also use terms of invective like "fag" or "faggot".

These slogans are still used to convey opposition to homosexuality. They reflect the spectrum of opinion among those who oppose homosexuality and gay rights.

Themes

The stock phrases used against same-sex desire have changed little over the centuries. They are one of the main vehicles for the propagation of anti-gay attitudes.

Declaration that same-sex desire is unnatural

This particular charge dates back to Plato, who argued in the Laws I 636c and VIII 841d that homosexual sex was "against nature" (para phusin). This argument was echoed by Paul of Tarsus, in a claim to the same effect in the Epistle to the Romans. In recent times the discussion has been framed in psychiatric rather than philosophical terms, with the claim that it is a sexual perversion.

Though the psychiatric establishment did medicalize same-sex desire, that position has been revised and homosexuality was later removed as a medical disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Recent work by biologists has shown same-sex sexuality to be widespread in nature (see: animal sexuality) as well as in human society, leading gay rights advocates to assert that opposition to same-sex desire would itself be against nature.

However, according to one rebuttal of this argument, held by, among others, The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, there are some behaviors exhibited by many animals that most would consider unnatural in humans, such as cannibalism. . The counter argument to this claim is that it confuses "unnatural" with "wrong", thus this is no more than a restatement of the claim that homosexuality is morally wrong (like cannibalism), not that it is unnatural. These issues are complicated by the polysemous character of the terms "natural" and "unnatural" which can be used in many equivocal ways.

The Roman Catholic Church, among others, uses 'nature' to refer to natural law, which, in their view excludes same-sex sex, along with other actions it sees as immoral.

Blame for Biblical plagues and natural disasters

Main article: Religion and homosexuality

Since the middle ages, sodomites were blamed for "bringing down the wrath of God" upon the land, and their pleasures blamed for the periodic epidemics of disease which decimated the population. This "pollution" was thought to be cleansed by fire (modelled after the mythical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah), as a result of which countless individuals were burned at the stake or run through with white-hot iron rods.

A modern example of this type of thinking was shown by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who blamed gays and lesbians (among others) for indirectly causing the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of September 11, 2001. On the broadcast of the Christian television program "The 700 Club," Falwell made the following statement (for which he later apologized):

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.

Since the 1980s, similar accusations have been made, inspired by the AIDS epidemic, labeling it a gay disease and divine retribution against homosexuals.

Conflation with child abuse

See also: Gay rights counter-movement

This is an accusation which predates the current era, as it was leveled against pederasts even during Antiquity. More recently, this charge has been phrased as "recruitment", implying that homosexuals are somehow predatory on children, or are "recruiting" in secret. A common slogan is "Homosexuals cannot reproduce — so they must recruit" or its variants. One such example of a similar charge and its underlying argument, offered by the Family Research Council can be found here.

In an Advocate.com interview on his 2000 work, Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in 20th-Century American Art, Richard Meyer discusses this line of attack:

. . . those who attacked Mapplethorpe's work in the late 1980s used this photograph to reinforce long-standing stereotypes of gay men as pedophiles. Although no sexual activity is shown (or even suggested) in the portrait, and although the picture was commissioned by the child's mother who was in the room at the time of its taking, the very fact that Mapplethorpe had photographed a naked boy was enough, at least in the minds of Pat Robertson and Jesse Helms, for the photographer to be accused of child molestation.

Among the counterarguments used to refute the charge are that it is based on the denial of the comparable abuse of young girls by men who prefer the opposite sex, and on the infantilization of adolescents who in a different context would be considered to have come of age. The reports of young people discovering their attraction to others of the same sex at an early age contradict claims that those young people were subject to outside persuasion.

Dissipation of vital force

This argument has been phrased since antiquity in agricultural terms, as "casting one's seed on sterile rocks." There was a recognized need for producing more children, generally to keep society going through the traditions of the family and farming. The concern was that more non-procreative sex would "ruin" the participants, reduce society's growth, and perhaps even contribute to social collapse.

It is not clear then why chastity ("casting no seed at all") is, by those same societies, generally seen in in positive light, even when it was imposed on those people.

It has been countered by pointing out that there are multiple examples of non-procreative heterosexual sex (as well as masturbation), such as relations between people past the age of conception, commercial sex, and sex in which birth-control measures are used.

It has also been suggested that the insemination inherent in same-sex relations, while not producing actual offspring, yields spiritual and intellectual benefits. As well, homosexuals have been involved in the institution of the family since ancient times. They have fathered/mothered, raised, adopted, and helped care for numerous children throughout history whether openly living with their sexual identities or not. As well, the inventions and new ideas brought forth by them also helped society make progress.

And finally, there is a very real question as to how many people the Earth can support. In earlier centuries, few children survived infancy, but current medicine now allows most to lead healthy lives, meaning that fewer pregnancies may be needed. And arguably less procreative sex can relieve population pressures.

Association with effeminacy in men, and masculinity in women

Main article: Gender identity

This accusation seems to be based on the generalization that all those who engage in same-sex relations are also gender variant, a contention which is not sustained by research in the field.

Homosexuality as a sin

Main article: Religion and homosexuality

An example of an anti-gay slogan.

A number of Christians interpret Biblical texts to imply that same-sex sexual intercourse is sinful. Many mainline churches are very divided over the issue of same-sex marriage and religious blessing of same sex unions where they can bless same-sex love but not same sex sex acts. These individuals and congregations believe that such sexual acts as anal sex and or oral sex are forms of sexual immorality that should be advised against. One slogan commonly heard is "love the sinner and not the sin." Other congregations, including the metropolitan Community Churches, commonly affirm homosexuality and believe that neither homosexuality or homosexual sex acts are a sin. Some conservative churches reject the idea of a homosexual orientation and view homosexuality as being an urge towards sinful homosexual behavior and thus something everyone may experience from time to time. Many slogans, including some listed in the next section, have been used by religious opponents of homosexuality, particularly by Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of the godhatesfags.com website and Westboro Baptist Church. These controversial slogans have included "God Hates Fags", "Fear God Not Fags", and "Matthew Shepard Burns In Hell" . Another slogan is "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve".

AIDS as a gay disease

Related article: Homosexuality and medical science

A common theme of anti-gay slogans is that AIDS is a gay disease which is somehow deserved. One example is the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" (fag being a pejorative term for a male homosexual).

File:AdParody-anti-gaySlogan.png

Anti-gay
slogan parody
c. 1990

The "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" slogan is a parody of the advertising slogan "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead", the tagline used in television advertising for the SC Johnson insecticide. It thus implicitly identifies gay men with vermin fit for extermination.

The slogan appeared during the early years of AIDS in the United States, when the disease was mainly diagnosed among male homosexuals and was almost invariably fatal. The slogan caught on quickly as a catchy truism, a chant, or simply something written as graffiti.

It is reported that the slogan first appeared in public in the early 1990s, when Sebastian Bach, lead singer of the heavy metal band Skid Row, wore it on a t-shirt.

The phrase has been used by religious opponents of homosexuality. It was for example seen in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a victim of anti-gay violence (whose death was not AIDS related, he was beaten to death), when a group led by Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church staged a protest.

A variant of this is "AIDS cures fags", a role reversal which makes homosexuality the disease and the inevitable death from AIDS the "cure".

Recent studies from the Center for Disease Control show that among males in the United States a high proportion are likely to have contracted the condition through homosexual sex. Worldwide, however, the epidemic has touched primarily people enagaged in opposite-sex behaviors, and medical evidence indicates the disease is propagated not because the sex of the partner is the same as one's own, but as a factor of unhygienic sexual behaviors (such as relations with multiple partners concurrent with an absence of protective techniques).

See also

• Pro-gay slogans and symbols
• Gay rights opposition
• Homophobia
• Homosexuality and medical science
• Homosexuality and morality
• List of gay-related topics
• List of sexual slurs
• Hate speech
• Fred Phelps