Melissa Fryrear of Focus Still Just Making Stuff Up – Love Won Out Boston
We’ve all seen this quote from Love Won Out Birmingham:
“I never met a person who aspired to be homosexually challenged,” the gender issues expert noted at one point. “Sexual trauma is a huge piece of the puzzle. Having talked with hundreds of homosexuals, I have never met one that had not been sexually violated in his or her life.” (*)
From Love Won Out Boston:
“In our experience in talking with women, hundreds of women overcoming lesbianism, and drawing from the experience of Exodus member ministries, again, a strong disproportionate number of women with same-gender issues have been sexually violated or abused in addition to other issues in their lives,” she answered. “We have seen it so often that it is not something that we can so easily dismiss.(*)
You’re right Melissa, I’m not just going to easily dismiss it when you so clearly just make stuff up and then can’t even stick to it.
Jim,
I think it was a combination. ACT-UP was loud, belligerent and demanding. They were also desperate and dying, and those are both powerful motivators and sympathy inducers. In the midst of their over-the-top drama, there was also a message of “yeah, this is craziness, but so is denying me drugs that might possibly save my life”.
I think the changing of the FDA’s rules has been fairly credited to ACT-UP’s efforts.
As far as funding, I think that was the result of a lot of raised visibility of which ACT-UP was a strong part. They weren’t alone.
I recall some straight white “innocent victim” woman who spoke at the Republican Convention and became briefly the “acceptable” face of AIDS. Then she said that she was no more “innocent” than gay people and soon was pushed aside.
I think that most Americans wanted to care and do something about AIDS. But at the same time there was still a strong social disapproval of gay folk. Remember at that time very few gay people were out to middle America. There were no GSAs, GLAAD was in its infancy, most newspapers wouldn’t use the word “gay”, and we were basically invisible on TV and the movies. The public wanted to help but needed a face they could like without hesitation and found that in Ryan White.
To the credit of most legislators, they didn’t distinguish between “innocent victims” and those horrible gays who deserve what they got (that particular bit of nastyness was left to the preachers).
On a side note, President Reagan has been harshly criticized for being anti-gay and not funding AIDS. A review of the facts show that there was funding fairly early on, though not nearly as much as history would show was necessary. For at least a few years he requested greater AIDS funding than the Democrat controlled Congress approved. This is not to suggest he was a champion or that his lack of adequate effort is morally defensible – simply that he wasn’t anti-gay as has been suggested (the docudrama “The Reagans” just simply lied on the subject).
Timothy at November 11, 2005 03:57 PM
Pretty much on point. One nit–ACT-UP was not a gay group. Most of its members may have been gay, but it was an AIDS action group. And that included straight people with HIV/AIDS.
It has recently been reported that the largest growing group of people with HIV/AIDS in the US is black women, who acquire the virus from their husbands and boyfriends who are probably on the “down low.” A sad situation.
Raj,
I suspect that the truth is that black women are not infected disproportionately by their gay lovers who are deceiving them.
Black women are infected for the same reasons they have the highest rate of out of wedlock births with STRAIGHT black men.
Promiscuous, unprotected sex. Period.
Very little was said about Magic Johnson’s life as a ‘ho (and that’s how HE was infected), and the culture around sports related promiscuity.
To blame ‘down low’ activity, is to cast blame on GAY men all over again.
This makes gay men chronically suspect as liars, deceptive, and out to make heterosexuals their victims.
The conceit of heterosexuals has no boundaries.
While committed to saying that what gays need, is heterosexual sex and heterosexuals to cure homosexuality, whatever negative social consequences that conceit results in, gays will be made to take the blame for that.
If gay to straight marriages fail, it’s because the gay person wasn’t honest about their orientation.
And if the gay person wasn’t honest about their orientation it’s because they are liars, not gay persons fearful of the wrath of heterosexuals for being open about their orientation.
Heterosexuals control the culture of blame as well as deceit around homosexual life, and yet will not take responsibility for it.
The ease at which straight black women believe the b******t about the down low, speaks to how badly they don’t want to see the truth for what it is.
Jim says:All great and lasting change has been propelled by empathy of some sort.
Proof?
What move you to make this statement? AFAICT, most lasting change has been brought about by an intransigant movement. One willing to do virtually anything to achieve its means. Where do you get this idea, and what proof do you have?
“The conceit of heterosexuals has no boundaries.
While committed to saying that what gays need, is heterosexual sex and heterosexuals to cure homosexuality, whatever negative social consequences that conceit results in, gays will be made to take the blame for that.
If gay to straight marriages fail, it’s because the gay person wasn’t honest about their orientation.
And if the gay person wasn’t honest about their orientation it’s because they are liars, not gay persons fearful of the wrath of heterosexuals for being open about their orientation.
Heterosexuals control the culture of blame as well as deceit around homosexual life, and yet will not take responsibility for it.”
Regan DuCasse, you’re my superhero. Another thing the exgays blame gays for, when in reality heterosexuals are responsible, is any mental illness GLBTs like me experience. They cause it with their stressful social rejection of us and then try to claim its a feature of homosexuality. First nations women in Canada suffer domestic abuse at three and 1/2 times the rate of any other race. “FOTF”, throckmorton, and exodus wouldn’t say that’s due to a mental deficiency caused by being native to North America, but they take the analogous situation with gays and say same sex domestic abuse is caused by being gay. The common factor is not a problem inherent to either group, but a dominant cultures’ rejection and isolation of the minority groups. The white heterosexual culture destroyed the pre-existing functional native culture and oppresses current development of functional minority, gay, and first nations cultures.
Heterosexuals are similarly responsible for much, if not most, promiscuous anonymous gay sex. By creating a fear of being openly gay, society makes it difficult for friendships between gays to exist and develop into stable monogamous relationships. Instead the social rejection advocated by religious conservatives forces fulfillment of gay male sex drives through anonymous sexual encounters so no anti-gay heterosexual in that person’s day to day life is aware he is gay. If a gay person is a social outcast for having one sexual partner he is encouraged to discard all restraint because he is an outcast either way.
Given that the repetitive lying (primarily through ommission) by “FOTF”, Throckmorton, Exodus, etc. is widely accepted as truth by a more sincere religious and secular public I want to express my hatred of these exgay politicians in a non-violent way. I want my non-violent hatred of “FOTF”, throckmorton, and exodus to be a reality check for those that believe this group’s lie of “compassion”. My guess is that ACT-UP’s throwing rotten fish into churches during mass did act as a reality check for the large group of sincere people erroneously believing the Catholic hierarchy was doing the right thing.
Jim says all great and lasting change has been propelled by empathy of some sort. That’s half true. Just as much great and lasting change has been propelled by force and dominance. Ancient Rome invaded its neighbors and sometimes enhanced the standard of living in areas it seized control of with violence. Thats the pendulum swing between conservatism and liberalism, femininity and masculinity, male patriarchy and equality.
I’ve read a lot of the archives on Exgay watch and the fraudulent exgay operation has made one blatent exageration/lie/lie-of-ommission after another. I think its time to acknowledge the reality that that is tantamount to a declaration of intellectual warfare on gays. Time for us to express some (non-violent) shock and outrage to draw this to the attention of the sincere but mislead majority who believe the lie of “compassion” by “Focus on the Family”, Throckmorton, Exodus, etc. I believe the Boston “Love Won Out” protests did that to GLBT benefit. I would think it would be a fairly easy job for the Human Rights Campaign, or National Gay and Lesbian Task force to take some of the more egregious examples of exgay lies detailed on Exgay watch and make some 30 second TV spots and print ads that would powerfully demonstrate the malicious hypocrisy of the leaders of those claiming to “love the sinner, but hate the sin”. I intend to use examples from Exgay watch to myself propose some possible 30 second TV ads and newspaper ads to HRC and NGLTF. I’m excited by how much ammo there is available on Exgay watch to fight the lies. I’m surprised relatively little use seems to have been made of it by the gay organizations with the money. The liars may have more money, but its clear truth isn’t on their side and we can win the intellectual battle with far less simply because we are right – if we get these examples of lies out to the general public.