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By Jesse Monteagudo When all else fails, surf the Web. At least that's what I do, when I am at a loss for things to write about. This time, instead of checking the lesbian and gay Web, I went to the sites of our enemies in the Religious Right.
More precisely, I studied the sites of the Family Research Council (www.frc.org) and Focus on the Family (www.family.org). Of the two, the Washington-based FRC has the more political site while Focus on the Family's site deals more with cultural or "lifestyle" issues. For example, Focus' most recent Breakaway magazine (a Webzine for Christian youth) features an "as-told to" article by Dirk Been, "the only Christian on Survivor ". Though the Religious Right Web sites deal with a variety of "family, faith and freedom" issues, they seem to have an obsessive interest in homosexuality. This is especially true of FRC site, which wages an ongoing war against queers in almost every article and press release. Like other RR groups, FRC uses the Boy Scouts as a club to bash gays with. When the Broward County, Florida School Board voted to "evict" the Scouts for their discriminatory policies, FRC's Robert Knight railed against the "dangers of . . . sexual orientation": "This is precisely why Family Research Council warns against such ill-advised policies. As soon as they become law, they're used as a club by liberals to attack groups that adhere to traditional Judeo-Christian morality."
The FRC praised efforts on behalf of the Scouts by "parents and residents" like Tres Kerns, who told the Anne Arundel County, Maryland School Board "that a male camp counselor molested him when he was 10 years old." "I'm not saying all homosexuals are pedophiles," Kerns agreed, "but when you open this door, what moral ground do you have to stand on?" The Anne Arundel Board, which probably couldn't see the connection, did nothing. Religious Rights groups were happy with the results of the 2000 elections, praising God--and the Supreme Court--for putting the USA under George W. Bush's wise and beneficial leadership. "With the election conflicts now resolved, our country has a unique opportunity to move in a positive direction and reverse some of the negative effects of the Clinton administration," said the FRC's Washington Update. "Immediately upon taking office, President Bush should repeal a number of President Clinton's executive orders that have been harmful to America's families." Though FRC did not specifically mention Clinton's executive order banning antigay discrimination in the federal workplace, I am certain that FRC will use its new-found clout to demand its repeal.
Retailer Abercombie & Fitch is "too gay" for FRC's tastes [though it's not gay enough for me]. Though Culture Facts admits that this year's A & F "Christmas catalog isn't quite as raunchy . . . [as] the 1999 porn-drenched issue", its "emphasis is now on young men and undershorts (or lack thereof). Group shots of orgy-like party scenes are included again this year as well." As if this plethora of scantily-clad male models was not bad enough for FRC, "A & F has gone political" with an interview with openly gay Eagle Scout James Dale and "A photo spread of a mock [?] lesbian wedding". I must point that RR sites seldom discuss lesbian women or lesbian issues. They'd rather concentrate on gay men and our sexuality, no doubt believing that male sleaze and promiscuity is more likely to shock their readers. Of course Family Research Council couldn't miss Queer as Folk, the new gay series on "Showtime". Janet Parshall, in the FRC Washington Watch, compared the showing of QAF on cable to "invit[ing] gay men into your house to engage in sex acts in front of the children . . . In the show's preview [which Parshall did not watch], men were said to have kissed, fondled, and engaged in various sex acts." Parshall does not add that QAF is shown after 10 p.m.--when kids are supposed to be in bed--and on a premium cable channel that you must specifically ask for. Not to be outdone, Focus on the Family's Stuart Shepard called QAF "an American remake of a disgusting British series. . . . [W]hen . . . viewers see the explicit nature of homosexuality in Queer as Folk on the premium cable channel, the American public will wish for limits," he adds. GLSEN--the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network--is a favorite target of these self-appointed protectors of public morality. Parshall, in the FRC Washington Watch, compared GLSEN to the villains in storybooks who "turn themselves into something beautiful" before they poison the princess. "Satan himself was the most beautiful angel. But you wouldn't want him teaching your kids either," she adds. Focus on the Family's Dick Carpenter attended GLSEN's recent conference in the Chicago area in order to report on that group's effort to "indoctrinate" your kids: "[T]he conference was in reality a strategy session for promoting homosexuality in local, state and national legislation and neutralizing conservatives by smearing them in the media as 'crazies,' 'nuts' and "hysterical.'" Well, if you say so . . .
Unfortunately for Mr. Carpenter, there wasn't enough going on at the GLSEN conference for him to write an entire article about it. Instead he zeroed in on the Gay and Lesbian Visitors Companion, a guide produced by the Chicago Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and available at the conference: "An advertisement for Steam works, a '24 hour men's gym/sauna,' depicted five semi-nude men standing in front of lockers. . . . Other businesses advertised included two sadistic-oriented gay bars, and a sex club called Man's Country, which promised 'Private Adult Complex Lockers and Rooms, Singles, Doubles, Fantasy Suites, HUGE Whirlpool Spa, Largest Steam Room, STRIPPER BOYZ, NUDE Stage shows every Fri/Sat Night regularly featuring your favorite Adult Video stars.' "For years GLSEN has claimed to protect 'at risk' kids," chimed in Peter LaBarbera, director of Americans for Truth Project. "But they are now helping put young teenage boys at risk by allowing the distribution of a gay guide that hawks anonymous sex clubs and 'leather bars' in Chicago." And so goes another day in the Religious Right's ongoing war against your rights and mine. |
Dirk Been of Survivor 
© 1997-2000 BEI