More Ex-Gay Extremism

In the recent battles to pass pro-gay legislation through various state legislatures - Utah, Colorado, Virginia, etc. - one of the repeated mantras utilized by the opponents of gay equality under the civil laws is that being gay is a "choice" and, therefore, gays are entitled to no legal protections. After all, we could all be straight if we but wanted to. One of the organizations that consistently aids our opponents in keeping the "choice myth" alive is Exodus International which works in tandem with other Christianist organizations such as Daddy Dobson's Focus on the Family. Unfortunately, the mainstream media never (1) confronts these groups with the fact that legitimate experts condemn their "cure" programs or (2) reveals just how whacked out these Kool-Aid drinkers at Exodus and similar organizations really are. Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin has a post entitled "Exodus Board Member Joins Nazi Revisionist At Uganda Conference" that does a great job at exposing just how whacked out the "ex-gay" leadership can be, in this instance in the form of Exodus International board member, Don Schmierer, and the ever delusional Scott Lively. Here are some highlights that unfortunately will likely never be seen on network news:

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A Uganda-based anti-gay group has announced that American Nazi revisionist and anti-gay extremist Scott Lively will appear at a three day conference in Kampala, Uganda beginning on March 5th. Joining him will be Exodus International board member Don Schmierer. He heads a group called His Servants, and is the author of five books related to ex-gay counseling.

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Scott Lively is co-founder of the international anti-gay extremist group, Watchmen On the Walls, which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. He is also the author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, in which he writes that “the Nazi Party was entirely controlled by militaristic male homosexuals throughout its short history.” In other words, it was gay people who brought World War II to Europe, built the gas chambers, and sent as many as twelve million people to their deaths.

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Lively contends that “civilization and homosexuals” are engaged in a full-blown war, which is part of the Devil’s design to destroy civilizations: There is a war that is going on in the world. There is a war that is waging across the entire face of the globe. It’s been waging in the United States for decades, and it’s been waging in Europe for decades. It’s a war between Christians and homosexuals. … Now, the homosexual movement has been winning this war in the United States, and it has been winning this war in Europe. And we’re looking at the future collapse of Western civilization.

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This conference will be taking place on very dangerous ground for LGBT citizens and residents of Uganda. Martin Ssempa, the influential evangelical pastor at Makerere Community Church, has called for open season on LGBT people: August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. “Arrest all homos,” read placards. And: “A man cannot marry a man.” Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. “Homosexual promoters,” he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle. Soon afterwards, two of President Yoweri Museveni’s top officials demanded the arrest of the gay activists named by Ssempa. Terrified, the activists immediately into hiding.

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This is no idle threat. Homosexuality is officially illegal in Uganda. Conviction can lead to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, while sodomy carries a penalty of fourteen years to life.