"Step 1: Set the stage. Most anti-gay tracts begin with a short opening section similar to mine. This is where you quickly dispense with the notion that gays and lesbians are actually human beings, let alone friends, family, neighbors and fellow citizens. Instead, gays and lesbians are portrayed as a faceless sex-obsessed hoard representing a dark and ominous force in American culture.
It’s important to set this stage right away — to make sure your reader is on board with the premise that the rich and complex lives of gays and lesbians can be reduced to one singular component — because it leads directly to the subject that many Americans find very uncomfortable: sex.
Step 2: Talk about sex. A lot. Most general-topic anti-gay tracts begin with a detailed description of sexual practices. There’s a good reason for that: no one looks good when their entire life is reduced to one-dimensional statistical descriptions of sexual practices.
Talking about sex can be rather gross, but don’t let that stop you. In fact, that’s the whole point. You want your audience to share your revulsion of gays and lesbians, and this is the easiest way to do it. Talk about sex as though it were the only thing that matters to gays and lesbians. Not love, not relationships, not commitment, not families – just sex.
To reinforce this point, anti-gay writers make extensive use of the term “homosexual” throughout their tracts. By constantly emphasizing “homosexual” instead of using the terms “gay” or “lesbian”, the sexual component of gays and lesbians are emphasized above all other aspects of their lives. And the more you portray gays and lesbians as sex-obsessed homosexuals, maybe your readers won’t notice the irony of your tract being obsessed with the sex lives of supposedly “sex-obsessed” people. "
Nobody who is worth taking seriously is going to take those steps to begin with, IMO.
First of all, many of us who sometimes argue "against" homosexuality know full well that gays and lesbians are people, just like anybody else. Hell, we might even know a few gays or lesbians we hold in high regard. Look, I LIKE some of the gay and lesbians posters here, and think we could have a great time going out, having some beers and playing pool together. In a totally non-gay way, of course. (...okay that was a bad attempt at a joke.....)
Anyhoo.. I don't really see anybody outside of Jack Chick, Fred Phelps and a few others on the fringes even trying to use the "gays are monsters" argument any more.
Secondly, on the homosexuals thing... well yes... I'm not big on P.C., and I like using the proper words. When we're talking about this particular subject, the root of it really IS sexual attraction to the same gender. Hence.. the word "homosexuality."
Because, IMO, at the very core of the matter is this.. we are a two-gender species that reproduces sexually.. hence the overall "cause" and underlying "reason" why human beings get... well... horny. Yes, all the love and romance and bonding for life and holding hands and skipping through a feild of butterflies in a basically non-sexual way is wonderful. But let's face it... what (in the general sense) makes you horny dermines who (the specific person) you fall in love with. So, with this whole two-gender, sexual reproduction thing going on.. some find it a bit "off" that a few people get horny over their own gender.
Everyting else, on both side of the argument, beyond that is just fluff and hype, IMO. Or as the old hicks would say.. "putting lipstick on a pig." If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again and then quit. There’s no sense in making a damned fool of yourself. – W.C. Fields |