homosexuality = DoublePlusBad
Recently an excellent article came to my attention throught the amazing Feministe blog. This series about an "ex-gay" ministries seminar attended by a gay man. It's a series that is still being updated, and so far it is one of the best I've read in regards to "infiltrating enemy territory for recognisance", otherwise known as checking out the other side's viewpoint. He handles the heavy material matter well with an even look at both the psuedo-science and rhetoric being spewed by those who are putting on the seminar, as well as the anguish, confusion and pain that those who attend these seminars experience.
He discusses the language that is used by groups like Focus on the Family and Exodus to promote their agenda. Like any involved field of study (no matter how reputable) they have developed a vocabulary to define their world view. They define any kind of gay interaction as being pathological, and the only way out of that pathology is through Jesus. People are not gay, only their actions. It's a delicate line of Newspeak, almost the definition of blackwhite. It is also insidious and can be terribly damaging to people.
He described a large portion of the people there being family members and friends of lesbians and gays. I imagine many of them were there to learn to how to help change those who they love, or at least get an idea if their own idle prejudices are well-founded (I'm not comfortable with that, so it must be bad or at least unnatural and unhealthy). That was what shook me, is that these are not hate-filled homophobic asshats (for the most part, there were exceptions I'm sure) these were vulnerable people looking for answers to very real and difficult questions. What they got was nothing more than well- planned doublespeak, anecdotal 'evidence'*, and religious salesmanship.
*I don't remember what blog it was from, or what commentor said it, but the multiple of anecdotes does not equal fact.
He discusses the language that is used by groups like Focus on the Family and Exodus to promote their agenda. Like any involved field of study (no matter how reputable) they have developed a vocabulary to define their world view. They define any kind of gay interaction as being pathological, and the only way out of that pathology is through Jesus. People are not gay, only their actions. It's a delicate line of Newspeak, almost the definition of blackwhite. It is also insidious and can be terribly damaging to people.
He described a large portion of the people there being family members and friends of lesbians and gays. I imagine many of them were there to learn to how to help change those who they love, or at least get an idea if their own idle prejudices are well-founded (I'm not comfortable with that, so it must be bad or at least unnatural and unhealthy). That was what shook me, is that these are not hate-filled homophobic asshats (for the most part, there were exceptions I'm sure) these were vulnerable people looking for answers to very real and difficult questions. What they got was nothing more than well- planned doublespeak, anecdotal 'evidence'*, and religious salesmanship.
*I don't remember what blog it was from, or what commentor said it, but the multiple of anecdotes does not equal fact.