Slogans of anti-gay ideology - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Anti-LGBT slogans or anti-gay slogans are themes, catchphrases, and slogan

Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...

s traditionally used to condemn or disparage homosexuality, stemming from an anti-gay

Heterosexism

Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...

ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

.

These slogans have a long history, with some dating back at least as far as Classical Greece

Classical Greece

Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...

2500 years ago. They range from the demeaning and pejorative to those expressing negativity on religious, medical, or moral grounds. The slogans listed here are not just terms of invective

Invective

Invective , from Middle English "invectif", or Old French and Late Latin "invectus", is an abusive, reproachful or venomous language used to express blame or censure; also, a rude expression or discourse intended to offend or hurt. Vituperation, or deeply-seated ill will, vitriol...

but they represent argument

Argument

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...

s that are commonly used to convey opposition to homosexuality. They reflect the spectrum

Spectrum

A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...

of opinion among those who oppose homosexuality and/or full LGBT acceptance in society

LGBT social movements

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...

Themes

Some concepts and arguments against same-sex desire and practices have been evident over the centuries, though the importance of specific arguments has varied from culture to culture. For example, preoccupation with child abuse

Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

is a largely modern concern, and the importance of Biblical

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

arguments rises and falls along with the influence of Judeo-Christian

Judeo-Christian

Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...

beliefs.

Declaration that same-sex desire is unnatural

This particular charge dates back to Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

, who argued in the Laws I 636c and VIII 841d that homosexual sex was "out of nature" (para phusin). However, in the Symposium
Symposium (Plato)
The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385–380 BCE. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love....

, Plato seemed to endorse homosexuality, describing it as a "higher form of love" than that between a man and woman.

Though the psychiatric establishment once medicalized same-sex desire, homosexuality was later removed in 1974 as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...

(DSM) because the diagnosis of homosexuality as mental illness stigmatized

Social stigma

Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...

homosexuals. There has been significant controversy over this DSM argument. However, according to another rebuttal of this argument, held by, among others, The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property

American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property is a civic organization of traditional Roman Catholic inspiration...

, there are some behaviors exhibited by many animals that most would consider unnatural in humans, such as cannibalism

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...

. The counter argument to this claim is that it confuses "unnatural" with "wrong," and that this is therefore simply a restatement of the claim that homosexuality is morally wrong (like cannibalism), not unnatural. These issues are complicated by the polysemous character of the terms "natural" and "unnatural" which can be used in many equivocal ways.

A modern Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

slogan expressing this view is "God made Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

, not Adam and Steve

Adam and Steve

"Adam and Steve" is a phrase that originated from a conservative Christian slogan "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", intended to concisely summarize Judeo-Christian Bible-based arguments against homosexual practices or homosexuality...

Conflation with child abuse

This is an accusation which predates the current era, as it was leveled against pederasts

Pederasty

Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...

even during Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

. More recently, this charge has been phrased as "homosexual recruitment

Homosexual recruitment

Homosexual recruitment is a term used, primarily in the U.S., to describe alleged attempts by homosexuals to actively "recruit" otherwise heterosexual youths into the 'gay lifestyle'. Allegations of gay recruitment are sometimes leveled at efforts by gay activists to encourage homosexuals to "come...

", implying that homosexuals are somehow predatory toward children, or are "recruiting" in secret. A common slogan is "Homosexuals cannot reproduce — so they must recruit" or its variants.
In The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...

s website, advocate.com, interview on his 2000 work, Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in 20th-Century American Art, Richard Meyer

Richard Meyer

Richard Meyer is the name of:* Richard Meyer , Swiss record producer and songwriter* Richard Meyer , a character in the Fatal Fury fighting video games...

discusses this line of attack:
Anti-gay groups have often argued that more homosexual men are sexual abusers than heterosexuals, on the grounds that a third of abusers target boys rather than girls. This is far in excess of the proportion of gay men in the population. It is thus falsely argued that gay men are disproportionately likely to offend. However, this argument depends on the equation of male-male pedophilia

Pedophilia

As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...

with homosexual orientation. According to child abuse specialist Nicholas Groth, this is not the case,

Homosexual sex acts as sin

Many religions consider homosexual acts to be inherently sinful. Especially, a number of Christian fundamentalists (e.g., Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....

and Jerry Falwell

Jerry Falwell

Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...

) interpret Biblical texts to imply that same-sex sexual intercourse is sin

Sin

In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...

ful. These individuals and congregations believe that such sexual acts as anal

Anal sex

Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...

and or oral sex

Oral sex

Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...

(along with fornication

Fornication

Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...

of any kind) are forms of sexual immorality that should be advised against. One slogan is the commonly used phrase "love the sinner and not the sin." These churches tend to speak out against violence and hate towards those who who are attracted to the same gender.
Other congregations, including the Metropolitan Community Church

Metropolitan Community Church

The Metropolitan Community Church or The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches is an international Protestant Christian denomination...

es, commonly affirm homosexuality and believe that neither homosexuality or homosexual sex acts are a sin. Some conservative churches reject the idea of a homosexual orientation and view homosexuality as being an urge towards sinful homosexual behavior and thus something everyone may experience from time to time. Many slogans, including some listed in the next section, have been used by religious opponents of homosexuality, particularly by Rev. Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps

Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...

, founder of the website godhatesfags.com and Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church

The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...

. These controversial slogans have included "God Hates Fags", "Fear God Not Fags", and "Matthew Shepard

Matthew Shepard

Matthew Wayne Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998...

Burns In Hell".

A modern example of this type of thinking was shown by the Rev. Jerry Falwell

Jerry Falwell

, who blamed homosexuals (among others) for indirectly causing the terrorist attacks on New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

and Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

on September 11, 2001. On the broadcast of the Christian television program The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...

, Falwell made the following statement (for which he later apologized):

AIDS as a gay disease

A common theme of anti-gay slogans is that AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

is a "gay disease". One example is the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead", a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

of the advertising slogan "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead", the tagline used in television advertising for the SC Johnson insecticide

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...

.

The slogan appeared during the early years of AIDS in the United States, when the disease was mainly diagnosed among male homosexuals and was almost invariably fatal. The slogan caught on quickly as a catchy truism

Truism

A truism is a claim that is so obvious or self-evident as to be hardly worth mentioning, except as a reminder or as a rhetorical or literary device and is the opposite of falsism....

, a chant

Chant

Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...

, or simply something written as graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

. It is reported that the slogan first appeared in public in the early 1990s, when Sebastian Bach

Sebastian Bach

Sebastian Bach is a Canadian heavy metal singer who achieved mainstream success as frontman of Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. Since his departure from Skid Row, he has had many television roles, acted within Broadway plays, and leads a successful solo career.-Early life:Bach was born Sebastian...

, lead singer of the heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

band Skid Row, unwittingly wore it on a t-shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

thrown to him by an audience member. A variant of this is "AIDS cures fags."

The phrase has been used by religious opponents of homosexuality. It was for example seen in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a victim of anti-gay violence, when Fred Phelps and his followers chanted it in front of the gathering.

Data from a 2005 study by the Center for Disease Control showed that among male adults in the United States, MSM (men who have sex with men) accounted for "71% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005."
The study also said that "MSM made up more than two thirds (72%) of all men living with HIV in 2005, even though only about 5% to 7% of men in the United States reported having sex with other men."

The proportion of HIV cases that can be attributed to the result of homosexual relations varies according to geography. In Russia, among newly registered HIV cases in 2006 where the mode of transmission was known, about one half was due to heterosexual intercourse, and this proportion has been steadily increasing . Almost 60% of cases were attributed to unsafe sex between men. In the Caribbean, it is estimated that about 40% of reported HIV cases are the result of unsafe sex between men. About 53% of newly diagnosed HIV infections in the United States, in 2005, were among men who have sex with men. The largest proportion of new HIV infection in Canada, in 2002, was accounted for by unprotected sex between men, whereas in Western Europe the highest proportion was accounted for by heterosexual intercourse.

Themes

Declaration that same-sex desire is unnatural

Conflation with child abuse

Homosexual sex acts as sin

AIDS as a gay disease

See also