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C-PAC, Gays, and a war of words
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by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | December 23, 2009 at 10:20 am
198 views | 4 Recommendations | 3 comments
An erupting semantics conflict and war of words has come about over the co-sponsorship of the annual C-PAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) convention by a gay conservative group (GOProud).
Christian groups have threatened to boycott the convention over the co-sponsorship, and this caused conservative and anti-gay pundit Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) to issue a quote from Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, who had also threatened a boycott of the 2010 conference.
In the article, LaBarbera quoted Barber : "It boils down to this: there is nothing ’conservative’ about--as Barber inimitably puts it--’one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it "love,"’" LaBarbera wrote.
Ex-gay Randy Thomas responded to this crude depiction with admirable sensitivity and reasoned calm (see block quote inset, right).
LaBarbera then accused Thomas of over-reacting and being too politically correct, among other things. He chided conservatives who to him seem "more comfortable" with gay groups than with Christians.
The quotation came from a private conversation between LaBarbera and Barber, LaBarbera clarified in a follow-up posting, though not before the crudeness of the quote had shocked and angered some of their fellow conservatives, including Randy Thomas, who is with the organization Exodus International, a religious group that claims that gays can be "cured" of homosexuality through prayer and counseling.
Reputable mental health professionals view such claims with skepticism, warning that programs of so-called "reparative therapy" are liable to do more damage than good. Some individuals who say that they have "converted" to heterosexuality claim that such programs have helped them embrace mixed-gender marriage and produce offspring; others say that such programs have given them tools to suppress their sexual longings, but say that denying their essential attraction to others of the same gender remains a struggle.
Randy Thomas, in a blog posted at the Exodus International Web site, responded to LaBarbera’s article about GoProud’s co-sponsorship of C-PAC in 2010, saying that the inclusion of the Barber quote at LaBarbera’s site was "unnecessary, hurtful and foolish.
[. . . ]
Added Thomas, "While Exodus is not a part of the CPAC event, we regularly say in the office that public policy matters only because people do--but how can we convey such a message when we stigmatize the very individuals we seek to reach with such a crude, horrible depiction?"
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 12:22 on December 23rd, 2009
I think this piece is far more simpler than all of that: What Barber said was downright mean and derogatory, and the whole quote can be turned back on him about the heterosexual act. That in itself might be an absurd enacting of "love".
at 12:38 on December 23rd, 2009
Yes, but as I said, if I were gay, I think I would tell Barber there are very real grounds for viewing the heterosexual intercourse in similar terms. Of course, religious indoctrination stifles the mind, and is a cause. But Barber is very, very intelligent, and so is LaBarbera. But they are mean, mean, mean to the bone. With a willful meanness. They have attacked Dan Savage today, and it is like a schoolyard brawl. I subscribe to LaBarbera's newsletter, so as to keep abreast of what he is up to. He is a rattlesnake, ready to spit venom at every turn. Religion makes dumb, but it also makes vicious.
at 12:52 on December 23rd, 2009
How do 8 year old Muslim children recite the Quran from memory ?