Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/91

Contributor - John J. Opmeer

Title - Christian Response To Social Issues- Where Will The Gay Lobby Stop?

Topic - Homosexuality

"The greatest single victory of the gay movement over the past decade has been to shift the debate from behaviour to identity" (Dennis Altman, in "The Homosexualization of America", p. 9)

The first article dealt with the agenda of the gay rights movement. In this second of three articles you will read about the gay strategy, and the context within which this strategy has enjoyed such phenomenal and frightening success in achieving its radical agenda.

How Does the Gay Lobby Achieve its Agenda? Or: "the music of a new Pied Piper"

If you wonder how the gay rights movement managed to get that far that fast, consider the legend of the Pied Piper. You may recall the story of the flute player who rid the German town of Hamelin of its rats by leading them with his piping to the river, where they all drowned. But the town fathers refused to make good on their promised reward. In revenge, the Pied Piper played his magic flute to lead the children of the village to the mountains, from which they never returned.

What is this music that can mesmerize our society to follow the Pied Piper of the gay movement to destruction? Here are a number of the tunes that are being played:

- Exploit society's moral confusion

- Silence the voice of the church

- Cultivate the media

- Manipulate the language

- Play on public sympathy (AIDS)

- Use the tactic of intimidation

- Use the rhetoric of the civil rights movement

- Pretend to have scientific support

Exploit Society's Moral Confusion

High on my list of "magic music": the effect of decades of a secular humanist, evolutionary world view. In such a view, there is no Creator, or if there is one, we are dealing with a tame God who kind of supervises an otherwise autonomous process of evolution. In this view, there is no God who sets moral standards, and no Judge to whom we humans are accountable. As a result, we are adrift morally, victims of constantly shifting standards. Also as a result of this kind of ideology, which pervades our schools and media, our generation is far more troubled by suffering than by moral evil!

There is no way that the gay lobby would have achieved any of its agenda at the time of the Reformation or the Great Awakening, no matter how persuasive its argument or intimidating its tactic. But in the context of relativistic individualism, our society is losing the war for decent moral standards with hardly a shot being fired.

Silence the Voice of the Church

High on my list as well is the rather pathetic response so far of those who are supposed to uphold God's standards, the official Christian church. Of course no gay lobby can silence the church. But the world by now has noticed that the Christian community does not speak with one voice on this issue, and therefore, that voice lacks authority. The church is no longer the conscience of the nation!

The Manipulation of Language

In the 60's, homosexuals were invariably stigmatized with negative labels such as "queer", "faggot" and "sodomite". But soon, language began to be manipulated by homosexuals to serve THEIR political goals. Of course, the negative labels were completely unacceptable. But even the more neutral term "homosexual" became unacceptable. A more positive phrase had to be coined. Voila, the term "gay". The first use of this word in reference to homosexuals had been in France, where it suggested carelessness. In English, however, the meaning is "happy, carefree". Just the word needed! Once accepted, the very language used would draw attention away from moral issues and focus on an attractive state of life. What a brilliant, tactical move!

Having succeeded in creating a positive word to describe themselves, the gay lobby realized it also needed a powerful negative term to describe those opposing them. "Straight" wasn't negative enough. So, next came the successful launching of the perfect word of abuse, "homophobic". Literally: "fear of homosexuals", and more subtly, "fear of those who are different from ourselves"! The term homophobic is particularly potent because it succeeds in making a statement about motive. The truth is that most people who oppose homosexual behaviour do so out of moral and religious conviction. The lie that caught on with the introduction of the term "homophobic" is that the real motivation for opposition is not principle, but fear. Isaiah spoke of a time when "right" would be called "wrong" and vice versa (5:20). Look no further for an illustration.

If you wonder how this manipulation of the language has worked so well, look to the media. The gay lobby has succeeded by and large in convincing the largely liberal media that the original scholarly and moral opinion that homosexuals are disturbed people is wrong, and that those who continue to think otherwise are the ones who are in the grip of a phobia! It was the press that first accepted the word "gay" and then the term "homophobic". In both print and words, the media tirelessly repeat the homosexual version of reality. You will never see anything on the major TV networks that would embarrass homosexuals, and no wonder! There is an active homosexual censuring group to which all TV shows and programs that touch on the subject of homosexual lifestyle are submitted ahead of time for "approval".

Another great victory was the acceptance of the "sexual orientation". To my embarrassment, even in the Reformed Church this terminology is used as if it is an objective description. Of course, there is nothing objective about this phrase at all. It is loaded language, and highly deceptive. The medical community used to employ the phrase "sexual deviation" when referring to homosexuals. The gay lobby succeeded first in changing that to "sexual preference". But preference implies choice. But the political agenda implied that there is no choice, since homosexuality is inherited. Hence the term "orientation".

But even "orientation", so devastatingly effective, did not satisfy the gay agenda. So, they developed another term, "alternate lifestyle". Style reflects taste, not morality. "Alternate" suggests another valid option in a pluralistic society. As U.S. Senator Wm. Dannemeyer observed in "Shadow in the Land', adoption of this phrase concedes to the homosexuals everything they want in the argument to alter our society (p. 132).

The Rhetoric

The rhetoric used by the homosexual community is successfully obscuring the revolutionary nature of their demands. They are asking for the complete re-structuring of our social order. Homosexuals understand this only too well. Dennis Altman wrote in "The Homosexualization of America": "Any affirmation of homosexuality is an attack on the prevalent values" (p. 3).

Play on Public Sympathy

There is no doubt that the phenomenon of AIDS though devastating the homosexual community has allowed the gay lobby to accelerate the achievement of its long-range agenda by playing on public sympathy.

As Wm. Dannemeyer put it, "Just at the time when homosexuals had gained unprecedented freedom to live their lives as they wanted, AIDS suddenly and mysteriously intervened, and cut short their day in the sun". But the gay liberation movement has been able to construe the devastation of AIDS as a reason why the rest should feel guilty for not doing enough, and shower them with money, status, and free access to education. The terrible plight of AIDS sufferers has released a way of public sympathy which the gay lobby has skillfully exploited.

The Tactic of Intimidation

From the early days through the present time, the gay movement has felt justified in using aggressive tactics and intimidation. The purpose of such tactics is not just to make public a point of view, but to halt "unacceptable behaviour". There have been systematic efforts to disrupt meetings of those who are opposed to the gay agenda. There have been shouting matches, grabbing of microphones, demands to be given a platform during meetings, all designed to frighten those otherwise minded into submission.

Examples of the effective use of the tactic of disruption abound to this day. An early example is what happened to the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Originally, the APA listed homosexuality in its Diagnostic Manual of Psychiatric Disorders, and treated it as a personality disorder. The 1971 meeting of the APA was severely disrupted by a group of homosexual activists. The history of this and the subsequent annual meeting is described by Senator Dannemeyer in a chapter called "The Storming of the APA" (Shadow, pp. 24-39). As a result, in 1973 the APA went through its knees and removed homosexuality from its Manual. This change in "medical opinion" was not the result of further medical research, but of physical and emotional intimidation. It is difficult to find psychiatrists today who are willing to expose this hoax. More recently, true to form and with little integrity, the APA has further revised its Manual to indicate that paedophiliais now regarded as "normal" in certain circumstances!

The Abuse of Civil Rights Rhetoric

The gay lobby has pretty well succeeded in baiting more liberally inclined citizens with the civil rights lure. It has used to great advantage the impression that it represents just another form of civil rights abuse. Of course, you are not supposed to notice that even though the rhetoric is the same, the application is radically different.

Your race or sex is a "given" you can never change it. The moment you include "sexual orientation" you are acknowledging that homosexuals can't help being that way. It is merely an accident of birth! (It would be pure discrimination to try to change them.)

According to Dennis Altman, himself a homosexual, the greatest single victory of the gay movement over the past decade has been to shift the debate from behaviour to identity (p. 9). This has forced opponents into a position where they are perceived as attacking the civil rights of homosexuals rather than their anti-social behaviour!

Supposed Support of the Scientific Community

The majority of Christians I talk with seem to assume that there is conclusive scientific evidence that homosexuality is inherited, and that about 10% of the population is born this way. This is a case of misinformation if there ever was one, for there is no such proof, as even Dennis Altman admits! (p. 5) Three decades of research has failed to show that homosexuality is either genetically determined or is the result of hormonal factors. But try to tell that to the average citizen, even Christians! They are likely to treat you with that half-amused, half-shocked look that says "I feel sorry for you; you can't handle the facts as they are". All this, of course, not as the result of careful scrutiny of the evidence, but just because they have swallowed the lie that it is so. Move aside, Dr. Goebeels! You are no match for the homosexual propaganda machine.

(Next: How should the church respond?)

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.