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04/30/2007
If they want to keep this alive, we'll keep playing along!
So you might remember last week when we, working off a tip from Americablog's John Aravosis, told you how professional "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett was suggesting that his fans and followers watch some YouTube videos that were said to expose the "homosexual agenda" in America's schools. And you might also remember that our beef with the suggestion was three-fold:
(a) The video was actually a pro-gay video from 1996 called "It's Elementary." The person who uploaded the videos to YouTube had merely inserted new title screens reading "Homosexuals Brainwashing Children," and closing screens that said things like "Homosexuality is not only wrong and immoral, it is on of the most destructive forces in our society today." Clearly, it's both a violation of copyright and intellectual honesty to try and make this video look like it was created as an anti-gay video.
(b) The person who had posted the video used the word "faggot" as one of the tags to describe his handiwork.
(c) The person who posted the video also had posted unbelievably racist and anti-Semitic videos, in which he, among many other things, denounced the intelligence of African-Americans and supported the ideas of Adolf Hitler.
We were appalled that Stephen Bennett had not offered a public statement decrying the racist attitudes. And in fact, when given an opportunity to do so via an article on Lifesite news, both that "pro-family" press outlet and the aforementioned "pro-family" player sort of glossed over the implications of linking to such a person.
So yea, we found the whole scenario rather disturbing. However, the YouTube videos were eventually yanked, the YouTube account responsible was eventually suspended, and after a couple of days passed in which we heard no public response from Bennett or really anyone in the "pro-family" movement (other than the aforementioned LifeSite article), we thought this was a situation that was sort of dead. So imagine this writer's surprise when he woke up Saturday morning to find this message from American For Truth's Peter LaBarbera:
This writer's response:
Well, as he said he would do in subsequent emails, LaBarbera wrote a piece on the matter for his AFT site. And while we know he really thought he was going to expose some dark, insidiousness of the gays and in his post, all he has really done is exacerbate a situation that makes his "team" look kind of bad!
After quoting this writer (yet leaving out much of the actual gist of what I really wanted to convey), LaBarbera says in his piece:
Two observations:
1) Jeremy may think that the “gay” movement has nothing to hide with “It’s Elementary,” but the truth is that a vast majority of Americans and people worldwide would be shocked by these video excerpts. Saturation exposure of this video could cripple the “gay” movement, but if Jeremy thinks differently, we’d welcome his help in getting this video exposed widely to educate Americans on the “gay” agenda for young people in our schools;
2) How silly to think that Bennett or anybody who used YouTube’s efficient site to expose the evil of It’s Elementary’s homosexual propaganda “support[s] the work of this [racist] user.” What “work”? He posted a radical “gay” video, of which most people are unaware. Nobody in the Christian (religious) pro-family movement has anything positive to say about racism. Hooper keeps talking about “the man responsible for this video,” … Hello. The San Francisco group Women’s Educational Media is responsible for this video; they produced it! The sad fellow with racism issues merely posted excerpts from it online.
So in response, let me go on record as saying:
Two replies:
1) Nobody has been hiding the "It's Elementary" video from public view! Google it -- it's easily findable, purchasable, researchable, etc! You can even watch several clips on the video's main site. Peter is making it sound like this is some dark, sinister snuff flick that we only pass out at secret meetings of the Homo Avengers League. In reality, however, it has been shown worldwide for the past decade! Is the video controversial? Of course it is. One cannot talk about gay people (especially in front of children) without the likes of Peter LaBarbera making it look like a society-corrupting incident. However, those same people (the ones who need to learn from the video the most) are NEVER going to accept gay normalcy. Fortunately, they are not the majority of America. The tide has been shifting for the better for quite some time, and antiquated notions on sexuality are losing favor with every passing year.
While we are fully up to Mr. LaBarbera's challenge of getting the video seen by a larger audience (and have written to the folks responsible, asking if posting clips to this site would be of interest to them), we really don't have to do so to gauge America's gay opinion. This writer and website deal with gay issues all day every day. They have both been featured in several media outlets, including a national television program. We know from our daily feedback that America is chock full of decent people of every sexual orientation who wish to see gay bias go the way of the dodo!
2) If you're going to quote me, Peter, then quote me correctly! What I actually said is that "...Stephen Bennett, someone who is given respect by the organized “pro-family” movement, recommended that all of his good Christian followers support the work of this user." And that's true -- he DID! He instructed those who read his email blasts to go view this hatchet job of the "It's Elementary" video. All I said is that the same mindset that felt it appropriate to support Hitler and denounce African-Americans, also thought it was a good idea to wrap this pro-gay video with anti-gay text. I also stated that a prominent "pro-family" leader sent his readers to view the latter work. I fully stand by that.
As for the video itself -- yes, it was the "It's Elementary" video. But why do LaBarbera and Bennett not feel it pertinent to address the fact that this man took the liberty of giving the video new title screens and text?! This Youtube user -- the racist one, lest ye forget -- IS, in fact, responsible for this hatchet job's (now former) existence on YouTube! This writer personally thought the clips themselves (without the anti-gay dogma) were super-encouraging and progressive. However, the re-branding of the video, as well as the "faggot" tag, were reprehensible on many lavels.
Moving on, LaBarbera goes on to write:
Bennett wrote me: “I clarified with my e-mail list in a follow up e-mail roughly a half an hour or so later to pay attention ONLY to the two videos I sent links to. I reported the nutty racist (who really needs prayer) before sending out my second e-mail. So, I have NO reason whatsoever to ‘defend’ myself against anyone. We aren’t ‘racists’ — everyone knows that — and the homosexual activists know that, too. They’re simply troublemakers and ‘bullies’ who need serious help.”
To that I add: how sad, or should I say how “queer,” that the main response of “gay” activists like Aravosis and Hooper to a video that shows young kids getting brainwashed — in the classroom — to accept homosexuality as normal is to smear pro-family leaders like Steve Bennett who are trying to bring this terrible injustice against children to the world’s attention.
But heres' the thing: Why has Bennett not written us? Why has Bennett not written Americablog? Why has Bennett not written Ex-Gay Watch? Each of these sites would have surely printed Bennett's statements in full, as the pro-gay blogosphere tends to enjoy transparency (unlike the "pro-family" opposition, who rarely even allow comments). And beyond responding to pro-gay sites, Bennett has his own blog. He issues press releases about any and everything -- why not this? The vast majority of us are not on his email subscribers list.
And beyond that, how can Bennett and LaBarbera not understand why this looks so disturbing? As we asked in an earlier piece: "Why do they think this YouTube user's antipathy for gay people is his one redeeming standpoint?!"
As for the "troublemakers and bullies" claim -- Anyone who reads G-A-Y with any frequency knows that we are neither. Never once have we posted anything to simply go after someone or something. Every single thing written on this site is in response to the outlandish homophobia and heterosexism that people like Mr. Bennett and Mr. LaBarbera propagate. Mr. Bennett goes around telling people that folks can change their sexual orientation, despite the fact that every body of science denies this to be a widespread possibility. Both gentleman consider this writer to be immoral, and their wish would be to see the destruction of my happy, well-adjusted, gay family! They fight to keep us legally single, stigmatized, childless, non-accepted, demonized, non-protected, and changed into something called an "ex-gay." And we're the bullies?!?!
LaBarbera's above quoted addendum is actually quite telling. It's not that our "main thought" is to "smear pro-family leaders." Our main thought the first time we saw the "It's Elementary" video -- years ago, in its non-hatcheted form -- was "Wow, cool!" However, this particular situation is not about the video's content. We never had a doubt that these characters viewed "It's Elementary" as "homosexual propaganda." Hell, they think our mere existence is homosexual propaganda! This situation, however, was about the birds that flock together to make up the gay-antipathetic feather, and the practices of both the extremist and non-extremist members of our opposition. We can say 100%, without hesitation, that if the same exact YouTuber had posted a pro-gay video and we were made aware of his slurs, his racist viewpoints, and his flagrant violation of someone else's intellectual property, we would have denounced his every move and offered an apology for our support. We now suggest Mr. Bennett speak up and do the same before he shoots himself in both feet.
It’s Elementary: If Every Parent Were to See this Video, the ‘Gay’ Agenda Would Be Crippled [AFT]
**UPDATE: Did they not feel racist user was worth MassResisting? [G-A-Y]
Your thoughts
Thanks for posting the link to the video clips of "It's Elementary"! They are great. Sure doesn't seem sinister to me, and doesn't look like any evil "brainwashing" was goin on either.
I hope that more people do get to see this kind of educational material. Perhaps this silly flap will attract some attention to a much needed, positive resource.
The contrast between the complete lack of judgment by kids and our über-judgmental detractors will only reflect kindly on our cause.
Posted by: Dash | Apr 30, 2007 4:17:26 PM
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