« Go back a post || Return to G-A-Y homepage || Haul tail to next post »
07/20/2009
Gays and graffiti: An update
Last week we noted how the Maine marriage fight's most visible and out spoken liability, the Mike Heath-led Maine Family Policy Council (formerly the Christian Civic League of Maine), is citing homosexuality and the acceptance thereof as a reason why the city of Portland, ME, is suffering from what they see as urban decay. Well now, having seen our piece, Mike Heath and crew are attempting to further "explain" what they meant to say in their earlier exploration of homo-rooted urban dysfunction. Read for yourself and see if they are successful in painting our prior assessment as misrepresentative, or if their only success comes in terms of putting their anti-equality side further on the fringe of Pine Tree State values:
Last week The Record published an item which was misinterpreted by many in the homosexual activist community. The item deplored the decline of Portland as a great city, as evidenced by the spreading plague of graffiti, the tolerance of the homosexual subculture, and a crime rate which is now higher than the overall crime rate of New York City.
Homosexual rights activists responded by saying that the item claimed same sex marriage causes urban decay. This is false. The item pointed out a truth which is far more damaging to the homosexual rights movement, which is this: same sex marriage and the homosexual rights movement go hand-in-hand with urban decay. Chaos in the moral order is reflected in the social order, hence the prevalence of crime and graffiti in Portland, and the tolerance of perversion. All are signs of moral decay.
...
A society which accepts garbage as art will have no problem accepting perversion as marriage.
...
The ability of the city fathers of Portland to overlook graffiti, vandalism, and crime is disturbing. More disturbing is the inability of people to see the evil of equating perversion with marriage. Many will remain oblivious to the social decay in Portland, just as many will never be convinced that 'same sex marriage' is a pernicious absurdity. Then again, a blind man will never ask for a light. In such a desperate case, moral conviction will never come from a well-reasoned argument or insight into a political solution. The only cure will be repentance and belief in Christ. Does Same Sex Marriage Equal Urban Decay? [MFPC]
Oh, so it's not that they think marriage equality causes urban decay. No, no -- it's that they see us evil gays as being urban decay's inseparable brother. They think that since we LGBT folk have disrupted the "moral order" of things, the social order is imply following suit. That's some major distinction there, ain't it? [::eye roll, head shake, mental graffiti cleanup::]
But the truly funny thing is when this MFPC writer says that this explanation, what they seem to see as some sort of major clarification, is "far more damaging to the homosexual rights movement." Because call us biased if you want, but we can't help but think that it's Maine's less extreme marriage equality opponents who are truly being damaged by Mike Heath and company's unrelenting parade of far, far, far right wackiness.
***
**EARLIER: And it's not just Portland. Back in May, Mike Heath pointed to the City of Augusta, saying: "It is clear that Augusta lost its moral compass when it endorsed homosexual marriage": Heath keeps talking; Our chances of winning in Maine keep growing [G-A-Y]
**ALSO: Lest you think this group is fringe and disconnected with the larger "People's Veto" effort, you should know that this group is connected with Focus on the Family/Family Research Council. In fact, it was just this past February that FRC head Tony Perkins spoke at the groups' banquet: ME: Scenes from an anti-marriage [G-A-Y]
Your thoughts
Post hoc ergo propter hoc? I thought that was a logical fallacy. *Sigh*
Posted by: Brian | Jul 20, 2009 10:13:37 AM
We should thank Mike Heath for spotlighting a correlation between greater acceptance of gays and increased urban decay. He has opened a can of worms for himself.
Actually, studies consistently show a correlation between high levels of religiosity and high levels of social pathology along with lower levels of education, income, and other measures of well-being. This appears to be true when looking at the entire world, and also when looking at the states within the US.
Here is one article on the subject that appeared in The Times of London:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article571206.ece
The article, titled, "Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'," was discussing a study published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal.
While recognizing that correlation is not proof of cause and effect, it at least justifies taking a closer look. But any non-delusional person taking a look at societies where gays have higher levels of acceptance would notice that they are among the most prosperous and healthy societies on earth.
Posted by: Richard Rush | Jul 20, 2009 11:17:59 AM
"Post hoc ergo propter hoc? I thought that was a logical fallacy."
Well, there's your problem, Brian. You are assuming that these people are logical.
Posted by: Dick Mills | Jul 20, 2009 11:36:06 AM
Gee, that clears it *all* up. Why would anyone be offended?
Posted by: GreenEyedLilo | Jul 20, 2009 3:03:26 PM
"The item pointed out a truth which is far more damaging to the homosexual rights movement, which is this: same sex marriage and the homosexual rights movement go hand-in-hand with urban decay."
I'm reminded of the neighborhood association that marched down the street in San Diego's Pride Parade some years ago with signs saying "Please move into our neighborhood". They saw what happens when gays move next door ... and they wanted it.
While it was kinda selfishly motivated (they were hoping for an increase in property values) it was also kinda sweet.
I guess they didn't know that part about urban decay and grafitti.
Posted by: Timothy Kincaid | Jul 21, 2009 6:31:55 PM
Any research or book or article about urban gentrification will detail the typically high numbers of gay people in the first waves of the process (for better or worse). Excuse my generalities, but gay people often don't have kids so they are not worried about poor quality public schools or children's safety. Younger gay men without the income to buy in already upscale neighborhoods also tend to not want to live in family oriented socially isolated suburbs. They may often be creative and artistic types who see the potential in old houses in urban ghetto areas and put in the work to rehab, repaint, plant gardens, etc. Eventually wealthier people move in who can afford private schools, middle and lower income people are priced out, etc. So anyway the claim of this moron is exactly opposite the actual truth, repeated in cities all over the country for years.
Posted by: emjayay | Jul 21, 2009 7:30:35 PM
The heading of "GAY GRAFFITI" caught my eye... back in the 1950's, there was a famous Drag Queen, Charles Pierce and one of his favorite jokes was about some graffiti on a wall... "MY MOTHER MADE ME A HOMOSEXUAL!" and the next day some one wrote underneath it... "If I give her enough yarn... can she make me one,too?" I observed a sign in the mid-60's in San Francisco, on the wall of the S.F. Mint... "100,000 gays in San Francisco, and the next day someone put a line through it and underneath it... made it to read 100,001
Posted by: jerry Pritikin | Jul 22, 2009 10:01:33 AM
comments powered by Disqus
