Talk:Gay agenda/Anon64 Rewrite Archive

The homosexual agenda (or the gay agenda) is a term used to describe the political and social goals of increasing GLBT acceptance through public policies, media exposure, and cultural change. It is a term used frequently but not exclusively by social conservatives.

Background
The phrase "Homosexual Agenda" became prominent in the 1990's when Conservative Christians, alarmed at the success of the GLBT movement, referred to a pseudonymous essay titled  "Homosexual Manifesto: An Essay on the Homosexual Revolution" and began to discuss the "Homosexual Agenda". GLBT activists state that this essay was a satire but many opponents take it seriously.

Historical Gay Activist Demands
Since 1971, GLBT activists have provided a consistent list of legal and social goals that include:


 * Protection against discrimination in employment, housing and immigration.
 * An expansion of hate crime laws to specifically include sexual orientation.
 * Domestic partner benefits similar to those granted to married couples.
 * The right to have their relationships recognized in civil unions or preferably the right to marry.
 * The ability to serve in the military without hiding their sexuality.

At various times, important GLBT Rights lists have had other, additional objectives. While these have not been consistently or universally adopted by GLBT activists they are often key elements in the concerns of Social Conservatives:


 * Repeal of Age of Consent Laws.
 * Repeal of Laws that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit (Polygamy}.
 * Repeal laws prohibiting prostitution.
 * Funding for sex education courses, prepared and taught by Gay women and men, presenting homosexuality as a valid, healthy lifestyle and a viable alternative to heterosexuality.

Development of Strategies
Many GLBT activists and Social Conservatives agree that one book in particular, "After the Ball : How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's" by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, outlined important strategies for achieving these goals. Marshall Kirk (with Erastes Pill a pseudonym for Hunter Madsen) previewed these strategies in a November 1987 Guide Magazine article entitled "The Overhauling of Straight America'':


 * 1) Talk about Gays and Gayness as loudly and as often as possible
 * 2) Portray Gays as Victims, not as Aggressive Challengers
 * 3) Make Victimizers (sic) Look Bad
 * 4) Give protectors a just (moral) cause
 * 5) Make Gays Look Good
 * 6) Solicit Funding

Social Conservatives' Reactions
To Social Conservatives, these strategies combined with GLBT goals comprise the "Homosexual Agenda". For example, James Dobson, director of Focus on the Family and a commentator in the popular media, describes the homosexual agenda in terms that include both the goals and the strategies:

Those goals include universal acceptance of the gay lifestyle, discrediting of scriptures that condemn homosexuality, muzzling of the clergy and Christian media, granting of special privileges and rights in the law, overturning laws prohibiting pedophilia, indoctrinating children and future generations through public education, and securing all the legal benefits of marriage for any two or more people who claim to have homosexual tendencies.

As this quote shows, there is a disparity in what is included as part of the Homosexual Agenda when compared with the goals of the Gay Rights Movement. Social Conservatives use a strategy of focusing on the most extreme or most disturbing goals that can be found and include them in their sense of the Homosexual Agenda. Many GLBT advocacy groups object that their goals do not include those more unusual elements. But, Social Conservatives also detect an incremental approach (as advocated in "After the Ball") in the strategies of some GLBT groups. As a result, they are concerned that the entire slate of goals, including those that are not universally accepted (or not openly admitted) in the GLBT community, are the ultimate outcome of the Homosexual Agenda.