Wayne Besen - Weekly Columns

Republicans Need To Rethink Rhetoric

2010-03-23T20:16:00.001-04:00

Weekly ColumnIn 1995, House Majority leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) referred to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) as "Barney Fag." He quickly apologized calling his verbiage a "slip of the tongue". Fifteen years later, the obstreperous Tea Party movement that Armey is behind showed no such restraint, with members boldly calling Frank a "faggot" during the healthcare debate, while the crowd stood by and

Zombie Zealots Coming of Age

2010-02-23T17:18:00.001-05:00

It is generally understood that today's youth are more supportive of equality for gay and lesbian people. Faced with losing the next generation, fundamentalists are ferociously scrambling to capture the minds of youth through homeschooling and the subversion of public education. By sequestering students at home or creating public schools where the only drink served in the cafeteria is Kool-Aid,

Conservatives of Convenience

2009-12-15T13:41:00.002-05:00

A February 2008 poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 16 percent of America's 225 million adults are unaffiliated with any religion. According to the report, "When 'childhood religion' is compared against 'current religion,' the unaffiliated show a net increase of 8.8 percentage points, compared to a 7.5 point loss among Catholics, for example, or a 2.6 percent loss among

2009-11-27T12:59:00.002-05:00

(Weekly Column)Earlier this week, extremists within the Republican Party proposed a 10-point checklist of principles that GOP candidates would have to sign if they expect to receive Party support. Like a deranged "Social Issues Santa", the enforcers of doctrine are descending in their sleighs to slay Republicans who are naughty and not considered nice.According to their puritanical plan,

The New GLBT Pope Problem

2009-11-23T11:21:00.001-05:00

It is time to admit that the gay community has a gigantic Pope problem. Under the leadership of Benedict XVI, the Vatican has become an implacable foe of liberalism, modernity and basic rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Rome has eagerly jumped with both feet into America's culture wars and is working on a global scale to punish or purge ideological dissenters within the

Obama's Big Gay speech

2009-10-06T23:15:00.001-04:00

f I were advising President Barack Obama, I would tell him to pay as much attention to the ornery jeers from protesters outside the Human Rights Campaign's Oct. 10th Washington dinner as the cheers coming from inside the ornate ballroom."The last thing we need is more flowery rhetoric in front of rich, self-effacing gays and lesbians dressed up like penguins," said Andy Thayer of the Gay

A Deficit of Decency

2009-09-14T23:24:00.000-04:00

(Weekly Column)There wasn't a Billy left in the hills on Saturday, when tens of thousands of anti-government types, gun nuts, white supremacists, religious zealots, tax evaders and crazies streamed into Washington. It was pure delirium, as the National Mall resembled a sanitarium.In a sea of American (and many Confederate) flags waved by more than a few secessionists, Obama was pictured as Hitler

The Pathology of Purity

2009-08-25T19:17:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)In observing American fundamentalism for more than a decade there is one common thread that runs through the movement. It is the romanticized idea of purity, particularly sexual and doctrinal. While the idea is ostensibly innocuous, in practice it can be insidious and always threatens to politically spin out of control. The idea of applying purity to human beings -- who are impure

Didn't We Invade Afghanistan and Iraq to Secure Freedom?

2009-08-18T15:17:00.000-04:00

In the not too distant past, most Americans couldn't tell a Pashtun from a cartoon, a Sunni from a Moonie or a Kurd from bean curd. Then came 9-11 and we learned our very survival depended on securing freedom for people we barely knew existed. Exorcising the region's demons through democracy was so important, we were told, that America would pay for the effort in blood and bankruptcy. Despite the

APA Was Right To Reject Harmful 'Ex-Gay' Therapy

2009-08-05T18:09:00.001-04:00

here is "no evidence that sexual orientation change efforts work." This was the American Psychological Association's verdict on "ex-gay" therapy after an appointed task force of experts studied the issue for two years.This conclusion did not surprise those of us who work with people who have been harmed by such programs. For example, I just interviewed Patrick McAlvey, who entered therapy to

Setting The Stage For Tragedy

2009-07-28T15:13:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)-- Throngs of Fundamentalists approach Pride in Charlotte -- (Top)-- God Sign (photo: Tidmus)On Sunday, The New York Times featured a chilling article on how fundamentalist Christians stalked, harassed and ultimately murdered Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, who they taunted with the nickname,

The Episcopalian Revolution

2009-07-21T22:13:00.002-04:00

(Weekly Column)Southern California already had its hands full with an invasion of giant squid when another squishy invertebrate washed ashore. At the Episcopal Church's conference in Anaheim, California, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrapped his amoral tentacles around a proposal to allow more gay bishops.Williams (pictured) kicked off the convention with a deplorable speech

The Family Values Fraud

2009-07-14T12:21:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)I vividly remember the first time I was introduced to the phrase "Family Values." It was the early 1990’s and I was driving in my car. I looked out of the window and saw the strange verbiage promoting a new subdivision on a towering billboard above the highway.The sign didn't perturb me, but I was puzzled by the slogan. Having grown up in a series of subdivisions, it went without

Outrage in Fort Worth

2009-06-30T14:14:00.000-04:00

The fortieth anniversary of Stonewall, the 1969 bar riot that kicked off the modern gay rights movement, was supposed to be a time of reflection. Judging from the gushing media coverage and flowery political speeches, it momentarily seemed that the struggle for equality had ended in victory. Out with marches and in with museums, where gay and straight people could walk the marble corridors and

Drop the Washington Crack Pipe

2009-06-22T18:51:00.000-04:00

(Weekly Column)I understand the magnetic allure of Washington, DC. I worked there for several years and it could, at times, be mesmerizing. I've attended press conferences on the steps of Capitol Hill with Ted Kennedy and marveled that I was standing next to the real icon, not a replica from Madame Tussauds wax museum. I have stood only a stone's throw from President Clinton, as he greeted

I've Seen Enough

2009-06-17T14:17:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)A debate is raging on whether to have a national gay March on Washington in October. Most leaders I have spoken with are against the idea, preferring to keep scarce financial and human resources in the states. Others, such as myself, are largely ambivalent. A galvanizing force, however, is giving new life to this idea and his name is Barack Obama.The President is in serious danger

Friendly Fire In The Culture War

2009-06-01T21:30:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)Like flowers in spring, the culture war is in full bloom. The most explosive flashpoint this past week was President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. She is under fire for saying, "I would hope a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."Her comments

A Nasty Hangover From Prop 8 Ruling

2009-05-26T23:22:00.001-04:00

Having watched the court proceedings on television, I was pretty certain that the California Supreme Court was going to uphold Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to overturn an earlier court ruling allowing gay couples the freedom to marry.Still, knowing that a punch to the gut is coming does not make it hurt any less. The 6-1 ruling was degrading, humiliating and a shameful day that will live

How Low Can They Go?

2009-05-11T19:01:00.002-04:00

It was unusually satisfying to watch beauty contestant turned Bible-thumper Carrie Prejean crash and burn. In the bat of an eyelash, she went from Christian role model to wannabe underwear model after racy pictures of her surfaced. "They were quite inappropriate and certainly not photos befitting a beauty queen," Alicia Jacobs, a Miss USA judge, told NBC's Today Show.The verb "strip" is the one

A Fractious Movement

2009-05-04T21:24:00.001-04:00

In an online discussion forum, a respected activist recently lamented the decentralization of gay community advocacy. He made a powerful case that we would be better off if our efforts were more regimented and unified."Our communal problem is that the LGBT community is so fragmented that we are constantly a cacophony of voices rather than a choir," the advocate wrote. He went onto make the point

The Globalization of Gay Bashing

2009-04-21T23:52:00.001-04:00

The latest alleged anti-gay terrorism in Iraq -- is gluing shut the anuses of homosexuals, while forcing the victims to ingest a form of Ex-Lax. The special glue can only be removed by surgery -- thus often leading to a painful death.It is challenging to know if such information is accurate. But, confirming the latest form of torture is beside the point, really. What we do know is that the news

Words That Kill

2009-04-14T19:34:00.001-04:00

It's been a heady couple of weeks for gay activists -- and it keeps getting better. There were twin marriage victories in the unlikely states of Vermont and Iowa -- doubling the number of places where gay people can get hitched. If that wasn't enough, the New York Times reports that New York Gov. David Paterson will unveil plans this week to introduce marriage equality legislation.On New York

Jamaica: A Killer Vacation

2009-03-31T23:17:00.001-04:00

This week, I joined San Francisco organizer Michael Petrelis and Box Turtle Bulletin editor Jim Burroway in launching an international boycott against Jamaica (www.boycottJamaica.org). While the island appears laid back, gays are under attack.Forget business as usual. Instead, we should stop doing business with a country that is proud of its persecution against gay, lesbian, bisexual and

Obama's Parent In The Pulpit Complex

2009-03-17T12:08:00.001-04:00

(Weekly Column)George W. Bush longed to escape his daddy's shadow, while Barack Obama has turned to shadowy preachers in his long search for a father figure. His filial approach to faith began with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and has now taken a sharp turn right.The New York Times reports that the president has surrounded himself with a cadre of clerical crackpots known as the "Circle of Five". These

Religion and Republicanism Are Losing the Future

2009-03-10T18:15:00.001-04:00

In pandering to the fanatical and the fearful -- both religion and Republicanism may have compromised their future. First, the Republican Party seems in an awfully big rush to implode with Rush Limbaugh as its mercurial mouthpiece. The GOP's other savior, Michael Steele, is just a big mouth who seems more suited to Limbaughâ€™s talk show gig than chairman of the Party. The GOP's first African