Our rights and well-being are in danger: our freedoms to live as we please, love whom we please when we please and where we please are being attacked. As gay people, we have expected a social reaction to our lifestyles, our liberation movement, our very existence. Cultural prejudices have been reasserted in these conservative times. The New Right and Christian fundamentalists are trying to take control of our society.
There are many reasons for this turn to the political right. The economic condition is a major consideration. People are afraid of losing jobs and income, although this situation is exacerbated by the right's rise to power. Liberal ideas and policies haven't worked, so people were willing to try conservative economic programs. However, with that politicial change we got the whole New Right package of social agendas. Now the mood of the nation has been oriented to business concerns, economic growth and stability, and status consciousness. Poor minorities are out. Unless the majority has much to lose they will acquiesce to a vocal minority of conservative thought because it is easier to go along with it.
Any society will have its swings of liberalism and conservatism in a dynamic balance. For example, a growing, stable economy may set a relaxed stage for social change, as it did in the 1960s. Because conservatives are now in power they have tried to legislate their issues, even if the social concerns of the majority are not so radical or reactionary.
Traditionally, conservatives oppose cultural change, even fear it because it represents social instability, loss of power in vested interests and status. Their sense of well-being is tied to the social status quo. Many of them suffer a power/insecurity complex. They support the patriarchy, sexism, traditional family values, and defend cultural prejudices because they see no value in a change of ethos that would alter the cultural power structure. Conservatives usually believe in traditional, orthodox religions which support the prevailing social rules. The formula is Religion = social control = state control.
Christian fundamentalists are the radical right-wing of the conservative movement. Using TV evangelism, mass-mailings, lobbying and Political Action Committees they have influenced millions of people, received hundreds of millions of dollars and altered the political landscape of the nation. Their beliefs are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, usually the King James version, which has the most inaccuracies. They believe that they will be the saviors of humanity, that their cause is just, right and moral, and they appear to be capable of using any means to gain their ends without remorse or regard for human decency. This lack of fairness makes them our most formidable enemies. Using emotional arguments and opinion as fact, they will scew data to their own ends. A good example is from a 1989 TV broadcast of the PTL network 700 Club on homosexuality: Stating that gays were only two percent of the population, then a few minutes later saying that there are ten million gays in the United States. Now some simple mathematics will demonstrate, using 1980 census figures of slightly less than 250 million U. S. population, that two percent of that figure is five million. We know that is too low; estimates of our numbers is at least 20 million. But if there are ten million of us, as the program stated, then the U. S. population would have to be around 500 million, twice the census. It appears that fundamentalists can't even perform simple mathematics, or is this the case of another miracle? They are really attempting to make us appear a smaller minority than we really are, thus not important. How many of their followers catch these lies? Usually they do not wish to discuss homosexual issues, except to condemn them. They would rather it be hidden from the light of examination and understanding.
Beyond this, blatent lying, weaving webs of deception and scapegoating are their strategy. They use words and guilting merely to manipulate a power base of followers and potential converts.
Christian fundamentalists preach against the immorality, permissiveness and decadence of the current age. By interpreting Revelations to predict that we live in the end times, they are preparing for the apocalypse and armageddon. They warn their followers of false prophets, evil leaders and social movements lead by Satan. They build their temporal power on fear and guilt, playing on the emotions of vulnerable believers who have felt disenfranchised and powerless in our society. It is similar to our own position as an oppressed minority. Now they attempt to use their beliefs as a psuedo-moral force to recreate a society of a past that never existed, or else create the promised land. To do this they might attempt to purge from society all others not in agreement with them. So they play God by being doctrinaire and judgemental, contrary to Christ's teachings. They don't even follow the book that they believe is the word of God. However, the Bible is a book written by men who interpreted personal, spiritual experience. Basic to this belief, any new value system is immoral and evil, and so they have a vested interest in their self-image and self-worth to prevent a change in social mores. Why is this?
The roots of their beliefs and behaviors require some examination. Like most of us, they learned their basic beliefs early in childhood, and many may not have had any experiences that would cause them to question or change beliefs. Often the home, church and social environment is closed and reinforces these beliefs. Then the belief becomes a personal reality and a basic part of the personality which must be defended. Thus if one has learned emotional and sexual repression inherent to conservative Christianity, then the individual will be incapable of free thought and action concerning these issues.
In the long history of conservative Christian belief, humans are considered basically evil, fallen and so must be controled by religious authorities through threats and punishment. Temptation must be held at bay by more than individual will. It was political/social control by the church fired by the fear of Hell. Christianity had become a patriarchal religion, thus the beliefs of dominion over the earth, of men over women to protect lineage, of progress and production, of power and authoritarian rule, of sexual repression and denial of pleasure, all of which form the culture we have inherited. Fear of death is the core emotion that drives this belief.
Fundamentalists are looking for evil everywhere and finding it, while blinding themselves to the good in others. They see issues only in black and white, us vs. them. Everyone who is not in agreement with them is an evil enemy who must be destroyed. Their enemies have no redeeming characteristics; they will not compromise or make peace with them. They set apart the chosen and saved from the damned, although their doctrine teaches that only God can do that. This mentality can be called paranoid.
Gays and other progressive-minded people face the brunt of fundamentalist rhetoric. They call us narciscistic, selfish, immoral. But they both hate and fear us. We are the scapegoats, their justification for all their worldly problems, by projecting their own personal problems out into the world, onto a group or other ideas in an attempt to hide from them and deny responsibility for their behavior and its causes. In reality, they hate and fear the dark side of themselves. Because they will not accept their inner selves they have no respect for themselves and others. This is a fascist personality structure: emotionally repressed, authoritarian, unfree. That structure cannot tolerate freedom in others and triggers their self-hatred and fears. They must have an imposed authoritarian social structure in order to function, thus creating a politics of raw power. Beliefs must be rigid, restricted as the personality. Other beliefs are a threat to their sense of well-being and so must be attacked, suppressed. This is the reason that they require censorship, limits to intellectual freedom, conformity, no questioning of society and social roles. Their war for the minds of the young in schools is to indoctrinate them into their way of thinking before they are exposed to alternative ideas. They will allow only one social viewpoint: theirs. Thus we have a rising tide of new puritanism: anti-abortion, anti-drinking, anti-pornography, anti-pleasure, anti-self. The work ethic, self-denial, production and consumerism, duty to society and nuclear family and sexist gender roles are being promoted to re-establish patriarchal cultural values.
If gay rights and toleration are achieved in our society, then what the Christian fundamentalists most deeply fear will occur, no, not a visitation of plagues from God, but that nothing bad will happen to gays or society and Christian beliefs will be invalidated. Their world will collapse.
The strength of the fundamentalist movement lies in their firm belief in their rightness. Their weakness is that they cannot see any alternatives. But the universe is always throwing unknowns and alternatives at us. Such inflexible people cannot long survive, but they can cause much human misery. Their behavior is a sad commentary on their lives and a failure of Christian ideals. They cannot accept the self-examination and self-knowledge that examination would expose because it would be too painful for them to endure, like a death of self, or so they believe. However, that is the true spiritual direction that Christ and many other great spiritual leaders have demanded of their followers.
It is time that we recognize this pathological belief and behavior as evil. The essence of evil is to oppress and even to destroy life. Life's essence is to freely grow, explore, take risks, seek pleasure, endure pain, learn and make mistakes. Rigid fundamentalists wish to restrict life; they have already done so in themselves. Yet evil always masquerades as very righteous, proper, moral, good. It even tries to preach love, its opposite, but it can only demonstrate a conditional love, a situation in which love is given only if one does what they want. It is not the totally accepting, supporting and nurturing love that is freely given. It is the lie, the web of deception. Evil persona may not recognize that they are evil because they are so enmeshed in their own web of lies and deceptions. However, if evil requires deception, it is weak. Yet how easily people are often mislead by it.
These right-wing Christians are first right-wing and authoritarian/fascist, then Christian. The principles of Christianity are not first in their lives. Most of them should not be called Christians.
Fascism, then, is evil, and can be turned into a mass social and political phenomenon. That is the danger from the New Right, but fascism can arise on the political left as well. It is no respecter of political ideology. Wherever rigid, rule-bound, intolerant and fanatic beliefs are found there is fascism. A main characteristic of its operation is scapegoating, which requires a hated and feared minority to blame. Politically, public attention can be turned toward this group and away from the real social problems and from the manipulators themselves.
Now that we understand how and why fundamentalists operate we can devise a strategy to fight them. But to succeed we first must know ourselves well. All too often we try to defend ourselves from their attacks, acting as if we believe what they say and having to justify our behavior to them. Or else we just get angry and defensive, thus ineffective. That is our mistake, our weakness, and falling into the trap of their guilt-mongering. We need to know and understand our guilt and not be trapped by their attempts to manipulate it by rhetoric. We must purge our guilt over being gay. After all, we have been taught the negative beliefs of Christianity from when we were babies at our mothers' breasts. It will require some self-examination to do it. That is what liberation is all about, beginning with the self, that which fundamentalists are loath to do.
I have no argument with Christ's teachings, but with what Christianity has become in the nearly 2000 years since his death. It is not my intention to attack devout, concerned, responsible gay christians any more than I would condemn gay or straight Jews, Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, Pagans, atheists, etc., for their beliefs. A religion is a personal belief which everyone has a right to, but not to force it on others. However, there is always a danger in any religion becoming dogmatic, fantaic, and authoritarian, restricting freedom of thought and action.
Gays are not exempt from such social processes. We can be just as bigotted or phobic of straights and fundamentalists as they are of us. All too often we consider ourselves a chosen people. Yet we can't escape factionalism and prejudices within our own community. All gays are not alike, neither are fundamentalists or conservatives. We must realize that there are Christ followers among fundamentalists who wish no harm to anyone. Not everything they do is evil. They do help those in need. How many of us help others, especially those outside our community?
Some conservative Christians have constructive criticism for us. They think our lifestyle is wrong: degrading of human relationships, using each other as sexual objects, rejecting people as persons, unable to be close or express real love and committment. Heterosexuals suffer these problems, too. But the issue of sexual freedom and promiscuity clouds the issue when their belief tends to monogamy. We need not copy heterosexual marriage, that institution of the patriarchy. Perhaps some fundamentalists hate us more because of a secret envy of our free and pleasure-loving lifestyle that they cannot allow themselves to live.
Some conservative gays have these reservations about our lifestyle. They may want us to be straight-identified. Perhaps it is a valid way for some of us, but that is the tyranny of social acceptability: white, Christian, middle-class, heterosexual, male role image, or the same type of women attached to that man. Gay Republicans may use this tactic of conformity to influence their party. They see gayness merely as a privacy rights issue, not one of cultural change. It is a critical choice each one of us must make.
It must not be left to the fundamentalists to decide whether to persecute us or leave us alone. We can decide. We must live unashamed of being gay. There is no reason to be unless we have a persecution complex. If we can be confident and strong we can turn their offence (pun intended) into a defense. We can turn the tables and be a force for moral good. That moral being, Thou shalt not violate another, and if you do, ask for forgiveness, then forgive yourself - bear the responsibility and consequences of your actions.
We must ask ourselves the important question: Can we forgive the fundamentalists? It is our challenge to learn to truly love not only ourselves, but our enemies as well. Fundamentalists must do the same. Only if we become disenchanted and disheartened will we allow the fundamentalists to destroy our movement.
Our liberation movement is still strong, well organized and networked. We have intelligent, informed and capable people. And we have enough money if we will put it where we need it. Perhaps we should create mass-mail propaganda organizations for our cause, just like the New Right's. Now we need to build more community and grass-roots support because the federal government will not condone our interests. We should unite with other interest groups who have similar goals. Educating others, as well as ourselves, to our needs and on the subject of homophobia is the best way to begin.
In March, 1984, North Carolina State Republican Chairman David Flaherty announced the Republican campaign strategy for the Senate race between incumbent Jesse Helms, arch-conservative homophobe, and governor Jim Hunt (D), which proved the nastiest, gay-baiting and most expensive U. S. Senate campaign in history. To quote Flaherty, "...You see, the Democrats can't run an ad against our special interest groups - pro-prayer, pro-life, Moral Majority. You can't throw rocks at those. We can throw rocks at the gays, at the liberals,...." (The Front Page, March, 1985) Flaherty is wrong. We can throw rocks at their issues. Perhaps it was the Democrats ignorance or cowardice about the issues that was their failure to erect a defense. Hunt lost to Helms. However, we can offer an offence:
Use the fundamentalists own theology to demonstrate that their leaders fit the description of False Prophets, followers of the Anti-Christ, wielders of unholy power who could lead the world to its destruction. They preach hatred, bigotry, use hucksterism and play on the guilt of their followers to gain wealth and political power. We can address their intolerant, unforgiving, judgemental attitudes with questions about love, compassion and forgiveness. We can demonstrate that our movement is one of love.
Turn their hatred back on them by calling them evil and that the evil they do will surely come back to them. Some of them do have a conscience which might be stirred. We can remind them of Christ's dictum, "Judge not, that ye be not judged.", which means that those who judge others often have the same fault in themselves which needs to be healed. The admonition does not mean not to judge at all, for if we do that we cannot recognize good or evil. But we must make judgements clearly and responsibly, precisely what the fundamentalists don't do. Were Christ here today, he would not condone most Christians' words and actions. If we are prepared to call them evil we must be sure of ourselves. It could come as a shock to them to hear themselves defined as evil. Can fundamentalists handle that?
Pro life: The abortion issue is really one of control over women, children and the family by the patriarchal state, not allowing them to be free, autonomous persons. Yet they believe in capital punishment and never shirk their duties to send their sons off to die in wars they create.
Fundamentalists' paranoid, belligerent stance leads to military buildup, along with their support of military interference in other countries' affairs or of repressive right-wing dictatorships, they set the stage for war. These war-mongering, imperialist attitudes could lead to a nuclear holocaust. How could they really be pro-life? It should be apparent that life is not sacred to them. It is an afterlife they care for, not for the current life.
Patriotism: Fundamentalists can also be accused of un-Americanism in their inability to accept pluralism, that ability to live with others' beliefs differing from our own. Their authoritarian and totalitarian views could subvert the Constitution and the judicial system. Too many to them want a male-dominated, white, regimented America, a Nazi state where nothing can be criticized.
Anti-pornography: It is a privacy rights and free speech issue. Privacy rights are part of conservative political theory, however, some conservatives would limit the bounds of free speech. Freedom of speech is constitutionally protected, yet open to interpretation. We can attack the censorship, the restriction of free inquiry and then question the conservative double standard about pornography that degrades women and keeps men in a superior position.
On the psychological level, we can attack their fears of being free, fear of self-discovery and self-knowledge, fear of being open to love and hurt, fear of sexuality. These are grave weaknesses. Bigotry should be deemed an emotional dysfunction and social pathology.
Humor and ridicule can be used to deflate their self-righteous seriousness. In this fight we need our sense of humor to keep us sane. Fundamentalists often have a very limited sense of humor and usually cannot laugh at themselves. Humor bursts their balloon of seriousness and exposes their manipulative antics. Laughter difuses anger.
It is very important to tell the fundamentalists and the general public that we don't believe the fundamentalist rhetoric. That is telling them that the fundamentalists are not right and have no power over us, that we don't follow the same rules as they. We can even ignore them and not give their ideas credence. But there is always a danger here in being unaware of the dirty tricks they will try to play on us. To ignore them doesn't mean to be ignorant of them.
Fundamentalism can be fought on our terms. To do that we must be able to demonstrate love and openness. Also, we must not compromise our need to create lasting cultural change. The choice is not left to us alone. There are other minorities who can help us with the work. We can learn from them and they from us. Perhaps we can even convert some fundamentalists.
One way to help ourselves is by helping everyone. Too often the gay movement is seen as a special interest trying to gain its rights at the expense of others. If we promote our movement goals by building coalitions of sexual rights for everyone, then we are offering everyone freedom and an issue that many people will support. It polarizes the sexual issue in a different manner, setting most people against the anti-sex fundamentalists.
Our civilization may soon be reaping the whirlwind of its destructive tendencies. The signs are that events will be coming to fruition in the near future. Now is the time we gays may be instrumental in creating a new, more humane civilization. To give up now in the face of reactionary threats and go back into the closets after our liberation movement has come so far would be shirking our humanity and perhaps that of everyone.