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Stop
Hate 2000 Newsletter February 22, 2009
“A San Francisco survey of 500 young adults
found that as many as 50% of the males admitted to antigay aggression.” Franklin cited in: Understanding Gay and Lesbian Youth: Lessons
for Straight School Teachers, Counselors, and Administrators,
available from Amazon.com
and Amazon.ca.
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The video takes issue with an anti-bullying
program that was attempting to promote tolerance and acceptance of gay,
lesbian, and bisexual students. Another concern is that the educational
system is attempting to promote tolerance of same-sex relationships, by
including examples of gay people in school curriculum.
Some of the material presented in the video
Silencing Christians is, to put it mildly, problematic. The film shows
Matt Barber, who holds the position of Director of Cultural Affairs
Liberty Counsel, saying, “Homosexuals have all of the rights that
everybody else does. They weren’t confined to homosexual drinking
fountains. They weren’t required to sit at the back of the booth. They
weren’t bought and sold as slaves.”
In the opinion of this reviewer, Matt Barber’s
comments in this video clip, show a lot of ignorance, and are
misleading. Same-gender sexual relationships were illegal in many
states within America until recently. Same-gender sexual relationships
are very serious crimes, carrying heavy jail sentences or death
penalties in some countries. Gay people in many areas of the world have
no protection against being fired from their jobs because of their
sexual orientation. People who are found to be gay can expect to be
dismissed from all branches of the American Armed Forces. To say that
gay people have the same rights as everybody else is factually
incorrect.
There is also a section of the movie about how
gay people can change their sexual orientation. Reparative therapy or
conversion therapy is generally considered to be unethical practice by
all branches of mental health practitioners in the United States. Some
mental health experts express concerns about the potential damage
conversion therapy might cause clients.
The film expresses concerns about the spread of
HIV and AIDS through gay male sexual activities. AIDS and HIV infection
are much more serious when people are seeking anonymous sex. That is true in both the gay and straight
communities. No mention is made of the threat of anonymous sex to
health in the straight community, and there are more straight people
with HIV/AIDS than gay people.
Some of the people in the film seem to feel the
only way one can make sure children have the same value system their
parents have is to ensure children never see same-sex marriages. For
hundreds of years, Jewish people have lived in countries where they
were a tiny minority. In the predominately Christian regions of the
world, Jewish families watched Christians work on Saturday, when they
were going to the synagogue and were worshipping God. The Jewish
culture, religion, and values have survived being surrounded by people
of other world religions and other values. Differences do not threaten
values with extinction. What differences can do is help us be aware of
other values, which can help draw very distinct lines between different
value systems.
The video warns against employment rights for
gay, bisexual, and trans-identified people, and against the inclusion
of hate-crimes protection for gay people. As proof that hate crimes
protection should not be extended to gay people they present a case
where a number of Christians were arrested for going into a large gay
event - one gathers to sing songs and witness. The legalities of their
actions will be settled by the courts. That method of witnessing is
almost too rude, offensive, and ill-conceived to be believable. There
would be an uproar if Christians went to a synagogue or a mosque and
sang songs as a way of witnessing. All that is achieved by that form of
witnessing is the creation of enemies out of people who might not have
been enemies before. Thoughtful, caring, and sensitive witnessing will
not result in arrest, detainment, and charges. And it certainly will
not result in long and expensive court battles.
The last portion of the video is a direct call
to political grassroots action - such as letter writing, and groups of
parents complaining about gay inclusive curriculum in schools. In the
political action portion of the film, they comment, “We’ve exposed the
plot . . .” The movie continues claiming that the gay agenda “is going
to destroy” the family.
The filmmakers have one valid point. They point
out that Christians should not be portrayed as bigoted and hate-filled.
When any group is vilified, there is a danger that the vilification can
result in prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. At Stop Hate 2000, we
are opposed to hatred due to religious convictions. We are opposed to
the hatred of Christians due to religious convictions, and we are
opposed to the hatred of gay people due to religious convictions.
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Anybody
with news about hate crimes or discrimination is welcome to email us.
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