I have a question: What in the hell is this "homosexual agenda" to which the Repukes refer?

[Hepburn]

Sooooo, the Repukes have again taken this gun out of their election arsenal ~~ or so it appears ~~ in order to try and get some turn-around in their favor from what looks like a disaster heading straight on for them on November 7th.

But, I am a bit confused as to what exactly is a "homosexual agenda." The Repukes talk about it all the time, but I would like to know what is it exactly to which they refer. I have asked Repukes ~~ who are still talking to me ~~ what this consists of and I have NEVER gotten any answer beyond some BS about the "gays" making it OK to be homosexual and making it a choice that is OK for people to make. To which I traditionally respond: "So, when did you decide to be straight?" I don't get why there would be some agenda and why it would or should be feared and voted against. As I see it, all anyone wants is to be equal and to have the same rights. If one substituted any ethnic or racial group for the words "gay" or "homosexual," there would be NO issue over the rights which the group wished to exercise. So why the big issue over "gays" with some voters? :shrug:

I really would like to know what the Repukes and neocons consider as being on this agenda. This phrase ~~ "homosexual agenda" ~~ confuses the hell out of me. What IS it exactly...and why should anyone be afraid of it? I have read a lot of the BS from those opposed to gay marriage ~~ and I just do not get it. I just do NOT understand what it is they are opposing. Such phrases as "homosexual agenda" and "homosexual lifestyle" are totally meaningless to me.

Is there actually a list of things on this supposed agenda or how is the lifestyle different than what goes on in the straight world? Maybe I could speak on a more educated level when I hear this if I had some clue as to what in the hell they are referring to. I know don't know what the hell they are talking about and it is hard as heck to discuss something that is an "unknown." Even when I ask one of these "anti-gay" people what the "agenda" consists of and how the "lifestyle" is different, about all I get is that at the basis of all of their feelings is that two people of the same sex are involved ~~ which leaves me with the comment in reply of, "ummmmmmm....yeah.....so???"

Can my fellow DU'ers help me out on this. Seriously ~~ I am asking this question because all of a sudden those Repuke/neocons to whom I am still talking are throwing this issue into the the discussions because ~~ I assume ~~ they sure as hell cannot talk about "family values" or "fighting terrorism" or any of their other neocon, knee-jerk catch phrases anymore.

TIA for anything which explains where in the hell these people are coming from ~~ besides just being hateful to one segment of the population and maybe fearing that they might have some homosexual tendancies. What in the hell is this supposed threat and what in the hell does it consist of?

:hi:

[Ediacara]

1. A Liberace Day-planner

Sorry that's the punchline to that question from a comedian in the distant past.

[Hepburn]

5. Well, it makes about as much sense...

...as some of the replies I have gotten from the Repukes who really, truly seem to think that there is some agenda that the gays have that is bad for society and threatening to the lifestyle of straights.

I just do not get it. I have gay friends and I sure know from personal experience that what I see them do is no different than what goes on in my home. They do laundry, shop for groceries, have friends over and put up holiday decorations, etc., etc., etc. Why in the hell is this any different than what goes on in my house...or any other straight home?

If the gays have a lifestyle and an agenda...then I suppose straights have one to which the gay one can be compared, right? I have never found a straight agenda or lifestyle so far...so why could anyone find some gay agenda or lifestyle that opposes something that does not exist??? :shrug:

This bullshit beats the hell out of me.

[Ediacara]

10. And a serious response now

I think the gay agenda is like this non sequitor laden train of thought: "I think gays are icky, gays want equal rights, but since they're icky that amounts to special rights, and special rights are the gay agenda."

[blondeatlast]

7. Dammit, now I have to clean the keyboard AND the monitor.

:rofl:

[Ediacara]

13. sorry :-)

it's a really old joke, I thought everyone had heard it already... :-)

[MrCoffee]

2. Tough to say, but it has something to do with

not treating people like second-class citizens based on sexual orientation.

And i think it has something to do with banning those helmets with beer can holders attached to the sides.

[pk_du]

3. A little thing called equal rights....how dare they!

/sarc off

[Skip Intro]

4. According to wiki -

James Dobson, director of Focus on the Family and a regular social Christian conservative commentator in the popular media, describes the homosexual agenda as follows:

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.<5>

Alan Sears and Craig Osten, president and vice-president of the Alliance Defense Fund, offer another characterization of the homosexual agenda:

It is an agenda that they basically set in the late 1980s, in a book called 'After the Ball,' where they laid out a six-point plan for how they could transform the beliefs of ordinary Americans with regard to homosexual behavior — in a decade-long time frame.... They admit it privately, but they will not say that publicly. In their private publications, homosexual activists make it very clear that there is an agenda. The six-point agenda that they laid out in 1989 was explicit: Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible... Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers... Give homosexual protectors a just cause... Make gays look good... Make the victimizers look bad... Get funds from corporate America.<6>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_agenda

--------------------

I often imagined that the anti-freedom, anti-equality rw nuts envisioned roving teams of evil gays going door to door on pink bicycles, forcing "ordinary" Americans to become gay. Who knows what the bigots really fear, but no mistake, it is a fear-based ignorance that motivates them.

[Hepburn]

16. Thanks...

...this is good info on where these gay haters are coming from. But...it amazes me at what they think the agenda is:

Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible... Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers... Give homosexual protectors a just cause... Make gays look good... Make the victimizers look bad... Get funds from corporate America.

"Protray gays as victims..." Gays ARE victims of discrimination and hate crimes ~~ just like other segments of our society which were discriminated against and are still discriminated against, such as Black Americans and Native Americans.

"Give homosexual predators a just cause..." What in the hell does that mean? And, stats are against them in regard to this ~~ most sexual crimes are committed by straights.

Wow, what a list of very pitiful talking points, IMO.

This is the "gay agenda???" The only thing I see from these two people ~~ and this is from Dobson ~~ that homosexuality goes against what the Bible says. Well, so do a lot of things in our society ~~ like the food laws of the OT, but that is not a subject of legislation which covers all of society either. So why would anti-gay passages from the Bible be of more importance than those which talk about not eating the meat of certain animals???

Again...thanks for the info...and I have bookmarked these websites and will print some of what these people refer to so that the next time someone brings up in a discussion the "gay" agenda of lifestyle so I can speak with a bit more specificity to the subject.

:hi:

[IntravenousDemilo]

27. When James Dobson says that homosexuality goes against what the Bible says,

well, that to me is as much of an argument as saying that it goes against what (PLACE NAME OF ANY OTHER FICTIONAL WORK HERE) says. It can't be taken seriously by logical people, but only by those who have vested the book with authority.

[vixengrl]

23. It's a very different perspective--I agree, fear-based.

It's interesting how the anti-gay fear is that, if they do not attack the gay agenda, they will be the ones persecuted:

discrediting of scriptures that condemn homosexuality, muzzling of the clergy and Christian media,

To the extent that the Bible has scriptures that mention homosexuality in practice, it's been shown there is room for interpretation (and it would only matter to people who old stock in the scriptures, anyway). As far as "muzzling the clergy"--well, if they mean "stopping inflammatory hate speech", yes, that would be nice. Having the same right to live and love, to not be persecuted, doesn't really look like a "special privilege" to me. Perhaps the world-view is that it's a "lion-eat-Christian" world out there.

[Redbear]

6. It Comes Down to Equal Rights and Acceptance

They refuse to see gay people as anything but morally inferior.

[TheFarseer]

8. The homosexual agenda

as the republicans refer to it, is to legalize gay marriage first and foremost. Another goal is to be able to flaunt their offensive lifestyle on television, in public, and by having anti-discrimination laws passed for them, so that you HAVE to give a job to and rent to homosexuals. Furthermore, homosexuals want to have public schools teach children that homosexuality is normal and something they have to accept. It also delves into the whole sex ed thing. The next step is to teach children how to have homosexual sex just like they teach safe sex in some schools. Oh and another thing I forgot, it's a large part of the "secular progressive" movement meant to stamp out religion by legitimizing something that is 'forbidden by the bible'.

*This post is meant to inform the op and others on what some republicans mean by "the homosexual agenda" and is not reflective of my thoughts on this matter.*

[seabeyond]

12. this is what i get from the rw homo agenda.... and not reflective of

personal opinion. yes, you are right.

disney is a big one where they show "gayness" and the right says it is to condition our children to being gay, or accepting gay.... along with all the rest.

just wanted to throw disney in, cause that seemed to be the big culprit of the gay agenda.

[TheFarseer]

25. yes, they were pretty fired up against Disney

when they, I believe, became the first big employer to offer domestic partner benefits.

[teenagebambam]

9. Well, once we're allowed to get married.....

...we're going to make weddings SO fabulous that straight couples will go bankrupt trying to keep up.

Then we're going to institute swimsuit and talent competitions in all political races.

[MrCoffee]

17. then i'm totally opposed to the homosexual agenda...

there's no way in hell i want to see ANY Senator in a swimsuit. maybe Blanche Lincoln...no. no no. nononnononnononoooooo.

[StatGirl]

11. Agenda revealed (not a serious answer, sorry!)

http://www.bettybowers.com/homoagenda.html

[Tyo]

14. Well there are two agendas, actually

One gay agenda is achieving equality under the law. This is the gay agenda that most gays support.

The other gay agenda is the undermining and subversion of Judeo-Christian civilization with the ultimate goal of bringing about its total collapse. Plus we want to get our hands on your kids. This is the gay agenda that most Rethugs and Theocrats accuse gays of supporting although when pressed they are little short on evidence for this.

[Hepburn]

21. OK....

...so what I am getting is that if gays were just another "ethnic/racial group" say like Black Americans or Native Americans, there would be no opposition ~~ at least at this time ~~ for them having full civil rights. Such things as what engendered the case of Loving are in the past.

But...what the hang up is to the neocons and Repukes centers on religious fundie ideas that Biblical laws are suppose to be legislated ~~ the Bible says homosexuality is wrong...so any law that supports this is bad and a threat. At least that is what I am getting.

Seems to me that if they take this latter tactic, they have a ton of explaining to do as far as why this particular practice which the Bible prohibits is getting all the attention. Such things like divorce and adultery sure are not being worked against. It just seems to me that this idea of Biblical support for anti-gay legislation comes more from the discrimination which always seems to have historically centered on gays and the sexual hang ups that some of the conservatives have about anything dealing with sex.

:shrug:

[Tyo]

24. They say they don't pick and choose from the Bible, but obviously they do

And when we point this hypocrisy out to them they come up with some amazing and incredibly convoluted arguments in an attempt to explain it away.

You make an critical point when you bring up the sex factor. These days no one aside from the total fever swamp wack jobs would say that Black people or Asians, or Native Americans are immoral simply because they are Black, Asian or Native American. But when it comes to gays, we are a minority based not on skin color but on sexual orientation and that sets us square in the center of a big web of conflicting and strongly held moral codes and judgments.

We are born gay just as we are born with the color of our skin and eyes, but I think that in a whole lot of ways for a whole lot of people, sexual variations are more difficult to come to grips with than even racial ones are.

[Boston Critic]

15. Here it is, the secret agenda

1. Call to order

2. Reading of the minutes

3. Treasurer's Report

4. Membership Committee Report

5. Old Business

6. New Business

7. Move to Adjourn


Please guard this secret with your life. No one's supposed to know this.

[Tyo]

20. Oh fine. I can't believe you made this public.

You might as well surrender your Friends of Dorothy membership card right now.

[leesa]

18. I don't know, but it's curious that the really secretive gays seem to be

hanging out in the Republican Party. If the agenda is to bring down the GOP, good on ya!

[blondeatlast]

19. Goshdern special interests; when will "you people" just STOP?!

"Special" things, kinda like what we uppity women wanted with the ERA.

To be appreciated as hardworking, contributing citizens worthy of respect; to move freely in society; to receive the same protection as the rest of us.

[kestrel91316]

22. It's a form of projection - the fundies want to convert everyone to

their fundie religion and will stop at nothing to accomplish this. They point to gays and say "Look out, America!!! Those nasty gays are trying to turn ALL of us into gays and they must be stopped!!!" But it's just projection by sociopaths and malignant narcissists...........

[Vickers]

28. That's the most logical explanation I've heard yet. Thanks!

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[StatGirl]

29. I think you nailed it! (NT)

[Bitwit1234]

26. Red Bloodied Republicans

Boy those republicans are sure a macho bunch. They are scared shit less of gays. They talk about staying the course in Iraq. (Oh that's been changed)..they talk about fighting for your country and supporting the troops. Right now most of the republicans who are squatting in DC never even served our country. They all were the original cut and runners they are trying to pin on the democrats. bush who ran and hid during the Viet Nam War after he got Daddy to get him a cushy job in the guard. Back then they didn't scoop up the guard and send them to fight. And then we have cheney the darth vader of the US who got deferment after deferment. How about rush the crap spewer who slurs and smears a young man fighting for an end to his debilitating disease, who got his deferments because he had boils on his ass. HE IS A BOIL ON THE ASS OF AMERICA.

These are they type of people who want to deny Americans the right to choose who they are, what they do, and how they live their lives.