How much of today's homophobia is a rehash of the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic of the 80's?
Now, rarely, people do claim that demons and being gay are linked (Although it does happen). But there is more to it than that, there was a moral panic involving "Satanic Ritual Abuse" in the early 1980's and going through to the early 1990's; today's homophobia may have taken many of the rhetoric and symbols and incorporated them into it's own movement.
Let's find out what and how.
Cabals and Conspiracies
The mighty Homosexual Agenda, the secret society of gays who are using the book "After the Ball" to enact their sinister agenda... of being accepted. Or something like that. Just how evil is the Homosexual Agenda? Well, in 2004, Senator Tom Coburn said it was worse than terrorism. And in 2010, the Family Research Council produced a graphic labeled "Homosexual Agenda" and had phrases such as "Innocence" and "Family" crossed out.
Sound familiar? It should. During the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic, it was alleged that Satanists, Druids, and Witches were conspiring to control world affairs, the media, and get into Churches to make them Satan friendly... just like the secret Homosexual Agenda to get rid of Churches. What a coincidence.
I was a Teenage Zombie!
The right loves their out-of-bondage stories. So-called ex-gays are the focus here. The examples are dwindling as more and more realize ex-gay treatment is harmful and also realizing that sexual orientation can't really be changed, but the right still clings to this.
This isn't exclusive to gays either, there are also stories of ex-Islamic terrorists who make questionable claims as well, Kamal Saleem (AKA the GRAND WAZIR OF ISLAM) and Walid Shoebat (Who said he firebombed Bank Leumi but the bank said it's bogus) are examples of this targeted group.
Turns out, there were ex-satanists during the Panic as well. Mike Warnke was the Panic's version of John Paulk (He doesn't claim to be ex-gay anymore) or Walid Shoebat. Warnke said he was a satanist, but left to join the Christians, but he had an insider view of the Satanic conspiracy. The claims were exposed as complete lies (By an Evangelical magazine). Ironically, Warnke warned people to stay away hucksters coming in the name of Christ (He was referring to John Todd, another fraudulent Ex-Satanist in particular)... and then passed a collection plate along as he needed cash to save people from human sacrifice by Satanists.
Symbols that mean Something
The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic had secret symbols everywhere according to the experts. Stars usually. These were secret pentagrams. The stars on the flag of the European Union or the symbol of Procter & Gamble were said to be the Satanist flag (AmWay distributors milked the latter as much as they could... pass the collection plate). Other symbols include the peace sign and the anarchy symbol.
And wouldn't you know it, the gays apparently have Secret Communication Skills as well. According to Peter LaBarbera, they STOLE the word "gay", they took rainbows, and they are taking the word "equality" as well.
Unlike the Satanists, the gays have mastered the delivery of their secret symbols in television. Tim Wildmon, the President of the American Family Association, agreed with a caller who said there was "evidence" of gay people on HGTV and Animal Planet. Wildmon expanded upon this, saying people have to watch out for it on shows for children as well.
Won't somebody please think of the children?
The two movements are very child-centric, and not in a good way. A very heavy part of the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic was that the Conspiracy was out to recruit children, get into schools, sacrifice children, and even breed children to do this. Kee MacFarlane even testified in front of Congress, saying there was an organized national conspiracy of "orthodox satanic groups" that abused children. She provided no evidence of this, but you don't need evidence when there is a moral panic going on. This was seen in the McMartin preschool trial, now widely seen as a travesty of justice. Bizarre accusations of child sacrifice, flying through tunnels, going to Africa and coming back in the course of one day, and more were made.
And on the homophobic side, the accusations are also bizarre. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition said that if a gay comes knocking on your door, and a boy answers the door, they may take him and run off with him. This is all a part of the Homosexual Recruitment idea, similar to the Homosexual Agenda idea above. And there are many ways that homosexuals recruit people according to homophobes, including by using anti-bullying. Because bullies help you stay straight apparently.
Conclusion
In 2003, Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent to Lawrence v Texas that there was a "homosexual agenda" seeking to... change things. It's time to see homophobia for what it is, a panic, recycled from another panic.
Sources
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/charisma-demon-rape-make-you-gay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Satanic_Panic
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/may/05/election2005.comment1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-ex-gay
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/11/terrorism.expert/index.html?_s=PM:US
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Mike_Warnke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway#Procter_.26_Gamble
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2013/11/professional-anti-gay-would-appreciate-it-if-you-stop-stealing-his-english-language-he-owns-itits-his.html
http://mediamatters.org/video/2005/10/13/american-family-associations-tim-wildmon-backed/134000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_MacFarlane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/spring/a-mighty-army#12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_recruitment
http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/big-bullies-how-the-religious-right-trying-to-make-schools-safe-for-bullies-and-dangero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_agenda#Other_usages
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