10 Anti-Gay Myths Debunked | Southern Poverty Law Center

Contents:

• RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL
• EXGAY CALLG
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED
• HOW IS IT TO BE GAY RSIA: AN HONT INTERVIEW WH A VICTIM OF RSIAN ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDAI TERVIEWED A IEND WHO IS OPENLY GAY RSIAJOANNA HENRSON·FOLLOWPUBLISHED AN INJTICE!·14 M READ·FEB 10, 2022--1SHARELICENSED VIA FREEPIKSOME UNTRI ARE KNOWN FOR VALUG HUMAN LIFE AND MTG TO HUMAN RIGHTS. OTHERS — NOT SO MUCH. NUMERO UNTRI ARE ON THE HOT SEAT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VLATNS, AND LGBT RIGHTS AND EEDOMS ARE NO EXCEPTN. RSIA IS ONE OF THOSE UNTRI WILY KNOWN FOR S ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA AND CULTURE.IN 2013, PRINT PUT SIGNED A LAW PROHIBG PROPAGANDA OF NON-HETEROSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS. HOW N YOU PROPAGANDIZE HOMOSEXUALY? HOW IS POSSIBLE TO PROPAGANDIZE SOMETHG THAT’S NOT A CHOICE BUT THE WAY SOME OF ARE BORN? THAT’S A MYSTERY TO ME. BUT ACRDG TO THIS LAW, RSIANS ARE PROHIBED OM SPREADG POSIVE RMATN ABOUT GAY RELATNSHIPS AS THEY ARE NSIRED NON-TRADNAL AND ENCROACH ON THE RSIAN FAY TRADNS AND RELATNSHIPS.HOMOPHOBIA IS REAL. YOU NNOT WAKE UP TOMORROW AND CHOOSE TO BE GAY AND THEN CHANGE YOUR MD A WEEK LATER. WHILE HETEROSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS ARE NSIRED “TRADNAL,” ALL MEANS IS THAT OLD, CLOSED-MD, STUFFY, AND UNTED PEOPLE GENUELY BELIEVE THAT THEIR INTY, VIEWS, CULTURE, AND LIFTYLE ARE “THE RIGHT ON” SOCIETY. THIS ISN’T NECSARILY THE SE. THE ONLY REASON GAY RELATNSHIPS ARE REFERRED TO AS “NON-TRADNAL” IS THAT GAYS NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO EXIST ON THE SAME TERMS AND WH THE SAME RIGHTS GAY PEOPLE DID. BUT I DIGRS.I’M A CANADIAN IMMIGRANT, AND I’VE BEEN SURROUND BY RSIAN-SPEAKG PEOPLE WHILE GROWG UP. HAVG RSIAN AS MY FIRST LANGUAGE ALLOWS ME TO KEEP NNECTED TO MY RSIAN-SPEAKG IENDS OM POST-USSR UNTRI. I TERVIEWED ONE OF THEM TO SHED LIGHT ON HOW IS TO BE GAY RSIA.THE ARTICLE NSISTS OF TWO PARTS: MY IEND’S STORY AND AN TERVIEW WHERE HE ANSWERS QUTNS. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: THIS STORY MENTNS SUICI, HATE CRIM, HUMAN RIGHTS VLATNS, VLENCE, AND ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA RSIA.PART ONE: MONOLOGUE (MY FRIEND’S STORY)
• RSIAN LAWMAKERS MOVE TO TOUGHEN ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW, BANNG ALL ADULTS OM ‘PROMOTG’ SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS
• RPECT, PROTECT, AND FULFILL—OR REJECT, NEGLECT, AND REGRS? CHILDREN’S RIGHTS THE TIME OF THE RSIAN “GAY PROPAGANDA LAW”

RSIA: EXPAND 'GAY PROPAGANDA' BAN PROGRS TOWARD LAW

The proposals prohib sharg posive and even ntral rmatn about lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people, and publicly displayg non-heterosexual orientatns, wh hefty f for nonpliance. The draft legislatn classifi displays of non-heterosexual relatns or orientatn as “rmatn harmful to children’s health and velopment” and provis that webs and other onle sourc hostg rmatn about lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people n be blocked.

“The 2013 ‘gay propaganda’ law was an unabashed example of polil homophobia, and the new draft legislatn amplifi that broar and harsher ways, ” said Tanya Loksha, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Petersburg and Mosw have been marked by state vlence and arrts, while an crease the number of attacks on LGBTQ people throughout Rsia—both by dividuals and by anized homophobic groups—creased after the 2013 law, acrdg to a 2014 report published by Human Rights Watch.

In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights led that Rsia’s “gay propaganda law” was discrimatory, promoted homophobia, and vlated the European Conventn on Human Rights and that “served no legimate public tert. Image source, RtersThe ntroversial Rsian ban agast promotg so-lled "gay propaganda" looks set to be extend to all move reprents a tougheng of an existg 2013 law, which mak providg rmatn about beg LGBT to children a crimal nvicted face large f for promotg what Rsia lls "non-tradnal sexual relatns" ial approval of the extensn was voted through by the Rsian State Duma unanimoly. Unr the proposal, rmatn about "non-tradnal liftyl" or "the rejectn of fay valu" would be nsired legally the same as pornography, the promotn of vlence, or stokg racial, ethnic and relig also bans the "propaganda of paedophilia" - which the Rsian ernment often nflat wh beg gay.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RSIA’S SO-CALLED ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ BILL

Another element of the extensns prohibs rmatn which might "e mors to sire to change their sex", a reference to transgenr enacted, the law would allow any rmatn on the ter discsg LGBT topics to be blocked and films emed to nta posive pictns of beg gay to be banned. Khshte, an MP om Mr Put's Uned Rsia Party, told the Duma that the "special operatn" - what the Rsian ernment sists on llg s war Ukrae - is happeng "not only on the battlefield, but also the mds and souls of people" rhetoric follows that of the Rsian print, who has ma beg anti-gay a rnerstone of his domtic agenda and thorarian speech annexg four Ukraian terrori last month, Mr Put ranted about fai wh a "parent number one and a parent number two" - what has been terpreted as a cricism of same-sex fai.

We observe how gay activists the Amerin Psychologil Associatn who are uned Divisn 44 (the “LGBT” sectn) have ed gnive dissonance to lu dienc to ncludg that therapy for unwanted same-sex attractns is highly unsirable, harmful even. The rear n eher alter gnn #1 to make sound as follows: ‘no therapy is appropriate for homosexualy bee is normal’ or he n alter gnn #2 to make sound: ‘there are distct mental or velopmental disorrs to be found spe of what this Task Force sets out to assert and wre.

He liberately let them thk for example “crash occurs at 45 km/hour”, the Task Force liberately lets you thk “homosexualy has been proven to be merely a normal variant, therefore therapy nnot possibly be appropriate”. “When asssg the appropriatens of therapy, to what extent is homosexual behavr nsistently associated wh forms of ternal disfort, and to what extent n unrlyg ternal be intified and nsired to be problems worth tacklg, if they exist at all. Unr the circumstanc, acrdg to the gnive dissonance theory, the dividual will change his attu about his/her group membership and will not pla about the shallowns, empts, falsens or major health hazards of the gay inty.

EXGAY CALLG

Ever sce born-aga sger and orange juice pchwoman Ana Bryant helped kick off the ntemporary anti-gay movement some 40 years ago, hard-le elements of the relig right have been searchg for ways to monize gay people — or, at a mimum, to fd arguments that will prevent their normalizatn society.

But addn to hawkg that myth, the legns of anti-gay activists who followed have add a panoply of others, rangg om the extremely doubtful claim that sexual orientatn is a choice, to unalloyed li like the claims that gay men molt children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalizatn of btialy and necrophilia. The fairy tal are important to the anti-gay right bee they form the basis of s claim that homosexualy is a social evil that mt be supprsed — an opn rejected by virtually all relevant medil and scientific thori. Depictg gay men as a threat to children may be the sgle most potent weapon for stokg public fears about homosexualy — and for wng electns and referenda, as Ana Bryant found out durg her succsful 1977 mpaign to overturn a Da County, Fla., ordance barrg discrimatn agast gay people.

Others have ced a group lled the Amerin College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) to claim, as Tony Perks of the Fay Rearch Council did November 2010, that "the rearch is overwhelmg that homosexualy pos a [moltatn] danger to children. Gregory Herek, a profsor at the Universy of California, Davis, who is one of the natn's leadg rearchers on prejudice agast sexual mori, reviewed a seri of studi and found no evince that gay men molt children at higher rat than heterosexual men. The Amerin Amy of Child & Adolcent Psychiatry affirmed 2013 that “[c]urrent rearch shows that children wh gay and lbian parents do not differ om children wh heterosexual parents their emotnal velopment or their relatnships wh peers and adults” and they are “not more likely than children of heterosexual parents to velop emotnal or behavral problems.

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

The Amerin Amy of Pediatrics (AAP) a 2002 policy statement clared: "A growg body of scientific lerature monstrat that children who grow up wh one or two gay and/or lbian parents fare as well emotnal, gnive, social, and sexual functng as do children whose parents are heterosexual. Siarly, the Child Welfare League of Ameri's official posn wh regard to same-sex parents is that "lbian, gay, and bisexual parents are as well-sued to raise children as their heterosexual unterparts. A 2013 prelimary study Atralia found that the children of lbian and gay parents are not only thrivg, but may actually have better overall health and higher rat of fay hn than heterosexual fai.

A si effect of this argument is the monizatn of parents of gay men and lbians, who are led to wonr if they failed to protect a child agast sexual abe or failed as role mols some important way. ” Schumm, who has also argued that lbian relatnships are unstable, has ti to discreded psychologist and anti-LGBT fabulist Pl Cameron, the thor of numero pletely basels “studi” about the alleged evils of homosexualy. The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn noted a 2000 fact sheet available on the Associatn of Gay and Lbian Psychiatrists, that alg wh gay, lbian and bisexual issu, that sexual abe do not appear to be any more prevalent among children who grow up and intify as gay, lbian or bisexual than children who grow up and intify as heterosexual.

HOW IS IT TO BE GAY RSIA: AN HONT INTERVIEW WH A VICTIM OF RSIAN ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDAI TERVIEWED A IEND WHO IS OPENLY GAY RSIAJOANNA HENRSON·FOLLOWPUBLISHED AN INJTICE!·14 M READ·FEB 10, 2022--1SHARELICENSED VIA FREEPIKSOME UNTRI ARE KNOWN FOR VALUG HUMAN LIFE AND MTG TO HUMAN RIGHTS. OTHERS — NOT SO MUCH. NUMERO UNTRI ARE ON THE HOT SEAT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VLATNS, AND LGBT RIGHTS AND EEDOMS ARE NO EXCEPTN. RSIA IS ONE OF THOSE UNTRI WILY KNOWN FOR S ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA AND CULTURE.IN 2013, PRINT PUT SIGNED A LAW PROHIBG PROPAGANDA OF NON-HETEROSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS. HOW N YOU PROPAGANDIZE HOMOSEXUALY? HOW IS POSSIBLE TO PROPAGANDIZE SOMETHG THAT’S NOT A CHOICE BUT THE WAY SOME OF ARE BORN? THAT’S A MYSTERY TO ME. BUT ACRDG TO THIS LAW, RSIANS ARE PROHIBED OM SPREADG POSIVE RMATN ABOUT GAY RELATNSHIPS AS THEY ARE NSIRED NON-TRADNAL AND ENCROACH ON THE RSIAN FAY TRADNS AND RELATNSHIPS.HOMOPHOBIA IS REAL. YOU NNOT WAKE UP TOMORROW AND CHOOSE TO BE GAY AND THEN CHANGE YOUR MD A WEEK LATER. WHILE HETEROSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS ARE NSIRED “TRADNAL,” ALL MEANS IS THAT OLD, CLOSED-MD, STUFFY, AND UNTED PEOPLE GENUELY BELIEVE THAT THEIR INTY, VIEWS, CULTURE, AND LIFTYLE ARE “THE RIGHT ON” SOCIETY. THIS ISN’T NECSARILY THE SE. THE ONLY REASON GAY RELATNSHIPS ARE REFERRED TO AS “NON-TRADNAL” IS THAT GAYS NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO EXIST ON THE SAME TERMS AND WH THE SAME RIGHTS GAY PEOPLE DID. BUT I DIGRS.I’M A CANADIAN IMMIGRANT, AND I’VE BEEN SURROUND BY RSIAN-SPEAKG PEOPLE WHILE GROWG UP. HAVG RSIAN AS MY FIRST LANGUAGE ALLOWS ME TO KEEP NNECTED TO MY RSIAN-SPEAKG IENDS OM POST-USSR UNTRI. I TERVIEWED ONE OF THEM TO SHED LIGHT ON HOW IS TO BE GAY RSIA.THE ARTICLE NSISTS OF TWO PARTS: MY IEND’S STORY AND AN TERVIEW WHERE HE ANSWERS QUTNS. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: THIS STORY MENTNS SUICI, HATE CRIM, HUMAN RIGHTS VLATNS, VLENCE, AND ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA RSIA.PART ONE: MONOLOGUE (MY FRIEND’S STORY)

Siarly, the Natnal Organizatn on Male Sexual Victimizatn not on s webse that "experts the human sexualy field do not believe that premature sexual experienc play a signifint role late adolcent or adult sexual orientatn" and add that 's unlikely that anyone n make another person gay or heterosexual. Warren Throckmorton, a psychologist at the Christian Grove Cy College, noted an analysis that “the rearch on sexual abe among GLBT populatns is often mised to make ferenc about atn [of homosexualy].

RSIAN LAWMAKERS MOVE TO TOUGHEN ‘GAY PROPAGANDA’ LAW, BANNG ALL ADULTS OM ‘PROMOTG’ SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS

Anti-LGBT anizatns, seekg to promote heterosexualy as the healthier "choice, " often offer up the purportedly shorter life spans and poorer physil and mental health of gays and lbians as reasons why they shouldn't be allowed to adopt or foster children. " Usg obuari llected om newspapers servg the gay muny, he and his two -thors nclud that gay men died, on average, at 43, pared to an average life expectancy at the time of around 73 for all U. On the basis of the same obuari, Cameron also claimed that gay men are 18 tim more likely to die r accints than heterosexuals, 22 tim more likely to die of heart attacks than wh, and 11 tim more likely than blacks to die of the same e.

RPECT, PROTECT, AND FULFILL—OR REJECT, NEGLECT, AND REGRS? CHILDREN’S RIGHTS THE TIME OF THE RSIAN “GAY PROPAGANDA LAW”

Anti-LGBT anizatns have also tried to support this claim by distortg the work of legimate scholars, like a 1997 study nducted by a Canadian team of rearchers that alt wh gay and bisexual men livg Vanuver the late 1980s and early 1990s. Lively is the vilently anti-gay founr of Abidg Tth Mistri and Abrams is an anizer of a group lled the Internatnal Commtee for Holot Tth, which me together 1994 and clud Lively as a member. Christe Mueller, profsor of history at Reed College, did a 1994 le-by-le refutatn of an earlier Abrams article on the topic and of the broar claim that the Nazi Party was "entirely ntrolled" by gay men.

Anti-gay activists, who have long opposed addg LGBT people to those protected by hate crime legislatn, have repeatedly claimed that such laws would lead to the jailg of relig figur who preach agast homosexualy — part of a bid to ga the backg of the broar relig muny for their posn.

Anti-gay groups have been adamantly opposed to allowg gay men and lbians to serve openly the armed forc, not only bee of their purported fear that bat reads will be unrmed, but bee the ary has long been nsired the purt merocracy Ameri (the armed forc were succsfully racially tegrated long before Amerin civil society, for example). At the same time, gays and lbians have served openly for years the armed forc of 25 untri (as of 2010), cludg Bra, Israel, South Ai, Canada and Atralia, acrdg to a report released by the Palm Center, a policy thk tank at the Universy of California at Santa Barbara.