Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMarch 23rd, 2009
We mentioned earlier that there would be a follow-up meeting for the anti-gay conference held by three American activists, including Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively and Exodus board member Don Schmierer. A follow-up meeting was called for March 15. The anonymous blogger Gay Uganda has posted an eyewitness account of that meeting.
Stephen Langa, of the Kampala-based Family Life Network was the principal speaker at the follow-up meeting. For the first part of his talk, he channeled the false pseudoscience of Exodus Board member Don Schmierer and Richard Cohen, a so-called “coach” who has been banned for life by the American Counseling Association. Gay Uganda’s anonymous eyewitness reported:
In his presentation Stephan Langa said homosexuality is not about sex, it is about the search for a fatherly or motherly figure. Children with bad parenting end up becoming homosexuals as they search for mother’s or father’s love.
He also mentioned another cause of homosexuality as child abuse; he said that the homosexuals he has counseled have been abused as children. He sited broken families as another cause of homosexuality.
He mentioned domineering mothers and abusive fathers as another cause of homosexuality, as well as negligent father who are emotionally off with children. Exposure to pornography as another cause of homosexuality.
He said some people are lured into homosexuality by money and other social favors
Rebellion, he said some children become homosexuals because they want to be rebellious, noting that homosexuality is some kind of rebellion.
He also said same sex attraction is a disorder and quoted: Richard Cohen MA. He emphasized the point that all homosexuals can change since all disorders can be changed. Homosexuality is not genetical, it is a learned behavior and what is learned can be unlearned. (Richard Cohen MA.)
These discredited theories, of course, run counter to a significant body of science which has investigated various aspects of the origins of homosexuality. But then, as Dr. Warren Throckmorton, who defends the right of practitioners to offer sexual identity therapy, points out, “This coalition is not dedicated to ministry but political engagement.”
And an important part of the political movement’s tactics has been to emphasize heavily the allegations that children are recruited into the “homosexual lifestyle” through sexual abuse. These allegations were on prominent display at the follow-up meeting. In the clearest use of the allegation, Langa repeated Lively’s fanciful history of the gay rights movement:
He talked about Henry Garber, who was a German American soldier in 1924, that Henry Garber sodomized Champ Simmons and Champ Simmons Sodomized Harry Hay. Then Harry Hay started the whole gay movement that gays follow to date. Source: The PINK SWASTIKA – Dr. Scott Lively.
Scott Lively
One might be forgiven if they thought that Langa had grossly overly simplified Lively’s history. But on page 150 of The Pink Swastika, Lively provides almost exactly this perverse “genealogy” in just two short sentences: “This ‘peculiar fact’ was that the man who recruited (Harry) Hay into homosexuality (at age seventeen), Champ Simmons, was himself seduced by a former member of the SHR. In a perverse sort of way, then, it seems appropriate that Hay would become known as ‘The Father of the Modern Gay Movement’.” (The SHR, or The Society of Human Rights, was founded in Chicago by Henry Gerber.)
Langa’s presentation of “the gay agenda” followed on these same lines, with repeated emphasis on the false link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse. The so-called agenda began with, “They focus on who they are and what they want. They are after your children.” And it ended with, “They don’t care about you adults they want your sons and your daughters.” The repeated warning of being “after your children,” is especially troubling given that it was an incessant refrain in past Ugandan anti-gay vigilante campaigns. Reactions from the audience, therefore were predictable:
We should investigate homosexuality in Uganda
…Recruit people to become activities against homosexuality, in this case people with in the audience volunteered to be members….Find out what or who is making homosexuality prominent in Uganda.
There are many dangers and anti – social behaviors in schools which are not talked about. This was mentioned while refereeing to head teachers / teachers who are homosexuals. An emphasis that homosexual teachers should be stopped from teaching.
Participants emphasized life career developments and moral uprightness in schools The need for a strategic plan to train, teachers to identify children practicing homosexuality. The laws on homosexuality are weak, hence the need to strengthen these laws.
Parents were encouraged to participant in law making decisions in Uganda so that to strengthen the laws on homosexuality
To establish a unit at Police to deal with homosexuality
At one point in the meeting, there was this disturbing development:
…During the reactions a prominent pastor also said that they have been talking with an ex gay activist who has given them a five year plan for the gay agenda in Uganda. And they have submitted this plan to the ministry concerned, that they await reactions.
Exodus Board member Don Schmierer, a speaker at the anti-gay conference in Uganda
Is Exodus Board member Don Schmierer the “ex gay activist” with a five year plan? Exodus has been recklessly silent over their board member’s involvement in the conference alongside a well-known holocaust revisionist and two-time entrant on the SPLC’s hate groups list. And Exodus’ silence continues to facilitate the chain of events that their board member has set into motion, events which may well lead to increased dangers for LGBT citizens of Uganda. Already, in this account the tensions appear to be close to the boiling point:
A participant asked a liberal question on issues of sexuality: You have associated homosexuality with all evils, defiles, child molesters etc don’t you think that also heterosexuals defile or molest our children why don’t you address this issue as well. He was answered: We are here to talk about homosexuality, do not divert us. After this question he was intimated, almost thrown out of the meeting.
The meeting ended with calls to “tighten the law on homosexuality.” One participant told the audience that parliament was drafting a new law that “will be tough on homosexuals.” Conviction of homosexual acts in Uganda already carry the threat of a life sentence. Another meeting was called for yesterday, March 22.
Don Schmierer and Scott Lively have set in motion a chain of events which have not yet played themselves out. And Exodus remains irresponsibly silent as these events continue to unfold. We will continue to watch events in Uganda very closely, and we will hold Exodus accountable for their role in lending their name to legitimize these developments.
Click here to see BTB’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
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KZ
March 23rd, 2009
Why don’t they just change the laws so that all homosexuals are executed? No trial, no questions asked. It would save the government tons of money that would initially be invested in ex-gay therapy. Plus they wouldn’t have to worry about any ex-gays being tempted back into the filthy ‘lifestyle.’ Once all the queers are wiped from Uganda, the country’s problems would be solved. No hunger, no HIV, no outbreaks of other diseases, no cancer, no economic recession, no resource shortages. It’s a real mystery why this hasn’t caught on in other countries like the US.
Well, I gotta go. I just got my paycheck and I need to cash it so I can lure kids into homosexuality.
quo III
March 23rd, 2009
Jim Burroway wrote,
‘These discredited theories, of course, run counter to a significant body of science which has investigated various aspects of the origins of homosexuality.’
Discredited when, by whom, and how?
HappyCat
March 23rd, 2009
To quo III, Look to the right hand side of this web site. –>Testing The Premise: Are Gays A Threat To Our Children?
Jim Burroway
March 23rd, 2009
I have been trying to put together a comprehensive review of the literature concerning the possible origins of homosexuality for over a year now. I’ve collected quite literally hundreds of studies which have demonstrated biological correlates to homosexuality for many people. My struggle, right now, is to figure out how to present that data in a useful format.
The same search through the scientific literature which posits a learned basis for homosexuality has uncovered extremely few examples since 1980. And even going before that, almost all of the studies have been retrospective, rather than prospective, which means that the studies in question have been unable to uncover evidence of causes-and-effect. Was the father distant because the boy was effeminate, or vice versa as the ex-gay proponents would have us believe?
But here is just one example of a study that tried to answer just that question from 1980: One of the most prominent researchers in pre-adolescent effeminate boys, Bernard Zuger, has been looking at this problem since the 1970’s. (Ex-gay organizations, by the way, love to use his work.) Using a prospective study, he was able to conclude:
Of course, ex-gay organizations conveniently and consistently ignore this finding.
But to answer the question, it isn’t a singe “whom” who discredited the distant fathers and dominant mother theories. It is a matter of preponderance of evidence and the quality of it.
As for child sexual abuse causing homosexuality, that hasn’t been taken seriously by anyone since the 1950’s.
quo III
March 23rd, 2009
There may well be biological correlates for homosexuality for many people. That isn’t controversial. But it’s one thing to say that, and an entirely different thing to say that only biological factors are relevant and that people’s relationships with their parents never have any influence on their sexual orientation under any circumstances – that’s an extreme and quite unlikely claim.
There have been a number of studies published since 1980 that support some kind of environmental influence, notably those by Seymour Fisher and Roger Greenberg. I believe (from what little I’ve seen of them), that they are mostly summarising the results of previous research rather than doing new studies, but I don’t see that this invalidates their conclusions.
Kenneth Zucker is another person on record (in Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents) as saying that the traditional environmental theories may be partly correct. Nicolosi uses Fisher and Greenberg, along with Zucker, as sources, precisely because they’re respected mainstream researchers, not NARTH supporters.
If you’ve read more of any of these people than I have, your comments should be interesting. As for whether the father was distant because the son was effeminate/gay or vice versa, it’s obviously unrealistic to see this as an either/or situation. Much more plausible to conclude that both things could be happening in different cases.
Timothy Kincaid
March 23rd, 2009
quo III,
Your arguments tend to be of the strawman variety and generally play out as follows:
1. A supporter of reparative therapy will announce with great certainty that the cause of homosexuality is poor parenting.
2. Jim – or someone else here – will point out that the proponderence of evidence does not support the assertions of the repartive therapist.
3. You will jump in accusing Jim (or whoever) of not sticking to the facts because maybe, somewhere, sometime, some one has some aspect of their orientation that was in some unmeasurable degree impacted in some way by their envonment which may or may not have included parental relationships.
Yes, I know that we cannot at this point argue from the point of absolutes. But, quo, we are not the ones arguing from the point of absolutes. It’s Langa and company that are doing that.
We call them “discredited” because even you do not credit them with being accurate. Even you will not try and come here and argue what Langa is arguing.
Yes, we are aware that some retrospective studies of recollections show some correlation between current sexual orientation and reported paternal relationships (though this seems to be less so as society has become generally less anti-gay). But we are also aware that studies show that a percentage of Americans report having seen Elvis Presley after his death.
Neither, on their own, are adequate to convince me that homosexuality is to any significant extent impacted by parental relationships or that Elvis is still alive.
Jim Burroway
March 23rd, 2009
But that point is very controversial to the much of the ex-gay movement. In fact, for many of them — including more specifically those at this conference — it is heretical to acknowledge anything other than their favorite sexual abuse or smothering mother/distant father theories — theories which have been discredited as sole causes, and in my readings have continued to remain unproven as significant contributing causes.
While correlations exists, there still remains the question: Did Dad become distant from his son because the son did not like sports? Or did the son reject sports (and other masculine activities) because his father was distant? No one (to my knowledge so far, but I’m still looking) has convincingly demonstrated the latter, but there is evidence to suggest the former.
But getting back to the problem with what’s going on in Kampala, the people addressing these meetings there are not and have not described anything close to what the science really says, which suggests that there may be many difference causes for many different people, and that the causes may be difference combinations of environmental and biological factors.
Lynn David
March 23rd, 2009
It didn’t end in Uganda with Langa’s Family Life Network March 15th meeting. New Vision Online (which touts itself as Uganda’s Leading Website) is carrying a story about a young man who was recruiting schoolchildren into homosexuality. He goes one to say he found god and quit the practice. But he also says he was trained by “Gay and Lesbian Coalition” in Kenya ane was a gay and lesbian activist for five years and had operated under the umbrella group, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG).
George (Georgina) Oundo was one of those arrested on 10 Sept 2008 in an illegal breakin by the Ugandan police of their residence.
I don’t know…. People get ahold of you sometimes and you have little more to say than what they tell you to say. All because it might be the only way you can now make your way in the world.
I don’t know….
Mike Airhart
March 24th, 2009
Follow the money.
Are Martin Ssempa and Stephen Langa again using U.S. PEPFAR (anti-AIDS) funding to finance antigay vigilante campaigns?
http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=columnists&sc=holding_the_center&id=88480
Aisha
April 16th, 2009
Gays are threat to our children, and they dont care, because they are devil worshippers and they want our/your children. Anal sex! Watch them closely those who are behind loaders(i mean the ones they shaft)they never look healthy.Oh God! The evil culture.
If the former Dictator Amin was still alive. Do you think these people will bring that culture in Uganda?
May God bless His soul.
‘For God and my country’.
Aisha
John McPherson
January 27th, 2011
Take action Mr Schmierer,
Regarding Mr Don Schmierer’s belief that he is the victim of someone else’s murder, then may I suggest that he takes appropriate action.
Another trip to Uganda, during which he could spend the time publicly explaining that the reactionary position taken by their daily media has led to this appalling murder of Mr Kato.
He could also spend a lot of time publicly detailing how such lethal actions are against the word of God.
This would assist in removing the likely eternal stain that is now attached to Don Schmierer’s name, person and past actions.
I fear that this is not likely though.
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