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 lobbyOctober 3rd, 2014
Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, is not the sort of person you want for a neighbor. Nor your garden variety bigot, Fischer specializes in spouting the most offensive thing he can think of about pretty much anything and anyone, but especially about gay people.
And most of what he says has no basis in reality. Nor does he care. Fischer doesn’t even try to tie his rants into facts or logic – that doesn’t get him the attention he craves.
I try not to oblige this man’s sad effort to be seen and heard. But today’s an exception. Today Bryan Fischer has tweeted something so absurdly ridiculous that it merits mention.
Ebola illustrates why HIV is NOT the cause of AIDS: viruses don't lie in wait for 10-12 years. They attack upon exposure.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) October 3, 2014
Followed by
The cause of AIDS: damage to immune system caused by STDs and drugs taken to heighten sexual experience (amyl nitrites).
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) October 3, 2014
He’s not the first to claim that HIV was not the cause of AIDS. We’ve heard from plenty of HIV denialists in our community. But that school of argument has pretty much died out.
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Mark F.
October 3rd, 2014
I wonder if he is friends with Peter Duesberg of UC-Berkeley, who teaches just a few blocks from me.
LJ
October 3rd, 2014
This tweet illustrates why Bryan Fischer is NOT an example of someone who has a clue.
Peter
October 3rd, 2014
I knew that this man was evil and immoral, but I was not aware that he was that stupid and uneducated.
Victor
October 4th, 2014
I’ve heard this disproven argument about HIV/AIDS before, but I don’t understand what this has to do with Ebola. Even crazy comments usually have some sort of twisted associative logic. This is just plain nuts. I guess after decades of lying and promoting and believing the worst about gay people – especially if you think their very existence is illogical and indefensible – the fact that they are still here (and thriving) in spite of your best efforts to marginalize them is enough to make you just blow a fuse.
Hunter
October 4th, 2014
Victor: Fischer started off with his fuses blown — that’s why he has the position he has — it’s so that the other anti-gay rabble rousers can seem “reasonable.”
CPT_Doom
October 4th, 2014
Apparently he’s never heard of shingles.
enough already
October 4th, 2014
Much as I would like to agree that he’s just a nasty idiot, I fear his messages are very well received by his target audience.
He’s not trying to influence us queers. He’s not working to convert people working in the natural sciences to the hate-driven Christian faith he represents.
He’s aiming this clearly at the low-information voters who base their beliefs on whatever their authority figures tell them.
He’s nasty, he’s malicious, he’s pure evil, even by the very low standards one must set for Christians.
It’s a mistake, however, to think he’s dumb. After we lose in November, because the people he’s targeting with these messages actually do vote, while our oh-so-sophisticated queer voters can’t be bothered, let’s have this conversation again.
Timothy Kincaid
October 4th, 2014
Mark F,
Yes, he has a bunch of tweets quoting Duesberg
CPT_Doom,
He addressed shingles. He said: “shingles is actually caused by the chickenpox virus. If you get exposed to that virus, you get chickenpox right away.”
He seems not to know that exposure to HIV generally results in fairly immediate flu-like symptoms.
Or he’s just a complete idiot and cares nothing about the truth. I’m leaning towards the second explanation.
Merv
October 4th, 2014
This is not surprising, since one of the main tenets of the dominant strain of Christianity in the US is rejection of science. A recent poll showed around 45% of Americans believe the Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago. When you factor out non-believers and other non-Christians, this undoubtedly pushes the percentage over 50%. Certainly there are some Christians who reject this view, but they are becoming increasingly irrelevant, as they’ve ceded the public square to the fundamentalists and allowed them to become the sole representatives of the religion.
Priya Lynn
October 4th, 2014
Merv, the fundamentalists have succeeded in redefining christianity to be only about being anti-gay.
Timothy Kincaid
October 4th, 2014
Priya Lynn
The fundamentalists have succeeded in redefining what you think about Christianity to be only about being anti-gay.
Priya Lynn
October 4th, 2014
Me and the vast majority of non-religious people including those who nominally identify as christians. Surveys have shown the vast majority of young people associate christianity with anti-gayness first and foremost.
corey
October 5th, 2014
He knows a lot, none of it’s true, but he knows a lot!
enough already
October 5th, 2014
Timothy,
I honor your fight against the murderous attempt to have our gay brothers killed in Uganda.
As a victim of ‘Christian’ love, first as a child and then as an adult, I find it extraordinarily hard to see anything in your religion but hatred and permission to direct pain towards gay people and women who dare to be free.
You frequently mention that there’ another aspect to Christian belief or faith than that which we gays see.
Well, what is it?
Eric Payne
October 6th, 2014
Fischer is attempting to begin (again) the same “dialogue” conservatives have been having in other social/political “debates” for decades.
In the 1980s was there anyone who questioned climate change? It was real; temperature change, seawater levels and ozone-layer thicknesses could be measured.
Same trick… and 20 years from now, may have the desired effect.
Minz
October 6th, 2014
Hey enough, from what I’ve read (being an atheist), the fundamental tenet of Christianity (as per Christ’s reported teachings) is love. It’s just disappointing (not to mention ironic) that “fundamentalists” don’t follow the fundamentals! It’s even more ironic that they use their ignorance of said fundamentals as a bludgeon to attack others.
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