COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina author and blogger, disturbed as to how so-called traditional values groups stigmatize the gay community and how the gay-oriented and mainstream media can’t seem to get the correct handle on the situation, has created an online booklet to spotlight what he calls a guide to “anti-gay propaganda.”
Alvin McEwen, author of the book “Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry,” and a blog that carries the same name, has created the free booklet, “How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right’s War on Gay America,” in order to make his point in an easy-to-understand fashion.
“These groups claim to be defending America’s so-called Judeo-Christian heritage,” said McEwen, “but the way they do it are through lies, junk science, and manipulated studies which they then disguise as expressions of religious liberty.”
McEwen said that traditional values and religious right groups have successfully spread falsehoods about the LGBT community because too many mainstream media organizations “are fooled” by their “religious liberty” claims, and do not thoroughly research the claims made by anti-LGBT organizations.
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“There is absolutely nothing wrong with a personal belief that homosexuality is a sin,” McEwen said.
“However, when all these other lies are attached to it is when there is serious trouble regarding truth. Religious right groups falsely claim that the gay community is a menace to America, especially to our children, and that homosexuality is a so-called dangerous lifestyle such as alcohol abuse and smoking.
“There is nothing true or original about those claims. It’s the same thing which racists do to African-Americans or anti-Semites do to people of the Jewish faith. Basically we are talking about scapegoating.”
The manipulation of scientific research is an important part of McEwen’s booklet.
He points to many instances in which researchers, physicians, and pediatricians have complained about how religious right groups have distorted their research to create a negative view of the gay community. He also gives examples as to how one of these groups, the Family Research Council, omits portions of studies it cites in order to give a false impression of the gay community.
McEwen said the ultimate goal of “How They See Us” is to begin a conversation on the tactics of religious right groups and how those tactics contradict their claims of upholding morality and truth.
“We can argue back and forth about whether or not homosexuality is a sin,” McEwen said. “Some people, including some Christians don’t feel the same way about this. However, I think we can all agree that deliberate lies and distortions, even told or committed in the name of God, need to be called out for what they are. And they are not expressions of personally held faith and beliefs.”
The booklet is available for download here.
