Anti-LGBT rhetoric and anti-gay slogans are themes, catchphrases, and slogans which have been used to condemn homosexuality or to demean homosexuals. They range from the demeaning and pejorative to those expressing negativity on religious, medical, or moral grounds.
They generally have an ideological basis in Heterosexism. The slogans listed here are not just terms of invective but they represent arguments that are commonly used to convey opposition to homosexuality. They reflect the spectrum of opinion among those who oppose homosexuality and/or full LGBT acceptance in society.
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Some concepts and arguments against same-sex desire and practices have been evident over the centuries, though the importance of specific arguments has varied from culture to culture. For example, preoccupation with child abuse is a largely modern concern, and the importance of Biblical arguments rises and falls along with the influence of Judeo-Christian beliefs.
This particular charge dates back to Plato, who argued in the Laws I 636c and VIII 841d that homosexual sex was "out of nature" (para phusin). However, in the Symposium, Plato seemed to endorse homosexuality, describing it as a "higher form of love" than that between a man and woman.
Though the psychiatric establishment once medicalized same-sex desire, homosexuality was later removed in 1974 as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) because the diagnosis of homosexuality as mental illness stigmatized homosexuals. There has been significant controversy over this DSM argument.[1] However, according to another rebuttal of this argument, held by, among others, The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, there are some behaviors exhibited by many animals that most would consider unnatural in humans, such as cannibalism.[2] The counter argument to this claim is that it confuses "unnatural" with "wrong," and that this is therefore simply a restatement of the claim that homosexuality is morally wrong (like cannibalism), not unnatural.[3] These issues are complicated by the polysemous character of the terms "natural" and "unnatural" which can be used in many equivocal ways.[4]
A modern Christian slogan expressing this view is "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve".[5]
This is an accusation which predates the current era, as it was leveled against pederasts even during Antiquity.[6] More recently, this charge has been phrased as "homosexual recruitment", implying that homosexuals are somehow predatory toward children, or are "recruiting" in secret. A common slogan is "Homosexuals cannot reproduce — so they must recruit" or its variants. In The Advocate's website, advocate.com, interview on his 2000 work, Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in 20th-Century American Art, Richard Meyer discusses this line of attack:
...those who attacked Mapplethorpe's work in the late 1980s used this photograph to reinforce long-standing stereotypes of gay men as pedophiles. Although no sexual activity is shown (or even suggested) in the portrait, and although the picture was commissioned by the child's mother who was in the room at the time of its taking, the very fact that Mapplethorpe had photographed a naked boy was enough, at least in the minds of Pat Robertson and Jesse Helms, for the photographer to be accused of child molestation.
— 2001[7]
Anti-gay groups have often argued that more homosexual men are sexual abusers than heterosexuals, on the grounds that a third of abusers target boys rather than girls. This is far in excess of the proportion of gay men in the population. It is thus falsely argued that gay men are disproportionately likely to offend.[8] However, this argument depends on the equation of male-male pedophilia with homosexual orientation. According to child abuse specialist Nicholas Groth, this is not the case,
Homosexuality and homosexual pedophilia are not synonymous. In fact, it may be that these two orientations are mutually exclusive, the reason being that the homosexual male is sexually attracted to masculine qualities whereas the heterosexual male is sexually attracted to feminine characteristics, and the sexually immature child’s qualities are more feminine than masculine...The child offender who is attracted to and engaged in adult sexual relationships is heterosexual. It appears, therefore, that the adult heterosexual male constitutes a greater sexual risk to underage children than does the adult homosexual male.[9]
Many religions consider homosexual acts to be inherently sinful. Especially, a number of Christian fundamentalists (e.g., Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell) interpret Biblical texts to imply that same-sex sexual intercourse is sinful. These individuals and congregations believe that such sexual acts as anal and or oral sex (along with fornication of any kind) are forms of sexual immorality that should be advised against. One slogan is the commonly used phrase "love the sinner and not the sin." These churches tend to speak out against violence and hate towards those who who are attracted to the same gender.[10][11]
| “ | “I desire now to say with emphasis that our concern for the bitter fruit of sin is coupled with Christlike sympathy for its victims, innocent or culpable. We advocate the example of the Lord, who condemned the sin, yet loved the sinner. We should reach out with kindness and comfort to the afflicted, ministering to their needs and assisting them with their problems.”[10] | ” |
Other congregations, including the Metropolitan Community Churches, commonly affirm homosexuality and believe that neither homosexuality or homosexual sex acts are a sin.[12] Some conservative churches reject the idea of a homosexual orientation and view homosexuality as being an urge towards sinful homosexual behavior and thus something everyone may experience from time to time. Many slogans, including some listed in the next section, have been used by religious opponents of homosexuality, particularly by Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of the website godhatesfags.com and Westboro Baptist Church. These controversial slogans have included "God Hates Fags", "Fear God Not Fags", and "Matthew Shepard Burns In Hell".[13]
A modern example of this type of thinking was shown by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who blamed homosexuals (among others) for indirectly causing the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. On the broadcast of the Christian television program The 700 Club, Falwell made the following statement (for which he later apologized):
| “ | I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'[14] | ” |
A common theme of anti-gay slogans is that AIDS is a "gay disease". One example is the slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead", a parody of the advertising slogan "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead", the tagline used in television advertising for the SC Johnson insecticide.
The slogan appeared during the early years of AIDS in the United States, when the disease was mainly diagnosed among male homosexuals and was almost invariably fatal. The slogan caught on quickly as a catchy truism, a chant, or simply something written as graffiti. It is reported that the slogan first appeared in public in the early 1990s, when Sebastian Bach, lead singer of the heavy metal band Skid Row, unwittingly wore it on a t-shirt thrown to him by an audience member.[15] A variant of this is "AIDS cures fags."
The phrase has been used by religious opponents of homosexuality. It was for example seen in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a victim of anti-gay violence, when Fred Phelps and his followers chanted it in front of the gathering.
Data from a 2005 study by the Center for Disease Control showed that among male adults in the United States, MSM (men who have sex with men) accounted for "71% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005."[16] The study also said that "MSM made up more than two thirds (72%) of all men living with HIV in 2005, even though only about 5% to 7% of men in the United States reported having sex with other men." [17]
The proportion of HIV cases that can be attributed to the result of homosexual relations varies according to geography.[18] In Russia, among newly registered HIV cases in 2006 where the mode of transmission was known, about one half was due to heterosexual intercourse, and this proportion has been steadily increasing.[19] Almost 60% of cases were attributed to unsafe sex between men.[20] In the Caribbean, it is estimated that about 40% of reported HIV cases are the result of unsafe sex between men.[21][22] About 53% of newly diagnosed HIV infections in the United States, in 2005, were among men who have sex with men.[23] The largest proportion of new HIV infection in Canada, in 2002, was accounted for by unprotected sex between men,[24] whereas in Western Europe the highest proportion was accounted for by heterosexual intercourse.[20]