澳彩开奖

Founded: 1983

Location: Washington, D.C.

The Family Research Council (FRC) bills itself as 鈥渢he leading voice for the family in our nation鈥檚 halls of power,鈥� but its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians. The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws and anti-bullying programs. To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, the FRC employs a number of 鈥減olicy experts鈥� whose 鈥渞esearch鈥� has allowed the FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to 鈥渢ransform the culture.鈥�

In Its Own Words

鈥淕aining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.鈥�

鈥� Robert Knight, FRC director of cultural studies, and Frank York, 1999

鈥淸Homosexuality] 鈥� embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.鈥�

鈥� Steven Schwalm, FRC senior writer and analyst, in 鈥淒esecrating Corpus Christi,鈥� 1999

鈥淥ne of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 鈥榩rophets鈥� of a new sexual order.鈥�

鈥� 1999 FRC pamphlet, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys

鈥淸T]he evidence indicates that disproportionate numbers of gay men seek adolescent males or boys as sexual partners.鈥�

鈥� Timothy Dailey, senior research fellow, 鈥淗omosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse,鈥� 2002

鈥淲hile activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. 鈥� It is a homosexual problem.鈥�

鈥� FRC President Tony Perkins, FRC website, 2010

Background

The Family Research Council (FRC) emerged from a 1980 White House conference on families. James Dobson, founder of the religious right powerhouse Focus on the Family, met and prayed with a group of eight Christian leaders at a Washington hotel, leading ultimately to the creation of the FRC in 1983 under the initial direction of Gerald Regnier (formerly of the Department of Health and Human Services). The group became a division of Focus on the Family in 1988 under Gary Bauer, a religious right leader who would use his post as a launching pad for a failed 2000 run for the presidency. Bauer had been the undersecretary of education and a domestic policy advisor to President Reagan.

Bauer raised the FRC鈥檚 profile, increased its effectiveness, and built a national network of 鈥渃oncerned citizens鈥� during the Clinton Administration. But the FRC separated from Focus on the Family in 1992 over concerns that its very political work might threaten Focus鈥� tax-exempt status; Dobson and two other Focus officials joined the FRC鈥檚 newly independent board. As an independent nonprofit, the FRC continued its work in 鈥減ro-family鈥� areas, working against abortion and stem cell research, fighting pornography and homosexuality, and promoting 鈥渢he Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society.鈥� That work would establish the FRC as one of the most powerful of the far right鈥檚 advocacy groups.

Bauer brought in several anti-gay researchers who pumped out defamatory material about the LGBT community. Robert Knight, a long-time conservative writer and journalist and major anti-gay propagandist, served as the FRC鈥檚 director of cultural affairs from 1992 until 2002, when he went to Concerned Women for America (CWA; Knight later moved on again and is currently senior writer at Coral Ridge Ministries). During his years at the FRC, Knight penned anti-gay tracts that used the research of thoroughly discredited psychologist Paul Cameron, head of the Colorado-based hate group the Family Research Institute. Knight authored numerous anti-gay papers, and even used Cameron鈥檚 infamous 鈥済ay obituary鈥� study in testimony he offered before Congress to oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 1994. In his prepared statement on that topic, he said, 鈥淎 study of more than 6,400 obituaries in homosexual publications reveals that homosexuals typically have far shorter life spans than the general population.鈥� Cameron鈥檚 study has been thoroughly discredited for several reasons, one of which is its deeply flawed methodology. When asked in 2004 about using Cameron鈥檚 work, Knight, by then with CWA, responded, 鈥淵es, we have used his research. So what?鈥�

While at the FRC, Knight also co-wrote (with Robert York, a former editor at Focus on the Family) a 1999 booklet with the attention-getting title of Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys. Among its more remarkable claims was the baseless assertion that 鈥渙ne of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 鈥榩rophets鈥� of a new sexual order.鈥� The same publication argued that the 鈥渉omosexual rights movement has tried to distance itself from pedophilia, but only for public relations purposes.鈥� The booklet has since disappeared from the FRC鈥檚 website, but the organization has not withdrawn the claims it made.

Since Bauer left the group in 1999, the FRC has had two presidents and has also emerged as one of the most powerful religious right lobbying groups in the country, with a bevy of policy researchers and writers and numerous E-mail feeds geared to a variety of causes. Kenneth Connolly, a Florida attorney and leader in the pro-life movement, served as president from 2000 to 2003. During his tenure, the FRC鈥檚 agenda focused on abortion, traditional marriage, religious liberty, parental choice in education and tax relief for families, though a central part of its mission is still working against equal rights legislation for LGBT Americans.

The FRC also strongly promotes the 鈥渆x-gay鈥� movement as a way to combat LGBT civil rights measures, though professional organizations have repeatedly called so-called 鈥渞eparative therapy鈥� (which seeks to turn gays and lesbians into heterosexuals) into question and issued statements that don鈥檛 support it. For instance, the American Psychological Association issued a report in 2009 reviewing studies of 鈥渆x-gay鈥� therapy. The report found that, 鈥渃ontrary to the claims of practitioners and advocates, recent research studies do not provide evidence of sexual orientation change as the research methods are inadequate to determine the effectiveness of these interventions,鈥� according to Dr. Judith Glassgold, the lead author.

In 2003, Anthony Richard 鈥淭ony鈥� Perkins became president of the FRC after a failed 2002 run for one of Louisiana鈥檚 U.S. Senate seats. Under his leadership, the group continues to peddle its false claims about gays and lesbians and has made combating the 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥� a seemingly obsessive interest.

Before joining the FRC, Perkins served two terms as a Louisiana state representative (1996-2004). He is also a veteran of the Marine Corps and a former police officer and television news reporter. In addition to his numerous appearances in the media and his work with the FRC, he recently co-authored Personal Faith, Public Policy (2008) with Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., senior pastor at Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C. (Jackson, who is African American, runs the virulently anti-gay Hope Christian Church in Lanham, Md. He is a leader in an effort by white and black religious right preachers to work together against gay rights).

In his official FRC biography, some facts about Perkins鈥� life do not appear. According to The Nation, in 1992, while a reserve police officer in Baton Rouge, Perkins failed to report an illegal conspiracy by antiabortion activists to his superiors. That was Operation Rescue鈥檚 鈥淪ummer of Purpose,鈥� when the group targeted the Delta Women鈥檚 Clinic in Baton Rouge. Perkins was dividing his time between his duties as a volunteer for the city鈥檚 police force and his job as a reporter for 鈥淲oody Vision,鈥� a local right-wing television station owned by his mentor, Republican State Rep. Louis 鈥淲oody鈥� Jenkins.

Perkins and his camera crew were a frequent presence outside the clinic, The Nation reported. According to Victor Sachse, a classical record shop owner in the city who volunteered as a patient escort for the clinic, Perkins鈥� reporting was so consistently slanted and inflammatory that the clinic demanded his removal from its grounds. In order to control an increasingly tense situation, the police chief had a chain link fence erected to separate anti-abortion activists from pro-choice protesters, and he called in sheriff鈥檚 deputies and prison guards as extra forces. Perkins publicly criticized the department and the chief and then, after learning about plans for violent tactics by antiabortion activists to break through police lines and send waves of protesters onto the clinic鈥檚 grounds, failed to inform his superiors on the force. As a result of his actions, Perkins was suspended from duty in 1992, and he subsequently quit the reserve force.

In 1996, while managing the U.S. Senate campaign of Woody Jenkins against Mary Landrieu, Perkins paid $82,500 to use the mailing list of former Klan chieftain David Duke. The campaign was fined $3,000 (reduced from $82,500) after Perkins and Jenkins filed false disclosure forms in a bid to hide their link to Duke. Five years later, on May 17, 2001, Perkins gave a speech to the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a white supremacist group that has described black people as a 鈥渞etrograde species of humanity.鈥� Perkins claimed not to know the group鈥檚 ideology at the time, but it had been widely publicized in Louisiana and the nation, because in 1999 鈥� two years before Perkins鈥� speech to the CCC 鈥� Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott had been embroiled in a national scandal over his ties to the group. GOP chairman Jim Nicholson then urged Republicans to avoid the CCC because of its 鈥渞acist views.鈥�

The Duke incident surfaced again in the local press in 2002, when Perkins ran for the Republican nomination for the Senate, dooming his campaign to a fourth-place finish in the primaries.

Part of the FRC鈥檚 recent strategy is to pound home the false claim that gays and lesbians are more likely to sexually abuse children. This is false. The American Psychological Association, among others, has concluded that 鈥渉omosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.鈥� That doesn鈥檛 matter to the FRC, though. Perkins defended the 鈥済ay men as pedophiles鈥� claim yet again in a debate on the Nov. 30, 2010, edition of MSNBC鈥檚 鈥淗ardball With Chris Matthews鈥� with the 澳彩开奖鈥檚 Mark Potok. As the show ended, Perkins stated, 鈥淚f you look at the American College of Pediatricians, they say the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children. So Mark is wrong. He needs to go back and do his own research.鈥�

In fact, the 澳彩开奖 did. The college, despite its professional-sounding name, is a tiny, explicitly religious-right breakaway group from the similarly named American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the 60,000-member association of the profession. The American College of Pediatrics (ACP) splintered from the AAP because of the AAP鈥檚 support of gay and lesbian parents. Publications of the ACP, which has some 200 members, have been roundly attacked by leading scientific authorities who say they are baseless and who also accuse the college of distorting and misrepresenting their work. (Chris Matthews offered a clarification on a follow-up show to describe what the American College of Pediatricians is and separate it from the AAP.)

Perkins dove into the immigration issue in 2006, signing a statement along with leaders of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement that called for strong measures aimed at halting increased immigration. Perkins said the effort was necessary, not so much for guarding America鈥檚 security as to protect its 鈥渃ultural fabric.

Other anti-gay propagandists at the FRC include Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies, who joined the organization in 2001. Sprigg authored a 2010 brochure touting 鈥淭he Top Ten Myths about Homosexuality.鈥� In the brochure, Sprigg claimed that ex-gay therapy works, that sexual orientation can change, that gay people are mentally ill simply because homosexuality makes them that way, and that, 鈥淪exual abuse of boys by adult men is many times more common than consensual sex between adult men, and most of those engaging in such molestation identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual.鈥� He also claimed that 鈥渉omosexuals are less likely to enter into a committed relationship鈥� and 鈥渓ess likely to be sexually faithful to a partner.鈥� Sprigg鈥檚 sources are a mixture of junk science issued by groups that support ex-gay therapy and legitimate science quoted out of context or cherry-picked, a tactic long used by anti-gay groups to bolster their claims about gay people. Several legitimate researchers, like NYU鈥檚 Judith Stacey (a source Sprigg uses), have issued public statements condemning the practice and requesting that anti-gay groups stop misrepresenting their work.

In 2004, Sprigg and FRC Senior Research Fellow Timothy Dailey co-authored the 2004 book Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows About Homosexuality. In it, they repeat claims that gay men 鈥渃ommit a disproportionate number of child sex abuse cases,鈥� that gay people are promiscuous, and that lesbians exhibit 鈥渃ompulsive behavior.鈥� Much of the book鈥檚 content can also be found in separate articles put out by the FRC.

In March 2008, Sprigg responded to a question about uniting gay partners during immigration by saying, 鈥淚 would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than import them.鈥� He later apologized, but in February 2009, he told Chris Matthews, 鈥淚 think there would be a place for criminal sanctions on homosexual behavior.鈥� 鈥淪o we should outlaw gay behavior?鈥� Matthews asked. 鈥淵es,鈥� Sprigg replied.

Dailey, who joined the FRC staff in 1999, is the author of the luridly titled book Dark Obsession: The Tragedy and Threat of the Homosexual Lifestyle as well as several policy papers on the dangers of homosexuality. In Dark Obsession, Dailey describes the tragic life of one young man who died of AIDS. He also includes claims about homosexuality and pedophilia, the instability of LGBT relationships, and links homosexuality to a variety of sexually transmitted diseases. In some of his other papers like 鈥淗omosexuality and Child Abuse,鈥� Dailey links homosexuality to pedophilia, and claims that 鈥渁 tiny percentage of the population (homosexual men) commit one-third or more of the cases of child sexual molestation.鈥�

In another paper titled 鈥淗omosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk,鈥� Dailey quoted from a study that claimed, 鈥淎 disproportionate percentage 鈥� 29 percent 鈥� of the adult children of homosexual parents had been specifically subjected to sexual molestation by that homosexual parent鈥� . Having a homosexual parent(s) appears to increase the risk of incest with a parent by a factor of about 50.鈥� Dailey took that data from Paul Cameron, whose work has been repeatedly denounced as shoddy and biased by the scientific community.

More recently, the FRC set its sights on ensuring that the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥� (DADT) policy in the military remained in place, although it was, in fact, repealed in 2011. In late 2010, Perkins held a webcast to discuss the dire consequences of allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military, using dubious statistics from a poll the FRC commissioned. According to a report, 鈥淢ission Compromised,鈥� authored by retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, who is the FRC鈥檚 senior fellow for national security, allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly will undermine morale and discipline and infringe on the religious freedom of military chaplains, who will be forced to accept homosexuality and will no longer be permitted to express their religious beliefs about it. In addition, Maginnis predicted that heterosexual service members would be forced to take 鈥渟ensitivity classes鈥� that promote the 鈥渉omosexual lifestyle鈥� and added that: 鈥淗omosexual activists seek to force the U.S. military to embrace their radical views and sexual conduct, no matter the consequences for combat effectiveness.鈥�

The group has also waded into the debate over anti-bullying policies, which became a matter of national debate after several gay students committed suicide in late 2010. On Oct. 11, 2010, Perkins managed to get the Washington Post to run his op-ed, in which he reiterated his point that anti-bullying policies are not really intended by their supporters to protect students. 鈥淗omosexual activist groups like GLSEN [Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network] 鈥� are exploiting these tragedies to push their agenda of demanding not only tolerance of homosexual individuals, but active affirmation of homosexual conduct and their efforts to redefine the family.鈥�

Ever since born-again singer and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant helped kick off the contemporary anti-gay movement more than 30 years ago, hard-line elements of the religious right have been searching for ways to demonize gay people 鈥� or, at a minimum, to find arguments that will prevent their normalization in society. For the former Florida beauty queen and her Save Our Children group, it was the alleged plans of gay men and lesbians to 鈥渞ecruit鈥� in schools that provided the fodder for their crusade.

But in addition to hawking that myth, the legions of anti-gay activists who followed have added a panoply of others, ranging from the extremely doubtful claim that sexual orientation is a choice, to unalloyed lies like the claims that gay men molest children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalization of bestiality and necrophilia. These fairy tales are important to the anti-gay right because they form the basis of its claim that homosexuality is a social evil that must be suppressed 鈥� an opinion rejected by virtually all relevant medical and scientific authorities. They also almost certainly contribute to hate crime violence directed at the LGBT community, which is targeted for such attacks more than any other minority in America. What follows are 10 key myths propagated by the anti-gay movement, along with the truth behind the propaganda.

MYTH # 1 Gay men molest children at far higher rates than heterosexuals.

THE ARGUMENT

Depicting gay men as a threat to children may be the single most potent weapon for stoking public fears about homosexuality 鈥� and for winning elections and referenda, as Anita Bryant found out during her successful 1977 campaign to overturn a Dade County, Fla., ordinance barring discrimination against gay people. Discredited psychologist Paul Cameron, the most ubiquitous purveyor of anti-gay junk science, has been a major promoter of this myth. Despite having been debunked repeatedly and very publicly, Cameron鈥檚 work is still widely relied upon by anti-gay organizations, although many no longer quote him by name. Others have cited a group called the American College of Pediatricians to claim, as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council did in November 2010, that 鈥渢he research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a [molestation] danger to children.鈥�

THE FACTS

According to the American Psychological Association, 鈥渉omosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.鈥� Gregory Herek, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who is one of the nation鈥檚 leading researchers on prejudice against sexual minorities, reviewed a series of studies and found no evidence that gay men molest children at higher rates than heterosexual men.

Anti-gay activists who make that claim allege that all men who molest male children should be seen as homosexual. But research by A. Nicholas Groth, a pioneer in the field of sexual abuse of children, shows that is not so. Groth found that there are two types of child molesters: fixated and regressive. The fixated child molester 鈥� the stereotypical pedophile 鈥� cannot be considered homosexual or heterosexual because 鈥渉e often finds adults of either sex repulsive鈥� and often molests children of both sexes. Regressive child molesters are generally attracted to other adults, but may 鈥渞egress鈥� to focusing on children when confronted with stressful situations. Groth found that the majority of regressed offenders were heterosexual in their adult relationships.

The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute notes that 90% of child molesters target children in their network of family and friends. Most child molesters, therefore, are not gay people lingering outside schools waiting to snatch children from the playground, as much religious-right rhetoric suggests.

Some anti-gay ideologues cite the American College of Pediatricians鈥� opposition to same-sex parenting as if the organization were a legitimate professional body. In fact, the so-called college is a tiny breakaway faction of the similarly named, 60,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics that requires, as a condition of membership, that joiners 鈥渉old true to the group鈥檚 core beliefs 鈥� [including] that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children.鈥� The group鈥檚 2010 publication Facts About Youth was described by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association as non-factual. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, was one of several legitimate researchers who said Facts misrepresented their findings. 鈥淚t is disturbing to me to see special interest groups distort my scientific observations to make a point against homosexuality,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he information they present is misleading and incorrect.鈥�

MYTH # 2 Same-sex parents harm children.

THE ARGUMENT

Most hard-line anti-gay organizations are heavily invested, from both a religious and a political standpoint, in promoting the traditional nuclear family as the sole framework for the healthy upbringing of children. They maintain a reflexive belief that same-sex parenting must be harmful to children 鈥� although the exact nature of that supposed harm varies widely.

THE FACTS

No legitimate research has demonstrated that same-sex couples are any more or any less harmful to children than heterosexual couples.

The American Academy of Pediatrics in a 2002 policy statement declared: 鈥淎 growing body of scientific literature demonstrates that children who grow up with one or two gay and/or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual.鈥� That policy statement was reaffirmed in 2009.

The American Psychological Association found that 鈥渟ame-sex couples are remarkably similar to heterosexual couples, and that parenting effectiveness and the adjustment, development and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation.鈥�

Similarly, the Child Welfare League of America鈥檚 official position with regard to same-sex parents is that 鈥渓esbian, gay, and bisexual parents are as well-suited to raise children as their heterosexual counterparts.鈥�

MYTH # 3 People become gay because they were sexually abused as children or there was a deficiency in sex-role modeling by their parents.

THE ARGUMENT

Many anti-gay rights proponents claim that homosexuality is a mental disorder caused by some psychological trauma or aberration in childhood. This argument is used to counter the common observation that no one, gay or straight, consciously chooses his or her sexual orientation. Joseph Nicolosi, a founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, said in 2009 that 鈥渋f you traumatize a child in a particular way, you will create a homosexual condition.鈥� He also has repeatedly said, 鈥淔athers, if you don鈥檛 hug your sons, some other man will.鈥� A side effect of this argument is the demonization of parents of gay men and lesbians, who are led to wonder if they failed to protect a child against sexual abuse or failed as role models in some important way. In 2010, the Journal of Biosocial Science published a study by Kansas State University family studies professor Walter Schumm arguing that gay couples are more likely than heterosexuals to raise gay or lesbian children. (The Journal was previously affiliated with the Galton Institute, a British organization formerly known as the Eugenics Society.)

THE FACTS

No scientifically sound study has linked sexual orientation or identity with parental role-modeling or childhood sexual abuse.

The American Psychiatric Association noted in a 2000 fact sheet on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues that 鈥渘o specific psychosocial or family dynamic cause for homosexuality has been identified, including histories of childhood sexual abuse.鈥� The fact sheet goes on to say that sexual abuse does not appear to be any more prevalent among children who grow up and identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual than in children who grow up and identify as heterosexual.

Similarly, the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization notes on its website that 鈥渆xperts in the human sexuality field do not believe that premature sexual experiences play a significant role in late adolescent or adult sexual orientation鈥� and added that it鈥檚 unlikely that someone can make another person gay or heterosexual.

With regard to Schumm鈥檚 study, critics have already said that he appears to have merely aggregated anecdotal data, a biased sample that invalidates his findings.

MYTH # 4 Gay men and lesbians don鈥檛 live nearly as long as heterosexuals.

THE ARGUMENT

Anti-gay organizations want to promote heterosexuality as the healthier 鈥渃hoice.鈥� Furthermore, the purportedly shorter life spans and poorer physical and mental health of gays and lesbians are often offered as reasons why they shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to adopt or foster children.

THE FACTS

This falsehood can be traced directly to the discredited research of Paul Cameron and his Family Research Institute, specifically a 1994 paper he co-wrote entitled, 鈥淭he Lifespan of Homosexuals.鈥� Using obituaries collected from gay newspapers, he and his two co-authors concluded that gay men died, on average, at 43, compared to an average life expectancy at the time of around 73 for all U.S. men. On the basis of the same obituaries, Cameron also claimed that gay men are 18 times more likely to die in car accidents than heterosexuals, 22 times more likely to die of heart attacks than whites, and 11 times more likely than blacks to die of the same cause. He also concluded that lesbians are 487 times more likely to die of murder, suicide, or accidents than straight women.

Remarkably, these claims have become staples of the anti-gay right and have frequently made their way into far more mainstream venues. For example, William Bennett, education secretary under President Reagan, used Cameron鈥檚 statistics in a 1997 interview he gave to ABC News鈥� 鈥淭his Week.鈥�

However, like virtually all of his 鈥渞esearch,鈥� Cameron鈥檚 methodology is egregiously flawed 鈥� most obviously because the sample he selected (the data from the obits) was not remotely statistically representative of the gay population as a whole. Even Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, has called Cameron鈥檚 methods 鈥渏ust ridiculous.鈥�

MYTH # 5 Gay men controlled the Nazi Party and helped to orchestrate the Holocaust.

THE ARGUMENT

This claim comes directly from a 1995 book titled The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams. Lively is the virulently anti-gay founder of Abiding Truth Ministries and Abrams is an organizer of a group called the International Committee for Holocaust Truth, which came together in 1994 and included Lively as a member.

The primary argument Lively and Abrams make is that gay people were not victimized by the Holocaust. Rather, Hitler deliberately sought gay men for his inner circle because their 鈥渦nusual brutality鈥� would help him run the party and mastermind the Holocaust. In fact, 鈥渢he Nazi party was entirely controlled by militaristic male homosexuals throughout its short history,鈥� the book claims. 鈥淲hile we cannot say that homosexuals caused the Holocaust, we must not ignore their central role in Nazism,鈥� Lively and Abrams add. 鈥淭o the myth of the 鈥榩ink triangle鈥� 鈥� the notion that all homosexuals in Nazi Germany were persecuted 鈥� we must respond with the reality of the 鈥榩ink swastika.鈥欌��

These claims have been picked up by a number of anti-gay groups and individuals, including Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, as proof that gay men and lesbians are violent and sick. The book has also attracted an audience among anti-gay church leaders in Eastern Europe and among Russian-speaking anti-gay activists in America.

THE FACTS

The Pink Swastika has been roundly discredited by legitimate historians and other scholars. Christine Mueller, professor of history at Reed College, did a line-by-line refutation of an earlier (1994) Abrams article on the topic and of the broader claim that the Nazi Party was 鈥渆ntirely controlled鈥� by gay men. Historian Jon David Wynecken at Grove City College also refuted the book, pointing out that Lively and Abrams did no primary research of their own, instead using out-of-context citations of some legitimate sources while ignoring information from those same sources that ran counter to their thesis.

The myth that the Nazis condoned homosexuality sprang up in the 1930s, started by socialist opponents of the Nazis as a slander against Nazi leaders. Credible historians believe that only one of the half-dozen leaders in Hitler鈥檚 inner circle, Ernst R枚hm, was gay. (R枚hm was murdered on Hitler鈥檚 orders in 1934.) The Nazis considered homosexuality one aspect of the 鈥渄egeneracy鈥� they were trying to eradicate.

When the National Socialist Party came to power in 1933, it quickly strengthened Germany鈥檚 existing penalties against homosexuality. Heinrich Himmler, Hitler鈥檚 security chief, announced that homosexuality was to be 鈥渆liminated鈥� in Germany, along with miscegenation among the races. Historians estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality (or suspicion of it) under the Nazi regime. These men were routinely sent to concentration camps and many thousands died there.

In 1942, the Nazis instituted the death penalty for gay men. Offenders in the German military were routinely shot. Himmler put it like this: 鈥淲e must exterminate these people root and branch. 鈥� We can鈥檛 permit such danger to the country; the homosexual must be completely eliminated.鈥�

MYTH # 6 Hate crime laws will lead to the jailing of pastors who criticize homosexuality and the legalization of practices like bestiality and necrophilia.

THE ARGUMENT

Anti-gay activists, who have long opposed adding LGBT people to those protected by hate crime legislation, have repeatedly claimed that such laws would lead to the jailing of religious figures who preach against homosexuality 鈥� part of a bid to gain the backing of the broader religious community for their position. Janet Porter of Faith2Action was one of many who asserted that the federal Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act 鈥� signed into law by President Obama in October 2009 鈥� would 鈥渏ail pastors鈥� because it 鈥渃riminalizes speech against the homosexual agenda.鈥�

In a related assertion, anti-gay activists claimed the law would lead to the legalization of psychosexual disorders (paraphilias) like bestiality and pedophilia. Bob Unruh, a conservative Christian journalist who left The Associated Press in 2006 for the right-wing, conspiracist news site WorldNetDaily, said shortly before the federal law was passed that it would legalize 鈥渁ll 547 forms of sexual deviancy or 鈥榩araphilias鈥� listed by the American Psychiatric Association.鈥� This claim was repeated by many anti-gay organizations, including the Illinois Family Institute.

THE FACTS

The claim that hate crime laws could result in the imprisonment of those who 鈥渙ppose the homosexual lifestyle鈥� is false. The Constitution provides robust protections of free speech, and case law makes it clear that even a preacher who suggested that gays and lesbians should be killed would be protected.

Neither do hate crime laws 鈥� which provide for enhanced penalties when persons are victimized because of their 鈥渟exual orientation鈥� (among other factors) 鈥� 鈥減rotect pedophiles,鈥� as Janet Porter and many others have claimed. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation refers to heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality 鈥� not paraphilias such as pedophilia. Paraphilias, as defined by the American Psychiatric Assocation, are disorders characterized by sexual urges or behaviors directed at nonhuman objects or non-consenting persons like children, or that involve the suffering or humiliation of one鈥檚 partner.

Even if pedophiles, for example, were protected under a hate crime law 鈥� and such a law has not been suggested or contemplated anywhere 鈥� that would not legalize or 鈥減rotect鈥� pedophilia. Pedophilia is illegal sexual activity, and a law that more severely punished people who attacked pedophiles would not change that.

MYTH # 7 Allowing gay people to serve openly will damage the armed forces.

THE ARGUMENT

Anti-gay groups have been adamantly opposed to allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces, not only because of their purported fear that combat readiness will be undermined, but because the military has long been considered the purest meritocracy in America (the armed forces were successfully racially integrated long before American civilian society, for example). If gays serve honorably and effectively in this meritocracy, that suggests that there is no rational basis for discriminating against them in any way.

THE FACTS

Gays and lesbians have long served in the U.S. armed forces, though under the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥� (DADT) policy that governed the military between 1993 and September 2011, they could not serve openly. At the same time, gays and lesbians have served openly for years in the armed forces of 25 countries, including Britain, Israel, South Africa, Canada and Australia, according to a report released by the Palm Center, a policy think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The Palm Center report concluded that lifting bans against openly gay service personnel in these countries 鈥渉a[s] had no negative impact on morale, recruitment, retention, readiness or overall combat effectiveness.鈥� Successful transitions to new policies were attributed to clear signals of leadership support and a focus on a uniform code of behavior without regard to sexual orientation.

A 2008 Military Times poll of active-duty military personnel, often cited by anti-gay activists, found that 10% of respondents said they would not re-enlist if the DADT policy were repealed. That would mean some 228,000 people may leave the military in the wake of the 2011 ending of that policy. But a 2009 review of that poll by the Palm Center suggested a wide disparity between what soldiers said they would do and their actual actions. It noted, for example, that far more than 10% of West Point officers in the 1970s said they would leave the service if women were admitted to the academy. 鈥淏ut when the integration became a reality,鈥� the report said, 鈥渢here was no mass exodus; the opinions turned out to be just opinions.鈥� Similarly, a 1985 survey of 6,500 male Canadian service members and a 1996 survey of 13,500 British service members each revealed that nearly two-thirds expressed strong reservations about serving with gays. Yet when those countries lifted bans on gays serving openly, virtually no one left the service for that reason. 鈥淣one of the dire predictions of doom came true,鈥� the Palm Center report said.

MYTH # 8 Gay people are more prone to be mentally ill and to abuse drugs and alcohol.

THE ARGUMENT

Anti-gay groups want not only to depict sexual orientation as something that can be changed but also to show that heterosexuality is the most desirable 鈥渃hoice鈥� 鈥� even if religious arguments are set aside. The most frequently used secular argument made by anti-gay groups in that regard is that homosexuality is inherently unhealthy, both mentally and physically. As a result, most anti-gay rights groups reject the 1973 decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Some of these groups, including the particularly hard-line Traditional Values Coalition, claim that 鈥渉omosexual activists鈥� managed to infiltrate the APA in order to sway its decision.

THE FACTS

All major professional mental health organizations are on record as stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

It is true that LGBT people suffer higher rates of anxiety, depression, and depression-related illnesses and behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse than the general population. But studies done during the past 15 years have determined that it is the stress of being a member of a minority group in an often-hostile society 鈥� and not LGBT identity itself 鈥� that accounts for the higher levels of mental illness and drug use.

Richard J. Wolitski, an expert on minority status and public health issues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put it like this in 2008: 鈥淓conomic disadvantage, stigma, and discrimination 鈥� increase stress and diminish the ability of individuals [in minority groups] to cope with stress, which in turn contribute to poor physical and mental health.鈥�

MYTH # 9 No one is born gay.

THE ARGUMENT

Anti-gay activists keenly oppose the granting of 鈥渟pecial鈥� civil rights protections to gay people similar to those afforded black Americans and other minorities. But if people are born gay 鈥� in the same way people have no choice as to whether they are black or white 鈥� discrimination against gay men and lesbians would be vastly more difficult to justify. Thus, anti-gay forces insist that sexual orientation is a behavior that can be changed, not an immutable characteristic.

THE FACTS

Modern science cannot state conclusively what causes sexual orientation, but a great many studies suggest that it is the result of biological and environmental forces, not a personal 鈥渃hoice.鈥� One of the more recent is a 2008 Swedish study of twins (the world鈥檚 largest twin study) that appeared in The Archives of Sexual Behavior and concluded that 鈥淸h]omosexual behaviour is largely shaped by genetics and random environmental factors.鈥� Dr. Qazi Rahman, study co-author and a leading scientist on human sexual orientation, said: 鈥淭his study puts cold water on any concerns that we are looking for a single 鈥榞ay gene鈥� or a single environmental variable which could be used to 鈥榮elect out鈥� homosexuality 鈥� the factors which influence sexual orientation are complex. And we are not simply talking about homosexuality here 鈥� heterosexual behaviour is also influenced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors.鈥�

The American Psychological Association (APA) acknowledges that despite much research into the possible genetic, hormonal, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no evidence has emerged that would allow scientists to pinpoint the precise causes of sexual orientation. Still, the APA concludes that 鈥渕ost people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.鈥�

In 2010, the Journal of Biosocial Science published a study by Kansas State University family studies professor Walter Schumm arguing that gay couples are more likely than heterosexuals to raise gay or lesbian children. (The Journal was previously affiliated with the Galton Institute, a British organization formerly known as the Eugenics Society.) Schumm told a reporter that he was 鈥渢rying to prove [homosexuality is] not 100% genetic.鈥� But critics suggested that his data did not prove that, and, in any event, virtually no scientists have suggested that homosexuality is caused only by genes.

MYTH # 10 Gay people can choose to leave homosexuality.

THE ARGUMENT

If people are not born gay, as anti-gay activists claim, then it should be possible for individuals to abandon homosexuality. This view is buttressed among religiously motivated anti-gay activists by the idea that homosexual practice is a sin and humans have the free will needed to reject sinful urges.

A number of 鈥渆x-gay鈥� religious ministries have sprung up in recent years with the aim of teaching gay people to become heterosexuals, and these have become prime purveyors of the claim that gays and lesbians, with the aid of mental therapy and Christian teachings, can 鈥渃ome out of homosexuality.鈥� Exodus International, the largest of these ministries, plainly states, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be gay!鈥� Another, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, describes itself as 鈥渁 professional, scientific organization that offers hope to those who struggle with unwanted homosexuality.鈥�

THE FACTS

鈥淩eparative鈥� or sexual reorientation therapy 鈥� the pseudo-scientific foundation of the ex-gay movement 鈥� has been rejected by all the established and reputable American medical, psychological, psychiatric, and professional counseling organizations. In 2009, for instance, the American Psychological Association adopted a resolution, accompanied by a 138-page report, that repudiated ex-gay therapy. The report concluded that compelling evidence suggested that cases of individuals going from gay to straight were 鈥渞are鈥� and that 鈥渕any individuals continued to experience same-sex sexual attractions鈥� after reparative therapy. The APA resolution added that 鈥渢here is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation鈥� and asked 鈥渕ental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation.鈥� The resolution also affirmed that same-sex sexual and romantic feelings are normal.

Some of the most striking, if anecdotal, evidence of the ineffectiveness of sexual reorientation therapy has been the numerous failures of some of its most ardent advocates. For example, the founder of Exodus International, Michael Bussee, left the organization in 1979 with a fellow male ex-gay counselor because the two had fallen in love. Alan Chambers, current president of Exodus, said in 2007 that with years of therapy, he鈥檚 mostly conquered his attraction to men, but then admitted, 鈥淏y no means would we ever say that change can be sudden or complete.鈥�