When “Ex-Gays” Attack

Posted on | December 13, 2005

Word is starting to generate in the blogosphere about an advertising campaign under way by a bunch of “former homosexuals” who, through the magic of self-delusion and reaction formation, “cured” their homosexuality and now have embarked on a quest to prevent sexual orientation from being added to the list of protected groups.I do have to admit that I am not in favor of hate crime laws in general. The problem I have with hate crime laws is that they do place innate value in people based solely on factors like race, sex, religion and so forth. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for this because hatred is intangible. Now in no way am I in denial of the fact that crimes based on an individual’s hatred do exist. Actually I feel they happen a little too much for my comfort. But why does a difference in race, religion, or some other factor suddenly make a crime worse? Assaulting someone is still assault. Killing someone is still murder. Why does it suddenly become worse? The effect on the victim should determine any enhancement to the sentence, not some nominal classification. In my opinion, hate crime laws leave too much open to jury interpretation as opposed to hard evidence. But that is just my opinion on the matter.The first problem I have with this campaign is the “ex-gay” movement tagging homosexuality as being the only status that would create such inequality as if every definition was ok except for sexual orientation. Look at who is pushing this bullshit however. We have the perennial favorites there being Focus on the Family, the American Family Association, and Exodus International. All of these groups have agendas that are generally homophobic. There are others of which I am not familiar with but probably have the same agenda as well.They are probably afraid that if such laws pass, then they will be held responsible for the hatred they spew on a regular basis. Exodus International, one of the better known “ex-gay” organizations out there, is probably scared that their self-hatred will also qualify. Not to mention “ex-gays” should be worrying more about their therapy and anti-depressant medication bills than hate crime legislation.

The second problem I have is that these ads are a lie. The line they are using in them is “Hate Crime laws say we were more valuable as homosexuals than we are now as former homosexuals.” This is a flat-out lie. By adding sexual orientation to hate crime laws it protects homosexuals, bisexuals, and heterosexuals as well. It would be just as much of a hate crime if a bunch of homosexuals assaulted or murdered someone based solely on the victimâ€™s heterosexuality as it would be if the instigators were heterosexual and the victim was homosexual.

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