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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
The last few weeks have shown that so-called pro-family organizations are some of the most useless, money-sucking scams in the world. With real families suffering from economic hardship in America, a declining birthrate in Europe and Google doubling the price of daycare for employees, the only thing right wing family groups want to discuss is their bizarre and all-encompassing fagela fetish.
Recently, The Brooklyn Paper, had a huge headline, "SPLITSVILLE: Brooklyn divorces up 30%." The article cited a number of reasons including, "when the economy tanks, so do many marriages."
One would think this would alarm so-called pro-family organizations and they would be out in force repairing marriages -- or at least looking for economic solutions to take the stress off couples. Unfortunately, as I walked around my Brooklyn neighborhood, I saw not one representative from the American Family Association.
Well, I take that back. I did encounter one of the group's representatives on CNN Headline News as we debated a Heinz mayonnaise ad in the United Kingdom that featured two men kissing. I'm sure the children of these broken marriages in Brooklyn will feel much better knowing Heinz pulled the ad and they can have gay-free mayonnaise at both mommy and daddy's separate houses.
A new study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University showed that in 2006, for the first time in U.S. history, a majority of births to women under 30 -- 50.4 percent -- were out of wedlock. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert points out that, "By comparison, when John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, just 6 percent of all births were to unmarried women under 30.
One imagines that this report might have startled "pro-family" organizations and they would have put their millions of dollars towards stopping this trend. No such luck. Instead, they are investing huge piles of money and manpower to pass anti-gay marriage amendments in Florida, Arizona and California. The upshot for "pro-family" groups is that if heterosexuals keep screwing up marriage, by the time gay people finally win the right nationally, we won't want to use it.
"Evangelicals of the older generation have become obsessed in almost a technical psychological sense in opposing gay rights," David Weddle, a professor of religion at Colorado College told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "The irony is that homosexuality is not a biblical theme."
Right wing organizations and their flocks want to be taken seriously, but their priorities and actions are reprehensible. For example, a middle school teacher was fired in Mount Vernon, Ohio last month after preaching in the classroom, refusing to remove his Bible and burning crosses onto the arms of pupils. You read that correctly -- he seared crosses on the body parts of impressionable students, as if it were a gang ritual.
Surely, reasonable people can agree that such behavior is inappropriate in the classroom. But, oh no, some of the yahoos in Mount Vernon believe their religion places them above the Constitution - so they are holding demonstrations in the town square. I wonder if these zealots would have the same reaction if a teacher were burning a Stars of David or Muslim crescents on the forearms of students?
A recent New York Times magazine article, "Childless Europe," explored why certain countries in Europe are losing population. The hopelessly out of touch Pope Benedict chimed in with his typically sunny advice. "Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future," the Pontiff said. "Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present."
Instead of selfishness, as the Pope implied, it was the traditional values of the Pope that contributed to the problem. In societies that either offered a safety net or where men shared the burdens of child rearing, women were having more babies. However, when educated women were stuck at home and forced to do all the work - such as in Italy - they chose to have less children. Will the Pope now call on men to help out more at home or for countries to ensure daycare for families?
Finally, the Wall Street Wonder, Google, plans to raise the amount it charged for in-house day care by 75 percent. Under the revised plan, parents with two children in Google day care could see their yearly bill increase to more than $57,000 from around $33,000. This crushing blow to the family drove a few employees to tears.
Was the American Family Association in Silicon Valley raising hell and standing up for families? No, they ignored grimacing parents, so they could punish Ronald and Grimace by launching a boycott against McDonald's for supposedly having a gay agenda. Maybe the delusional scolds at the AFA thought they saw rainbow color fries, in much the same way they once accused the cartoon character Mighty Mouse of snorting cocaine.
Right wing organizations can be considered many things - but certainly not advocates for the family. They inhale money, exhale anti-gay pollution and have done absolutely nothing for the traditional families they claim to represent. It seems the more such groups proliferate, the more the family deteriorates.
18 Comments:
As has been clear from day one groups like the American "Family" Association have nothing to do with families, their claims to be "pro-family" are a cheap cover for their sole reason for being, to oppress gays.
posted by Priya Lynn, at
7/08/2008 8:24 PM
People will always find a rationale for their hatred. Like Randi Rhodes says, 'they love the fetus, but hate the child.' Once you're born, you're totally on your own. Why should the govt help provide housing, education, and health care when those poor multi-billionaires still need more more more. The top 1% control about 60% of the wealth, or some obscene figure like that. And of course, most of them are good 'pro-family' republicans.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 9:51 AM
If they're so pro-family and anti marriage equality, why aren't they going after their own kind, i.e. broken hetero marriages, adulterers (some high ranking politicians come to mind), those who espouse family values yet cheat with prostitutes and vote to ban marriage equality; the hetero rapists, female prostitutes, the johns who patronize them, ALL STR8, instead of obsessing about our lives, rights and other issues? Maybe we need to look deeper in their closets and I suspect it would not be a very pretty sight either. Nothing but a bunch of self-serving hypocrites and bigots. Clearly they need to get their own house in order before interfering in ours.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 10:00 AM
Easy, Robert. Because Gay is not THEIR sin, (well for some of them anyway).
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 11:25 AM
Gay is not anyone's sin! Twitterer
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 11:30 AM
They are not "pro-family" organizations; they are simply "homophobic" organizations. They are no different than the KKK, for example, which itself was once widely viewed as a "Christian" organization in this nation and still refers to itself as that.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 2:45 PM
Agreed. They use the word "family" for no other reason than to demonize gays and other minorities they don't approve of.
The not-so-subtle implication is that gays, non-Christians, etc. shouldn't be considered as part of a family and, following that logic further, they therefore shouldn't be considered as human beings (since of course all human beings do have families).
Once you can get someone to regard another person as less-than-human, you've done 90% of the work of justifying social injustice and atrocities.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/09/2008 3:34 PM
Wayne,
This one of your better columns. You nailed it! I linked to it from my blog because your words here so effectively support what I advocate for too.
posted by EncouragingWord, at
7/11/2008 7:42 PM
Right wing organizations are advocates for the traditional, prenuclear, family, i.e., Dad the primary wage earner, Mom the primary homemaker, with the upbringing of their children the primary focus of the woman's efforts during their earlier years, and moreso the man's as they reach the age of emancipation. Not a perfect model, but it reflects what Google management has discovered: even surrogate parenthood for eight or so hours a day is an expensive (i.e., valuable) proposition. It suggests to me that Moms (or Dads) and their kids might be better off with one of the parents at home, and not at Google, at least during their earliest years, when the deepest values and loyalties are formed. Fewer dollars and less possessions, but with more love, would heal many families. Life is NOT all about having the most money, power and/or sex (unless you're delusional and want to die a very bitter person). Focus on the Family does indeed "inhale money" (as does any organiziation, including TWO, with a mission), and (through its Focus on the Family Action wing, which is NOT a tax-deductible charity) does "exhale anti-gay" rhetoric, in keeping with their understanding of the medical and phychological matters involved. Please note (some help from Wikipedia here) that Dr. Dobson is not a minister. He has a doctorate in child development from the University of Southern California and was an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for fourteen years. He also spent seventeen years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics, and remains a licensed psychologist in the State of California. So he has a wealth of professional knowledge from which to draw, and recognizes that not all professionals agree on everything (remember Dr. Spock?). Anyway, getting to my point, it is an incredible untruth to state that Focus on the Family has done "absolutely nothing for the traditional families they claim to represent." Kids' magazines, sports camps, and far more, subsidized for those in need, are provided. Check their web site, as I have yours. I think you have cause and effect reversed here: While it seems to you that the more such [conservative] groups proliferate, the more the family deteriorates, it seems to me that the more the family disintegrates, the more such family groups proliferate. In the words of a great Democratic politician, "defining deviancy downward" is not the solution to the declining American family. Last thought: Focus on the Family is only peripherally involved with gay issues. If you're looking for an organization that is truly focused on countering gay-friendly rhetoric, spend more time covering AFTAH (www.americansfortruth.com).
posted by caryneudahls, at
7/11/2008 11:04 PM
