Allan Dobras #homophobia #fundie #wingnut missionamerica.com

There are two primary reasons why this war was lost. First, persons and organizations that support and/or promote traditional values were slow to recognize the magnitude of the conflict and the consequences of losing. Accordingly, gay rights activists had years to gain their near insurmountable foothold in the media, government, industry, and academia.

Sadly, the leadership of most of the mainline religious denominations were among the first to recognize homosexuals as a persecuted sexual minority and diligently worked to welcome them into their congregations and even into the pulpit. The result was a precipitous decline in membership and a rupture in church unity with many congregations leaving their respective denominations. Nevertheless, these religious leaders seem more than willing to give up a large part of their membership as well as the authority of scripture solely to affirm homosexuality within the church.

Second, and most important, supporters of traditional values also failed to understand the nature of the homosexual agenda and gay activist groups were to left to frame the dimensions of the debate. That is, that homosexuality was inborn and unchangeable and the issue was one of civil rights to a sexual minority, not the deviant and corrupting behavior that homosexuality had been considered over the last several thousand years.

As a result, "sodomy" has all but disappeared from the contemporary lexicon, and the practice is now popularly referred to by the more modern term of "homosexuality." The practice was given a certain air of respectability by the Supreme Court in the June 26, 2003 decision in Lawrence vs. Texas in which the court essentially ruled that homosexuality defines a class of people, not a behavior. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, agreeing with the majority, wrote "A law branding one class of persons as criminal solely based on the state’s moral disapproval of that class and the conduct associated with that class runs contrary to the values of the Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause, under any standard of review.”

Indeed, homosexual affirmation has become the "third rail" of the culture war with most organizations acquiescing to homosexual affirmation in order not to be labeled "homophobic." The paranoia extends even to popular broadcasters and columnists who are otherwise conservative but, for the most part avoid issues associated with gay rights in fear of touching the dreaded "third rail" and having to defend themselves against charges of homophobia.

America is moving in the same direction as Canada and most Western democracies concerning homosexuality, where the practice is a protected behavior and steep penalties can be exacted for voicing what might be considered "hate" speech--including statements that speak against homosexuality from a religious perspective.

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