Bryan Fischer
SPLC belongs on its own "hate group" list
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
In the wake of the publication of the Weekly Standard's devastating expose of the Southern Poverty Center (King of Fearmongers) it's worth reminding the public of a salient truth about the SPLC: it belongs on in its own hate group list.
According to its own website, the criterion for adding groups to the list is "their propagation of known falsehoods" about homosexuality.
I hate to be the one to break this to Mr. Potok, but if that's the criterion, he needs to add the name of the Southern Poverty Law Center to his own list.
Why? Because SPLC peddles 10 myths about homosexuality right there on its own website.
In other words, they promote the very "propaganda" that qualifies them for their own list. If anybody is guilty of the "propagation of known falsehoods," it's the SPLC itself.
I've gone to considerable lengths in another place to quantify that what the SPLC says are "myths" about homosexuality are in fact truths about the lifestyle, everyone of them.
Here in brief are the "known falsehoods" the SPLC propagates.
1. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals do not molest children at higher rates than heterosexuals. But according to the Journal of Sex Research they do. Roughly one-third of all sex offenses against children are carried out by homosexuals despite the fact they comprise just two to three percent of the population.
2. The SPLC falsely claims that same-sex parents don't harm children. But according to prominent sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas, children raised in same-sex households fare worse on 77 of 80 possible outcomes compared to children raised in an intact home by their biological parents.
3. The SPLC says being sexually abused as a child does not lead to homosexuality in adult life. But psychologists are well aware of the powerful imprinting effect of a child's first sexual experience. A child molested by a same-sex adult is profoundly traumatized and scarred by the abuse, and easily becomes confused about his own sexual identity.
Regnerus discovered that an astonishing 23% of children raised in same-sex environments reported sexual abuse while in a same-sex environment, compared to just 2% of children raised in heterosexual environments.
And Mike McManus reports that Walter Schumm, the head of the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State, is about to release research that reveals that 58% of females raised in lesbian environments become lesbians themselves.
4. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals live just as long as heterosexuals. But the International Journal of Epidemiology says homosexual behavior knocks "8-20 years" off normal life expectancy, and a gay activist group in Canada, the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition, declares that the "health issues affecting queer Canadians include lower life expectancy than the average Canadian."
5. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals had nothing to do with Nazism. But William Shirer, author of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," said, "But (in) the brown-shirted S.A...many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, Roehm, were notorious homosexual perverts." Johann Hari, writing for the notorious right-wing Huffington Post, says, "The twisted truth is that gay men have been at the heart of every major fascist movement that ever was – including the gay-gassing, homo-cidal (sic) Third Reich."
6. The SPLC falsely claims that hate crime laws will not lead to the jailing of pastors and others who criticize homosexuality. Tell that the grandmother in Philadelphia who was thrown in jail and faced 47 years in prison for doing nothing more than standing on a public sidewalk and declaring the truth about homosexuality during a gay pride parade. Tell that to Ake Green, a Swedish pastor who narrowly averted two years in prison for preaching a sermon from his own pulpit on a biblical view of homosexuality.
7. The SPLC falsely claims that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military will not damage the armed forces. But the Pentagon's own study, done when the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was being debated, revealed that 62% of active duty armed forces personnel believe that it will in time have negative effects, and the rate is even higher among combat troops in the Marines and the Army. The former commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, said quite plainly that allowing open homosexuals to serve will compromise "unit cohesion" and "combat effectiveness," and the distraction caused by introducing sexual tension into the ranks will likely result in increased casualties.
It's difficult at this point to get honest information from the military, because dissenters have been told to shut up or leave the military altogether. Which pretty much proves the point – open homosexuality in the ranks is not good for morale and cohesion.
8. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals are not more likely to be mentally ill or to abuse drugs and alcohol. But the pro-homosexual Gay and Lesbian Medical Association says that homosexuals "use substances at a higher rate than the general population," have "higher rates of alcohol dependence and abuse," and are subject to higher rates of "depression and anxiety." If we can't take their own word for it, who can we believe?
9. The SPLC falsely claims that people are born homosexual. But extensive research into the sexual preferences of identical twins reveals that, while the concordance rate ought to be 100% if people are "born that way," since identical twins share the same DNA, the concordance rate is somewhere between 5% and 7%.
10. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals cannot leave the lifestyle. But even the former president of the American Psychological Association, Nicholas Cummings, says, "It's a difficult therapy, and it's not huge in terms of numbers, but we have seen success, and that is why the stance that 'you can never change'...[is] absurd."
I don't have a trained eye, but that makes the SPLC ten for ten on the falsehood-ometer.
I hereby formally welcome the Southern Poverty Law Center to its own "hate group" list. It's getting crowded in here.
© Bryan Fischer
April 9, 2013
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
In the wake of the publication of the Weekly Standard's devastating expose of the Southern Poverty Center (King of Fearmongers) it's worth reminding the public of a salient truth about the SPLC: it belongs on in its own hate group list.
According to its own website, the criterion for adding groups to the list is "their propagation of known falsehoods" about homosexuality.
I hate to be the one to break this to Mr. Potok, but if that's the criterion, he needs to add the name of the Southern Poverty Law Center to his own list.
Why? Because SPLC peddles 10 myths about homosexuality right there on its own website.
In other words, they promote the very "propaganda" that qualifies them for their own list. If anybody is guilty of the "propagation of known falsehoods," it's the SPLC itself.
I've gone to considerable lengths in another place to quantify that what the SPLC says are "myths" about homosexuality are in fact truths about the lifestyle, everyone of them.
Here in brief are the "known falsehoods" the SPLC propagates.
1. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals do not molest children at higher rates than heterosexuals. But according to the Journal of Sex Research they do. Roughly one-third of all sex offenses against children are carried out by homosexuals despite the fact they comprise just two to three percent of the population.
2. The SPLC falsely claims that same-sex parents don't harm children. But according to prominent sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas, children raised in same-sex households fare worse on 77 of 80 possible outcomes compared to children raised in an intact home by their biological parents.
3. The SPLC says being sexually abused as a child does not lead to homosexuality in adult life. But psychologists are well aware of the powerful imprinting effect of a child's first sexual experience. A child molested by a same-sex adult is profoundly traumatized and scarred by the abuse, and easily becomes confused about his own sexual identity.
Regnerus discovered that an astonishing 23% of children raised in same-sex environments reported sexual abuse while in a same-sex environment, compared to just 2% of children raised in heterosexual environments.
And Mike McManus reports that Walter Schumm, the head of the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State, is about to release research that reveals that 58% of females raised in lesbian environments become lesbians themselves.
4. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals live just as long as heterosexuals. But the International Journal of Epidemiology says homosexual behavior knocks "8-20 years" off normal life expectancy, and a gay activist group in Canada, the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition, declares that the "health issues affecting queer Canadians include lower life expectancy than the average Canadian."
5. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals had nothing to do with Nazism. But William Shirer, author of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," said, "But (in) the brown-shirted S.A...many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, Roehm, were notorious homosexual perverts." Johann Hari, writing for the notorious right-wing Huffington Post, says, "The twisted truth is that gay men have been at the heart of every major fascist movement that ever was – including the gay-gassing, homo-cidal (sic) Third Reich."
6. The SPLC falsely claims that hate crime laws will not lead to the jailing of pastors and others who criticize homosexuality. Tell that the grandmother in Philadelphia who was thrown in jail and faced 47 years in prison for doing nothing more than standing on a public sidewalk and declaring the truth about homosexuality during a gay pride parade. Tell that to Ake Green, a Swedish pastor who narrowly averted two years in prison for preaching a sermon from his own pulpit on a biblical view of homosexuality.
7. The SPLC falsely claims that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military will not damage the armed forces. But the Pentagon's own study, done when the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was being debated, revealed that 62% of active duty armed forces personnel believe that it will in time have negative effects, and the rate is even higher among combat troops in the Marines and the Army. The former commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, said quite plainly that allowing open homosexuals to serve will compromise "unit cohesion" and "combat effectiveness," and the distraction caused by introducing sexual tension into the ranks will likely result in increased casualties.
It's difficult at this point to get honest information from the military, because dissenters have been told to shut up or leave the military altogether. Which pretty much proves the point – open homosexuality in the ranks is not good for morale and cohesion.
8. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals are not more likely to be mentally ill or to abuse drugs and alcohol. But the pro-homosexual Gay and Lesbian Medical Association says that homosexuals "use substances at a higher rate than the general population," have "higher rates of alcohol dependence and abuse," and are subject to higher rates of "depression and anxiety." If we can't take their own word for it, who can we believe?
9. The SPLC falsely claims that people are born homosexual. But extensive research into the sexual preferences of identical twins reveals that, while the concordance rate ought to be 100% if people are "born that way," since identical twins share the same DNA, the concordance rate is somewhere between 5% and 7%.
10. The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals cannot leave the lifestyle. But even the former president of the American Psychological Association, Nicholas Cummings, says, "It's a difficult therapy, and it's not huge in terms of numbers, but we have seen success, and that is why the stance that 'you can never change'...[is] absurd."
I don't have a trained eye, but that makes the SPLC ten for ten on the falsehood-ometer.
I hereby formally welcome the Southern Poverty Law Center to its own "hate group" list. It's getting crowded in here.
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)