The Sin of Bearing False Witness

The dishonesty from those conservative christians who condemn homosexuality seems to be endless.

For example, there's this alleged Day of Truth phenonema. Quite the load of false witness.

Let's start with the big lie: "The Day of Truth was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective. "

There is no 'homosexual agenda' - there is the human agenda seeking equality, justice, freedom from persecution. The opposition to equal rights for GLBTQ people is hardly a Christian position - it is not Christian to promote persecution and injustice.

Another lie: "The Day of Silence is a national program of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which asks students to remain silent for an entire day to express their support for the promotion of the homosexual agenda in the public schools. Unlike the Day of Silence, the Day of Truth does not encourage students to engage in activities that are likely to disrupt the school’s academic mission. "

According to those who actually particpate in the Day of Silence, its purpose is quite different:
"The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBT and ally students face everyday. In it's 11th year, the Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led actions in the country."

Now, isn't that strange? The reality is 'bring attention to anti-gay bullying, harassment, and discrimination' but some conservative christians deliberately misreport it. Let's look a little more closely, from the Day of Silence website:

"What do you have to say about potential opponents to the Day of Silence?

The issue at hand is the bullying, harassment, name-calling and violence that students see and face in our schools. The Day of Silence is an activity created and led by students to educate their peers and bring an end to this harassment.
We look forward to engaging all organizations and individuals who share The Day of Silence vision of schools free from anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment.
Those who do not support the Day of Silence often protest, but rarely contribute positively to finding ways to end anti-LGBT harassment. Some individuals and groups organize events in response to the Day of Silence. These events grossly mischaracterize or simply misunderstand the basic purpose of the Day of Silence. Bringing attention to these events only adds a false credibility to their misinformation about the Day of Silence, GLSEN and the thousands of American students taking action on April 18th. If you face hostile students or organizations in your school on the Day of Silence remember to remain calm. We encourage you to not get into a debate, make gestures, and certainly not to get into a physical altercation. If you continue to be harassed, we encourage you to contact your GSA advisor or other ally school staff person.
Some critics of the Day of Silence come from the perspective of “reparative” or “conversion” therapy and/or from the perspective of “transformational ministries.” It is important to note that “reparative therapy” has been rejected by all the major health and mental health professions. Additionally, the view of “transformational ministry” adherents is not representative of the views of all people of faith. Finally, the Day of Silence is about unacceptable behavior (anti-LGBT bullying, harassment, and name-calling in schools) not debates about beliefs. "

Emphasis mine.

Another relevant comment on people who counter the Day of Silence:
"During my silence, people responded in completely different ways. One person stopped me and thanked me for what I was doing for all the people who weren't able to. Another person told me that I was a pitiful excuse for a human being. I decided that the thank you was what was really important."

Wow, 'a pitiful excuse for a human being'. Is that really an example of Christian love?

Not much truth in the Day of Truth so far, and it only gets worse. The Day of Truth material speaks of 'speaking the truth in love'. Yesterday, we looked at a few examples of the 'love' in conservative christian actions regarding homosexuality - torture instruments used by the Catholic church for example. Now we'll examine just a few of the specific lies and falsehoods told about GLBTQ people by those who puport to be followers of Jesus Christ.

From "HOMOSEXUALITY FAQ SHEET ", available at the "Day of Truth" website:
"Can homosexuals change? Yes. Advocates of homosexual behaviors will often tout the fact that the APA removed homosexuality from its list of disorders. But Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, who was part of that decision, has done some research that has changed his mind. "Contrary to conventional wisdom," Spitzer said, "some highly motivated individuals, using a variety of change efforts, can make substantial change in multiple indicators of sexual orientation and achieve good heterosexual functioning." "

Dr. Spitzer repeatedly rebuked the Exodus ministries for mis-using and misreporting on his research. The flaws in his methodology have been reported on at length.

The truth of the matter is that there is no confirmed evidence that anyone has ever changed their sexual orientation. The reality is that organizations like Exodus inflict horrific harm on any GLBTQ person unfortunate enough to get involved with them. Suicide is a common result of reparative therapy and ex-gay ministries.

A report on a recent interview with Dr. Spitzer:
"Indeed, when asked Scientific American Mind's question — "Do gays have a choice?" — Spitzer replies, "They have a choice whether to go into therapy, about whether they adopt a gay lifestyle, whether they tell their friends and their family. They don't have a choice as to whether their basic sexual orientation is gay or straight — that they don't have a choice about."

More evidence about such therapies, and trust me, I'll cover this in great detail on a later date. Too many people have been destroyed not to cover it fully.

"The second APA paper, presented by Dr. Ariel Shidlo and Dr. Michael Schroeder, reported findings from a study of 202 homosexuals who were recruited through the Internet and direct mailings to groups advocating conversion therapy. Most of the participants (178, or 88%) reported that efforts to change their sexual orientation had failed. Only 6 (3%) achieved what the researchers considered a heterosexual shift. Drs. Shidlo and Schroeder also reported that many respondents were harmed by the attempt to change."

I know, I wrote above that there is no confirmed evidence that anyone has ever changed their sexual orientation, and this seems to indicate that 3% experienced a 'heterosexual shift'. But, there is a key flaw to the study. The initial orientation of the participants was not quantified in advance, and there is such a thing as bisexuality - having some degree of attraction to both genders. Given the testimonies of bisexuals, and frankly, the testimonies of so called 'ex-gays' - the most that can be concluded is that some bisexual people can be encouraged to focus on the heterosexual element of their sexual orientation.

We do not have any cases where someone, whose sexual orientation has been scientifically quantified as strictly homosexual has become strictly heterosexual. At best, we have some injured bisexuals.

That last link, by the way, provides a very good overview of the issue of ex-gay ministries and reparative therapies.
"Many interventions aimed at changing sexual orientation have succeeded only in reducing or eliminating homosexual behavior rather than in creating or increasing heterosexual attractions. They have, in effect, deprived individuals of their capacity for sexual response to others."

The "Truth", that some conservative christians are spreading public schools, is a lie that tries to deprive others of their capacity for sexual response to others. Mull that over a moment.

The next lie:
"How can homosexuals change? Exodus ministries work with individuals through counseling and also group support. The main focus is, of course, building a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and making him Lord over our lives. "

Here's the truth. There are hundreds of thousands of Christian gay men and lesbians who spent years begging Jesus to make them heterosexual, to no avail. These people report intensely personal relationships with Christ - that were actually weakened by anti-gay theology. When they stopped trying to change their God-given orienation, their relationship with Christ tended to reach even greater levels.

Technically, nearly every sentence in the document contains at least one false claim. An important consideration here is that this is a document in which people who are not gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender presume to know better than we do the truths of our lives.

How is that possible? How is it that someone who is not privy to my innermost thoughts and feelings, can know them better than I do, and do so for millions of human beings?

It is not possible, for humans. The sad sin here is that conservative christians assume for themselves abilities only possessed by God.

One other lie from the Day of Truth material, to bring this to a conclusion. From their document
"THE TEN BIG MYTHS OF HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR":
"There is no convincing evidence for an epidemic of violence against homosexuals.2 "
(One could nitpick about the word epidemic, the heartless need for violence to be extreme in scale before it matters, but the general principle is relevant on its own.)

Day of Truth organizers have lied to us all about the reason for the Day of Silence, attempting to hide the truth: "to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools". Some conservative christian writers go so far as to deny out of hand the existence of bullying, harassment and discrimination targeting GLBTQ students in public school. But the truth of the matter is:
What the Numbers Say About Harassment of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Students
"A study of Massachusetts high school students published in the journal Pediatrics reports that nearly one-third of gay teens had been threatened in the past month with a weapon at school, compared to 7% of heterosexual students surveyed. "

There is so much information there, you really owe it to yourself to read it directly. Reporting by students that no outside party ever intervened when they were harassed. Huge rates of homophobic remarks, harassment on a daily basis.

So, to summarize it all.

The "Day of Truth", produced by the Alliance Defense Fund, promotes hurtful and destructive lies about GLBTQ people, in protest to an effort to reduce the amount of verbal and physical violence in public schools. The Alliance Defense Fund, which claims to defend religious freedom and the sanctity of life, violates the religious freedom of GLBTQ students and works to keep their lives in physical danger at the hands of their classmates.

GLBTQ students, and heterosexual students who are perceived as being GLBTQ, have been harassed, beaten and abused in public schools for decades, and still are. Some conservative christians are actively working to keep public schools places of intimidation and violence against GLBTQ students, by spreading lie upon lie upon lie.

What kind of person works to ensure that bullying, violence, and harassment continues to take place in public schools? Is that what Jesus would do?

If you feel that you've been sinned against by the organizers of 'Day of Truth', whether it is through their efforts to maintain bullying in public schools, or through the pattern of deception they employ, you can write to them and invite them to repent of their sins.



By the way, this blog has more to say about 'Day of Truth'.