New Yorker does profile on Bryan Fischer. He then LOSES. HIS. SHIT.

Via Right Wing Watch, apparently The New Yorker did a huge in-depth profile on Bryan Fischer after his successful campaign against an openly-gay Romney staffer.

Fischer was clearly excited by the national attention. On his next show, he said, “They went to look for somebody to talk about Governor Romney’s homosexual hire, where did they come? They came to AFR talk network!”

He began a long disquisition about homosexuals, and suggested that they were more prone to domestic violence than straight people. He then denied, as he does routinely, that H.I.V. causes AIDS, calling it a “harmless passenger virus.” It’s a theory derived from Peter Duesberg, a professor of molecular and cell biology at Berkeley, who has been widely criticized. Duesberg has been a guest on Fischer’s program. (Fischer told me, “He has a seven-hundred-page book—I read that thing through from the beginning to the end of it, and was persuaded.”)

Fischer returned to a favorite theme: that homosexual behavior is “always, always, always a matter of choice.” He told his listeners that a scientific study had shown the concordance of homosexuality between identical twins to be only six per cent. “If one of them is gay and it’s genetically caused, the other one ought to be gay one hundred per cent of the time!” he said.

Fischer cites such evidence with ease; he has impressive recall for everything from Bible quotations to academic articles. Yet he draws his information almost exclusively from like-minded sources, and ignores contrary statistics.

Doesn’t sound particularly uncharitable to me, given how the article goes on to list contradicting evidence pointing to heritability of sexuality. How does Fischer respond, though?
Continue reading “New Yorker does profile on Bryan Fischer. He then LOSES. HIS. SHIT.”

New Yorker does profile on Bryan Fischer. He then LOSES. HIS. SHIT.
{advertisement}

Fischer: “Discriminate against homosexual behaviour, or you’re discriminating against Christianity”

Bryan Fischer believes that it is discrimination to tell Christians to stop discriminating. And yet gay-friendly Christians wonder where we get the idea that Christianity is opposed to homosexuality, or that they “teach hate”. Maybe it’s because their biggest advocates say nonsense like this.

I’ve never heard a more compelling argument for discrimination.

Waitaminute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.

It’s not like this is new for Fischer, but it’s certainly nice for him to just come out and say unequivocally that gay rights and his religion are diametrically opposed. It sounds like a false dichotomy, but in his mind, telling him to stop discriminating is really, truly, discrimination. This guy has a long and storied past of saying bullshit exactly like this, but this is the first time in my memory that he’s phrased it quite so bluntly.

At least he finally agrees that all this anti-gay nonsense is discrimination! That’s… LIKE progress, right?

Fischer: “Discriminate against homosexual behaviour, or you’re discriminating against Christianity”

Bryan Fischer quotes MLK to justify anti-gay bigotry

Just keep it up, you sanctimonious religious ponces. Keep piling on homosexuals, gender-queers, and everyone who isn’t exactly like you. That’ll prove your religion is the religion of peace and understanding and enlightenment.

This time, Bryan Fischer of the AFA misapplies Martin Luther King Jr.’s quotes to justify bigotry against gays. How, you might ask? Apparently, by saying that being judgmental of them is appropriate, because you’re judging them for the “content of their character”.

The problem with this is, first you have to say that being gay is somehow an immoral character choice, and not a happenstance of genetics like, say, skin color. And you should probably try to prove that homosexuality is immoral without using your holy book — if you can — while mentioning MLK, considering how many passages from the very same books used to condemn homosexuality are also used to condone slavery of certain classes of people. You’re not going to twist your way out of this while still using your holy book, but I’d probably enjoy seeing you try.

Just another self-righteous asshole with an inability to empathize with people who are not exactly like themselves. Only this one has a radio show and a following.

Bryan Fischer quotes MLK to justify anti-gay bigotry

Bryan Fischer represents a Heightened Risk to my Blood Pressure

Via Right Wing Watch, a clearinghouse of all the ridiculous bullshit the right-wing produces as a matter of course, comes yet another gigantic spike in my blood pressure. It’s like they’re literally trying to make my head explode. In this episode, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association says that homosexuals represent an inherent heightened security risk based on “empirical fact” that they are more often depressed and suicidal.
Continue reading “Bryan Fischer represents a Heightened Risk to my Blood Pressure”

Bryan Fischer represents a Heightened Risk to my Blood Pressure