Matt Barber

Staver/Barbar: California law turns sexual abuse victims into gays and transgender

Jason Thibeault, , , , , , , , 6 Comments

The specific laws they’re talking about, that are preventing kids from receiving counselling? The “change therapy” laws of course, which forbid religious “therapists” from trying to un-gay-ify kids. Their reasoning is that children who are predated upon by pedophiles have no recourse but to go with any gay feelings they have thereafter.

The premise that gays and transgender folks end up “that way” because of abuse as kids is patently wrong. And even if it was right, it is no justification for subjecting children to the mental and emotional abuse that reparative therapy represents.

I especially like that they’re trying to change the name “reparative therapy” to “change therapy”. It ain’t going to work. We already know that it doesn’t work [pdf], and we know what appropriate responses are to homosexuality.

It’s an incorrect and damaging response to a problem that’s entirely fictional. We don’t even have to get into the motivations these people have to attack homosexuals for their orientation — yes, the thin and threadbare rationale they have for their judging homosexuality as a problem is, of course, their religious beliefs. Otherwise they wouldn’t have called the ban “bullying and abuse” — devaluing both words, in the face of the very real abuse they’re being told they can no longer perpetrate.

Staver/Barbar: California law turns sexual abuse victims into gays and transgender
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Matt Barber fails simple irony test

Jason Thibeault, , , 1 Comment

Don’t forget, the Gamers For Godlessness 24 Hour Gameathon fundraiser for Camp Quest and Women In Secularism starts tomorrow at 12 Noon EST! This link will take you there, though the link will only be live tomorrow at 10am EST.

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Considering the So-Called War On Christmas is a trumped-up and nonexistent thing, and how Christians get all up in arms any time they’re told “no, they can’t impose their version of Christmas on others”, and how any instance of “Happy Holidays” is somehow offensive to them… yeah. Matt Barber apparently thinks the problem is people being too easily offended. But he doesn’t get that practically nobody on the “let’s keep government secular” side of the equation is actually offended by Christmas, or nativity scenes, or you celebrating in Christ’s name. We just don’t want you doing it on public or government grounds.

Have your nativity scenes on your church lawns, or your front yards (if one nativity scene every three blocks is insufficient density for your tastes — seriously, how many churches do you really need?). I don’t give a shit, frankly, as long as your religious displays and your creches are on your own property, not on the government’s or public land.

And please stop being so easily offended by people pointing out that there are people of other faiths who don’t need yours rammed down their throats, because you should know it works both ways. This is yet another instance of a majority, in a position of privilege by virtue of having most of the political and social clout, who thinks any attempt to limit their free hand to subjugate the minorities is actually a form of suppression — he actually uses the phrase “tyranny of the minority” to describe telling the majority to take their foot off the minority’s throat. It’s bloody laughable! It’s no more an abrogation of your rights than telling bullies to stop stealing other kids’ lunch money is an abrogation of the bullies’ rights.

News flash: you do not have the right to impose your religion on others. The laws you attempt to break by putting your religious displays on public and government land also protect you from having to suffer through some other religion’s imposition of their observances should they ever gain political sway — and you breaking those laws is definitely not a right.

Matt Barber fails simple irony test

Barber/Staver: Dan Savage poisoning kids against “believers in normal sexuality”

Jason Thibeault, , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

From the introduction saying Dan Savage talks dirty to children, through the claim that heteronormalcy is under attack and that gay people are effectively bullying people who “believe in normal sexuality” by trying to create legislation to get them to stop bullying gay people, this video pretty much shows exactly how little of the moral landscape these people understand.

We are near the tipping point, and people like Matt Barber and Mat Staver are the ones who will be seen, through history’s eye, as terrible bigots fighting for religiously-inspired bigotry. I have little doubt that, in the future, those passages that regard homosexuality as abomination will be thrown out exactly like those that condone slavery. These people fighting against gay marriage will be seen exactly like the anti-miscegenation activists, as anachronistic and small-minded, and poor readers of their own bible.

Hat tip Right Wing Watch.

Urgh. These asshats give me indigestion.

Barber/Staver: Dan Savage poisoning kids against “believers in normal sexuality”