Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

I love Alvin McEwan’s Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters blog.  If you believe facts and truth and reason have any place in the marriage equality debate, then you need to check out his deep research and tear-’em-down analysis.  I was making a list of blog posts he’s written that I want to keep handy, and I figured I might as well share them with everyone.  Add others in the comments section if you like.

Paul Cameron

If you’ve seen research proving that gays are child molesters or have very short lifespans, or eat the hearts of Christian virgins, then it probably came from Paul Cameron.  Or someone relying on Paul Cameron’s research.  Not that Paul does much research — his professional method is more like this:

1. Take research done by real scientists.
2. Use it to write a  homophobic “scientific” article.
3. Be denounced by the original researchers.
4. Get kicked out of yet another respected professional organization.

He’s so bad that if you hear someone quoting Paul Cameron’s work, you can be sure the speaker is an ignoramus, someone who can only process info that confirms his own prejudice.  Yet Cameron is wonderfully useful to our opponents.  They mine his work for soundbites as they strip us of our rights.  So here’s the new rule:  Anyone invoking Paul Cameron automatically loses the argument.  HBHM will give you the info you need to back that up.

American College of Pediatricians

Oh my gosh — the American College of Pediatricians thinks gay parenting is bad!  And they’re pediatricians!  They must know what they’re talking about.

But wait.  The American Academy of Pediatrics supports gay parenting.  And they’re pediatricians, too.  How can this be?

It’s simple.  ACP is a splinter group formed after AAP issued its statement in support of gay parenting.  They’re a tiny group that does not represent the well-informed scientific consensus.  Ah, but they’re tricky.  Just compare the four words in each group’s name: 

• American/American
• Academy/College
• of/of
• Pediatricians/Pediatrics

No attempt to confuse people, right?  Sure.  Watch out for this tactic:  Quoting a pseudo-professional organization that represents less than 1% of its field.  HBHM rips them apart.

Peter LaBarbera

Peter, or “Porno Pete” as he’s widely known, is an anti-gay activist best known for going to events like Folsom Street Fair and Dore Alley, where he can obsessively photograph gay men having sex, download the pics to his hard drive, and erect them on a website for his followers who are so fundamentally repulsed by homosexuality that all they want to do is look at pictures of it in action.  He’s not a mainstream figure, but sometimes our more prominent opponents will lift information and stories from his website, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.  The Paul Cameron Rule applies here, too:  anyone who quotes LaBarbera or his website automatically loses the argument.

Family Research Council and Tony Perkins

You’ll actually see FRC president Tony Perkins on mainstream political shows.  His organization is another great source of junk science.  HBHM exposes them.

General Right-Wing Anti-Gay Non-Science Nonsense

HBHM takes a number of groups — some of them mainstream — and knocks them down and stomps on their guts, including

• American Family Association
• Traditional Values Coalition
• Concerned Women for America

He shines a light on lie after lie, distortion after distortion, tackling statements such as:

• LGBT homes are not ideal homes to raise children, because gay supportive researchers say so.
• Lesbian and gay relationships are generally violent.
• Gays have a short life span.
• Homosexual relationships do not last.

There’s power in this kind of relentless debunking.  It doesn’t just refute specific points.  It also demonstrates that the opponent’s very best research is dishonest, distorted, and diss-able.  If they had better stuff, they would use it.

And here’s my favorite:

Dishonest Anti-Gay Debate Tactics

This is a tour through the most common flaws in anti-gay reasoning.  I love this post because it goes beyond talking points and current events; it gets down and analyzes strategy.   If you’re on the alert for these dishonest tricks, you’ll be in a great position to rip apart new and bizarre claims made by the opposition, even if you’ve never heard them before.

So that’s Headless Monsters and Holy Bullies.  Bookmark it.