Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric

Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people.

[8] This discourse, promoted by the governments of Hungary and Poland, alleges that LGBTQ rights movements are controlled by foreign forces (such as the European Union) and are a threat to national independence and western civilization.

[20][21] Agreement Party MP Jacek Żalek stated in an interview that the LGBT community "are not people" and "it's an ideology", which led to the journalist Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska [pl] asking him to leave the studio; the row caused controversy.

"[23] He promised to "ban the propagation of LGBT ideology in public institutions", including schools, similar to the Russian gay propaganda law.

[24] On the same day, PiS MP Przemysław Czarnek said on a TVP Info talk show, regarding a photo of a naked person in a gay bar, "Let's defend ourselves against LGBT ideology and stop listening to those idiocies about human rights or equality.

"[27] In August 2020, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced a new program for "counteracting crimes related to the violation of freedom of conscience committed under the influence of LGBT ideology".

In the language of right-wing propaganda... 'LGBT ideology' serves to dehumanize minorities and create an enemy – and thus build political support for the right, which presents itself as the only defender of the traditional family, religion and social order.

[39]Dehumanization is a frequent feature of anti-LGBT rhetoric, which may take the form of comparing LGBT people to animals or equating homosexual relationships with bestiality.

[46] Anti-LGBT rhetoric also includes calls for violence against LGBT people and suggestions that they should be killed or die,[47] such as in Cyprus,[48] Iran,[49] Russia,[50] the United States,[51][52] Malawi,[53] and Uganda.

[59] This trope was common in early modern Christian literature;[60] homosexuals were blamed for earthquakes, floods, famines, plagues, invasions of Saracens, and field mice.

[62] In 2020, various religious figures including Israeli rabbi Meir Mazuz have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic is divine retribution for same-sex activity or pride parades.

[63] Following the September 2001 attacks, televangelist Jerry Falwell blamed "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way" for provoking the aggression of Islamic fundamentalists and causing God to withdraw his protection for America.

It is reported that the slogan first appeared in public in the early 1990s, when Sebastian Bach, the former lead singer of the heavy metal band Skid Row, wore it on a t-shirt thrown to him by an audience member.

[80] Some of those who called homosexuality unnatural, such as Traditional Values Coalition head and Christian right activist Louis Sheldon, said that if it were proven to be a biologically based phenomenon, it would still be diseased.

[93] In 1977, while campaigning against a local ordinance protecting gay teachers against employment discrimination, anti-gay activist Anita Bryant stated, "A homosexual is not born, they are made".

[93] Many conservative Christians consider homosexual acts to be inherently sinful based on common interpretations of scriptural passages such as Leviticus 18:22 ("You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination"), Leviticus 20:13 ("If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them"), and 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 ("Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?

")[95] The story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two biblical cities which were burned down due to the sins of its inhabitants, is mostly portrayed as divine retribution for homosexual behavior.

[102][104] During the initial outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the United States in 1985, conservative congressman William E. Dannemeyer used the slogan to argue that gay men were a threat to public health.

[104] The phrase was used by Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson during a debate on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 in the British House of Commons, although his slip of the tongue saying "in the Garden of Eden, it was Adam and Steve" initially caused laughter in the chamber.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia employed anti-gay rhetoric as part of his "Asian values" program, describing homosexuality as one of several Western ills.

They express concern that anti-bullying efforts teach that "homosexuality is normal, and that students shouldn't harass their classmates because they're gay", suggesting recruitment as the primary motivation.

[163][164] Sherry coined the phrase "homintern discourse" to refer to mid–20th century American conspiracy theories targeting gay artists, many of whose works were prominently used as propaganda in the Cultural Cold War against the Soviet Union.

[165] During the second Red Scare in the 1950s, the "homintern" was invoked by American Senator Joseph McCarthy, who used it to claim that the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman were set on destroying America from within.

[165][167] The term "Gaystapo" (French: Gestapette) was coined in France in the 1940s by political satirist Jean Galtier-Boissière for the Vichy education minister, Abel Bonnard.

The similar term, "velvet mafia," used to describe the influential gay crowd who supposedly ran Hollywood and the fashion industry in the late 1970s, was coined by New York Sunday News writer Steven Gaines in reference to the Robert Stigwood Organization, a British record company and management group.

[180] In July 2013, Francis went on to draw a distinction between the problem of lobbying and the sexual orientation of people: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"

According to GLAAD, "Another prominent anti-LGBTQ trope includes the use of anti-trans buzzwords like 'gender ideology' and 'transgenderism' to claim that the LGBTQ+ community and its allies aim to indoctrinate or brainwash kids into identifying as transgender.

[214] According to a study in Pediatrics, "The deleterious effect of unfounded hypotheses stigmatizing TGD youth, particularly the ROGD hypothesis, cannot be overstated, especially in current and longstanding public policy debates.

[211] The Coalition for the Advancement and Application of Psychological Science calls for the elimination of the term due to its potential to limit and stigmatize gender-affirming care.

[216] The American College of Pediatricians, described as an anti-LGBT group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, says that "adolescents can embrace their bodies through counseling alone when it is directed toward underlying psychological issues.