True Colors Theocrats of the religious Right have always hitched their version of God to an “America First” brand of patriotism that was quick to brand others as traitors. That’s what made it so surprising when Larry Jacobs, director of the American World Congress of Families, traveled to his organization’s annual conference last fall, which was held in Moscow, and gave a speech praising Vladimir Putin’s Russia while denouncing the USA. The latter was slammed for its “secular, post-modern, anti-family agenda,” while Russia was described as “the hope for the world right now … [to]the future of the family and to the future of civilization.” The West, he lamented, has been taken over by “cultural Marxists.” Mind you, Jacobs was speaking in Russia, officially Marxist for most of the 20th century, so it would seem the world has come full circle. Clearly what impressed Jacobs about the “new” Russia was Putin’s crackdown on gay rights, which is what the World Congress is all about, after all, as the conference made clear. The panels fumed about the tide of marriage equality in the U.S. and ended by drafting a resolution calling for all countries to ban “gay propaganda.” That’s just what Moscow did a few years ago, having been lobbied hard by U.S. Christian groups for years. So Jacobs’ comments weren’t so surprising, after all. What they demonstrate is that all the God and Country stuff was always an expedient: the goal is to impose a faith-based morality on society, regardless of what kind of regime it takes—indeed, the more authoritarian, the better.
Double Your Lies Another soldier in the church-sponsored war on gay equality! The new operation is called Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays—PFOX, not to be confused with FPOX—an obvious take-off on pflag, Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays. So, they recently put up a 
billboard in Richmond, Virginia, that featured two identical-looking men and the words, “Identical Twins: One gay. One Not. We believe twins research studies show/ nobody is born gay.” Not to belabor the absurdity of this assertion—studies show that twins are wildly more likely to share a sexual orientation than non-twins, but of course it’s not 100%—it turns out the man on the billboard is a stock photo of one model, and the guy is pissed! The model is Kyle Roux of South Africa, an out gay man who’s not a twin and was shocked and outraged to see his likeness being used in this way. Understandably so, for what the billboard implies is that either Roux himself or his nonexistent twin “chose” at some point to be gay, while the other presumably chose to be straight. But in order for that to work, PFOX has to be working with some kind of “good twin / evil twin” model, a feature which itself is held to be inherent in the person’s “soul”—at which point we’ve descended into mystical madness; but there you have it.
Oh Yes He Is! The latest éclat in the annals of pop cultural fireworks has come and gone: a TLC reality show called My Husband’s Not Gay that focused on four Mormon men who were married to women despite having a history of attraction to other men. Social media hyped the special as some kind of cultural breakthrough, while gay activists braced themselves for cheesy “ex-gay” propaganda with four happy husbands proving it can be done. And maybe that’s what the producers of the show had in mind; if so, the men just weren’t cooperating. Sure, they were married and technically faithful to their wives, but the rest of the time they liked nothing better than to check out other guys and comment on their hotness to wives and friends. What they weren’t into was sports, but some of them adored Broadway musicals. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out called it “the gayest show on earth.” In a sense, of course, these men were doing what gay Mormons (among others!) have been doing forever: submitting to the imperative of marriage and family while secretly longing for something else altogether. Only now it’s not secretly, for today we have reality TV. And what have we learned from this bit of subcultural voyeurism? Basically, that closeted gay men can cruise and dish with the best of them.
Hey, That’s Me! In keeping with the theme of this issue, we pause to bring you a new sculpture that raised more than eyebrows when it was unveiled in Madeira, Portugal, the hometown of world-famous footballer Christiano Ronaldo, who is the subject of the statue. Newspapers worldwide tittered about “the er… erection” of the statue in the central plaza, or commented on Madeira’s generous gift to its native son. Actually, it was Ronaldo himself who commissioned the statue in his own honor, which could explain a lot: when you’ve got that kind of artistic control, why not go for broke?
Oops! We’ve been following the antics of Reverend Scott Lively for years: he’s the guy who convinced Uganda to pass its infamous “Kill the Gays” law, among other atrocities. And now he’s been indicted in his home state of Massachusetts for crimes against humanity. Lively’s specific crime is “orchestrating genocide in another country,” and his trial stems from a 2012 lawsuit filed in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The final petition for dismissal was denied late last year. One report on the upcoming trial began: “Most of us go our entire lives without ever standing trial for crimes against humanity.” So how has it come to this? At the core of Lively’s philosophy is a belief that gay people caused the Great Flood in Genesis that almost destroyed humanity: “Homosexuality is not just another sin, it is the sin that defines rebellion against God, the outer edge of rebellion against God and it is the harbinger of God’s wrath, that’s why the Scripture gives the warning, ‘as in the days of Noah.’” Well, there’s your problem right there (as Paula Poundstone might say): there’s absolutely nothing in the Bible to support this claim, no hint of homo anything before the Flood. (Could he be thinking of Sodom and Gomorrah?) Turns out his entire raison d’être, the whole basis for his war on gay people, is built upon a bad translation or the like. That being the case, even if he beats this Crimes against Humanity rap, someone could still sue this guy for religious malpractice.
