The Gay, LGBTQ+, Woke, Gender Ideologue, Trans, Feminist, Rainbow, Snowflake, Woke, Homosexual Agenda
Sam Winnard
It is a conspiracy theory that has changed and shifted in it's definition but usually refers to the Queer community trying to 'recruit' people into the 'lifestyle'. However, it has taken many forms during history. The stereotype of queer person as a groomer or someone unsafe to be around children comes from the idea of there being a gay agenda to seduce and recruit young people into the 'movement'. "I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children." - Anita Bryant 1978
This stereotype is often reinforced by critics grouping homosexuality together with more criminal acts. Pictured below is a rally notice featuring none other than Anita herself, the rally is aiming to make sodomy a crime once more, however it goes on to talk about rape and child pornography as if these three things are one in the same. Nowadays these parallels happen when people state they’re ‘anti-groomer’, this is used as a mask, in reality they are anti-LGBT. These claims follow the same themes of villification, though it is concealed more effectively - after all, there'd be a lot more backlash if things were said as bluntly as they were in the past.
'Protecting our children' has often been the argument, after all, children are the most innocent group among us and they garner the most empathy. It was used by Anita Bryant 50 years ago, and is still used today. When people use the argument of protecting children as a guise for hatred and bigotry, it is often a set up. They can respond to any criticism with "don't you want to protect children?", which of course we all do. It's difficult to levy criticism against someone protecting the children, but that is not what is happening in most cases. (Especially, when one thinks 'what about the queer children? are you protecting them?')
In 1961, in America, there was a creation of a public service announcement film shown within public schools, titled ‘Boys Beware’. In the video, the gay character Ralph is described as ‘sick, with a sickness less visible than smallpox, but no less dangerous or contagious’. The film shows Ralph, an adult man, grooming and preying on Jimmy, a high school boy. This is stated as happening because he was homosexual - not a predator, not a groomer - just a homosexual. Conflating these ideas has been happening for decades and still continues.
With some LGBT+ people even playing into this by announcing themselves as separate from the ‘agenda’. With groups like ‘Log Cabin Republicans’ saying they are pro LGBT but with ‘conservative values’ , participate in anti drag queen protests and support bathroom bans for trans people. Or the LGB Alliance UK who campaign that they work for same sex attracted people but “work to protect children from harmful, unscientific ideologies that may lead them to believe either their personality or their body is in need of changing."
The ‘homosexual agenda’ has gotten many accusations over the years, from the idea that Feminism is part of the agenda and is a "socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians" - Pat Robertson 1992, to the idea that the gay movement has co-opted the rainbow to "defy God's covenant truth with lies" (with evangelist Scott Lively creating a children's song called the Rainbow belongs to God in the 2010's - linked at the bottom) , even to the idea that being literate and educated will recruit people to be LGBT - "If you pay tuition, you're sponsoring the militant homosexual agenda. If you pay taxes, you're sponsoring the militant homosexual agenda. If your child majors in English, you're sponsoring the militant homosexual agenda." - Ben Shapiro 2003 - and if you were thinking he may have changed his opinions in the last two decades, here’s a tweet from 2023, still talking about a gay agenda.
Tweet reads: As Disney begins pushing “Strange World” for next week’s release, here’s the reminder that their “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” to target kids is ongoing. It’s a part of the plot of this movie, just as it was with “lightyear.” Your kids, your choice.
But the word agenda is not always necessary - and is not always used to make the same point. More often we’ll see people accusing queer people of ‘pushing’ their stories or existence, or people being ‘forced’ to see queer people.
This language, again relates to the stereotype of gays as groomers. The disregard of consent, we ‘force’, we ‘push’, we ‘ram it down their throats’. (incredibly subtle) It’s not particularly trivial to see why things are phrased that way.
“People are just sick to the back teeth of being forced to celebrate the decadence of the rainbow and applaud others’ private lives.” Caroline Farrow said this about... a zoo having a sign saying some of their penguins are gay. She has also taken a stance against the book ‘And Tango makes three’ about a gay penguin couple raising a baby. She announced after reading it to her children, that “They cried and found it incredibly traumatic that the baby penguin didn’t have a mummy,”. It is not just penguin based queerness though, Farrow has also criticised the inclusive rainbow lanyard worn by NHS workers. “The rainbow is a hostile political symbol with connotations of deep misogyny.”
Like many, many forms of homophobia, queer people have responded to the accusation of this with tongue in cheek satire and have at times played into the stereotypes that exist which has in turn added more fuel to the fire as the satirical nature has been completely ignored. In 1987, Michael Swift wrote an editorial piece that was then reprinted in the Congressional Record as evidence of a gay agenda. It opened with the paragraph “We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us.” which does very much sound like there is a gay agenda indeed, however, the Congressional Record did not print the first line of the editorial, which was - “This essay is an outré, madness, a tragic, cruel fantasy, an eruption of inner rage, on how the oppressed desperately dream of being the oppressor.”
Queer people have a knack of reclamation, even the word Queer was for a long time derogatory, and is now a common umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community. However, this is not always the boon it seems. For people who would never want to be seen as gay, queer, or even associated with homosexuality, this satirical reclamation often goes completely unnoticed. Instead of recognising our affirmation of the gay agenda as a defensive action and the deweaponising of our criticisms, it is often seen as confirmation that they were ‘right all along’.
Lil Nas X, american rapper and singer, who produced a music video of him in hell, giving a lap dance to Satan said he was “dismantling the throne of judgement and punishment that has kept many of us from embracing our true selves.” Queer people have often been accused of satanic beliefs, or sin. However, a lot of people viewed this as him simply glorifying and worshipping Satan, and as an openly gay person, this reaffirmed their existing bias. He also won an award for video of the year for that song. Taking to the stage, he stated “OK, first I want to say thank you to the gay agenda. Let’s go gay agenda!” which Queer people heard as satire, but others heard as confirmation.
In advance of the conclusion of this topic, I would like to acknowledge the impact this can have on queer people in a different way. The loudest opposition to queerness often uses a shield of religion, religious liberty, or protecting religious values. Even the examples I’ve used within this essay, however it's vital not to generalise. Generalising our detractors can in turn cause queer people to stereotype religion as wholly hateful. We must not let this happen, blanket intolerance can never be the solution to blanket intolerance. There are many religious groups that openly and lovingly celebrate unions between queer folks. Methodists, Reform Jews, and Quakers to name a few. I believe that is an important point to make, especially as I was guilty of this when first coming to terms with my own queer identity. Assuming others’ automatic hatred of ourselves is a dangerous trap to fall into, it is exhausting and damaging to ourselves and others.
Finally, last year a video of a pastor condemning Barbie for being full of “transsexual and transgender homosexuality” went viral online. With a lot of right wing commentators also slamming Nef’s casting and calling for people to boycott the film before it was even released, claiming it "forgets its core audience of families and children," to cater to "pushing transgender character stories." Doctor Barbie, played by Hari Nef who is a transgender actress, was never acknowledged as being trans within the movie. It was never even mentioned in passing.
The legacy of this is clear - if an agenda is pushed with just being in existence, if stories are pushed by simply being present, what is the solution? When the narrative blames queer people as ‘pushing’, ‘forcing’, or ‘shoving it down their throats’ by just being unashamed or included then here is what it means: the only acceptable solution for them is to have no acknowledgement, no inclusivity, no acceptance, no existence.
If the existence of queer people is affronting to the point of boycott, anger, disgust, or outrage, then we must ensure we do not pander to this. To think it acceptable to politicise and villainise the existence of a person or a whole group of people, is abhorrent. It has but one underlying message - one where it is unacceptable to include queer people in everyday life, and we must resist it. We must do it loudly, with pride and conviction.
Perhaps that could be the real gay agenda? Or perhaps it’s best not to have one at all.
Boys Beware: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEl1ye_OPJs
The Rainbow belongs to God: https://www.queerty.com/the-rainbow-belongs-to-god-is-the-best-antigay-music-video-youll-ever-see-20140701
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