Thursday, October 05, 2017

Disturbing video of 1960s anti-gay lecture to children reminder of why we fight for equality



Whenever I get discouraged about the progress of LGBTQ equality or the liars who come up against us, I sometimes watch the above video for good old fashioned anger. Sometimes you need a little touch of righteous indignation to warm yourself up. It's like a fire which cleanses and clarifies your mind.

It's not a fake video. According to the Miami New Times:

Dade County Detective John Sorenson of the Orwellian "Morals and Juvenile Squad" addresses a 1960s gathering of Florida's youth. In less than a minute he lets all the baby-faced members of that cadre know that they really, really better not be gay.
. . . The clip, which was first unearthed in the PBS documentary, Stonewall Uprising, doesn't mark the only time the gays got Sorenson all hot and bothered. In April of 1996, Channel 4 aired a documentary called the "Homosexual," which was directed against "the homosexual child molester and toward the parent who never thought it could happen to his or her son." Sorenson was also a dominant voice in that documentary. Just to make sure everyone knew, once again, that if they "turn queer" -- which apparently happens to one out of three of us -- that "the rest of [his or her] life will be a living hell."

It doesn't matter what Trump and the religious right throw against us because we will win. Probably not the easy way, but anything worth winning is worth fighting for with everything you have, even if you have to be carried off of the proverbial field. We will NEVER go back to times like this. In any shape or form.

 And our LGBTQ kids will never be subjected to this mess either.

2 comments:

Frank said...

I'm thankful I was not in that auditorium in 1960 when I was 12. I only had to deal with "An Examination of Conscience for Teenagers" that was handed out to the eighth graders at the Catholic School I attended. A part of my life was hell, (lots of depression, loneliness, useless therapy, guilt and anxiety) but after coming out at 36...well it got better.

But that is not to say that the present climate is altogether healthy for LGBT youth.

Mommavil said...

WTH is wrong with these people?? Love is love; doesn't matter to me who they are or who they love! I've had friends and relatives who are homosexual and I respect their right to live their lives just as I do as a heterosexual. Why does it matter that they love someone of the same gender? Seems to me we would all be better people if we could learn tolerance if not total acceptance