Anti-gay organization MassResistance is at it again, this time promoting the testimonial of undercover correspondent "Max" who attended a Youth Pride Day* event held at Boston City Hall in May 2009. (*MassResistance erroneously calls the event "Transgender Prom" throughout its article). "Max," you will find, has very delicate sensibilities when it comes to phenomena observable in reality. While it is standard in the journalism business for news correspondents to at least feign neutral objectivity, "Max" reports that pretty much everything about the Youth Pride event is "depraved," "disturbing," and "weird."
Yet, aside from providing titillating glimpses into the lives of teenagers who perhaps lead more interesting lives than the typical Judgmental Moralist, "Max's" photos of the Prom are actually a testament to the normalcy of the teenagers in attendance. Aside from the fact that many of these teenagers were gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise gender variant, most of the "disturbing scenes" that "Max" describes are "scenes" that would also be present at a predominately heterosexual prom.
For instance, "Max" notes the "extreme young age of the crowd" and speculates, without documentation, that many of the youth "appeared younger than 15." I have a hunch that MassResistance adherents are supposed to tsk tsk at the young age of this event's attendees, given the Gay Agenda to Recruit Children and all, but all I can muster is so what? Young people do have a tendency to attend events that are designed for young people, after all. What did "Max" expect, an AARP convention? Other "disturbing scenes" included young teen couples kissing, socializing, and showing affection for one another. Like an anthropologist on Mars, "Max" seems to be completely unaware of the fact that all of these activities also occur at dances designed for heterosexual teenagers. That he is so utterly disgusted and flabbergasted by what he sees undoubtedly says more about him than it does about anyone at the event he has perhaps attended for purposes of sticking his finger down his throat, gagging, and showing like-minded allies of his how icky Everything Gay is.
The (faux?) disgust continues when MassResistance posts photos that "Max" took of this event and its participants. As his photos demonstrate, many of the youth engaged in that oh so peculiar activity that is known as dancing or, as "Max"/MassResistance calls it, "homosexual dancing." "Homosexual dancing," as "Max's" photos show, is much like heterosexual dancing. In fact, it is identical to heterosexual dancing except that boys dance with boys and girls dance with girls. Other photos and their corresponding captions demonstrate that youth attending this event also engaged in those other unusual teenage rituals of public "make-out sessions," asking other prom attendees to dance, and taking smoke breaks.
Before ending here, "Max" makes much ado about how LGBT adults were in attendance- chaperoning and wearing rainbow-colored "recruiter" shirts. For instance, "Mr Boston Leather" was a greeter at the event and "Max" does not like this at all. Whether that choice was a good one is maybe arguable, I'll concede that (mostly because it was oh so predictable as to how anti-gay groups would jump all over that choice regardless of Mr. Boston Leather's behavior at the event). Yet, "Max" goes on to use typical anti-gay Pedophile Fear-Mongering, saying "I was disgusted and disturbed that this individual was allowed to attend an event where so many young children were gathered." Ignorantly, he equates an adult who is part of the leather fetish community with an adult who is into pedophilia. He then states that the man "was free to recruit and harass kids as young as 14 or 15!" Yes, technically he was "free" to do so. But what does "recruit" even mean? And, did he do any such thing? Inquiring minds want to know.
Overall, "Max" appears somewhat obsessed with LGBT adults mingling with teens and the possibility of recruitment into the LGBT "lifestyle" that might be occurring. Perhaps lacking a sense of humor, he doesn't seem to understand that when LGBT people wear shirts that say things like "Recruiter" or "The Gay Agenda" it's a tongue-in-cheek response to the ignorant demagoguery that people like "Max" engage in. I've experienced similar faux concern from "marriage defenders" who read my "About Me" section which states that I belong to the Gay Mafia. It's like these people are missing reality chips and are so skewed by their fearful anti-gay worldviews that they are utterly incapable of distinguishing truth from fiction.
As with other MassResistance-produced propaganda pieces, "Max's" testimonial is simultaneously amusing, provocative, and brings to the top all of that just-below-the-surface anti-gay bigotry that is often simmering in anti-gay crowds. MassResistance justified its posting of photos from this event by saying that "the world needs to see what's happening." Yet, we only need to visit any rightwing website mentioning anything having to do with homosexuality to view the hostility with which many people already view it. For instance, some of "Max's" photos were posted on rightwing site FreeRepublic and commenters there expressed disgust, engaged in name-calling, thumped their Bibles, and expressed hope that all of the teenagers in attendance would get HIV and die.
By "exposing" this event to rabid anti-gay crowds and offering nothing more than judgmental condemnations regarding the disgustingness of homosexuality MassResistance's piece, which assumes that the immorality of homosexuality is a self-evident universal truth, feeds right into that anti-social anti-gay aggression and hatred. To many of us, this testimonial documents nothing strange, weird, gross, or immoral. In fact, even a quick perusal of the testimonial shows that it contains no argument as to why this event should not be held. It's as though the best arguments against the youth pride event that MassResistance can offer is a sophomoric Look, homos are gross and that tired old cry of Gays Recruit!!11!!
Relying on those trusty arguments from the gut and that reliable conservative uptightness about human sexuality, we see everyday that much of what passes for anti-gay advocacy doesn't have a lick to do with saving the children. Given how judgmental and immature the testimonial comes off as, any expressed concern for these LGBT youth comes off as disingenuous at best. While the anti-gay advocacy of some professional marriage defenders is oftentimes "something else in disguise," MassResistance doesn't even don a costume to its latest parade of homobigotry.
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