The Wake-Up Herald
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:11-14
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Robert McCurry, Editor & Publisher
July 21, 2011
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“Overhauling of Straight America”
In late February, Barack Obama announced that he and his Justice Department would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA], claiming the act was “unconstitutional”. The 1996 Act states that in federal law, “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” It prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex “marriages” for the purpose of taxes, social security and other programs.
It appears obvious Obama is working to clear a path for federal recognition of what is called same-sex “marriage”. Recent polls indicate that an increasing number of Americans find same-sex “marriage” acceptable, which tells us more about the moral bankruptcy of America than its present competence to recognize objective moral law.
Obama’s recent statements regarding DOMA provide the opportunity to pose the question: how is it that homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” is now accepted by so many individuals?
There are various contributing factors, most notable being the collapse of countless pastors and churches in teaching true Biblical moral law.
Other forces have been at work, not least of which is the strategies of homosexual activists themselves.
“The Overhauling of Straight America”
Our focus here will be on the effective tactics employed by the homosexual movement, particularly spelled out in the 1987 landmark article “The Overhauling of Straight America” by homosexual activists Marshall K. Kirk and Erastes Pill. (“Erastes Pill” was the pen name for Hunter Madsen).
Both of these men were highly educated. Kirk was a Harvard educated researcher in neuropsychiatry; Madsen had a doctorate in politics from Harvard and was an expert on public persuasion tactics and social marketing.
It is said “The Overhauling of Straight America” has become the “bible” of the homosexual movement, as it presents strategies both to make homosexuals more acceptable, and to demonize opponents of homosexuality. The entire campaign is based not on intellectual arguments, but on emotional manipulation of the public. (Kirk & Madsen later expanded the principles in the article to a 398-page book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s).
For now, we will focus on their original 1987 article. In order to convey the true spirit of the piece, we will rely as much as possible on direct quotation.
Published in the 1987 edition of Guide, a homosexual publication, “The Overhauling of Straight America” begins:
“The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights. To desensitize the pubic is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of keen emotion.” The authors go on to note their goal to make sexual preference placed on a par with preferences in ice cream flavors or sports. You prefer chocolate, I prefer butter pecan. You prefer hockey, I prefer baseball. No problem.
“At least in the beginning”, they write, “we are seeking public desensitization and nothing more. We do not need and cannot expect full ‘appreciation’ or ‘understanding’ of homosexuality from the average America. You can forget about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing. But if you can only get them to think that is just another thing, with a shrug of the shoulders, then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won. And to get to shoulder-shrug state, gays as a class must cease to appear mysterious, alien and contrary.” The article calls for a massive media campaign to change the image of homosexuals.
The authors stress the importance of having homosexual issues talked about in the visual media, film and television, which are “the most powerful image-makers in Western civilization.” At the time, the average American spent a good seven hours or more per day in front of the TV. “Those hours open a gateway into the private world of straights, through which a Trojan horse might be passed.”
Hollywood is described by the authors as the best covert weapon homosexuals have to desensitize the mainstream. They applaud the fact that over the past 10 years (up to 1987) homosexual characters have become prominent in films and television programs.
Since then, these characters have become even more common, and it is all part of the strategy to mobilize public acceptance of homosexuality. Witness, for example, television’s Will & Grace or The L Word; movies such as Brokeback Mountain, and likable homosexual characters with prominent roles in films such as Bridget Jones Diary and As Good As it Gets. Amiable homosexual characters increasingly feature in modern film and television, and it is no accident.
Kirk and Pill then lay out their full scale assault on religion. “While public opinion is one primary source of mainstream values, religious authority is the other. When conservative churches condemn gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretation of Biblical teaching and exposing hatred and inconsistency.”
They continue, “Second, we can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated and backwards, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology. Against the mighty pull of institutional Religion one must set the mightier draw of Science and Public Opinion (the shield and swords of that accursed ‘secular humanism’). Such an unholy alliance has worked well against churches before, on such topics as divorce and abortion. With enough open talk about the prevalence and acceptability of homosexuality, that alliance can work here again.”
Vilify Christianity
In line with Kirk & Pill’s “Overhauling of Straight America”, the process of vilifying those who oppose homosexuality is now spreading with frightful rapidity. The attack from homosexuals is aimed primarily at Christianity.
• On a Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transvestite (GLBT) website dedicated to exposing “Hate Crimes”, activists claim that pro-family organizations are engaging in hate speech when they criticize homosexual conduct and this “hate speech” allegedly leads to hate crimes and must be suppressed. This site equates opposition to homosexuality as equal to Hitler’s slaughter of Jews in Europe.
• The same website also blames pro-family groups for the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. (Yet Matthew Shepard was killed in a robbery, not because he was homosexual).
• In 2004, a Protestant preacher in Sweden was sentenced to a month in jail for criticizing homosexuality during a sermon he gave in his own church.
• The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution blaming religious groups for so-called “hate crimes” such as the murder of Mathew Shepard. In addition, the Board approved a resolution urging the local media not to carry advertisements by pro-family organizations that addressed hope for homosexuals to change.
• In New York, a billboard with a Bible verse on it was taken down under pressure from city officials, who cited it as “hate speech.”
• In Massachusetts in 2005, parent David Parker was arrested for protesting his elementary school child having to listen to pro-LGBT propaganda! He eventually removed his child from the school. He was in court for two years and lost all of his appeals.
The public acceptance of homosexuals has now invaded so-called conservative Republicans, many of whom have withdrawn any opposition to homosexuality.
• In August 2010, Glenn Beck told Fox’s Bill O’Reilly he didn’t see a problem with same-sex marriage. This prompted the Washington Post to run a story headlined “Glenn Beck, gay marriage advocate?”
The interview took place as follows:
O’Reilly: “Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?”
Beck: “A threat to the country?”
O’Reilly: “Yeah, is it going to harm it in any way?”
Beck: (laughing) “No I don’t. Will the gays come and get us?”
O’Reilly: “No, OK, is it going to harm the country in any way?”
Beck: “I believe that Thomas Jefferson said: ‘If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket what difference is it to me?’“
We have been manipulated and corrupted.
John Vennari, Tactics of the Homosexual Movement
Wake-up, Pastors! Wake-up, Christians!
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The Wake-Up Herald is published by Robert McCurry. The publication is designed to exalt the true God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, and inform, inspire, and challenge its readers regarding biblical truth and real-life issues. The contents are the sole responsibility of Robert McCurry and do not represent or speak for or on behalf of any other person or group. There is no subscription charge. The publication is a ministry of faith dependent on the contributions of its readers. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Send all correspondence to: Robert McCurry,605 Moore Rd, Newnan, GA 30263 or herbap@aol.com Remove? Send reply with “remove” in Subject line