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from Books & Reviews
What a Gay Activist Says
about Religious Traditionalists
Book Review
The Gay Agenda: Talking Back to the
Fundamentalists, by Jack Nichols (1996, New York: Prometheus Books)
Reviewed by Linda Ames Nicolosi
In recent years, gay activism has accomplished much of its
purpose by gaining increased visibility and tolerance for gays. As
the movement rapidly gains social acceptance, however, we are
beginning to see a bolder type of activism which is slowly replacing the
activists' stated goal of tolerance and respect for all.
One sign of this approach is the increasing production of new
book titles -- many published by Haworth Press and Prometheus
Books -- which give positive treatment to previously taboo subjects such as
man-boy love, sado-masochism and and occasionally, the even
yet-more-risque topic of public sex. Now, another approach gaining favor
in the gay activist arsenal is to be found in The Gay
Agenda, a book which also tackles a topic that was once off-limits: the open
denigration of a religious creed.
Written by a co-founder of the foundational gay-activist group,
The Mattachine Society, The Gay Agenda not only mocks people of
biblical faith, also boldly describes (at least from its author's
point of view) the longterm goals of the gay movement in its effort
to transform society.
The Debate Grows
Increasingly Less Civil
Certainly there is room in publishing for principled
disagreement of many sorts, but The Gay
Agenda takes on a scornful tone which moves well beyond the realm of respectful discussion.
While Prometheus Books is gathering an entire collection of
books of this sort, it is indeed paradoxical that
sexual-reorientation therapists are virtually unable to find a mainstream, secular
publisher who will print a book which offers principled dissent to
gay activism.
"Gay Sex Should Be Tried"
Author Nichols laments the fact that so few people allow
themselves to try gay sex. For this, he blames "heterosexual
supremacists" and "fundamentalist terrorists and meddlers."
Like most gay writers, he is drawn to the concept of gender
blending, and so he vigorously denies the idea that anatomy is destiny.
And like many other gay writers, he begins with an appeal to
tolerance, but soon moves on to assert his contempt for traditional
cultural and religious standards, with much of his scorn reserved
for biblical religion.
Self-Esteem is Damaged
by Bibical Understanding of Human Nature
Some sample quotes from Nichols' attack on biblical faith:
"Today's homophobia is not only being deliberately fueled
by fundamentalist dogmatism, but there are certain
orthodox Christian beliefs, especially the doctrine of Original
Sin, that subverty social harmony and self-esteem among
homosexuals and heterosexuals alike...
"...the corruption, evil and depravity brought about by
disobedience in the Garden of Evil did not stop the
Judeo-Christian god from allowing a proliferation of Adamic
descendents. After approximately 1500 years, however, this god became
so incensed over the behavior of his self-imaged creatures
that, with the exception of eight persons, he drowned them all.
"The Hebrew god should have known, certainly, that
his drownings were a useless endeavor. The remaining eight
had been, like Adam and Eve, cursed with Original Sin. Once
Noah's descendants reproduced, it became apparent that they were
no better than those his god had drowned and so another
scheme, it seemed, was needed."
Author Nichols is contemptuous of the age-old belief in
atoning sacrifice:
"That a god would accept being tortured to wipe clean
the records of various and sundry criminals destroys the
central moral foundation on which any meaningful system of
justice rests. This is most heinously accomplished by giving
individuals a 'quick fix' escape hatch from their sin, allowing
them to consider sin gone...
"Those who dump their sins on an invisible external
power fail to self-examine and have become, in fact, the prime
subverters of a morally upright world [and]...propagate erroneous
and savage doctrines."
"Jesus himself never said one word about
homosexuality, and...the Old Testament celebrates same-sex loves,
including between David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi..."
"Sexual Liberation is Essential"
Nichols then moves on to the theme which has been expounded,
to varying degrees, by gay advocates ranging from liberal to
conservative. We should simply not expect faithfulness in relationships:
"None but the narrowest approach to love would insist, as
fundamentalists and their ilk do, that monogamy is
[a relationship's] only virtuous, fulfilling, and
loving expression...[they] form thereby a primary obstacle to
the maximization of affection. The fundamentalist code, as long
as it deprives mature adults of their full consensual freedom
to touch others, whether in erotic or platonic affection,
robs its converts of their full humanity."
"The Traditional Family
is Not Good for Society"
He then moves on to express cynicism about family life -- a
cynicism rather common in gay literature -- while reserving special
contempt for the idea that a father is an essential part of a family:
"Not surprisingly, statistics about the state of the
nuclear family show that children fare better in day-care centers
than at home...When Dan Quayle trumpeted the need for fathers
in each home, he ignored the findings of the National
Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, according to which
most sexual assaults in the home are the work of fathers or
stepfathers...
"The time has come to reject nostalgia for traditional
family groupings and to seek new ways to realize the
satisfaction they once brought. More encompassing definitions that
bypass blood-line requirements must be instituted...[we must
create] fresh new kinds of relationships, bearing no resemblance
to past rituals, but opening doors to greater measures of
individual happiness."
He sounds other themes familiar in gay literature; for
example, that "macho males" are bad for society, because they restrain
themselves from freely touching other males; and that straight
men typically dominate and oppress women.
Nichols looks forward to the day when society will break the
traditional bonds of family, "maximizing affection and consensual
physical contact," finding joy outside of the "reproduction of
one's gene pool," and giving up the idea of sexual exclusivity.
"Gender Distinctions Are Arbitrary"
Nichols is particularly strident in adding his voice to the
call for "an end to all distinctions made by gender." Indeed, there
is now a large body of scientific literature being produced by
gay-affirming researchers (often supported by gay backers) which
purport to show that two gay parents are as good as -- or better
than -- opposite-sexed, heterosexual parents. And there is also a
growing shift away from terms like "mother" and "father" to the
gender-neutral term "caregiver."
And there is also an escalating call -- not unknown to
heterosexual society, but led by gay activism -- to extinguish the ideal of
relational monogamy.
Nichols closes his book by saying that erotic love should be
freely shared by all, without restriction -- with the explanation that
Jesus agrees. "Love one another," he quotes Jesus from the Bible, "as
I have loved you."
Updated: 3 September 2008
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