Left Seeks "Conversion Camps" To Change Gays' Orientation

With the mantra "Hate the sin, love the sinner," left suggests re-educating Republican gays to embrace "God's Plan" of passionate fidelity to the gay left and Democratic Party

W A S H I N G T O N -- John Avarosis of AmericaBlog refuses to discuss whether gay Republicanism is a true "mental disorder" or simply an inborn orientation. Whatever causes gays to chose to be Republicans -- whether it's an upbringing by parents with "perverse" political ideas, or the scar of a youthful molestation by an issue of National Review -- he firmly believes that inside every "filthy, disease-spreading gay Republican" is an "angelic, God-fearing gay Democrat longing to come out."

And if he has his way, camps will be established to "re-direct" gay Republicans' "disordered political thinking" into more "socially appropriate channels," such as signing up as volunteers with the Human Rights Commission and pretending Margaret Cho is gut-bustingly funny.

"Some say they're born that way," Avarosis muses. "I reject that. I don't believe God would condemn an innocent baby to such a filthy, degenerate lifestyle." He believes that with the right mix of "re-education" and outing threats, he can convert millions of "misguided" gay Republicans to a more healthy political lifestyle.

Avarosis' plan is not without its detractors, who question whether anyone should presume to forcibly change a gay Republican's orientation. "It's simply impossible," says one unidentified gay Republican. "Gay Republicanism is an inborn temperament, a way of thinking, a core part of one's identity. It can't be altered by simply forcing gays to stare at pictures of Hillary Clinton and memorize long passages of It Takes a Village." In fact, he contends, that could be counterproductive.

But Avarosis insists that his techniques work. He points to "ex-gay Republican success stories," such as Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald, as proof that a gay Republican "can find the light" if he's simply shown the way, and also blackmailed into following that way.

"Take a look at Glenn Greenwald," Avarosis says, pointing to a copy of Greenwald's New York Times bestelling book, What Would A Patriot Do?, which by the way has been quoted on the Senate floor and is also rumored to cure psoriasis when rubbed on the afflicted areas. "He says that he was once a gay Republican, and three people in America believe him. But through the proper re-orientation, he's now on a Holy Path of self-righteous gay-left vile and hatred."

As proof of this, he points to a recent posting by Glenn Greenwald, in which the supposed former gay Republican writes about Rush Limbaugh:

If the term "moral degenerate" has any validity and can be fairly applied to anyone, there are few people who merit that term more than Rush Limbaugh. He is the living and breathing embodiment of moral degeneracy, with his countless overlapping sexual affairs, his series of shattered, dissolved marriages, his hedonistic and illegal drug abuse, his jaunts, with fistfulls of Viagra (but no wife), to an impoverished Latin American island renowned for its easy access to underage female prostitutes.

"Note that he was once a moral degenerate himself," Avarosis says proudly. "And yet now he has embraced morality, and condemns 'hedonism' in language so stridently you'd think he was inspired by the Lord Him(?)self." Avarosis also notes that Glenn Greenwald is only one of "dozens" of ex-Republican-gays who have now embraced a more Godly politics, offering other names of former Republican gays, such as Rick Ellensburg, Thomas Ellers, Ellison, Wilson, and Sam Matthews. Each of them, Avarosis says, can offer a life story precisely identical to Greenwald's.

Hubris author David Corn calls the ex-Gay-Republican movement, sometimes called "XGR," "a good idea whose time has come." "I have no problem with what gay Republicans do in the privacy of their own bedrooms," he says. "But when I see a gay wearing an American flag lapel-pin, or a 'W' sticker on the back of their cars, I can't help but be a little bit nauseated. It's one thing to have these inclinations, it's another thing entirely to parade them around in public."

Mike Rogers, Avarosis' partner in the "Ex-Gay-Republican" outreach/blackmail project, blames the increasing acceptability of gay Republicanism on an ever-more "permissive" society. "Twenty years ago," Rogers says, "gays knew there was only One Path to political salvation. But a society determined to ram the 'gay Republican agenda' down our throats has taught impressionable youths it's okay to 'experiment' with gay Republicanism, that people should be free to shape their own individual political identiies. It's political perversion, pure and simple, aided and abetted by a godless Republican Party, which just keeps telling our nation's youths 'if Reaganism feels all right, then do it all night.' We wouldn't have these problems if we could just return to the teachings of the Good Book."

At this point he pats his leather-bound edition of David Brock's Blinded By The Right.

But is the Prophet David enough to stem the tide of rampant gay Republcanism? Doesn't alleged "ex-gay-Republican success story" Andrew Sullivan still claim to speak for "true conservatism"?

Avarosis just chuckles. "Well, first of all, no one believes him, now do they? He can't fight what he is inside. Second of all, you have to understand, a person can truly repent and convert only if they are dedicated to doing so. Sure, there are the occasional stories about ex-gay-Republicans 'backsliding,' being caught on ungodly websites like The Weekly Standard, or slipping off to a conservative blogger party. Such are the temptations of the mind. But given sufficient encouragement, and sufficient threats -- did I mention the threats? -- we expect a 90-95% conversion success rate."

He sits back in his chair and beams beatifically at the prospect of doing God's work. "Re-orientation is a journey, after all, not a destination."

Avarosis flashes some anger when it's suggested that his plan for "ex-gay-Republican camps" closely resembles conservative Christian's "ec-gay camps," which seek to "cure" someone of their sexual, rather than political, orientation.

"That's absurd," Avarosis says firmly. "Conservative Christians threaten gays to convert with dire promises of Hell in the next life. We, on the other hand, threaten gay Republicans with Hell in this life, by outing them and smearing them and making them the subject of public ridicule and stripping them of their sexual privacy."

The mask of religious bliss returns to his face. "So, you can see, there's hardly any comparison at all."

"All Gay, All The Time:" So objects a commenter. All I can say is, Dude, this is what the news is. The MSM gets to set the agenda, and their agenda is Getting the GOP For Being Soft On Queers. As an engineer says in Apollo 13 when his math is challenged, "I'm not making this stuff up."

If I were making it up, I'd stop it, because this is looking worse for the GOP than it did a few days ago.

GayPatriotWest objects to the coming gay Repubican witch hunt. I think he goes too far, however, in defending Kirk Fordham, Tom Reynold's chief of staff. There's good reason to suspect he actually did attempt to cover up the Foley scandal, though he denies it, claiming he's being "scapegoated" by Denny Hastert.

This is potentially very bad stuff. I wrote earlier I didn't think it was absurd to think that someone, somewhere had heard about this and tried to protect Foley. If Kirk Fordham did so, he's complicit in this, whether he was acting as a "friend" or political hack.

Friends don't let friends screw seventeen year old pages.

"Who'd have ever expected to see gays and antigays rejoicing together?" So asks Eric of Classical Values.

Who'd have expected it? Well, most, actually. Especially because a lot of gays are pretty damn anti-gay when it comes to gays who disagree with them.

I mean, jeeze, remember when gays were so anti-gay they published private, and very explicit, sex ads from Andrew Sullivan?

But that was back when he was (more or less) against the gay left. At this point he could rape a colt wildebeest and the gay left would hush it up.

I don't think that most Republicans think that gays "don't belong in the Republican Party," as Eric suggests. Some, sure. Some are happy, I'm guessing, to see the makings of purge, to get those damn degenerates out of the Family Values Party.

But the vast majority of Republicans are tolerant of gays, and are proud to have them on the team.

It's the left that really has a problem with this, just as they have a big problem (as Eric notes) with black Republicans and any non-white Republican. Ask Michelle Malkin about that.

It's all about sex with these cats. They're big on sexual autonomy; and good for them, I suppose. But what about political autonomy? What about true political freedom?

There are some heresies that are simply too dispicable to tolerate, it seems.

posted by Ace at 03:36 PM

| Access Comments