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Fellow blogger Matt Algren, dissects part of the testimony from the Federal Prop 8 trial, and makes a very important statement, that I felt deserves repeating:

Notice that both times, William Tam answered a question of fact with a statement of faith. He knew that NARTH was an unreliable source, but he wasn’t looking for reliability. Science and truth were irrelevant; cast aside in favor of someone who would pat him on the back and tell him that pursuing his prejudices was good enough.

He’s not alone in this. By design, campaigns of prejudice are based on the gamble that most people will stop looking for facts if someone backs up their prejudice. That’s why anti-gay industry leaders like  NARTH (and in turn, William Tam) rely singularly on extreme statements of emotion and fear.

There are two groups of people out there, that those of us who seek equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers need to be concerned about- There are those who oppose us, and then there are the politicians whose votes we need to pass legislation. Truly, sometimes an elected official falls into both categories, but the distinction is still meaningful.

We can talk till we are blue in the face at those voices who seek to  oppress us, but we are generally talking past them, and they are stuck in the “statements of faith.” arguments. On the other hand, elected officials, no matter if they are for us or against us or somewhere in between, by the nature of their job, need to be collecting facts and listening to all of their constituents.

One place we often fall short as activists, is getting enough people to speak up in support of LGBTQ causes. Out elected officials hear/ receive letters and phone calls from those who seek to oppress us, but we (those of us who seek full equality and our supporters- they don’t hear from us. We are often good at telling each other why we feel equality is important, but we fall short in redirecting that towards legislators who can make a difference.

The only way to fight prejudice is with facts and shine light on the reality of life for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queers. Taking 5 minutes to write a letter (that isn’t a form letter) that says, “this is how [name your legislation of choice] will impact me, and my life and my friends or the people I care about…” can have huge impact.

“This is how [name your legislation of choice] will impact me, and my life and my friends or the people I care about…” is a statement of fact, and not a statement of faith. When fear rules, we lose. When the only voices heard by elected officials are those spreading exaggerations, lies or statements of faith, we lose. But we win, when the statements of facts are heard. Add your voice to the growing sound of truth and real facts.

PS: Thanks to Matt for his continued great work as a blogger!

NARTH, William Tam, and the Key to Anti-Gay Hate | Asterisk.

Yesterday, I posted about how the Far Right constructs lies and misinformation to perpetuate it’s assaults on good and needed legislation. Specifically, the lie that even gay activists are against Inclusive ENDA.  Today, I want to take that a bit further, because I think there are a few really crucial points to grasp about how this is done. We can’t stop this lying and misinforming behavior, so the only solution is to be able to call it what it is and counter it with real information.

A few weeks ago, I heard on the news, that President Obama had said something to the effect that we needed less blogosphere and more news media/ real reporting. As a blogger, I guess I could be upset about that, but I’m not really. First, because I didn’t go in and find out what he actually said and why he said it. Second, because I think I know what he meant and my own thoughts are somewhat aligned. My beef isn’t with the blogosphere itself, but with “opinion media” where facts, fact checking and objectivity mean nothing. The most visible examples of this is FOX News (really???) with people like Glen Beck, who claims Obama has a hatred for White people and the white culture, but then when pressed, can’t say anything to support such a claim. But the blogosphere has no shortage of similar BS factories, which parade as more than opinion outlets.

In traditional media, there were always opinions. The Opinion Editorial portion of the paper was a distinct section of the paper, and letters to the editor provided an outlet for readers to give voice to their own ideas about what was important and how they saw things. But as Media has changed, the lines between these News and Editorial sections have become muddy or in some cases non-existant. Bloggers have the opportunity to blurry those lines even more, by stating things as if they are fact (appears like news reporting) when they are actually opinion/editorial. One way a blog can counter doing that, is to have a comments section. That way, the information shared can be countered by readers.  Not having a commenting mechanism, does two things:

• Limits and forces thought processes and ideas in the direction of the writer alone.
• Presents something with the implication there are no alternative viewpoints.
• Because there are no alternative viewpoints, implies that something is factual, i.e. news instead of opinion. News that is meant to be consumed, instead of ideas meant to be discussed.

Thus is the case with the blog posts I pointed out yesterday. The original source for the distortion was a post on Gay Patriot, truly a blog where opinions are expressed and presented as opinions. Commenting is allowed. Then, commentary about the blog post was written on Pam’s House Blend, another clear blog, where commenting is allowed. And then, used to create a distortion on Renew America. Here, there is no ability to leave comments which allows no method to counter misinformation or provide a different viewpoint. and, while the site claims that the “viewpoints expressed” are those of the writers, posts are called articles instead of posts or blog entries. The bloggers are called Columnists.  This isn’t horrible or evil by any means. but it is an example of the way misinformation and lies become validated as if they are true.

This is probably not news to anyone, but Focus continues the campaign to spead lies and misinformation. The link below is their weblog, citizenlink. Unlike most blogs, where a reader can leave a comment, this one has no such feature. It is designed to be a way to spead lies and nothing more. There is an ability to share it to facebook, and myspace, share it with a friend- but no ability to voice an opinion or add to the clarity or quality of the information.

On the one hand, it is the group using the web to its best advantage, and on the otherhand, it is the proliferation of ignorance. This is what we are up against. I post it mostly, to point that out. Those of us who are seeking change, seeking equality and a better society based in mutual respect, tolerance and acceptance, will over and over get frustrated that the progress made in those directions can seem like it is so little. But when you are fighting a machine designed to do nothing but propogate lies, progress can seem slow. The change we seek will only come as more and more people weigh the truth for themselves and then vote.

The solution to the proliferation of lies in a democracy, is a proliferation of the truth. Not just matching it a blog to a blog, but the voicing of truth everywhere. It is in our conversations that we have an enormous ability to alter the dialogue and let real information reach others. For example, a co-worker yesterday who I don’t know very well, asked about a picture of my dog next to my desk. I showed her a picture of my partner and our dog, and talked about “Brad and I” as a family. This is one example of the way we help others learn the truth about our families, and what is important to GLBTQ people.

The NH bill is not “…an attempt to appease the GLBT lobby at the expense of the safety of New Hampshire’s citizens.” It is a bill designed to provide safety to many of NH residents. We can’t quiet those teling the lies, that would be undemocratic. We can’t counter the lies with truth at the source by commenting on the blog. All we can do is soeak our truth, give voice to the real things so that we give people an opportunity to hear the truth.

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000009626.cfm