One of the amazing things about Judge Walker's Prop 8 decision – striking it down as unconstitutional -- was the extent to which he demonstrated how opponents of same sex marriage had widely discredited themselves by presenting themselves as "experts" when they weren't (among other things they said in their testimony).
One of the "experts," William Tam, the Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Traditional Family Coalition and a Protect Marriage spokesperson in the Asian community, really shot himself in the foot when he referred to NARTH as one of his sources of information, and "the Internet" as another.
In his video testimony below, which is excruciating to watch, he claims that he learned of the "Gay Agenda" from the Internet.
NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality) aside from claiming to be able to "cure" gays, is the same organization whose founding member, George Rekers, was forced to resign after he was caught hiring "baggage handlers" from rentboy.com. No credibility issues there!
But fascinating to me is his claim that he learned of the gay agenda from the Internet.
A Google search for "the gay agenda" presents as the third item an article titled "The Gay Agenda," which is a satire I wrote in 2005. It also ranks thirdon Bing.
I characterized "The Gay Agenda" as a "roadmap, if you will, towards destroying nuclear families, and reshaping society to the point that if your son isn’t blowing his professor, don’t expect any graduation ceremonies."
I also predicted that "despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of this piece, it can, and likely will, be taken out of context, and used destructively by bigots and homophobes with ill intentions. From the other side, I'll be criticized for irresponsibly kindling the already raging fires by providing fresh fodder."
My predictions weren't so far-fetched. The second item listed on Google under "the gay agenda" is a widely syndicated article written by notorious homophobe, Matt Barber, for Concerned Women for America titled "Unmasking The 'Gay' Agenda."
In this article, Barber refers to a 1972 Gay Rights Platform which William Tam references in his Prop 8 testimony. He also lifts agenda items from my satire, presenting them as "candid" factual agenda items that demonstrate "homofascist persecution" by" noted homosexual activist and pornographer Clinton Fein".
My first three agenda items related to same sex marriage:
- Gay men and lesbians should marry one another, and extol each other every tangible and intangible benefit the institution provides. They cannot stop gay marriage as long as gays are marrying. If you are gay and single without a desire to marry, marry a homosexual of the opposite sex anyway, and donate any marriage credits the government may offer to any gay organization seeking to destroy heterosexual norms.
- Once benefits are secured, divorce. Wreck the sanctity of the institution by driving up the divorce rates from the current 52% to at least 80%.
- Remember 52% of marriages end in divorce, the remaining 48% in death. There's nothing sanctimonious about that. Demand the institution and then wreck it. James Dobson was right about our evil intentions. We just plan to be quicker than he thought.
I don't for a second believe that Judge Walker's opinion wasn't influenced by the remarkable and articulate wisdom presented by David Boise and Theodore Olson.
But to the extent William Tam shot holes in his own arguments using the metaphorical equivalent of a sawed-off semi-automatic shotgun by referencing the "gay agenda" and stating the primary source of his information was the Internet, I am going to take a the slightest satisfaction that my satire, deliberately and insidiously presented as fact by Matt Barber and Americans for Truth's Peter LaBarbera (we’re feeling your hate, Clinton), is what confused and ultimately doomed William Tam.
Long live satire!
Doctor William Tam's video testimony.