The Gay Man as Villain: Modern Day Mythology

     As a former straight-for-Jesus-closeted-gay-man-on-the-down-low, I became very comforable with villainizing openly gay men. It was part of my upbringing. My father was fond of saying all "fags" should be "shipped off to an island where they can kill each other off". I grew up viewing gay men not as human, but something a little lower on the evolutionary hierarchy.
     When I realized as a young man I was gay, this villain motif led me down a path of self-loathing. I felt I had to hate who I was because I had been told about the "evil gay men":
     Villains! Gay men led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
     Villains! Gay men led to the fall of every major civilization no longer in existence.
     Villains! Gay men are to blame for AIDS.
     Villains! Gay men are out to recruit children.
     I grew up believing gay men were a modern incarnation of the Boogey Man, the monster under the bed, the vampire/werewolf/mummy/Frankenstein abominations of our modern world. The myths mentioned above are largely perpetuated by members of the Christian faith who use a shaky interpretation of Scripture and gross misunderstanding of history to demonize an entire group of people in society.
     Some Christian theologians may never accept gay people on moral grounds. However, for a religion so proud of seeking truth it so often peddles fear and misunderstanding about gay individuals from the pulpit, in writings and readings and in everyday interactions.
     The truth about the gay community is the same as the straight community: you have conservatives and you have liberals. You have prudes and you have sluts. You have good parents and bad parents.
     Many Christians who are so quick to dismiss the possibility of gay men having a place in matters of church and faith scoff at former myths justified by verses in the Bible: an earth-centered universe, aflat earth and left-handed people being evil are some of my favorites. Just as passionately as Christians in the past believed these to be "facts" and now history laughs, so too, someday, will the children and grandchildren of today's pious look back and shake their collective head at the ignorance of the well-intended but misguided myths of today's faith community.