Gay agenda

{{Short description|Disparaging term used by opponents of gay rights activism}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Gay propaganda|Russian gay propaganda law|Homophobic propaganda}} {{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} "'''Gay agenda'''" or "'''homosexual agenda'''" is a pejorative term{{r|Alvarado p351}}<ref name="wagner">{{Cite book |title=Coming Out, Moving Forward: Wisconsin's Recent Gay History |last=Wagner |first=R. Richard |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society Press |location=Madison |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-870-20928-4 |page=69 |language=en |chapter=Forging a Gay Agenda |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjfnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |via=Google Books |quote=[C]onservatives, including US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in ''Lawrence v. Texas'', would write about 'the so-called homosexual agenda' or 'the gay agenda' in pejorative terms as something that threatened the sanctity of the family.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Language of Hate: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of White Supremacist Language |last=Brindle |first=Andrew |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-55260-4 |page=21 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315731643-1 |edition=1st |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQ4zDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |via=Google Books |quote=[S]uch a conspiracy theory is commonly articulated whereby Jewish hierarchy within society {{as written|are}} deemed as attempting to weaken the white race through numerous strategies including the acceptance of homosexuality within mainstream society in order to weaken the hegemony of whites by dissolving the moral standards of the white people.}}</ref> for the normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations. The term has been used to demonize advocacy for LGBTQ rights, rooted in the belief that LGBTQ activists seek to recruit heterosexuals into a "homosexual lifestyle".{{r|Alvarado p351}} The term "gay agenda" originated within the Christian religious right in the United States{{r|Alvarado p351}} and has been adopted in nations with active anti-LGBTQ movements, such as Hungary and Uganda.

==Origins and usage== ===Origins===

In the United States, the phrase "gay agenda" was popularized by a video series produced by a California evangelical religious group called Springs of Life Ministries.<ref name="Alvarado p351">{{cite book |last1=Alvarado |first1=Cheney |last2=Churchill |first2=Lindsey |editor1-last=Pierceson |editor1-first=Jason |title=LGBTQ Americans in the U.S. Political System: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Voters, Candidates, and Officeholders, Volume 2 |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-1-4408-5277-0 |pages=351–352 |chapter=Radical Gay Agenda |quote=The Radical Gay Agenda is a term introduced by right-wing Christian conservatives in the United States [...] The term primarily functioned as a demonization of advocacy and activists who pushed for LGBTQ rights. The conservative idea of the 'gay agenda' was primarily rooted in the belief that the LGBTQ community actively recruited and demoralized heterosexual individuals into a gay or bisexual 'lifestyle.' [...] More recently, the 'radical gay agenda' still exists among the Religious Right to condemn all efforts to change or introduce legislation on LGBTQ issues.}}</ref> The first video of the series, ''The Gay Agenda'', was released in 1992 and distributed to hundreds of Christian right organizations.<ref name="Herman p80">{{Cite book |last=Herman |first=Didi |title=The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right |date=1997 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-2263-2764-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/antigayagendaort00herm/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |pages=80–81 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> It showed edited clips of San Francisco's Gay Pride parade with voiceover commentary alleging "an aggressive nationwide offensive" to force acceptance of the "homosexual lifestyle," alongside claims that 17% of homosexuals eat human feces and that 28% engage in sodomy with over 1,000 partners.<ref name="Becker p33">{{cite book |last1=Becker |first1=Ron |title=Gay TV and Straight America |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=978-0-8135-3689-7 |page=33 |language=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cv9B0FIjMhMC&pg=PA33 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Tens of thousands of copies were distributed nationwide, and it was shown by televangelist Pat Robertson on ''The 700 Club'' in 1993.{{r|Becker p33}} Commandant of the Marine Corps Carl Mundy Jr. gave the video to the other members of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and copies were sent to the United States Congress.<ref name="Colker Feb 1993">{{cite news |last=Colker |first=David |date=22 February 1993 |title=Anti-Gay Video Highlights Church's Agenda |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-22-mn-444-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=7 May 2021 |url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1992, the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) used the video in their campaign for Oregon Ballot Measure 9 in opposition to what the OCA called "special rights" for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.{{r|Alvarado p351}}<ref name="Staggenborg p157">{{cite book |last1=Staggenborg |first1=Suzanne |title=Social Movements |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1993-6359-9 |page=157 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqdBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

''The Gay Agenda'' was followed by three other video productions made available through Christian right organizations and containing interviews with opponents of LGBTQ rights, intended to expose the lesbian and gay movement's supposed secret plans for America: ''The Gay Agenda in Public Education'' (1993), ''The Gay Agenda: March on Washington'' (1993), and a feature-length follow-up to the original, ''Stonewall: 25 Years of Deception'' (1994).{{r|Herman p80}}

===Usage in the United States=== The term "gay agenda" or "radical gay agenda" has been used by members of the Christian right to demonize advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights,{{r|Alvarado p351}} such as same-sex marriage and civil unions, adoption, sexual orientation as a protected civil rights minority classification, military participation, inclusion of LGBTQ history and themes in public education, introduction of anti-bullying legislation to protect LGBTQ minors, as well as non-governmental campaigns and individual actions that increase visibility and cultural acceptance of LGBTQ people, relationships, and identities. The term has also been used by some social conservatives to describe alleged goals of LGBTQ rights activists, such as supposed recruitment of heterosexuals into a "homosexual lifestyle".{{r|Alvarado p351}}<ref name="ref-cluster">{{Multiref2 | {{cite web |last1=Ford |first1=Zack |title=Hate Group: 'Homosexual Activists' Try To 'Confuse Children' To 'Build Their Numbers' |url=https://archive.thinkprogress.org/hate-group-homosexual-activists-try-to-confuse-children-to-build-their-numbers-6661a35b0814/ |website=ThinkProgress |date=9 July 2012 |ref=none}} | {{cite news |last1=Friedersdorf |first1=Conor |title=A Peek at Conservatism's Anti-Gay Conspiracy-Theorist Fringe |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/a-peek-at-conservatisms-anti-gay-conspiracy-theorist-fringe/250959/ |work=The Atlantic |date=6 January 2012 |url-access=limited |ref=none}} | {{cite web |last1=Ring |first1=Trudy |title=The Year's Craziest Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About LGBT People |url=https://www.advocate.com/year-review/2014/12/23/years-craziest-right-wing-conspiracy-theories-about-lgbt-people |website=The Advocate |date=23 December 2014 |ref=none}} | {{cite news |last1=Goodstein |first1=Laurie |title=Ugandan Gay Rights Group Sues U.S. Evangelist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/us/ugandan-gay-rights-group-sues-scott-lively-an-american-evangelist.html |work=The New York Times |date=14 March 2012 |url-access=limited |ref=none}} | {{cite web |author= |title=Bryan Fischer: Gay Rights, Abortion And Environmentalism Are 'The Work Of Satan Himself' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bryan-fischer-gay-rights-abortion-environmentalism_n_1619128 |website=HuffPost |date=22 June 2012 |access-date=5 November 2022 |ref=none}} | {{cite web |author= |title=Caiden Cowger, Conservative Teen Radio Host, Slams President Obama For 'Making Kids Gay' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/caiden-cowger-teen-radio-host-gay-obama_n_1574524 |website=HuffPost |date=6 June 2012 |access-date=5 November 2022 |ref=none}} | {{cite web |last1=Uy |first1=JD |title=Anti-gay Maryland legislator, Emmett Burns, moves again to cut off recognition of out-of-state gay marriages |url=http://www.metroweekly.com/2010/01/anti-gay-maryland-legislator-e/ |website=Metro Weekly |location=Washington, D.C. |date=18 January 2010 |ref=none}} }}</ref> Columnist James Kirchick writes that the idea of a "homosexual agenda" to subvert American cultural and family institutions largely replaced earlier panic over the "Homintern," an alleged gay conspiracy to undermine the U.S. government.<ref name="Kirchick May 2022">{{cite news |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/the-long-sordid-history-of-the-gay-conspiracy-theory.html |title=The Long, Sordid History of the Gay Conspiracy Theory |first=James |last=Kirchick |date=31 May 2022 |quote=Homophobia still had a conspiratorial tinge, to be sure, but the fearsome machinations of the 'Homintern' were updated to that of a 'homosexual agenda' whose goals (equality in marriage, military service, and the workplace) were now out in the open. |magazine=New York |department=Intelligencer}}</ref>

The term has been used in response to efforts to include protections for LGBTQ people under local and state anti-discrimination laws,<ref name="Cobb 2006">{{Cite book |last=Cobb |first=Michael L. |title=God Hates Fags: The Rhetorics of Religious Violence |year=2006 |edition=annotated |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-1668-7 |page=119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWYVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |via=Google Books}}</ref> as well as U.S. Supreme Court cases that granted new rights to LGBTQ individuals, such as ''Lawrence v. Texas'' and ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', which respectively held that private acts of consensual sex between same-sex couples and same-sex marriage are fundamental rights guaranteed by the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.{{r|Alvarado p351}} In his 2003 dissent in ''Lawrence'', U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said the court had become embroiled in a culture war by seeking to protect homosexuals from discrimination, writing that the decision reflected a "law-profession culture, that has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda".<ref name="Kranz p131">{{cite book |last1=Kranz |first1=Rachel |last2=Cusick |first2=Tim |title=Gay Rights |date=2005 |edition=revised |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4381-2549-7 |pages=131–132 |URL=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKSBVbwNSdgC&pg=PA131 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Conservative Christian groups such as the American Family Association (AFA),<ref name="Moritz 2007">{{cite book |last1=Moritz |first1=Marguerite J. |editor1-last=Prum |editor1-first=Michel |editor2-last=Deschamps |editor2-first=Bénédicte |editor3-last=Barbier |editor3-first=Marie-Claude |title=Racial, Ethnic, and Homophobic Violence: Killing in the Name of Otherness |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge-Cavendish |location=London |isbn=978-1-136-64203-6 |pages=128–129 |doi=10.4324/9780203059296 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781904385578/page/129/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |language=en |chapter=Hate speech made easy: The virtual demonisation of gays |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam), and the World Congress of Families (WCF) have used the term in their literature.{{r|Beirich Jul 2013|pp=15–18}} According to its website, ADF has litigated numerous anti-gay rights cases in countries outside the US, in order to combat the "homosexual agenda" which it says will "destroy marriage and undermine religious freedom".{{r|Beirich Jul 2013|p=9}} ADF president Alan Sears published a book in 2003 titled ''The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today'', which argues that overturning anti-sodomy laws would lead to the legalization of pedophilia, incest, polygamy, and bestiality.{{r|Beirich Jul 2013|pp=15}}

American conservative Christian groups such as the Family Research Council (FRC) have cited fears of a "homosexual agenda" in lobbying against extending hate-crime legislation to cover acts motivated by bias against a person's sexual orientation or gender identity,<ref name="Thompson Feb 2017">{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=A. C. |last2=Lee |first2=Patrick G. |title=Claims of 'Homosexual Agenda' Help Kill Hate Crimes Laws in 5 States |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/claims-of-homosexual-agenda-help-kill-hate-crimes-laws-in-five-states |work=ProPublica |date=6 February 2017}}</ref> as well as public school curricula about homosexuality introduced in an effort to reduce bullying.<ref name="Eckholm Nov 2010">{{cite news |last1=Eckholm |first1=Erik |title=In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07bully.html |work=The New York Times |date=6 November 2010 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

American conservative Christian organizations have continued public screenings of videos alleging a homosexual agenda as of 2022.<ref name="Vaughan Jul 2022">{{cite news |url=https://flatwaterfreepress.org/minds-polluted-film-claims-teachers-are-grooming-students-experts-say-its-filled-with-falsehoods/ |title=Minds polluted? Film claims teachers are 'grooming' students. Experts say it's filled with falsehoods. |first=Carson |last=Vaughan |date=15 July 2022 |work=Flatwater Free Press}}</ref>

===Usage outside the United States=== ====Africa==== American Christian right organizations losing acceptance among Americans have had more success promoting the notion of a gay agenda in Africa. Examples include Human Life International, American Center for Law & Justice, and Family Watch International. Zambian scholar Kapya John Kaoma considers these organizations colonialist, working to expand American dominance of Africa.<ref name="Kaoma 2012">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Kaoma |first=Kapya John |date=2012 |title=Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa |publisher=Political Research Associates |page=18 |isbn=978-0-915987-26-9 |url=https://www.sxpolitics.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/colonizingafricanvaluespra.pdf |access-date=7 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708133122/https://www.sxpolitics.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/colonizingafricanvaluespra.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Africa, fear of a "Western gay agenda" is frequently used by opponents of LGBTQ rights.<ref name="van Klinken 2017">{{cite journal |last=van Klinken |first=Adriaan |date=2017 |title=Culture Wars, Race, and Sexuality: A Nascent Pan-African LGBT-Affirming Christian Movement and the Future of Christianity |journal=Journal of Africana Religions |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=217–238 |doi=10.5325/jafrireli.5.2.0217 |jstor=10.5325/jafrireli.5.2.0217 |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/105826/ |issn=2165-5405|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The concept was used in a series of talks in 2009 by American evangelical Christians in Kampala.<ref name="Gettleman Jan 2010">{{cite web |last=Gettleman |first=Jeffrey |date=3 January 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html |title=Americans' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push |website=The New York Times |access-date=5 November 2022 |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Kaoma 2009">{{cite magazine |last=Kaoma |first=Kapya |date=Winter 2009 |url=http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v24n4/us-christian-right-attack-on-gays-in-africa.html |title=The US Christian Right and the Attack on Gays in Africa |magazine=The Public Eye |publisher=Political Research Associates |volume=24 |issue=4 |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> A speaker at one such workshop said, {{nowrap|"[Parliament]}} feels it is necessary to draft a new law that deals comprehensively with the issue of homosexuality and [...] takes into account the international gay agenda."{{r|Kaoma 2009}} The eventual result of this campaign was the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, nicknamed the "Kill the Gays Bill", which imposed the death penalty for homosexual behavior. This was altered to life imprisonment after other countries, including the U.S., threatened to cut foreign aid, and the law was later ruled invalid by the Constitutional Court of Uganda.<ref>{{cite news |title=Uganda court annuls anti-gay law |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28605400 |access-date=1 August 2014 |work=BBC News |date=1 August 2014}}</ref> {{check quotation}} In 2021, the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference called for LGBTQ rights organizations to be kicked out of their office space in Accra because of the belief that they promote the homosexual agenda.<ref name="Neliba Feb 2021">{{cite news |last=Neliba |first=Arnold |date=23 February 2021 |title=Church Warns European Union against Pushing Homosexual Agenda in Country |url=http://cisanewsafrica.com/ghana-church-warns-european-union-against-pushing-homosexual-agenda-in-country/ |work=Catholic Information Service for Africa |publication-place=Nairobi |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref>

====Europe==== In Hungary, László Toroczkai, former vice president of the far-right political party Jobbik, has complained about the "homosexual agenda".<ref name="Hungarian top court">{{cite web |author= |url=https://tellmamauk.org/hungarian-top-court-overturns-villages-ban-on-mosques-and-lgbt-displays/ |title=Hungarian top court overturns village's ban on mosques and LGBT displays |date=12 Apr 2017 |website=TellMAMA: Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref> Toroczkai introduced a law banning gay people from publicly displaying affection in 2017.<ref name="Benke Feb 2021">{{cite news |last=Benke |first=Erika |date=7 February 2021 |title=The village aiming to create a white utopia |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38881349 |work=BBC Victoria Derbyshire programme |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref>

====Central America==== Before the decriminalization of homosexuality in Belize, the LGBTQ and anti-AIDS organization United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) was lambasted in the ''Amandala'' newspaper and by American evangelicals who accused the group of trying to bring the "gay agenda" to the country.<ref name="Beirich Jul 2013">{{cite report |last=Beirich |first=Heidi |date=July 2013 |title=Dangerous Liaisons: The American Religious Right & the Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize |url=https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/d6_legacy_files/downloads/publication/splc-report-dangerous-liaisons.pdf |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |location=Montgomery, Ala. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130214006/https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/d6_legacy_files/downloads/publication/splc-report-dangerous-liaisons.pdf |archive-date=30 January 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|19}}

====International organizations==== In 2019, two prominent Roman Catholic cardinals—Raymond Leo Burke and Walter Brandmuller—wrote an open letter to Pope Francis calling for an end to "the plague of the homosexual agenda," to which they attributed the sexual abuse crisis engulfing the Catholic Church. They said the agenda was "promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence".<ref name="Catholic cardinals">{{Cite news |author= |date=2019-02-20 |title=Catholic cardinals urge end of 'homosexual agenda' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47302817 |access-date=2022-11-05}}</ref>

Speakers from many nations protest the perceived homosexual agenda at the World Congress of Families annual summit, a focal point of the worldwide "pro-family" movement.<ref name="Provost Jun 2017">{{cite web |first=Claire |last=Provost |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/global-anti-abortion-lgbt-rights/ |title='This is a war': Inside the global 'pro-family' movement against abortion and LGBT rights |date=6 June 2017 |website=OpenDemocracy.net |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref>

==Responses== {{Primary sources|section|date=October 2021}} The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) describes the terms "gay agenda" and "homosexual agenda" as a "rhetorical invention of anti-gay extremists seeking to create a climate of fear by portraying the pursuit of civil rights for LGBT people as sinister".<ref name="GLAAD Media Reference Guide">{{cite web |url=http://www.glaad.org/reference/offensive |title=GLAAD Media Reference Guide: Offensive Terms to Avoid |work=GLAAD |date=9 September 2011 |archive-date=20 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420141352/http://www.glaad.org/reference/offensive }}</ref>

Some writers have described the term as pejorative.<ref name="wagner" /><ref name="Fox 2002">{{cite book |author1=F. Earle Fox |author2=David W. Virtue |title=Homosexuality: Good and Right in the Eyes of God? |date=2002 |publisher=Emmaus Ministries |isbn=978-0-945778-01-1 |pages=269–}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2021}} Commentators have remarked on a lack of realism and veracity to the idea of a gay agenda ''per se''.<ref name="Bouley Feb 2005">{{cite web |last=Bouley |first=Charles Karel II |title=The gay agenda revealed! |work=The Advocate |date=22 February 2005 |url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/commentary/2005/02/22/gay-agenda-revealed |access-date=27 April 2021}}</ref><ref name="Sa'at Mar 2007">{{cite web |last=Sa'at |first=Alfian |title=Iced Bandung – What Is The Gay Agenda? |publisher=Trevvy.com |date=10 March 2007 |url=http://www.trevvy.com/scoops/article.php?a_id=221&c_id=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307070930/http://www.trevvy.com/scoops/article.php?a_id=221&c_id=3 |archive-date=7 March 2008}}</ref> Such campaigns based on a presumed "gay agenda" have been described as anti-gay propaganda by researchers and critics.{{Who|date=June 2021}}<ref name="Duberman 1997">{{Cite book |last=Irvine |first=Janice M. |title=A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader |publisher=New York University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-8147-1875-9 |editor-last=Duberman |editor-first=Martin B. |page=581 |chapter=One Generation Post-Stonewall: Political Contests over Lesbian and Gay School Reform |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/queerworldcenter0000unse/page/581/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="Mason 1997">{{Cite book |last=Ruthchild |first=Carole |chapter=Don't frighten the horses! A systemic perspective on violence against lesbians and gay men |editor-last1=Mason |editor-first1=Gail |year=1997 |title=Homophobic violence |editor-first2=Stephen |editor-last2=Tomsen |publisher=Hawkins Press |location=Leichhardt, NSW |page=10 |isbn=978-1-876067-04-5 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/homophobicviolen0000unse/page/1/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

At a press conference on 22 December 2010, U.S. Representative Barney Frank said the "gay agenda" is

{{blockquote|text=to be protected against violent crimes driven by bigotry, it's to be able to get married, it's to be able to get a job, and it's to be able to fight for our country. For those who are worried about the radical homosexual agenda, let me put them on notice. Two down, two to go.<ref name="Frank Reveals">{{cite web |author= |title=Barney Frank Reveals Gay Agenda |work=The Advocate |date=22 December 2010 |url=http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2010/12/22/barney-frank-reveals-gay-agenda |access-date=July 4, 2012}}</ref>}}

===Satire=== [[File:Militant Gay Atheist Hugs Rally to Restore Sanity.jpg|thumb|alt=Smiling man in sunglasses at an outdoor rally, displaying a hand-lettered sign which reads, "Free Hugs from a Militant Atheist with a Gay Agenda"|A man satirizing the concept of a gay agenda at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear]]

A satirical 1987 essay by Michael Swift entitled "{{ill|Gay Revolutionary|ru|Гомосексуальный манифест}}" appeared in ''Gay Community News'', describing a scenario in which homosexual men dominate American society and suppress all things heterosexual. The opening line, which read "This essay is an outré, madness, a tragic, cruel fantasy, an eruption of inner rage, on how the oppressed desperately dream of being the oppressor", was omitted when the essay was reprinted in ''Congressional Record'' and cited by later religious right publications.<ref name="Halsall 2023">{{cite web |title=People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook {{!}} Michael Swift: 'Gay Revolutionary' |url=https://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/pwh/swift1.asp |website=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |publisher=Fordham University |access-date=7 March 2024 |date=2023 |editor-last=Halsall |editor-first=Paul}}</ref> The essay has often been cited by conservative Christian authors as proof of a secretive conspiracy to corrupt American youth and subvert the nuclear family, particularly the following paragraph:

{{blockquote|We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all-male clubs, in your house of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions to do our bidding. They will be recast in our image; they will come to crave and adore us.{{sfnp|Herman|1997|p=85}}}}

The term is sometimes used satirically as a counterfoil by people who would normally find the term offensive, such as the spoof agenda found on the Betty Bowers website,<ref name="Betty Bowers Sneaky">{{cite web |author= |date=n.d. |title=Thanks to Betty Bowers, homosexuals' sneaky little secrets are now revealed to the godly: The Homosexual Agenda! |url=http://www.bettybowers.com/homoagenda.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001009171525/http://www.bettybowers.com/homoagenda.html |archive-date=9 October 2000 |website=Bettybowers.com}}</ref> and as the name of a stand-up comedy show in Prague that is a fundraiser for AIDS relief efforts.<ref name="Howlings Jan 2020">{{cite web |url=https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/pragues-newest-stand-up-night-breaks-down-barriers-and-grab-big-laughs |title=Prague's only LGBTQ comedy troupe cracks jokes, topples barriers |last=Howlings |first=Eva |date=21 January 2020 |website=Expats.cz |location=Prague |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref>

On a 2007 episode of ''The Daily Show'', Jon Stewart defined the gay agenda as "gay marriage, civil rights protection, Fleet Week expanded to Fleet Year, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance for when it's raining men, Kathy Griffin to host everything and a nationwide ban on pleated pants".<ref name="Masaki Aug 2007">{{cite web |last1=Masaki |first1=Lyle |title=Jon Stewart spells out the gay agenda |url=https://www.logotv.com/news/ymkedk/jon-stewart-spells-out-the-gay-agenda |publisher=Logo TV |date=15 August 2007 |access-date=5 November 2022 |archive-date=21 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921200234/https://www.logotv.com/news/ymkedk/jon-stewart-spells-out-the-gay-agenda |url-status=usurped}}</ref>

===Reappropriation=== Some LGBTQ activists{{Who|date=September 2025}} seek to reappropriate the term "gay agenda" for their own use.<ref name="Riley Sep 2022" />

In 2008, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson declared that "Jesus is the agenda, the homosexual agenda in the Episcopal Church"<ref name="Robinson Jun 2006">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=V. Gene |title='Jesus is the Homosexual Agenda' |url=https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2006/06/jesus-is-the-homosexual-agenda.aspx |date=14 June 2006 |type=Address at the 75th Episcopal General Convention |via=Beliefnet.com |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> and that the "homosexual agenda [...] is Jesus".<ref name="De Santis Jul 2008">{{cite web |last1=De Santis |first1=Solange |title=Church need not be afraid, New Hampshire bishop tells Putney gathering |url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_98902_ENG_HTM.htm |website=Episcopal Life Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717075629/http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_98902_ENG_HTM.htm |archive-date=17 July 2008 |date=13 July 2008}}</ref>

A political action committee (PAC) named Agenda PAC was inspired by the notion of the gay agenda. The PAC is led by LGBTQ politicians such as Malcolm Kenyatta and Megan Hunt and advocates for greater LGBTQ political representation.<ref name="Riley Sep 2022">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.metroweekly.com/2022/09/agenda-pac-launches-to-defeat-anti-lgbtq-candidates/ |title='Agenda PAC' launches to defeat anti-LGBTQ candidates |first=John |last=Riley |date=1 September 2022 |magazine=Metro Weekly}}</ref> American rapper Lil Nas X thanked the "gay agenda" in his acceptance speech at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.<ref name="Exposito Sep 2021">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-09-12/lil-nas-x-wins-video-of-the-year-at-the-2021-mtv-vmas-thank-you-to-the-gay-agenda |date=12 September 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Lil Nas X wins video of the year at the 2021 MTV VMAs: 'Thank you to the gay agenda!' |last=Exposito |first=Suzy |url-access=limited}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|LGBTQ}} * {{annotated link|After the Ball (Kirk and Madsen book)}} * {{annotated link|Anti-gender movement}} * {{annotated link|Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric}} * {{annotated link|Human Rights Campaign}} * {{annotated link|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory}} * {{annotated link|LGBTQ movements}} * {{annotated link|Rainbow capitalism}} * {{annotated link|Russian gay propaganda law}} * {{annotated link|Societal attitudes toward homosexuality}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading==  * {{cite journal |last1=Adler |first1=Libby |title=The Gay Agenda |journal=Michigan Journal of Gender & Law |date=2009 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=147–216 |url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol16/iss1/3/ |format=PDF |issn=1095-8835}} * {{cite book |last1=Herman |first1=Didi |editor1-last=Rimmerman |editor1-first=C. A. |editor2-last=Wald |editor2-first=K. D. |editor3-last=Wilcox |editor3-first=C. |title=The Politics of Gay Rights |date=2000 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-71998-6 |pages=139–160 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofgayrig0000unse/page/139/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |language=en |chapter=The Gay Agenda is the Devil's Agenda: The Christian Right's Vision and the Role of the State |via=Internet Archive}} * {{cite book |last1=Holleb |first1=Morgan Lev Edward |title=The A-Z of Gender and Sexuality: From Ace to Ze |date=2019 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |location=London |isbn=978-1-78450-663-6 |page=121 |language=en |chapter=Gay Agenda}} * {{cite book |last1=Moritz |first1=Marguerite J. |editor1-last=Whillock |editor1-first={{nowrap|R. K.}} |editor2-last=Slayden |editor2-first=D. |title=Hate Speech |date=1995 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |isbn=978-0-8039-7208-7 |pages=55–79 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/hatespeech0000unse/page/55/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=The Gay Agenda: Marketing Hate Speech to Mainstream Media |via=Internet Archive}} * {{Cite book |editor-link=Michael Warner |editor-last=Warner |editor-first=Michael |year=1993 |title=Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-2333-4 |oclc=28634756}}

==External links== * {{cite web |author= |date=n.d. |url=http://www.rslevinson.com/gaylesissues/features/collect/onetime/bl_platform1972.htm |title=The 1972 Gay Rights Platform: Platform created at the National Coalition of Gay Organizations Convention held in Chicago in 1972 |website=Rslevinson.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413060015/http://www.rslevinson.com/gaylesissues/features/collect/onetime/bl_platform1972.htm |archive-date=13 April 2009}}{{dash}}Historical text cited by social conservatives as evidence of a "gay agenda"

Category:2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States Category:Conspiracy theories in the United States Category:Discrimination against LGBTQ people in the United States Category:Harassment and bullying Category:Homophobia Category:LGBTQ rights movement Category:LGBTQ-related conspiracy theories Category:Political pejoratives Category:Political terminology of the United States Category:Social conservatism in the United States