A number of right-wing conservative groups have sounded off on a transgender Huffington Post blogger's most recent piece, arguing that the blog lays out his "goal of ensnaring children into sexual confusion."
The original blog, written by S. Bear Bergman, contains the tongue-in-cheek headline, "I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children Into My LGBTQ Agenda (And I'm Not a Bit Sorry)."
The 40-year-old Bergman, who is the founder of the children's press Flamingo Rampant, reveals in the blog that he is at work on a six-book series for children that features lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer kids or families.
It's this revelation that seems to have set some right-wing media pundits into a head spin.
"If Americans don't want to take our word on the real gay agenda, they can take S. Bear Bergman's," Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council wrote. "Now, having hoodwinked most of the country on their agenda, these extremists no longer have to hide. In fact, they are increasingly bold -- almost boastful -- about their real intentions."
Meanwhile, Tim Brown of the Sons of Liberty Media deems Bergman a "mentally ill woman who believes she is a man," and writes:
Bergman wants people to know that sexual deviants exist. That is a given. Everyone knows that already, but she uses it as a means to taint, stain and pervert the minds of young people in America. Friends, that is unacceptable. In most states it is a crime not only to engage in sodomy, as Bergman does, but it is also a crime to contribute to the delinquency of a minor, which she is most surely doing.
Also sounding off are Pete Baklinski of Life Site News, who slammed Bergman for "paint[ing] a 'friendly and cheerful' picture of the gay lifestyle," and Henry Makow, who deemed the author "a classic example of the Illuminati Jew in action," as well as a "metaphysical outcast and Satanist."
The debate extended onto Twitter as well.
For his part, Bergman deemed the arguments "ridiculous and dumb," and told The Huffington Post in an email, "The first tactic of the powerful is never to refute someone’s opinion or defend their own position, it’s ALWAYS to use dehumanizing language in an attempt to shame the dissenter."
He added:
I have been getting blowback about working on behalf of LGBTQ youth since I was a 16-year-old bi-identified butch with alarming 1980s hair who had to come out to my parents so they wouldn’t read about me in the newspaper. I was one of the founding members of the first-ever Gay Straight Alliance. I gave the address at the Massachusetts Statehouse where the first-ever state protections for gay and lesbian students were created because I was one of the primary lobbyists for it.
I’m 40 years old and I have 24 solid years in the movement, speaking and writing about how we absolutely must protect our young people from harassment and bullying on the grounds of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. I’ve been on this same wall since 1991 and I’m not going away any more than they are.
Read Bergman's beautiful essay in full here.
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