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Do not fill this in! ===Sex and sexuality=== {{Main|Christianity and homosexuality|Christianity and transgender people|Same-sex marriage in the United States}} {{Further|Discrimination in the United States|LGBT rights opposition|Public opinion of same-sex marriage in the United States}} The modern roots of the Christian right's views on sexual matters were evident in the years 1950sβ1960s, a period in which many [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] [[Christianity in the United States|Christians in the United States]] viewed sexual promiscuity as not only excessive, but in fact as a threat to their ideal vision of the country.<ref name="Herman">{{cite book|last=Herman|first=Didi|url=https://archive.org/details/antigayagendaort00herm|title=The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-226-32764-8|location=Chicago, IL|url-access=registration|access-date=September 20, 2012}}</ref>{{rp|30}} Beginning in the 1970s, conservative Christian protests against promiscuity began to surface, largely as a reaction to the "[[Sexual revolution in 1960s United States|permissive Sixties]]" and changes in sexual behavior confirmed by ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' and the [[LGBT rights movement]]. The Christian right proceeded to make sexuality issues a priority political cause.<ref name=Herman />{{rp|28}} [[Anita Bryant]] organized [[Save Our Children]], a widespread campaign to oppose legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of [[sexual orientation]] in [[Miami-Dade County, Florida]].<ref name="Fetner 2001">{{cite journal |author-last=Fetner |author-first=Tina |date=August 2001 |title=Working Anita Bryant: The Impact of Christian Anti-Gay Activism on Lesbian and Gay Movement Claims |journal=[[Social Problems]] |volume=48 |issue=3 |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[Society for the Study of Social Problems]] |pages=411β428 |doi=10.1525/sp.2001.48.3.411 |hdl=11375/21175 |issn=1533-8533 |s2cid=144876642|hdl-access=free }}</ref> The group argued that gay people were "[[Homosexual recruitment|recruiting]]" or "[[Homosexuality and pedophilia|molesting children]]" in order to make them gay.<ref name="Fetner 2001"/> Bryant infamously claimed that "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," and also claimed that "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters."<ref name="At Any Cost">{{cite book|title= At Any Cost|url= https://archive.org/details/atanycost0000brya|url-access= registration|last= Bryant|first=Anita |author2=Green, Bob |year= 1978|publisher= Fleming H. Revell |location= Grand Rapids, Michigan, US|isbn= 9780800709402}}</ref> The Bryant campaign achieved success in repealing some city anti-discrimination laws, and proposed other citizen initiatives such as a [[Briggs Initiative|failed California ballot question]] designed to ban gay people or those who supported LGBT rights from holding public teaching jobs. Bryant's campaign attracted widespread opposition and [[boycott]]s which put her out of business and destroyed her reputation. From the late 1970s onwards, some [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] [[Christianity in the United States|Christian organizations]] such as the [[Christian Broadcasting Network]], [[Focus on the Family]], [[Concerned Women for America]], the [[American Family Association]], and the [[Christian Coalition of America]], along with right-wing Christian hate groups such as the [[Westboro Baptist Church]], have been outspoken against LGBT rights.<ref name="Gannon 1981"/><ref name="Miller 2014"/><ref name="Durham 2000"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/> Late in 1979, a [[Fourth Great Awakening|new religious revival]] among conservative [[Evangelicalism in the United States|Evangelical Protestants]] and [[Catholic Church in the United States|Roman Catholics]] ushered in the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican coalition]] politically aligned with the Christian right that would reign in the United States between the years 1970s and 1980s, becoming another obstacle for the progress of the [[LGBTQ rights movement]].<ref name="Gannon 1981"/><ref name="Miller 2014"/><ref name="Durham 2000"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/> During the [[HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States|HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s]], LGBTQ communities were further [[Stigmatization|stigmatized]] as they became the focus of [[mass hysteria]], suffered [[Social isolation|isolation]] and [[Social exclusion|marginalization]], and were targeted with [[Violence against LGBT people|extreme acts of violence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Westengard |first=Laura |year=2019 |chapter=Monstrosity: Melancholia, Cannibalism, and HIV/AIDS |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5unDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |title=Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma |location=[[Lincoln, Nebraska]] |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |pages=99β103 |isbn=978-1-4962-0204-8 |lccn=2018057900}}</ref> The Christian right champions itself as the "self-appointed conscience of American society". During the 1980s, the movement was largely dismissed by political pundits and mainstream religious leaders as "a collection of buffoonish has-beens". Later, it re-emerged, better organized and more focused, taking firm positions against abortion, pornography, sexual deviancy, and extreme feminism.<ref name=Kaplan>{{cite journal|last=Kaplan|first=George R.|title=Shotgun Wedding: Notes on Public Education's Encounter with the New Christian Right|journal=Phi Delta Kappan|date=May 1994|volume=75|issue=9}}</ref><ref name=Green>{{cite book|last=Green|first=Hohn|title=THE VALUES CAMPAIGN? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections|year=2006|publisher=Georgetown University Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-1589011083|editor=Green, John C. |editor2=Rozell, Mark J. |editor3=Wilcox, Clyde<!--|access-date=September 20, 2012-->}}</ref>{{rp|4}} Beginning around the [[presidency of Donald Trump]], Christian conservatives have largely refrained from engaging in debates about sexual morality.<ref>Douthat, Ross, et al. [http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/gabfest/2018/02/the_florida_shooting_white_house_job_shake_ups_and_porn_on_the_political.html "The 'Let's Just Ban Everything' Edition"] ''Political Gabfest''. Slate, February 15, 2018. ''Slate''. Start listening at 37:00.</ref> Influential Christian right organizations at the forefront of the anti-gay rights movement in the United States include Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and the [[Family Research Institute]].<ref name=Herman />{{rp|15β16}} An important stratagem in Christian right anti-gay politics is in its rejection of "the edicts of a Big Brother" state, allowing it to profit from "a general feeling of discontent and demoralization with government". As a result, the Christian right has endorsed smaller government, restricting its ability to arbitrate in disputes regarding values and traditions. In this context, gay rights laws have come to symbolize the government's allegedly unconstitutional "[interference] with individual freedom".<ref name=Herman />{{rp|170β171}} The central tenets of Focus on the Family and similar organizations, such as the Family Research Council, emphasise issues such as abortion and the necessity of gender roles. A number of organizations, including the New Christian Right, "have in various ways rejected liberal America in favor of the regulation of pornography, anti-abortion legislation, the criminalization of homosexuality, and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty in sexual partnerships", according to sociologist [[Bryan S. Turner]].<ref name=Petersen>{{cite journal |author-last=Petersen |author-first=David L. |date=Spring 2005 |title=Genesis and Family Values |journal=[[Journal of Biblical Literature]] |publisher=[[Society of Biblical Literature]] |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=5β23 |doi=10.2307/30040988 |issn=0021-9231 |jstor=30040988 |s2cid=141110842}}</ref> A large number of the Christian right view [[same-sex marriage]] as a central issue in the culture wars, more so than other gay rights issues and even more significantly than abortion.<ref name=Green />{{rp|57}}{{dubious|date=July 2013}} The legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 changed the Christian right, causing it to put its opposition to these marriages above most other issues. It also created previously unknown interracial and ecumenical coalitions, and stimulated new electoral activity in pastors and congregations.<ref name=Green />{{rp|58}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page