DECEMBER 23, 1994 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
CONSERVATIVELY SPEAKING
He's paid to travel the country with his sack full of lies
by Marvin Liebman
"God has given you a long life. I hope he gives you another year so that you can atone." These were the last words I heard from Paul Cameron, professional homophobe, as he left me at National Airport in Washington, D.C. after returning from a Chicago TV show on which we both appeared.
Cameron earns his living exclusively as an "expert" on homosexuality. He has his own tax-exempt Family Research Institute, which is concerned in large part with homosexuals. He is regularly hired to provide "expert" opinion on homosexuality by various government and private agencies, college forums, community groups, and by trial lawyers representing individuals seeking custody of their children from lesbian or gay spouses. He is invited to appear on radio and TV shows to express his "point of view."
Paul Cameron is important because he represents the core attitude of millions and millions of God-fearing Americans towards their lesbain and gay compatriots-an attitude that is based on fear, bigotry, ignorance and the out-and-out lies, spread by Cameron, which they accept as the gospel truth. He is listened to by these millions in spite of his record of professional corruption, incompetence, and as a certified public liar. Let's look at just a small part of the record.
Cameron was denounced and expelled by the American Psychological Association in 1983 for blatant violation of the spirit and the letter of the organization's Ethical Principles of Psychologists, i.e. responsibility, competence, and legal standards. He claimed that his expulsion from the association was the work of a homosexual cabal. This further endeared him to his supporters.
Two years later, Cameron was expelled from the American Sociological Association: "Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism... and has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research." Only one year later the ASA felt it necessary to officially and publicly state that Paul Cameron was not a sociologist (as he claimed), and condemn him once again for his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research.
Another manifestation of the homosexual cabal, said Cameron.
In 1985 and 1986, Cameron published two of his own studies: "Child Molestation and Homosexuality," and "Homosexual Molestation of Children/Sexual Interaction of Teacher and Pupil." His findings were totally debunked by an authority on whom Cameron relied heavily to prove his theories and findingsDr. A. Nicholas Groth. Groth publicly repudiated Cameron's methods and results and underscored his own findings that heterosexual men account for over 90 percent of child molestation.
On May 8, 1982, in the Lutheran Chapel of
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the University of Nebraska-as the voters of Lincoln, Nebraska, were debating one of the first anti-gay ballot initiatives-the Lincoln Star quoted Paul Cameron as saying, “Right now, here in Lincoln, there is a four-year-old boy who has had his genitals almost severed from his body in a public restroom in a homosexual attack." Cameron's charges were investigated by the police and two local newspapers and were found to be absolutely groundless. Cameron confessed as much, and publicly disavowed his charge by saying, “It appears my informant made a mistake."
His retraction was too late, however. The civil rights law was defeated and discrimination against gays and lesbians is still legal in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In 1985, U.S. District Court Judge Jerry Buschmeyer, in his opinion striking down Texas' sodomy law, berated Cameron as an expert witness by saying that his testimony was filled with "fraud" and "misrepresentations." Under oath, Cameron testified, among other things, that "homosexuals are approximately forty-eight times more apt to commit crimes than is the general population" and that "homosexuals abuse children on a proportionately greater incidence than do heterosexuals."
Cameron served as AIDS advisor to the infamous Rep. William Dannemeyer, and came up with the phrase "AIDS is God's plague on homosexuals." In a July, 1986 appearance in Louisville, Kentucky, Cameron suggested that people with AIDS be branded with the letter 'A' on their foreheads, be placed under house arrest, and imprisoned if they attempted to leave home.
In various pamphlets and newsletters, distributed throughout the country by Cameron's Family Research Institute, he cites "statistics" to prove that the majority of women who claim they were raped are lying in order to get attention, and that "seventeen percent, or possibly as many as thirty-three percent, of gays enjoy ingesting feces as part of their everyday sex practices--and, in an average year, ingest fecal material from nineteen different men."
I first spoke to Paul Cameron when we both arrived in Chicago. He seemed pleasant enough as we made small talk in the limousine provided by our TV hosts. As we waited by the desk of the hotel the TV company arranged, Cameron commented, "I certainly hope they didn't put us both in one room. That would be rather awkward, don't you think?"
I assured him that I would pay anything, anything, to assure that I didn't have to sleep next to him.
But, as our desultory and ever more awkward conversations continued, mostly emanating from Cameron-in the limo going to the TV station, in the green room waiting for the show to start, going to the airport the next day I realized that Paul Cameron was the epitome of evil.
He said things to me such as: "The majority of communists, you know, were Jews; the majority of urban homosexuals, you know, are Jews; I'm going to testify in a few weeks against a father who decided to become gay
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and who is living with another man who is trying to become a lesbian [!]..." etcetera, etcetera. As our route took us through an innercity neighborhood, racial slurs mingled with the anti-Semitism and homophobia.
Cameron is a living monument to the connection, networking, and inclusiveness of bigotry. He is not alone. His phony statistics, his surveys, all the stuff of his new 'science' is believed by too many Americans.
It is a cliché, perhaps, to compare Cameron's so-called "scientific" work to the Nazi "science" of racial purity, but how can one not see the parallels? Paul Cameron is an expert-at spreading hatred, fear, and loathing of homosexuals. He and those that take this charlatan seriously are our enemies. They are also the
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enemies of America and the American family they hold so dear.
A final case in point: During the TV show's audience participation period, Cameron was asked a question. “What would you do if your son came to you and said, 'Dad, I'm gay'?" Without hesitation, Cameron answered, "I'd ask him to leave."
"Your own son?"
"Certainly. If he decided to become homosexual, he would no longer be my son."
Paul Cameron is a man beyond the boundaries of decency, compassion, and certainly any family values. Personally, I don't believe that, even in a hundred years, Cameron would ever, or could ever, atone for what he has done and continues to do.
Lynn Banez, M.Ed. Therapist
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