In some Christian spaces, "gay" and "same-sex attracted" mean two different things. But why? And does it really matter?
Here's the story you've never heard of how one word came to mean two completely different things—and why our choice today of "gay" or "same-sex attracted" could have ripple effects around the world.
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A few additional notes after you've watched the video:
- For this project, I tracked the usage of these terms through mainstream books and newspapers, as well as boxes full of privately archived "ex-gay" materials from a variety of sources. Along the way, I discovered lots more worth digging into in future videos, so I'd love to hear from you if you found this interesting.
- That 1892 psychology text was Charles Gilbert Chaddock's English translation of Psychopathia Sexualis by Richard von Krafft-Ebing, originally published in German in 1886. As far as I'm aware, it's also got the first English usage of the term "bisexual" in its more-or-less modern sense.
- Frank Worthen really was the most influential figure in the founding of the ex-gay movement, and one of the few high profile leaders who never disavowed it. I digitized that audio clip of him myself from a cassette tape of Worthen describing the beginnings of the movement to a crowd of fellow ex-gays.
- About that press conference: Notice that Museveni doesn't even use the word "gay" in his remarks at all—and yet the misinformation and misunderstandings that drove his decision were directly influenced by the "gay" vs. "SSA" conversation in the US. (I spent many, many hours researching and tracking this just to be sure.)
In short, the American language misunderstanding from 50 years ago started a snowball rolling, but that snowball can have a devastating impact all over the world, even where the context is completely different and that particular language debate isn't relevant. Something that starts out being about a word can end up being about much more. That's why we need to understand this history and be careful with our language.
Thanks again to everyone who helped support this project and upcoming ones as well! If you liked this, you know the drill: Share, like, subscribe, become a patron, and/or bring me to speak to your group, and let's keep educating folks together!
