Some time ago, I wrote a blog about John Heard, an Australian gay conservative Catholic opposed to civil unions and same-sex marriage, who believes that gay sexual orientation is “objectively disordered” due to his subscription to Catholic Church dogma about its ‘aberrant’ nature. He’s not alone.

John McKellar is a Canadian, who runs an organisation entitled “Homosexuals Opposed to Pride Extremism.” Now, I acknowledge that there is a diversity of opinion about Pride marches within most Western LGBT communities, and that conservative LGBTs do get antsy when it comes to leatherfolk and drag queens, as well as displays of uncovered flesh.

However, McKellar goes further than that. He “accepts” that “no major world religion” has “ever” endorsed homosexuality, which must be news to the perfectly happy and well-adjusted entourage of LGBT Western Buddhists. While he’s correct that ‘radical’ ‘queers’ oppose same-sex marriage because it’s ‘assimilationist,’ McKellar then ventures into some fairly questionable territory.

Apparently, he does support substantive LGBT spousal equality, as long as it doesn’t tip into same-sex marriage and parenting, which should remain ‘reserved’ for heterosexuals, because heterosexuality is allegedly a ’social norm.’

(At this stage, I intend to make the inevitable snide remark about heterosexuality being common, not normal.)

HOPE opposes the “lies” of LGBT activism, opposes ‘victimhood’ politics, and wants us to get on with our own lives without all this pesky barracking and legislative reform activity related to same-sex marriage, civil unions, and inclusive adoption reform. While he supports decriminalisation of male homosexuality, he doesn’t seem to support any other expression of LGBT rights activism.

Why does he oppose same-sex marriage? Ah, well, marriage “must” remain a “never-changing” institution which is heterosexual, monogamous, reserved for legally recognised adults, and not incestuous. He ignores concrete analysis of actual statutes and their effects on case law and public policy, and worries that same-sex marriage will lead to legitimisation of polygamy. Oh, and of course, all gay men are interested in multiple sexual partners, and “we” brought HIV/AIDS on ourselves.

Riiiight, and I suppose discriminatory access to health care and the absence of subsidised health promotion materials and pharmaceuticals had nothing to do with the death toll from the US HIV/AIDS epidemic? Actually, we have a variety of frequency and incidence of sexual partners, and it doesn’t matter if one is monogamous if one partner isn’t and doesn’t use a condom. On the other hand, one can be a perfectly ethical polyandrous fellow and care for one’s multiple partners by using the aforementioned handy health promotion technique.

Is this bloke for real? Apparently, as he has made submissions against same-sex marriage court cases in Canada, although I have some suspicions. Apart from his pragmatic concession over decriminalisation as a fait accompli, doesn’t McKellar sound like a Christian Right robot, programmed to spout all manner of nonsense about LGBT rights and reject almost every other facet of LGBT politics?

Like Heard, McKellar is a sad sign of the depths that some Christian Right activists will sink to when faced with the scale and depth of their rout in the western world. They’re now even resorting to self-hating gay men- but McKellar convinces no-one, except apart from the converted that he is preaching his gospel of self-hatred towards.

Not Recommended:

John McKellar: “There’s HOPE for the World: Homosexuals Opposed to Pride Extremism” (August 2003) : http://theroadtoemmaus.org