The Rev. Al Mohler is "fascinated" with homosexuality. "Fascinating" is his word:
The spectacular success of the homosexual movement stands as one of the most fascinating phenomena of our time. In less than two decades, homosexuality has moved from "the love that dares not speak its name," to the center of America's public life.
The center of America's public life? That seems a bit much — Bravo isn't even the center of basic cable.
In the latest of a long, long, long series of columns exploring his consuming fascination, the Southern Baptist mullah discusses "Why the homosexual movement has won."
Mohler attributes this big gay triumph to the "strategy" outlined in a single book: After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear & Hatred of Gays in the 90s, by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. This book, Mohler writes, was "the authoritative public relations manual for the homosexual agenda."
According to Mohler, this book (Amazon sales rank 1,004,438) reshaped America and brought homosexuality to its place at the "center of America's public life." He objects to the "public relations strategies" outlined by Kirk and Madsen, things like "raising serious theological objections to conservative biblical teachings" and "exposing the inconsistency and hatred underlying antigay doctrines."
Mohler's fevered imagination conjures up a monolithic, orchestrated "homosexual movement" in which local sleeper cells and militia groups gathered 15 years ago to read aloud from Kirk and Madsen's "manifesto" and to systematically orchestrate its grand scheme. (One pictures a nervous Mohler eavesdropping on strangers at Teddy Bear's in Louisville, hoping to glean insight into what goes on at these secret meetings.)
Mohler is so obsessed with this notion of a grand scheme and a gay agenda that he fails to appreciate why a greater number of "mainstream" heterosexual folks seem to have become more accepting of their homosexual neighbors: They've gotten to know some of those neighbors (sons/daughters/aunts/uncles/coworkers/friends) as people.
That's probably the strangest thing about guys like Mohler. Despite his fascination with homosexuals, he seems to think he doesn't know any.