Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN VOICE OCTOBER 21/1993
James Dobson puts anti-gay rhetoric in respectable wrapping
From his base in Colorado,
this Christian child psychologist
has built a media empire
on his view of family
by KC WILD MOON
Focus on the Family is a ministry without a
minister and a political organization without a
politician.
Instead, what the Christian organization docs
have is James Dobson, a child psychologist and
former professor at the University of Southern
California, who has precious little name recog
nition among the general public. He is almost
never listed with the likes of Pat Robertson,
Jerry Falwell, Pat Buchanan and other leaders of
the religious right, and he is even more low-
profile than Donald Wildmon and his American
Family Association.
But make no mistake—he is a force to be
reckoned with in the cultural war of values be
ing waged across the country that pits right
against left, gays against straights and family
against family.
Consider that, when Falwell disbanded the
Moral Majority, he named Dobson as his “suc
cessor” as the leader of the Christian right. And
in 1992, Dobson’s organization had a budget of
nearly $80 million, a list of publications that
would fill a small library and radio broadcasts
on enough stations—2,000—to make Pat
Robertson drool.
His operation is slick. Very slick. It’s glossy,
it’s bright, and it appeals to huge numbers of
Americans disturbed by teenage pregnancy, vio
lence and other threats to family unity—such as
homosexuality.
“Since the heart of God’s plan for the family
is the marriage of a man and a woman for life,
ttnd since families arc the basic building .blocks
of society, then it follows that societies will be
only as strong as the relationships between men
and women,” reads a Focus on the Family publi
cation describing the mission and values of the
organization. “Heterosexuality is fundamental
to the vitality and even the existence of any
society.”
And while the same document is quick to
point out that “God loves the homosexual as
much as any other person,” Focus on the Family
“docs Utke strong exception to the activist move
ment that seeks to gain special privileges and
protected minority status for the homosexual
community.”
However, what sets Dobson apart from his
fellow travelers in the anti-gay/lesbian move
ment is that his rhetoric is wrapped in a mag
nanimous veneer. For instance, Focus on the
Family says it opposes “any movement to rob
[lesbians and gay men] of [the same basic rights
of other citizens], persecute them, deprive them
of employment or housing, or harass them in
any way.” What it opposes arc only those “radi
cal homosexual social reformers” out lo change
die social fabric of the counuy—to redefine the
family, allow gay marriages, allow adoption by
lesbian and gay adults and, curiously, “recruit
the young.”
Howcvqr, die official, soft-pedaled version
of Dobson’s homophobic views, which makes
him seem so much more reasonable, than his
cohorts, isn’t the only version that comes out of
the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colo
rado Springs, Colo.
Take, for example, a document called “The
Homosexual Agenda: Changing Your Commu
nity and Nation,” which is a blueprint for com
bating the “homosexual lobby” on a grassroots
level. Written by Brad Hayton, the thoroughly-
footnoted, 31-page report gives details on how
to write letters to editors, how to pressure elected
representatives and what tirgumcnts to use in
opposition lo gay rights, sodomy law repeal, gay
Pride celebrations and domestic partnership or
dinances. And. Hayton argues, the U.S.
Constitution's guarantee of freedom of associa
tion gives landlords ttnd employers the right to
discriminate against lesbians and gay men be
cause of who dicy arc.
James Dobson was bom in Louisiana and
raised in Oklahoma, the son of a travelling
Nazarcnc evangelist. He attended Pasadena Col
lege and earned a Ph.D. in child development
from the University of Southern California, where
he served as an associate clinical professor of
pediatrics for 14 years. He was also on staff at
Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles for 17 years.
But leaching and working in a hospital were
not enough for Dobson. He wanted to reach
more people, lo spread his vision of the Ameri
can family to as many as could hear. To reach
that goal, he wrote his first book, “Dare to Disci
pline,” an unabashed endorsement of corporal
punishment. The book was an cnomious success
(to date, it has sold more than 2 million copies).
Dobson quit both his jobs lo devote his full time
to writing and speaking.
But that, too, was not enough. The Ameri
can family was in trouble, he believed, and he
knew the answer—a “Judco-Chrislian” centered
value system. But how was he to spread his
gospel?
A year after leaving USC, in 1977, Dobson
found his calling. He persuaded Tyndalc House
Publishing to give him a substantial donation,
which he used to start Focus on the Family, a
non-profit Christian ministry' “dedicated to the
preservation of the home.” Almost immediately,
he began broadcasting a weekly radio program.
"Focus on the Family,” which started out in
1977 on 43 radio stations.
Just three years later, Dobson, in his first
taste of political access, was able to get himself
invited to President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 While
House Conference on Families after the White
House received 80,000 letters front his listeners
asking that he be included. The conference be
came a battlefield between progressives and con
servatives, with conservatives lashing out at pro
gressive measures ttnd blasting the conference
as “anti...the average American Christian fam
ily.” (Dobson himself proclaimed the confer
ence “a disaster.”)
“Focus on the Family” has expanded through
the years, from 15 minutes weekly to a half-hour
daily, and to more than 2,000 stations by 1992.
Another radio broadcast, “AdvcnLurcs in Odys-
C0NTINUES ON PAGE 18
About
this
series
They arc four straight white men with Wildmon, head of the pro-censorship Amcri-
rcligious fervor, political savvy and media can Family Association. In a four-part scries,
access, and they arc using them to take aim Southern Voice staff writer KC Wildmoon
at gays and lesbians in America. They arc explores how and why these men built their
the Four Horsemen of our Apocalypse— power—ttnd how they arc using it against us.
televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry • Sept. 30: Pat Robertson
Falwell; James Dobson, who is trying to re- • Oct. 7: Jerry Falwell
define family in a fundamentalist image • Last week: Donald Wildmon
through his Focus on the Family; and Donald ♦ This week: James Dobson
A CALL TO ACTION !
On November 2, 1993, the Lesbian and Gay Community of
Atlanta has an opportunity to elect a qualified and committed
openly gay candidate to the City Council, District 2.
—Someone who has a proven record
of commitment to his community
—Someone who knows the issues facing Atlanta
Fair Tax Assessments
Safer Neighborhoods
Job Opportunities
Street Crime
Drug Crime
Civil Rights
Endorsed by the Georgia
Chapter of the National
Organization for Women
Recommended by GAPAC
Produccr/Uosi OUT IN ATLANTA, POSITIVE LIVING
Delegate - 1992 National Democralc Convention
WHERE ARE YOU
IN DISTRICT 2?
Georgian Terrace
Peachtree North Apts.
Scandinavian House
Midtown-Wesl of Piedmont
Home Park McGill Park
McGill Place Peachtree Towers
Sienna Post Renaissance
Cityscape Nobc Arms
Old Fourth Ward Inman Park
Poncey-Highlands Little 5 Points
Spivey
CITY COUNCIL
For more information: 524-8146
DISTRICT 2
Paid for by the Campaign to Elect Eric Spivey
or P.O. Box 5439, Atlanta, GA 30307