Gay Is the New Straight, Continued

Last week I wrote a post discussing a New York Times article about gay teenagers coming out of the closet. I knew it was only a matter of time before some right winger stepped up to say that this is an awful thing, and Suzanne Fields has gladly filled that role, hitting all the right anti-gay notes.

She begins by saying that Austin, one of the boys featured in the Times piece, seems like a normal boy, but:

Tender age notwithstanding, Austin has another agenda. He's on the cover of the New York Times Sunday magazine, telling the world what he earlier told his parents and his classmates. He's gay. Not cheerful, happy and carefree in the original meaning of that word, but as how the untender times have redefined the word.

Haha! We're barely out the gate and Ms. Fields cannot resist using the right's favorite word when discussing all things gay: AGENDA! Austin didn't come out because he wanted to be honest with his friends and family, he came out because he has an agenda. It's about convincing all your little sons and daughters to be gay too. Whatever.

She then goes on to say that Austin is being exploited by the author of this story (who she makes sure to mention is also gay):

Some of us thought the early sexual revolution went too far, making the illicit explicit and the personal political and trivializing sex as the equivalent of fast food. The exploitation of children is still expanding.

Now she's getting to her main point, which is that older gay men are exploiting children to further their agenda. She doesn't say it quite so bluntly, but I figured I'd do her a favor and do it myself. You see, Austin isn't gay, but our evil society has convinced him that because he feels different, he's gay, and he should come out. However, if her point wasn't clear enough, she drags an Obama czar (groan) into the mix. Oddly enough it happens to be an openly gay man (who'da thunk it?) who's to blame, Assistant Deputy to the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, Kevin Jennings. Mr. Jennings founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, won numerous awards, and is a leader in combatting bullying in school. She echoes the right wing, "Family" Research Council-sponsored attacks on him claiming that he failed to prevent a 15 year old from having sex with an older man. Judging from the way Ms. Fields described him, you would think Jennings encouraged it or had sex with the boy himself. I'm not here to defend Mr. Jennings, but honestly, I fail to see what Mr. Jennings has to do with Austin coming out, but then if you look at it for Ms. Fields's prospective, it's all part of the grand unified field theory of the gay agenda. Older gay men exploit children for political (and sexual) gain.

Of course this is ridiculous, but many people absolutely believe this. They will never understand, either because they can't or they don't want to, that Austin is gay. He's gay if he comes out and he's gay if he doesn't come out. He doesn't need to hear it from some old guy to know he's gay. It doesn't mean he's going to go out and have sex any more than a thirteen year old girl posting magazine cut-outs of her favorite super-hunks means she's going to go get banged at a frat party.

EDIT: What d'ya know? In fact Kevin Jennings didn't do anything wrong, and Ms. Fields and her ilk are trying to destroy him. I am shocked, shocked that Fox News would distort the facts like this.