We have always made fun of Peter LaBarbera, for his strange proclivities involving trying to “unmask” the gay community by visiting and reporting on leather sex events and the like. His fixation with what a few people do in the bedroom is bizarre and his sensationalistic attempts to use that to hurt the entire LGBT community is sick.
Even I was surprised, though, when I visited his Americans for Truth hate website today, to see that, without warning, on his “pro-family” blog, he had posted a picture of a diseased anus. [If you want to see it for some reason, it’s at Americans For Truth Dot Com. I don’t link to Peter.]
No, really.
Accompanying the photograph is a report from a supposed medical transcriptionist [she remains anonymous, so who knows] cum wingnut [look it up, Pete, I didn’t type what you think I just typed], with a breathless report on just how diseased gay people are. This should be fun.
It’s heartbreaking at times being a medical transcriptionist, typing the medical and psychiatric illnesses of those admitted to hospitals, emergency rooms, mental health units and seen in clinics. People’s pain is what we see every day. Many can be cured, many can’t. Many are in pain or have illness because of lifestyle choices or practices that they will not change. That may be their “right,” but those choices unfortunately have a ripple effect to those around them.
In my 20-plus years typing acute care medical records, at times I have almost ceased to be shocked at what I see. At other times, I continue to be shocked. For those who don’t know what a medical transcriptionist does: Every patient who is admitted to a hospital, seen in an emergency department, or seen by a doctor in a clinic, has a medical chart with the summary of each visit dictated by a physician and transcribed by a medical transcriptionist.
Fantastic. Couldn’t get a real doctor to write the impending screed of bigotry, Peter?
What disturbs me most is the extreme disconnect between what you hear and see in media and in movies, and what children are taught in schools, and what real-life, indisputable medical reports prove. For purposes of this article, we’ll deal with the horrifying physical and emotional maladies and domestic abuse that takes place amongst practicing homosexuals. These patients are seen in all aspects of hospital care including emergency rooms, mental health units, rehabilitation (Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy[PT/OT]) units, surgery and clinics.
Alvin McEwen with the correct answer:
Research tells us that when lgbtqs suffer problems of substance abuse, depression, etc, it’s generally because of the effects of homophobia. Also, that fear of homophobia plays a serious role in gays not going to or trusting their doctors and thereby missing basic health instruction.
No study or research has ever blamed the lgbtq orientation for medical problems.
Very true. Indeed, gay people, when choosing doctors, have to deal with another stress beyond their qualifications, bedside manner and the like: can I completely trust this doctor to care for me without homophobia getting in the way. Surely, it’s becoming less of a problem, as physicians are well-educated people, but it still exists.
Back to the wingnut “medical person”:
Because of privacy issues, I cannot cite the specific contents of the actual medical reports I have transcribed…
Of course not.
Gay-on-Gay Assaults are at the hands of their same-sex domestic partners (not “hate crimes”) and are repetitive. (Reading details of the beatings is highly disturbing.);
Straight people never deal with domestic violence, of course. To the extent that this is an issue, it has nothing to do with sexual orientation, but the gay community needs to work harder to educate people on the fact that, just because there’s no societal rule against boys hitting boys and girls hitting girls, it’s still not okay under any circumstances. Still — can’t use it to condemn gay people.
Besides the many patients with HIV/AIDS, extremely common conditions are patients with penile lesions, testicle swelling and epididymitis*, anal warts, anal lesions, anal tearing, anal scarring, perirectal fistulas, external hemorrhoids with recurrent bleeding and anal abscesses, requiring surgeries such as colectomy, colostomy and colorectal surgery.
Some have rectal cancer (anal cancer).
Pete’s obsession with buttsex continues apace, I see. Like Alvin, I’m suspicious about all of this, as it’s sensationalistic and weird and in no way describes any gay people I’ve ever met. That said, note that it’s all supposedly about gay male sex, while they never have anything to say about lesbians.
Many have substance abuse problems and the resultant psychiatric disorders, depression, suicidality.
Addressed that above. Homophobia, societal acceptance…etc. We still haven’t encountered anything you can blame on sexuality.
Anal Laxity: From my work I have learned that repeated sodomy (or anal sex) results in a condition called anal laxity (looseness) that requires surgery or a colostomy bag in order for the bowels to function properly.
And again, we’re back to Peter’s obsession with people sticking things in their butts. He really should see a therapist. Here’s where the trustworthiness of the piece really comes into question:
When I learn of these types of conditions while typing reports of young and otherwise healthy teenaged patients, it is especially heartbreaking.
Oh my god. So, accompanied by a picture of anal warts, Peter has posted a screed insinuating that not only do all gay men get all these diseases, but also it happens almost immediately, during the teenaged years. How sheltered of a bigot does one have to be to actually believe this stuff?
The questions that continue to run through my mind each time I type one of these situations arising from homosexuality are: “How can this be an act of love between two people?” and “Why are those who speak out against this damaging behavior vilified as intolerant haters?” — and my unanswered question is: “What type of person does this to another person?”
Ugh. Go interview a few loving gay couples who have been together for decades and stop wingnutting out over the stuff you read in your “reports,” and maybe you’ll understand. You’re willing to have your (anonymous) words posted on Porno Pete’s website, though, so you’re probably beyond hope.
Porno Pete is becoming a parody even of himself. This is what happens when bigotry, cowardice and fear become simply socially unacceptable. This is good news for the greater fight for equality, because as the haters reduce themselves in number, they will become notably more hysterical. It’s because they know their movement is dying. So be vigilant about countering this kind of crap, but do understand that this hysteria is simply their reaction to losing.
