By Justin Taylor, TGC.
Nearly 40 years ago, in November of 1987, two American gay men, each around 30 years of age, wrote an article in Guide magazine entitled “The Overhauling of Straight America.”
Soon after, Michael A. Kirk (a neuropsychiatry researcher) and Hunter Madsen (a public relations consultant) expanded their blueprint into a full-length 398-page bestselling book, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s (Doubleday, 1989).
Here were the seven steps they laid out.* Their plan, remarkably and tragically, resulted in one of the fastest and most decisive moral and cultural revolutions in history.
God’s truth does not change, but culture does. Here was their plan, which has worked for a long time now, though it will ultimately not prevail as a rejection of God’s good and gracious design.
Step 1: Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and often as possible
“Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible. . . . Open and frank talk makes the subject seem less furtive, alien, and sinful, more above-board. Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided. . . .”
Step 2: Portray gays as victims
“Portray gays as victims of circumstance and depression, not as aggressive challengers . . . to make straights feel very uncomfortable . . . and to lay groundwork for the process of conversion.”
Step 3: Desensitize the public
“The first order of business is desensitization of the American public . . . to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. . . . No big deal.”