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Anti-gay group leader: Study doesn’t prove bullying is worse for LGBT kids, ‘if there is such a thing’

Feb 21 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

The leader of an anti-gay conservative group in the US state of Massachusetts has claimed that a recent study on anti-LGBT bullying in schools was “propaganda” and went on to doubt the existence of gay and trans students.

Brian Camenker, the founder of MassResistance, an anti-gay group, spoke to Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, and questioned the validity of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s School Climate Survey, released last week, and which he said was “propaganda”.

In the interview he refers to gay and trans children, before saying “if there is such a thing”, questioning the very existence of LGBT youths.

He said: “Right and it has a very sorted history of really radical homosexual activism regarding kids. One of the things that this directive cites is GLSEN’s so-called School Climate Survey, which is this national survey talking about how transgender kids and homosexual kids — if there is such a thing — are harassed and everything.”

He went on to accuse the survey of being “not scientific”, and that it was biased because it was commissioned by “gay activists”.

“But if you look at the way that survey is created, it’s not scientific at all, it’s self-selected by the gay clubs that are run by these gay activist people and there is nothing scientific about it. It’s basically propaganda. It’s run by this organization, GLSEN, that promotes these things in the public schools across the country and our government officials are using that as if it were real,” he continued.

Ms Rios went on to ask Mr Camenker if he had ever “questioned his own sanity” because of moves towards equality.

He said: “You know, it’s funny you should say that because I could remember in the beginning when I was dealing with the public schools that my kids were going to and you’d be surrounded by all of these people that believed and were talking about such ludicrous nonsense that sometimes you would, you’d say: maybe I’m crazy.

“You take these serious educators, at least I thought so back then, who were talking about all of this stuff very seriously, yeah, it drives you mad almost.”

Earlier in February, commenting on the Boy Scouts’ continued ban on gay volunteers, members and staff, Sandy Rios suggested that gay men would only want to be Scout Leaders in order to “be around boys”, and suggested a link between paedophilia and homosexuality, saying “gay men love youth”.