‘Why doesn’t he get AIDS?’ An anti-LGBT evangelical reviewed Love, Simon and it was wild
Anti-LGBT evangelical campaigner Peter LaBarbera went to see ‘Love, Simon’, and he is not happy.
A former Washington Times reporter, LaBarbera is the head of a Christian anti-gay pressure group known as Americans for Truth about Homosexuality.
This week the evangelical activist went to see gay rom com ‘Love Simon’ – and was kind enough to do a review.
LaBarbera spoke to American Family Radio host Janet Mefferd to break down his thoughts about the film.
(Love, Simon)
He said: “It’s like a Disney gay movie. It’s mainly for teenage kids, it’s a rom-com.
“It’s very innocuous compared to Call Me By Your Name, which is much dirtier… this, there’s no sex except the kissing. It’s a whitewashed version [of homosexuality].”
Dropping a spoiler, he added: “The film ends with him kissing a boy and everybody’s happy that Simon has found the gay romance he was looking for.”
He added: “There’s no aftermath after this boy chooses to be gay, we’re never going to hear later about the diseases associated with homosexuality that he likely would get, mental illness, and of course the judgement of God.”
(Love, Simon)
Asked to elaborate, LaBarbera cited the debunked book ‘The Health Hazards of Homosexuality’, published by another anti-LGBT group.
He said: “There’s disproportionate pathologies associated with homosexuality, and those include HIV and syphilis. Those are both gay male diseases now. But also mental disorders.
“Suicidality, vastly disproportionate with homosexuality because homosexual behaviour is a perversion, like God says it is. It is deviant, it is not normal, but this movie goes out of its way to make the moral equivalence and say it’s just the same.
“There’s one sequence where they say, why don’t we have to come out as straight to our parents? Because that’s the way God designed it!
“It’s so basic and yet Hollywood is doing everything it can now. We’re going to see more and more movies like this.
“This the first major teen homosexual romance film to be a big box-office hit. And so this is, again, Hollywood is trying to mainstream sexual sin, homosexuality, transgenderism will be next.
“It’s all part of Hollywood trying to propagandise young people and all of society.”
(Love, Simon)
Breaking down his issues with the film, he said: “I see three main myths promoted in this film.
“Number one is that being homosexual — quote-unquote ‘gay’ — is basically who you are, intrinsically who you are. You know, that line, he just happens to be gay.
“Number two, that there’s a total mutual equivalence between homosexual romances and the gay lifestyle and normal, heterosexual living. It’s presented as totally equal.
“Number three, that parental love, the way they love their son after he comes out and declares his homosexuality or they find out, the parents, is they just basically express regret they didn’t know earlier.
“There’s no sorrow. There’s no religious message at all in the movie, and there’s nothing that says any disapproval… it’s all like they didn’t understand and they just embrace it.”
Listen to the clip via Right Wing Watch:
The country’s film censorship body, Media Development Authority of Singapore, gave the highest-possible age restriction to the gay film.
While it’s listed as a 12A in the UK and PG-13 in the United States, only audiences over 21 will be permitted to see the teen film in Singapore after it was handed a R21 rating – which also precludes it from airing in most cinemas.
Fans hit out at the decision, pointing out at the ludicrous juxtaposition of restricting Love, Simon while giving a 16 age rating to The Shape of Water, which features a mute woman having sex with a fish creature.
There are no sex scenes in Love, Simon, human or animal.
