A Decade of Cyberhate: An Analysis of Anti-LGBTQ Groups and their Website Messages
For years, the Christian Identity, KKK, and Aryan Nation movements promoted the belief that whites are the Bible’s chosen people, and are therefore the superior race. Recently more mainstream Christian conservative and Alt-Right organizations have espoused an equally singular animosity toward LGBTQ citizens. As LGBTQ rights have advanced socially and politically, many groups have increased their calls to action from mere contempt through speech (protected by the First Amendment) to overt threats and promotion of violence. The Internet is a most important tool in any group’s arsenal of hate: it’s comparatively cheap, visually stimulating, capable of vast archives of information, and provides a cloak of anonymity for members. My research uses textual analysis to evaluate GodHatesFags.com, Abiding Truth Ministries, Society to Remove All Immoral Godless Trash (STRAIGHT), Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality, Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (HOME), and Mass Resistance and compares these findings with website messages of five prominent anti-LGBTQ organizations studied in 2003.
The presentation will take place on Friday, April 14 from 3:00 – 3:40 pm in CA 2032.
