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.”
Step 4: Marginalize extremes; emphasize the mainstream
“Cocky mustachioed leather‑men, drag queens, and bull dykes would not appear in gay commercials. . . . Conventional young people, middle‑age women, and older folks of all races . . . would be featured.”
Step 5: Promote the “born gay” narrative
“We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay. . . . To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms. . . .”
Step 6: Muddy the moral waters
“Use talk to muddy the moral waters . . . publicizing support by moderate churches and raising serious theological objections to conservative biblical teachings.”
Step 7: Make opponents look bad
“We intend to make the anti‑gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types. . . . The public should be shown images of ranting homophobes. . . .”
* The plan was actually six steps, but I’ve expanded broken out one of their points since it had two parts.
