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WATCH: ‘Boys Beware’ anti-homosexuality ad from 1950s

WATCH: ‘Boys Beware’ anti-homosexuality ad from 1950s

“One never knows when a homosexual is about. He may appear normal, and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill.”

Those are some of the final words highlighted in a 1950s ad warning young boys about the dangers of homosexual men. The video, which suggests that all homosexual men are “sick” in the mind and sexual predators on young boys, warns kids about taking rides from strangers, avoiding overly affectionate adult men, and not making friends in bathrooms where the homosexuals often hang out. In fairness, these are all great things to tell children to avoid, but not because us gays are lurking around, because it is common sense.

In looking at the context of the 1950s, homosexuality was viewed as criminal deviant behavior. The Lavender scare of the 1940s to 70s, caused by a string of child kidnappings, fueled the fire in anti-homosexual sentiment. Sid Davis’s 10-minute short video, Boys Beware, is representative of the sentiments of the time and attributes negative stereotypes to homosexual men, claiming that if young boys are left with these men, they will be forced into dangerous situations or might be killed, like Mike who was “riding in the shadow of death.”

Watch the late 50s scare tactics for yourself.

Today, the tides have turned for us homos. Sure, we still get the child predatory thing from bigots, but it is no where near as bad as it used to be. But don’t breath a sigh of relief now. These videos may seem silly today, especially with young boys hitchhiking from the park, but the scare tactics have been redirected at a different letter in the LGBT community.

Last month, as Houston geared up for the vote on Proposition 1, an ordinance that would allow transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they identified with, opponents of the bill released a 30 second ad that tapped into the same scare tactics used in Davis’s video.

The erie video depicts a little girl going into a stall, and a predatory man following her in. The logic is that if a man is allowed to pretend to be a woman for a day, then he gets to use the women’s bathroom and take advantage of women and children. It’s absurd, especially since the allegations in this ad and others like it have never been verified by an instance of a transgender woman or man  using such an ordinance as cover to enter gender-segregated spaces and harass women. Likewise, a June study by progressive watchdog group Media Matters discovered that trans-inclusive restroom policies in the 17 largest school districts in the U.S. have resulted in zero incidents of boys “pretending” to be girls, reports of harassment, or any other “negative consequence” of the inclusive policies.

Check out the ad here, and decide for yourself whether we have grown or not.

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