A QUESTION OF MOTIVATION

Some time ago, I posted about Arthur Finkelstein, an anti-liberal operative who - SHAZAM - married his gay partner in Massachusetts. This morning, I read in The Smoking Gun this story about a reverend with a secret:

OCTOBER 8--An Alabama minister who died in June of "accidental mechanical asphyxia" was found hogtied and wearing two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask, according to an autopsy report.

He also had a dildo in his anus. We know that the Fundies and other social conseratives think homosexuality is second only to abortion in the Great Sins and I just came to the realization that this may be reaction formation. I did a little searching and found that Brad Leiter beat me to it a long time ago:

You see, the standard, but I guess no longer familiar, Freudian explanation for hostility towards homosexuals is that such hostility is a defense mechanism against the subject's own homosexual desires. So, e.g., Justice Scalia, all too aware at some level of his powerful homosexual urges, tries to defend against these unacceptable desires by adopting very publically--say, in a dissenting opinion (see esp. 18 ff. of the slip opinion)--the cause of those opposed to the "homosexual agenda" in the "culture wars." If the "homosexual agenda" prevails in the culture war, then Justice Scalia, himself, is at greater risk of succumbing to his latent homosexuality. And by very publically committing himself to opposition to homosexuality, he is better able to strengthen his resolve against his own homosexual tendencies.

"Rank speculation!" you object. Perhaps.

But consider the University of Georgia psychologist, an avowed Freud-skeptic (before), who conducted an experiment to test the Freudian hypothesis. (For the details, see Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, “Is Homophobia Associated with Homosexual Arousal?” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 105 (1996): 440-445.) The finding: those who expressed the most hostile and negative attitudes towards homosexuals demonstrated the highest level of sexual arousal when exposed to homosexual pornography. In Freudian terms: their homophobia was a reaction formation designed to protect them from their own powerful homosexual desires.

Leiter also brings to my attention the case of the gay republican Seattle mayor who publicly opposed homsexual rights.

UPDATE: The Rubber Reverend was no ordinary hick in the sticks:

Death Of Montgomery Minister Deeply Affects Snowdoun Pastor
Aug 28, 2007 09:31 PM MST

Gary Aldridge graduated from Liberty University and later worked for the late Jerry Falwell. A former colleague at the school remembered him as well.

"He went on to become one of the deans and the students loved him. He had a tremendous impact on them," said Dr. Bob Miller of Liberty University.