---
title: "Homosexual seduction"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_seduction"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:17:55.742026+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The homosexual seduction theory, like the acquired homosexuality and LGBT grooming conspiracy theories, has subsequently been used in homophobic propaganda and by anti-LGBT rights groups to delay the progress of LGBT rights, by portraying homosexual men as "old perverts who prey on children". The theoretical link between homosexual men and predation or child abuse has permeated discussions about levelling the age of consent, anti-discrimination efforts, adoption and fostering rights, marriage equality, LGBT pride events, pediatric healthcare, and inclusion in sports and public spaces. It has created harmful stereotypes around gay and bisexual men, which have led to increasing and disproportionate numbers of anti-LGBT hate crimes, including violence and even mass murder. In some countries, it has also led to anti-LGBT legislation which criminalizes homosexuality; in Uganda, this may even result in a death sentence. According to Bryn Nelson in Scientific American, conspiracy theories based on pedophilia use disgust as a form of "stochastic terrorism", that incites audiences already primed for violence to target the subjects of those conspiracy theories. A 2020 paper by James A. Piazza found that there is a correlation between politicians sharing prejudicial views and rising domestic terrorism. Another study in Warsaw supported this view. The idea that homosexuality was spreading through intergenerational sex was a key argument behind the oppression and killing of homosexual people in Nazi Germany. Since organisations such as the Hitlerjugend and the SS consisted mostly of young men, the government cracked down heavily on 'moral corruption' as part of the Night of Long Knives and the Holocaust. The theoretical link between homosexual activity and predation has heavily influenced the LGBTQ+ community's battle for equal rights, and has been used in recent years to justify anti-LGBT legislation in countries such as Hungary and Russia. In the United Kingdom, the 1976 Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexuality, but set the homosexual age of consent at 21 years of age as opposed to 16 for heterosexual people. In Parliament, politicians often portrayed young people as vulnerable to homosexual seduction. For example, politicians argued that "sixteen is an extremely formative age....at 16, young people ... are unsure about themselves" (Earl Ferrers), and "those extra two years may well save [a boy] from becoming involved in a homosexual relationship which he might bitterly regret later in life"  (Lord Gray of Contin). The homosexual age of consent in the United Kingdom was eventually made equal to the heterosexual age of consent in 2000. In 1977, Anita Bryant successfully campaigned to repeal an ordinance in Miami-Dade County that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Her campaign was based upon allegations of homosexual recruitment. Writing about Bryant's efforts to repeal a Florida anti-discrimination law in the Journal of Social History, Michel Boucai wrote that "Bryant's organization, Save Our Children, framed the law as an endorsement of immorality and a license for 'recruitment'." Other people and organisations that were influenced by homosexual seduction theory include Judith Reisman, Paul Cameron, the Traditional Values Coalition and the Abiding Truth Ministries. In 1983, the Daily Mail reported that a copy of a book entitled Jenny lives with Eric and Martin, portraying a young girl who lives with her father and his male partner, was provided in a school library run by the Labour-controlled Inner London Education Authority. In reality the book found by the Daily Mail turned out to be in a ILEA teachers' resource centre and never seen or used by children. In 1986, UK tabloid The Sun described the children's book as a "vile" and "perverted" threat to British children. Of the incident, Colin Clew wrote, "To the British media, it was nothing more than a homosexual recruiting manual that sought to undermine Western civilisation as we know it."
By 1987, both the UK's right-wing media and the Conservative Party had begun increasingly criticizing the Labour Party for supporting minorities such as LGBT+ people, describing them as part of a "loony left" intent on destroying British values. Recounting the period, writer Matthew Todd argued that, "Thatcher presided over and took advantage of the most devastatingly homophobic time in recent British history" with the help of The Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, amounting to "a campaign of deeply unpleasant propaganda" which resulted in the passing of Section 28 in 1988. During a 1987 debate for Section 28, Dame Jill Knight of Collingtree said in Parliament, "Millions outside Parliament object to little children being perverted, diverted or converted from normal family life to a lifestyle which is desperately dangerous for society and extremely dangerous for them." Section 28 proposed a ban on local authorities "[promoting] the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" and was only repealed in 2003 (2000 in Scotland). It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student support groups to close, limit their activities or self-censor. Oregon's proposed 1992 Ballot Measure 9 contained language that would have added anti-LGBT rhetoric to the state Constitution. U.S. writer Judith Reisman justified her support for the measure, citing "a clear avenue for the recruitment of children" by LGBT+ people. A small newspaper in Uganda's capital attracted international attention in 2010 when it outed 100 gay people alongside a banner that said, "Hang them", and claimed that homosexuals aimed to "recruit" Ugandan children, and that schools had "been penetrated by gay activists to recruit kids." According to gay rights activists, many Ugandans were attacked afterward as a result of their real or perceived sexual orientation. Minorities activist David Kato, who was outed in the article and a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit against the paper, was subsequently murdered at home by an intruder and an international outcry resulted. In 1998, The Onion parodied the idea of "homosexual recruitment" in an article titled "'98 Homosexual-Recruitment Drive Nearing Goal", saying "Spokespersons for the National Gay & Lesbian Recruitment Task Force announced Monday that more than 288,000 straights have been converted to homosexuality since January 1, 1998, putting the group well on pace to reach its goal of 350,000 conversions by the end of the year." According to Mimi Marinucci, most US adults who support gay rights would recognize the story as satire due to unrealistic details. The Westboro Baptist Church passed along the story as fact, citing it as evidence of a gay conspiracy. Recent protests and attacks against drag queens have cited a variation of the homosexual seduction theory as a reason for their opposition; neo-Nazis in Florida have also used this to recruit new members. Due to the increasing attention paid to drag performers since 2019, right-wing figures such as Chaya Raichik, Matt Walsh, Tucker Carlson, Michael Knowles, Dennis Prager, Candace Owens, and Ben Shapiro, began to link drag queens to the LGBT grooming conspiracy theory, calling to limit their visibility. In subsequent years, some of the states of the United States of America (with a Republican majority) proposed and approved various laws with the aim of limiting the performances of drag queens in public and prevent them performing for audiences which include children.