If you missed this recent news story, don’t be surprised. To my knowledge, it was reported only by CBS and AOL, and not very prominently, I might add. This is not April Fool’s Day, and this is no joke. If you are outraged easily, pop a blood pressure pill now and have a seat. You’re not going to believe your gay eyes. I am flabbergasted and outraged by this story on so many levels, but I’m not speechless.

The Pentagon recently confirmed a military proposal to create a "hormone bomb" to be dropped behind enemy lines, turning soldiers gay, making them more interested in sex than in fighting. The proposal was discovered through the use of the Freedom of Information Act, by a University of California, Berkeley military spending watchdog group. The proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal [weapon] would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior." The plan was simple: drop a "gay bomb" on the enemies, and they will instantly become so obsessed with sex that they abandon their posts and go at it like rabbits. The Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop this chemical weapon. The project was originally proposed in 1994. The government claims that the proposal was dismissed quickly, but a representative of Berkeley’s watchdog group disputed this claim, pointing out that the Air Force "had submitted it to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider." I could not care less whether this project ever saw the light of day. It is enough for me that it was simply considered.

This ridiculous experiment exposes our government’s hatred for, and suspicion of, gay men. Why not drop a bomb on the enemy to turn all of them black? We all know black people are lazy. They would have scurried away to nap in their cots, or they would have searched feverishly in the wilderness for some gansta rap, fried chicken, and watermelon. Perhaps a bomb to turn our foes into women? We all know that women are weak and inferior. They couldn’t possibly fight while being overcome by the vapors. How about a Hispanic bomb? We all know those Hispanics are dirty thieves. They would have been too busy picking each other’s pockets to aim a gun. Or maybe a bomb to turn enemies Asian? They would have wasted all day in search of calculators, cellos, and cats for dinner. A Jewish bomb? Oy vey! Soldiers would obsess over matzo balls and leaving behind their money in the bank. I don’t believe in any of these ridiculous and insulting stereotypes, but obviously, our government officials still believe that gay men are sex-crazed lunatics with a serious inability to focus on anything except the next roll in the hay. We’re the last minority it’s OK to publicly bully, insult, and demonize.

I am infuriated by the fact that there wasn’t great public outrage about this breaking news story. Had these bombs been intended to turn war enemies black, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would have protested to anyone who would listen. Oprah would have dedicated a week’s shows to the topic. Americans of every race would have joined in the protest. President Bush and Nancy Pelosi would finally agree on something, that this kind of blatant prejudice and wasteful spending is unacceptable. They would have forced the project’s organizers to issue an apology and step down from their positions. But I’m not holding my breath for any apology from anyone in this case. It took Ronald Reagan years to apologize for turning a blind eye to the AIDS crisis. He didn’t care about a disease that killed only gay men. Not until "decent" heterosexuals, children, and celebrities came down with the disease did he publicly acknowledge that it even existed. That was over two decades ago, and I guess we haven’t come a long way, baby. It seems to me that in this case, we’ve gone nowhere in changing public and government perception of the gay community. Maybe we haven’t tried hard enough. Maybe we haven’t been forceful enough. Maybe our protests have fallen on deaf ears and lips that utter whatever words please the demographic of the day.

Gay men are often considered "the enemy." When my brother and I were kids, we used to play a very intricate fantasy game with Star Wars action figures. We had the whole collection, from the handsome and rugged Luke Skywalker, to the shriveled and scary "Sand People," but we turned the action figures into our own characters. My brother and I were intergalactic private investigators, code-named Minotaur and Griffin. We took turns developing detailed plots that could take days or even weeks to unravel.

Sometimes, we were captured by our enemies and banished to a winding labyrinth or a forbidden planet, from which we had to escape. In every adventure, we faced frightening enemies including fire-breathing dragons, spell-casting wizards, and bone-crushing giants. In many adventures, we also faced the dreaded homosexuals. If you took a wrong turn inside a maze and wandered into a certain room, it was full of gay men trying to rape you. The men in the room were like mindless clones, Stepford faggots, with only two things on their mind—sex and more sex. And they didn’t care whom they hurt to get it. This whole notion of enemy gays started in my brother’s head, but I quickly played along so he wouldn’t suspect that I was one of those lecherous gay men.

This example may seem adolescent and trite compared to the Pentagon’s "gay bomb" theory, but the lessons are the same. Congratulations to all the military and government officials associated with this recent "gay bomb" debacle. You have slapped the face of every gay man and lesbian serving today in our nation’s armed forces. You have spit on the graves of every gay and lesbian soldier who sacrificed their lives to defend a country who views them as monsters and jokes. You have perpetuated the stereotype that gay men are obsessed with endless, meaningless sex at any cost. Consequently, you have reinforced every other villainous stereotype we’ve ever fought to disprove. We are the bogey-men who kidnap your children and lure them into a deviant, torturous lifestyle. We molest our nieces and nephews. We scream and cower in the face of danger. We bring down the entire country’s moral curve. We bring down God’s angry wrath upon America. And we do it all while dressing hair and windows, spreading vicious gossip about one another, and jumping from one drunk man’s bed to the next. Fortunately for me, I don’t believe any of this anymore. I am none of these things. But I worry about gay children who still believe this about themselves, and I worry about ignorant Americans who think they don’t know any gay people, making it alright to believe all of this.

God help America.