The Global Sexual Revolution and the Assault on Freedom and Family

In early April 2014, German author Gabriele Kuby visited the Czech Republic to give a number of public presentations promoting her new book, The Global Sexual Revolution: The Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom, recently translated to Czech. During her visit to Brno, I had a chance to interview Kuby about her book and ask how her Catholic perspective helps her understand one of the most important issues of our time: the continuing sexual revolution that is leading not only to private lifestyle changes but a new legal understanding of sexuality and the family.

Kuby warns that the global trend of “gender mainstreaming” threatens the fundamental understanding of our very human nature, with dire consequences for children, families, and society as a whole. For example, until 2014 users of Facebook had to indicate their sex – whether they are a man or a woman. But now the popular internet social network gives users 58 different options to indicate their gender. Also in 2014, the winner of the popular “Eurovision” song contest was an Austrian man named Thomas Neuwirth, known by his stage name Conchita Wurst, who attracts curiosity by cross-dressing in women’s clothing while wearing a thick beard. Kuby points out that these kinds of situations create confusion and real psychological and spiritual harms for individuals and society.

CWR: For the benefit of our readers, would you please summarize the main thesis of your new book?

Gabriele Kuby: After my conversion to the Catholic faith, and given my background in the study of sociology and interest in political and social developments, I began to realize that sexuality is the issue of our time. We live in a time when sexual norms are being turned completely upside down, which is unique in human history. No society does has done this. No society has ever said, “Live out your sexual drive any way you like,” but our society does. I think this issue of sexuality is the main attack on the dignity of the human being, and on society as a whole, because if a society lets go of its morality in general, and especially in the area of sexuality, it tumbles into anarchy and chaos, and this can result in a new totalitarian regime by the state.

CWR: A main theme of your book is “gender mainstreaming.” Can you educate our readers about gender mainstreaming, and explain why it is dangerous?

Kuby: The term “gender” was a grammatical term used to differentiate the genus of a word, before it was used for a political agenda. Then radical feminists discovered this word and used it to create a new ideology. I marvel at the strategic far-sightedness of knowing that you need a term to promote a new idea, and this is the term “gender.” Gender now means there is a “social sex” which can differ from you biological sex. Of course, there are cultural and historical differences in the ways people live their masculinity and femininity. But the feminist theory is, there is a social construction of sex which can be different – indeed, need not be identical to – your biological sex. And if we give up our identity as a man or a woman, and say there is no such identity, then of course the whole sexual order collapses, and anybody can have sex with anybody – which is not just a theoretical claim, but a practical claim of this movement: there are not two sexes, or two genders; there are many genders, like heterosexual men and women, homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgender, intersexual and queer people (“queer” being a term for any kind of sexual deviance from heterosexuality).

Gender theory says our sexual orientation is the main criterion for our identity. The main value by which this is promoted is freedom. Our hyper-individualized society claims that we have freedom to choose our sex, whether we are man or woman, and it is our freedom to choose our sexual orientation. Society must not only tolerate but positively accept any kind of sexual orientation. But in fact, heterosexuality is the natural condition of our human existence, and more than 97 percent of the population of this earth is heterosexual and has an instinctive rejection of homosexuality. The people who push the gender agenda around the world of course have to start with very young children and teach them that any kind of sexual orientation is equally valid.

The whole thing is “sold,” so to speak, as ever more rights for women. If people have heard anything about it, they think gender mainstreaming is about more rights for women. But if men and women are seen as no longer different, then what is the point of fighting for the rights of women? It’s an internal contradiction.

After 150 years of feminism – which was an important and necessary social movement because women did not have equal rights – the movement has radicalized and today in Western society, we are in a power struggle of women over men. Men are discriminated against, and it is men who are really underprivileged. For instance, in the German education system, women and girls are the winners, while boys more and more fall through the cracks. Women are privileged in job acquisition by quotas, and women are privileged in divorce law suits. Behind all this is a constant complaint by feminist organizations who say men are basically aggressive rapists, and women are the victims.

CWR: Why did you choose to have your book translated from German into East European languages, such as Slovak, Hungarian, Croatian, and Polish, before English and other West European languages?

Kuby: It was not a choice, it just happened. I didn’t do anything for this to happen. These doors opened by themselves. Czech is now the fifth language into which the book has been translated, and this year it will be published in Romanian as well. The book now is being translated into English but we are still looking for a publisher. It was not a strategy on my part. All I did was sit at my desk and try to write the truth; the translations and invitations to speak in many countries are not my doing.

CWR: Promoting your book is taking you to many countries, making you a witness of different cultures in Europe. Do you notice any differences between the gender situation in Western Europe and the post-communist countries?

Kuby: There is definitely a difference. The East European countries were, so to speak, protected by communist totalitarianism from the 1968 cultural revolution in the West. They did have abortion on a huge scale, and still do, but they did not have the sexual revolution. There was not a direct attack on the family through the sexual revolution and radical feminism. There was a communist attack on the family, but it didn’t go as deep as the sexual revolution now does.

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 we all had this hope of freedom and entering an era beyond ideology. But while we were delighting in that hope, powerful forces prepared for the next step of the global sexual revolution. Don’t ask me who these forces are, but I see this revolution taking place at a global scale, with a clear intent to destroy the basis of the family. The destruction of the family uproots every single human being. We become atomized human beings who can be manipulated to do anything.

A new totalitarianism is developing under the cloak of freedom. But now the East European countries are becoming aware of this trend, and my book seems to be helping awaken people. The destruction has not gone as far here and people are motivated to resist it. My great hope is that these East European countries will become a stronghold of resistance in the European Union. There are signs of this happening.

CWR: Is it true that in at least some parts of Europe today, a man can go to his local government office and redefine his gender, and walk out with a new identity card stating he is a woman?

Kuby: In Germany the Left and the Greens are working for this. They suggest that in your passport there should be no indication of male or female. They are fighting for this, and whether we already have a German state where this is happening, I don’t know. It is moving in that direction, no doubt. In my country, there was a legislative initiative in the parliament to have the sex category removed from the identity card.

CWR: What would that mean for society? What would be the consequences?

Kuby: The idea behind these initiatives is that it is an expression of the ultimate “freedom” to “choose” whether I am a man or a woman. But this is madness! The truth is, such confusion makes a person sick. If you do not identify with your sex as a man or woman – such a situation is called transsexuality – this is officially recognized as a psychological disorder. From a criminological point of view, if you can change between man and woman, it will be pretty difficult to identify people.

The idea of changing our sex upsets the notion of what it means to be human. It is the deepest rebellion against the conditions of our human existence that you can possibly imagine. It makes people sick and rootless and they do not know who they are. We are losing our roots in faith, nation, and family, and now even one’s identity as man or woman is under attack to create a new vision of humanity. What will this make of us? A whole mass of sexualized consumers who can be manipulated to do anything. At the same time, the division between rich and poor is growing globally, so we have a concentration of wealth and power in a minority and masses of people who have no roots. That is what the gender mainstreaming agenda is apparently aiming at.

CWR: So there is an elite, and this gender confusion is one of the tools they use to manipulate the masses?

Kuby: I only observe what I can see: a strategy in the United Nations, in the European Union and leftwing governments to enact a policy of the deregulation of sexual norms, thus destroying the basis of the family.

If you go beyond that, and ask: “Who are the people who want this, who profits from this, cui bono?” then of course you get into so-called conspiracy theories. I’ve actually not gone into that because it doesn’t really help us to do what we can in the place where we are. If I can identify, say, the hundred families who control the wealth of this planet – what does it help? I cannot do anything against the Rockefellers and Bill Gates and George Soros and Warren Buffet. We know they are financing the LGBT-agenda and the abortion industry, but we have no influence on that level.

But still we are not powerless. What can they do if there is a rebellion against their agenda, if parents say, “we do not want this sexualization of our children in school”? In France, parents have gone on strike, and do not send their children to school once a month because they don’t want gender education. What can the elites do about such a reaction?

There are many initiatives and many awake people, many very good Christians who have a perception of the signs of the time. They hear the sound of the bell and they work against gender mainstreaming. There is resistance now growing in many countries. So, I work for that.

CWR: What is your goal? What do you want to achieve, and what’s your motivation?

Kuby: Personally, the deepest motivation in my life is truth. This fueled my search for a very long time, and finally led me to the Catholic faith at a late stage in my life. I had a powerful experience of God in 1973. Then there were more than 20 years of searching in esoterics, psychology, and what not. All this led to a life crisis in which my marriage broke up. When I was alone with my three teenage children a neighbor came to my door and said: “Pray!” I did, and all of sudden it was clear that I would enter the Catholic Church – and that was at a time, when I had many reasons to reject the Catholic Church.

Today I had a meeting with the bishop of Brno, and he said he can use my material. That is a joy for me. My intention was not, “how can I write something that is useful for bishops?” I just have to say the truth, and here something is happening with it. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Pope Benedict emeritus, and he said sex education is not only brainwashing, it is also “soul-washing.” If children are sexualized it destroys their sense of shame, their relationship with their parents, their relationship in general to authority, and it destroys their relationship with God. They tell us gender mainstreaming is about “tolerance,” but it’s really about changing us as human beings.

CWR: The forces that you’re describing, such as the education system and also consumer culture and politics, are very powerful, and I want to ask what is your sense of the future. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the fight against these forces? What do you think is the direction today?

Kuby: I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic; I hope to be realistic. I want to see reality as it is. I can see that the forces are very powerful, the money and the power are on the other side, and they have victories every day which astound me. On the other hand, there is resistance accumulating in many countries now. In Croatia there was a referendum to define marriage in the constitution as between one man and one woman. It was achieved against the influence of the mainstream media and the socialist government. In Hungary there is a Christian constitution and the government of Viktor OrbÁn has just been reelected with a two-thirds majority. Wherever this resistance happens, the European Union gets very excited and threatens: “We will use our power to go against this! It is undemocratic and against our values!” Their value is same-sex “marriage” and sex education of children “free of taboos.”

Recently in Paris and in France a huge movement has sprung up, called “Manif pour tous.” Last year more than a million people – among them 20,000 mayors – were on the streets protesting against homosexual “marriage,” a movement called “Marriage pour tous.” The law legalizing homosexual “marriage” did get passed, but many people have awoken and it doesn’t seem that the government of President François Hollande is very stable.

In Germany, resistance is growing. Currently there is movement against the so-called Bildungsplan – education plan – in the state of Baden-Württemberg where recently a Green-Red government came into power. This education plan says there should be LGBTTIQ education in the schools for children of all ages and in all subjects. LGBTTIQ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersexual, and queer. It’s mad!

Under the plan, the whole education system would be permeated by the sexual agenda. But one teacher (who is also a parent) said, “OK, let’s start a petition against this.” One person! 200,000 people signed, which was a great surprise for everybody. Those promoting gender mainstreaming became very excited. They said, “This is against democracy!” But a petition is a perfectly democratic instrument. Now we have demonstrations in Stuttgart and more organizations are participating, so we’ll see where this goes.

There is also resistance at the level of the European Union. At first all these gender mainstreaming issues were enacted by the EU easily, with no resistance at all. But now we have resistance.

The “One of Us” movement is such an initiative. It was amazingly successful – 1.8 million people in Europe signed up, though only 1 million was necessary, stating that they do not want the European Union to use money for the destruction of life, be it by embryonic stem cell research or abortion. The hearing took place on April 10, 2014 and now the Commission has to answer to that.

Another example is the recent rejection of the Estrela Report. The socialist Member of European Parliament Edite Estrela had proposed a resolution to the European Parliament that demanded sex education “without taboos” and the elimination of the freedom of conscience for medical personal, so they must be willing to participate in providing abortions. This agenda was rejected by just seven votes. Many people were mobilized by that fight, and it shows that the gender mainstreaming agenda is getting wobbly.

CWR: The public debate about gender mainstreaming is framed in terms of human rights, freedom, tolerance, and discrimination. A common label used against people like you, in the media and by activists, is “homophobe” or “fundamentalist.” How can Catholics avoid being labeled as bigots or homophobes?

Kuby: We get all sorts of labels. We are called “homophobe” and even “transphobe.” The worst thing you can possibly be called in German is “right wing.” And if you are labeled “right radical,” you are completely expelled from the discussion. This is the number one stigma in Germany.

In contrast, you are allowed to be “Left.” I ask people why “Left” is good. It’s not so easy to explain because hundreds of millions of people have died under leftwing ideology and terror. Why do these victims not count? Why is it that if you’re “Left” you’re fine in the public square, but if you have the slightest touch of “Right” you are expelled?

And there is another label – “homohater.” There are hate laws in Canada, South Africa, Denmark, Great Britain, and in some states in the USA. If you say anything which the LGBT lobby doesn’t want to hear – like “what are the reasons for homosexuality?” or “what are the risks of homosexuality?” or “there is therapy for homosexuality” – you are “homophobic.” Added to this is now the term “transphobic.” So now you are not even able to say that, for instance, you don’t want a transsexual as a teacher of your children. How mad can you get?

The term “homophobia” is interesting. It was created by an American psychoanalyst called Weinberg in the 1970s. Weinberg’s theory is that anybody who is against homosexuality rejects his own inherent homosexual inclinations, and this is the reason for their homophobia. It is a term which states that anyone opposed to homosexuality has a neurotic fear. So we are the ones who need a psychiatrist! Things are turned upside down. The book of Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” We live in a time when this is happening.

We cannot protect ourselves from these accusations. I think there’s just one way to deal with it: to live in accordance with your conscience. As a Christian I do not hate. If I hated anybody, I would separate from God, and I would lose my Christianity. So I do not hate. If a homosexual was sitting right here next to me, I would speak with him in the same way that I speak with you. But I would not be quiet about what I think. I would say, “You can choose to live that lifestyle, but I will not call the relationship you have with a man a marriage. I would object if you start adopting children, because each child has a right to a father and mother, but people who cannot have children do not have a right to a child.”

Jesus says, be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. We have to be wise, and train ourselves in asking for guidance through the Holy Spirit. Is it the time to speak up, or a time for silence? We each have to do this in accordance with our position in life.

CWR: I teach sociology at a state university in Brno. For one of my courses, a student recently wrote an essay about gender theory. He wrote that gender is a social construction completely divorced from physical reality. How would you respond to this young man?

Kuby: I would let him do a writing assignment on the neuro-psychological research which shows that the male brain and the female brain are very different: on the mere physical level, on the hormonal level, and in the way they work. These differences are there to make us good fathers and good mothers. The working of the female brain results in more empathy, emotion, and the making of social connections and relationships. Men tend more to aggression, achievement, hierarchy, and order. This is what we want a father to be, and what we want a mother to be.

CWR: I have a colleague in America, a sexology professor at a university, who says (along with other feminists) that men and women are no different than North Dakota and South Dakota – two states that are next to each other and very similar. She wants to minimize or even deny sex differences.

Kuby: But why should we be deluded by this kind of thinking? You are a man and I am a woman, and we know we are different. We are fundamentally different. I don’t want such mad theories to take over. We share our humanity, of course. We are human beings and as such have human dignity. But there is an obvious difference between us which allows us to live in different ways. What is just astounding to me is such fundamental confusion, about things which anybody can recognize.

You know, it’s easy to convince people to work toward a classless society, as with communism – to create this utopian vision in your mind, “Yes, we will build the just society!” We have seen it doesn’t work, but we can understand that people can fall for this way of thinking. You can even understand that people fall for ideologies that assert, “We are the strongest ones, the most wonderful race on this planet!” But that a theory is devised – gender mainstreaming – that says we are not men and women, it’s just amazing that people fall for it.

CWR: It sounds like today we’re living in a time of great change, and faith is essential. We need to fight for what’s right.

Kuby: That’s it, exactly that. Even if we are not successful in our lifetime, we will have used our lives to fight for the right cause. As Christians, our basic hope cannot be destroyed, and that is our hope in Jesus Christ. We believe that He will come back, and as long as we are truly grounded in that hope we have our roots in truth and in eternity, and we cannot be wiped away. We can die, yes, but we know that the ultimate victory is ours. And from that hope, we have to work.

In a talk in the 1990s called “Death and Resurrection,” Joseph Ratzinger said that first there is the crucifixion, the passion, which is followed by Easter Saturday, a time of total silence. The disciples go to Emmaus and they are so blinded that they don’t even realize God is walking next to them. Isn’t that the time we live in now, when we fear that God is silent? Like the disciples in the boat, there’s a storm and they feel they will lose their lives and their boat will sink, and Jesus is sleeping. “Why do you not care for us?” they cry. He reproaches them and he says, “Oh, you of little faith!”

We are called to have a strong faith and I think it’s the only way to get through this time. We have to grow in a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Such faith will be the vessel to get us through this time, and will give us the energy to work, and to accept the sacrifices, whatever they may be. Jesus doesn’t give us illusions about that. We can only pray that by the grace of God we are strong enough.