Governor Ron DeSantis was accused of marginalizing LGBT teachers and students when he signed the Parental Rights in Education bill earlier this year. The media, as it is often wont to do, lied about the bill and branded it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The response was a useful window into the mind of the American left. Politicians, entertainers, and corporations made a point to say “Gay!” every moment they could prior to the bill being signed into law.

Fast-forward a few months to the current monkeypox public health emergency – an actual threat to the LGBT community – and suddenly the keepers of culture have a bad case of laryngitis.

Yes, they grudgingly acknowledge that gay men – “men who have sex with men” in public health parlance – make up virtually all monkeypox cases.

Their overriding concern, however, in the public response to the outbreak is to avoid “stigmatizing” gay men. The writers of a recent Washington Post article acknowledge that public health authorities are weighing whether to recommend that gay men limit their sexual partners to help control the spread of the virus. The Post linked to a resource from San Francisco that tried to provide practical prevention tips for men attending a popular kink festival.

“We’re gearing up for an exciting return of our favorite street festival in San Francisco: Up Your Alley (aka Dore Alley), where you’ll get your fill of hot hairy daddies, hungry pigs, BDSM babes and kinks of all kinds. Douchie’s got some hot tips for a fun and filthy weekend — free of anxiety.”

Romans 1 is clear that a society that sows kink and celebrates filth will reap destruction both physically and spiritually.

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.”

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Promiscuous sex is one aspect of gay culture the left is loath to discuss publicly. Journalists bend over backward not to offend men who lack the discipline to stop bending over forward for random men at sex parties.

The shame mechanism for the people engaged in this behavior is completely broken. Only a mind enslaved to sin would think that being told not to engage in anonymous sex acts at orgies, at bathhouses, and in public bathrooms is more stigmatizing than the acts themselves.

Thankfully, the same book that details the ultimate end of all who are in bondage to sin also describes the freedom found in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel has the same power to save the gay man who has spent decades degrading himself through the unnatural use of his body as it does the church girl who thinks her good works are what make her righteous in God’s sight.

What makes the left’s “don’t say gay” monkeypox response so galling is the stark contrast of how this public health emergency is being handled compared to our last one.

During COVID, the media, academics, politicians, and public health officials had no problem using their platforms to chastise and criticize anyone who disobeyed their COVID orders. They ordered churches to close and demanded that people not see their families for the holidays.

People who refused COVID shots and complained about mask mandates were blamed for killing children and senior citizens. They were threatened with job loss, isolated in churches, and chastised for prolonging the “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Conservatives who died after expressing concern about the public health response to COVID were mocked online and in major media outlets.

Now monkeypox is here, and the politicians, public health authorities, and media outlets who spoke with moral force as they shamed disobedient voters have become much more circumspect with their public guidance. We are being led by people who felt emboldened to tell Americans not to celebrate Thanksgiving with family but tremble at the thought of having to tell gay men not to attend kink festivals.

Enabling self-destruction is neither loving nor kind. Immunity from criticism creates a breeding ground for cultural dysfunction and communicable diseases.

We need more leaders willing to discuss abstinence with adults and fewer teachers trying to talk about gender identity and sexuality with toddlers. The people who need to hear “gay” most right now are the men in the batthouse, not the children in the schoolhouse.