1984. Lou Sheldon and the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC)
Interesting to note that rabid homophobe Lou Sheldon chose Pride month to die. Sheldon spent the majority of his life peddling vile propaganda to block any advancement of queer people in the USA.
In 1974 he campaigned against California’s decriminalisation of consenting acts between adults in private. By 1977 he was the California Executive Director for homophobe Anita Bryant’s ‘Save Our Children’ campaign. The following year he ran the Briggs Initiative campaign: Senator John Briggs’ attempt to bar queer people from teaching in public schools in California.
The Initiative was lost, but the campaign brought Sheldon into contact with churches statewide and made him realise their power. And so he established his own hate initiative. Initially called the American Liberties Institute, then the California Coalition for Traditional Values, it finally became the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). Its aim was to spread a moral code based on the Old and New Testaments and warn against the increasing ‘gay threat’.
The ‘gay threat’ was based on the deliberate conflation of homosexuality with paedophilia. This, he argued, was central to the (mythical) ‘gay agenda’; getting access to young people whenever and wherever we could. Queer teachers were one obvious target for him. Thus:
“As homosexuals continue to make inroads into public schools, more children will be molested and indoctrinated into the world of homosexuality. And many of them will die in that world.”
But that was only the start. In Sheldon’s mind, queer people were fiercely evangelical. Just like evangelical Christians, they would go door-to-door. And…
“…if your son answers, and nobody is there to stop it, they grab the son and run off with him. They steal him. They take him away and turn him into a homosexual.”
Such a bizarre notion is clearly laughable – at least to us. But Sheldon had an extraordinary level of influence in the corridors of power. For example, in 1984 he lobbied California governor George Deukmejian to veto an anti-queer employment discrimination bill. Once Deukmejian had done so, he mobilised his network to bombard state legislators to ensure the bill was killed off completely.
And it was some network. For example, it’s believed that he had 43,000 churches behind him across the country. But even more disturbing, his influence reached as far as the White House. During the George W Bush presidency, for example, Sheldon visited the White House on more than 60 occasions and had eight face-to-face meetings with Bush himself.

A poster produced by activist group Akimbo. It was produced for an anti-Sheldon/TVC protest organised by ACT UP in March 1990
TVC’s resources and connections allowed them to attack pro-queer measures relentlessly. In Los Angeles in 1984, for example, they mobilised parents to oppose Project 10, a scheme to support queer youth to stay in school. This was no isolated incident. TVC kept our community under attack for decades.
But, like all extremist organisations, there comes a time when individual egos drive them to in-fighting. And so it was with Sheldon who, at the time of his death, was embroiled in a legal case against his own daughter, Andrea Lafferty. He claimed that, after Lafferty had taken over the leadership, it stopped being a lobbying organisation. It had, instead, become an organisation that conducts fraudulent fundraising for the benefit of her and her husband.
Certainly it is clear that TVC hasn’ t been raking in the money like they used too. In fact it would appear that the organisation is bankrupt. And its profile and influence has gone the same way as its cash. But not before these evil bigots have inflicted major, unwarranted damage on our communities in the US. See you in Hell, Lou!
I remember him best for his comment about ‘avant-garde artists are demanding our tax dollars to proselytise their aberrant lifestyles’ in the Mapplethorpe/Serrano/Finley/Hughes NEA controversy about 30 years back.
On a more positive note though…
http://www.thelavendereffect.org/projects/project-10/
Sheldon was the main villain in the Project10 imbroglio… but a much more affirming and constructive influence on the world (and especially queer youth) was the central heroine, Virginia Uribe, who left this world last year. RIP
Thanks for your comments – and the link to the Project 10 info. Colin
Even after less than two years, I still feel so ecstatic over the death of the founder of the Anaheim, CA-based Traditional Values Coalition – and strident homophobe – Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. GOOD RIDDANCE!