The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 19
French President Hollande Signs Marriage Bill
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 18
Fox News Ignores Marriage Equality Wins
The Era of Civil Unions Is Coming To An End
Orthodox Priests Lead Violent Attack On LGBT Rights Rally in Tbilisi, Georgia
France's Marriage Equality Bill Clears Final Hurdle
The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 17
Featured Reports
What Are Little Boys Made Of?
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
Slouching Towards Kampala: Uganda’s Deadly Embrace of Hate
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
David Benkof: Behind the Mask
At first glance, David Benkof appears to be a young gay man who believes that same-sex marriage will damage the institution of marriage, that there are better options for gay couples than marriage, that the community should join him in prioritizing other more pressing issues, and that the marriage discussion is harming the efforts of gay couples in red states to get recognition for their unions. He also claims that he’s a gay columnist, that he speaks for an influential collection of gay thinkers, and that he is part of the gay and lesbian community and that he shares our goals and dreams. But none of that is true.
“Repeat After Me”: The Reparative Therapy Echo Chamber
The April 2008 edition of the pay-to-publish vanity journal Psychological Reports featured a new report from NARTH. Written by NARTH president A. Dean Byrd, past president Joseph Nicolosi, and Richard W. Potts, the report carries the unwieldy but self-descriptive title, “Clients perceptions of how reorientation therapy and self-help can promote changes in sexual orientation.” While the title describes what the authors meant to show — how clients describe the benefits of reparative therapy — the report itself actually illustrates something very different: the ex-gay movement’s remarkable ability to instill an almost robot-like parroting of ex-gay rhetoric among their clients.
Testing the Premise: Is MRSA The New Gay Plague?
The Toronto Star said that a new study “discover[ed] a new strain” of a super-bug “hitting gay men.” Headlines in Britain screamed, “Flesh-eating bug strikes San Francisco’s gay community,” and anti-gay extremists across America spread the alarm that gays were introducing another plague into “the general population.” But there was a small problem with all of this: None of it is true!
Paul Cameron’s World
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
From the Inside: Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out”
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don't miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Testing The Premise: Are Gays A Threat To Our Children?
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Straight From The Source: What the “Dutch Study” Really Says About Gay Couples
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
The FRC’s Briefs Are Showing
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
Review: The Gay Report
When Karla Jay and Allan Young published The Gay Report in 1979, it quickly a favorite source of statistics for many anti-gay extremists. But before you accepts these statistic at face value, you should examine the inner workings of this survey very carefully. What you learn might surprise you.
Daniel Fetty Doesn’t Count
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
Liadan
November 9th, 2007 | LINK
Christian bookstore owners might have to find other excuses not to hire queers to stock and run the cash register! Baptist auto mechanics might have to contend with homo-cooties getting all over the socket wrench set! Presbyterian cafe managers can no longer fire butch waitresses or swishy cooks unless they actually can’t wait tables or cook! Oh, the humanity!
…Hold on, my tiny violin is around here somewhere.
Timothy Kincaid
November 9th, 2007 | LINK
Actually, I think Christian bookstores would be exempt.
Liadan
November 10th, 2007 | LINK
That’s… frankly quite bizarre, since being gay, straight, Christian, or whatever else has very little to do with the logistics of running a business in the same way as it does a church or other religious organization. Christian bookstores are still just businesses, when you get down to brass tacks.
Not that I think most gay people would be thrilled at working at your average Christian bookstore, but employment isn’t always a matter of working where you *like* to.
CPT_Doom
November 10th, 2007 | LINK
You mean, like Baptists having to hire Catholics? Which, of course, is already the law of the land. I am not an expert on ENDA, but my understanding is that it has the same exceptions as the current law on non-discrimination by religious background. So a Catholic diocesan hospital cannot refuse to hire a Baptist nurse, but it can refuse to hire a non-Catholic Religion teacher in its high school.
Ben in Oakland
November 10th, 2007 | LINK
To me, the obvious question is this: once again, the exception for religious belief calls into question the idea that this really about sincere religious belief as opposed to plain old prejudice. The laws of the land allegedly outlaw bias on the basis of religion. As a Jew, i can reject the whole of conservative Christianity and nobody gives a damn–so to speak. Nor as a reasonably inteligent man would I seek employment in a religious environment where I must transmit superstition and humbuggery as god given, absolute truth. But let me say that i am gay and reject just this tiny part of conservative christian theology, and the heavens let loose with cries of anguish over being forced to consider that I am a human being and an american citizen. As a gay man, all I want is the same respect that conservative religionists offer to all of the other people they believe their just and loving god is going to send to hell to burn for ever for the crime of breaking one of his rules, or heaven forbid, not believing in the old bugger at all!
Timothy Kincaid
November 12th, 2007 | LINK
That’s… frankly quite bizarre, since being gay, straight, Christian, or whatever else has very little to do with the logistics of running a business in the same way as it does a church or other religious organization. Christian bookstores are still just businesses, when you get down to brass tacks.
To be honest, I’m not 100% sure that christian bookstores are exempt. I would assume that they would be – or at least some of them – because the nature of the business is different than a regular bookstore.
In religious bookstores the proprietors often are asked advice about their products from a specific religious viewpoint. The store may well be able to argue that because of their close affiliation with some denomination that a gay employee would not be able to provide adequate service. I do think that being Jewish or Muslem would probably also be a legal reason for being denied employment at a Christian bookstore. But I’m not completely certain.
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