The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 26
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 25
The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 24
Boy Scouts of America Votes To Allow Gay Members, Retains Ban On Gay Leaders
Nevada House votes to reverse marriage ban
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 23
It's Not the Principle, It's the Prejudice
Congratulations Mitch!
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.
News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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quo mark II
November 27th, 2007 | LINK
I personally find it wearying to see Patrick M. Chapman repeat two of the weak arguments often used to try to show that homosexuality is inborn.
Toward the end of the third part of his review of the Jones/Yarhouse book, Mr. Chapman seems to imply that, because people find it difficult or impossible to change their sexual orientation, they must have been born with it. This is a non-sequitur; the effects of early childhood experience could be just as deep and irreversible as biology.
Mr. Chapman also seems to be implying that the alleged fact that scientific studies have not identified any postnatal causal factor also shows that homosexuality must be inborn. Whether science has shown that postnatal factors are involved may depend upon what assumptions one interprets it with.
Some studies have shown a rough and inexact correlation between homosexuality and particular family structures. One can argue that, because the correlation is imperfect, parental behaviour cannot possibly influence the development of homosexuality, but this would be equally as unreasonable as arguing that, because there is only an imperfect correlation between homosexuality and any gene or group of genes, genetic factors are unimportant.
The evidence of prenatal influences may perhaps be stronger than the evidence of postnatal influences, but only in relative terms.
Dr Patrick Chapman
November 27th, 2007 | LINK
QuoMark, I think you misunderstand.
I am not saying that because people find it difficult or impossible to change their sexual orientation, they “must” have been born with it. You are correct in that argument being a non-sequitur, in that early postnatal factors are one possibility – although I don’t think the evidence supports them. Instead, I believe people are born with it and that is why it is difficult or impossible to change it. Has it been “proven” that people are born homosexual or heterosexual? No, and I don’t think it ever will be proven that people are born gay, or straight for that matter. But, my bias is that one is born with one’s sexual orientation.
Regarding your second point, I do not suggest that because no postnatal factor has been identified it is “therefore” prenatal. I raise that point because Exodus and various evangelical groups argue it “is” postnatal, yet they have no evidence to identify any specific cause, even though they explicitly mention quite a few. In other words, I raise the issue because they are inconsistent in their treatment of the evidence. They explicitly and confidently state certain postnatal factors “are” the cause of homosexuality, yet there is no good evidence. Meanwhile, they are extremely particular in how they treat any and all evidence suggesting a prenatal cause. If they were consistent in their standards they would have to relinquish their claims for postnatal causes. That is my motivation for my comment. I certainly take responsibility for not being as explicit as I should have been.
Regards,
Patrick
quo mark II
November 28th, 2007 | LINK
Patrick,
OK, I misunderstood you. Thank you for clarifying.
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