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
Marriage Equality Made This Maryland Legislator Drive Drunk
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
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Patrick
March 18th, 2008 | LINK
Has Focus on the Family issued a public correction for wrongly saying that anthropologists agree on traditional definition of marriage, even though the American Anthropological Association went on record in 2004 opposing any attempt to define marriage as such?
If they are to be above reproach, is this not necessary? They did bear false witness after all.
Emproph
March 18th, 2008 | LINK
Perhaps. However, there is at least a consensus that Newton had lawS.
Stefano
March 18th, 2008 | LINK
While the upcoming discussion holds possibilities of a “lively” debate which may prove interesting… This letter in no way exculpates CitizenLink for not indicating the article was rewritten and the reasons why.
Emproph
March 18th, 2008 | LINK
Agreed Stefano, I second that.
David Roberts
March 18th, 2008 | LINK
This is really quite disturbing, Mr. Stanton. Let’s correct a few things.
CitizenLink did more than a “sneaky bait and switch.” They posted an article that was not only contrary to the opinions of other professionals in the field, but the American Anthropological Association itself. Then, after 10 days of challenges, they replaced that article with an entirely new one, at the same URL, and with the same published date. Now perhaps if the interval had been a day, or even two, we could call it “sneaky bait and switch” (or just plain sloppy), but ten full days really can’t be explained away so easily.
Your explanation has a “dog ate my homework” air about it but let’s go on. You said that in our article, XGW insinuated that your whitepaper was “cobbled together quickly” to answer the complaints of the first article. Perhaps you are confusing XGW with someone else; we didn’t discuss your whitepaper at all, only the articles themselves. BTB is the only site I’m aware of that has even mentioned the paper, and yet you are posting a false accusation against us on their site. Anyone can verify this by reading the post. This actually illustrates the problem highlighted, however; with XGW, you don’t have to wonder if something was in that post a few days ago, but is now gone, or has been rewritten. From experience, we can’t say the same for CitizenLink at all. I should think that would bother you.
All this would be much easier if someone on your end would be professional enough to respond to our email inquiries – do you think you could promise this for the future? It would also help if we did not already have a history of CitizenLink activity along these same lines. Honestly, how would you react to our doing the very same thing? And then what if we were to have explained it away with a few jokes about how scientists don’t agree on Newton’s Law[s] (there are 3 I believe)?
Readers deserve better answers because all this means something to their lives. That requires us to act as professionally as possible, esp when we claim to present fact. Posts at XGW, as with BTB, are usually filled with links to supporting evidence yet this is rarely the case on CitizenLink, yet they call us “unprofessional.” Should you offer, I’m happy to accept your apology for the false accusation about XGW, and look forward to a reply the next time we email Focus. If you would like to send a contact email, please feel free to send it to me at editor@exgaywatch.com.
I look forward to reading your debate with Dr. Chapman.
Dave Rattigan
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
Stefano, Emproph: Yes.
I look forward to the debate.
Glenn wrote, “Ex-Gay Watch insinuated that the paper was cobbled together quickly to answer the complaints generated from the first article.” This is untrue. The XGW article said nothing about the paper; the charge was that the article had been rewritten, nothing else. It was a commenter who suggested the paper had been written in response to the complaints.
Dave Rattigan
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
I’m a bit confused now.
“Yes, it looks like Focus on the Family did a sneaky bait and switch on the anthropology article that has been discussed at the BoxTurtle.”
I read that as “Yes, it LOOKS like there was a sneaky bait and switch, but really there wasn’t,” where David Roberts read it as “A sneaky bait and switch is all it was.”
Can Mr Stanton clarify?
Glenn
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
Yes Dave, you read me exactly right. I was saying it LOOKED that way, not that it WAS that way. Thank you for asking. :-)
Jason D
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
encouraging but suspicious nonetheless.
Stanton should be aware at this point between Cameron’s distortions and the outright lies and misinformation that gets regurgitated ad nauseum — we have reason to be skeptical. For goodness sake we have randy thomas using marketing surveys to “prove” we’re too rich to be a minority. I’ll be sure to show that article to all the homeless LGBT youth I see at the Center On Halsted here in Chicago.
Also considering that CitzenLink attempted to smear XGW is a big clue. When someone can’t counter you on your facts or your logic, they are only left with personal attacks.”Oh, you’re just a blog, not real journalists!”
Glenn seems to be quick to defend CitzenLink’s shoddy journalism, but if I were him and wanted to be taken seriously, and have my work respected, I would have my work printed by a reliable source and distance myself from anyone who makes such unprofessional errors.
Bruce Garrett
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
Question: Why didn’t CitizenLink simply acknowledge the correction, if that’s what it was, in the replacement article?
If you’re fighting a culture war Mr. Stanton, then I suppose the object is simply to win it. That’s how it is with wars. On the other hand, if you are fighting for traditional values like…oh…morality, decency, integrity, truthfulness, rectitude, those sorts of things, then first you need to Be those things. Are you fighting a culture war Mr. Stanton or are you fighting for integrity and decency in a world where anything goes? Anything goes can win a culture war, but not a fight for integrity and decency.
Dave Rattigan
March 19th, 2008 | LINK
Glenn, you clarified your meaning in the opening sentence, but were you planning on addressing any of the other issues raised? For example, you wrongly stated that Ex-Gay Watch made insinuations about the contents and timing of your paper.
Emproph
March 20th, 2008 | LINK
How can you have a discussion on anthropology when one of the participants thinks the Earth is only 6000 years old?
Wouldn’t you have to start with a discussion on geology?
Truth Wins Out - Fighting Right Wing Lies and the 'Ex-Gay' Fraud
March 20th, 2008 | LINK
[...] Acknowledging his role in cultural warfare, Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family declines to acknowledge that his employer covered up numerous false claims in a widely distributed and uncorrected press [...]
Stanton Makes Excuse for Article Controversy, Citizenlink Still Not off the Hook | Ex-Gay Watch
March 20th, 2008 | LINK
[...] Earlier this week, XGW detailed how Citizenlink, the official news service of Focus on the Family, rewrote an entire article following a storm of controversy in which anthropologists, including the American Anthropology Association, disputed claims of a “consensus” on the nature of “traditional marriage”. Now Stanton, the researcher supposedly behind the claims, has given Box Turtle Bulletin his side of the story. [...]
Glenn
March 20th, 2008 | LINK
Actually Emproph, I am more of an “old-earther” and believe that the Big Bang is not at odds with how most conservative Christians understand Creation.
And as I said in my explanation, people often exceed the stereotypes others hold about them.
peace.
Emproph
March 20th, 2008 | LINK
And also with you.
Leave A Comment