One Day After California…
Jim Burroway
May 16th, 2008
…Nineteen Minnesota lawmakers (the maximun number of allowable sponsors) have introduced the Marriage and Family Protection Act, which would allow for same sex marriages in Minnesota.
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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.
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.
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!
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.
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"
Part 6: The Science Of "Love Won Out"
Part 7: The Politics Of "Love Won Out"
Part 8: Hope For Parents Who Struggle
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
…Nineteen Minnesota lawmakers (the maximun number of allowable sponsors) have introduced the Marriage and Family Protection Act, which would allow for same sex marriages in Minnesota.
Ben in Oakland
May 16th, 2008 | LINK
I’m a little unclear. does this mean that they are trying to protect marriage nad family by allowing gay marriage? How can they twist those wrods so badly?
And before anybody starts screaming, yes, this is an ironical question.
Jarred
May 16th, 2008 | LINK
I love the irony, Ben. I have to admit, it’s kind of nice to hear legislation with such a title which is for marriage equality.
Joel
May 17th, 2008 | LINK
I have one very confusing idea floating around my head. I heard from some news report that there is an initiative that gov arnold said he would veto that would amend the consititution to make marriage a man and woman only institution. But what i dont get is what exactly did the courts state as unconstitutional? Wasnt that the majority-voted-for amendment to define marriage as a man and woman only institution?
Timothy Kincaid
May 18th, 2008 | LINK
Joel,
No it was not a constitutional amendment. It was a voter initiative that changed the legal code, not the constitution.
The court determined that this voter-created law was inconsistent with the protections granted by the state constitution. There is a movement to change the constitution so that it no longer protects gay people and their access to equality under the law when it comes to marriage. Signatures have been turned in and are being counted to see if there are enough so that the initiative can be presented to voters in November.
Gov. Schwarzenegger cannot “veto” a constitutional amendment. However, he has promised to oppose efforts to pass such an amendment.
Joel
May 18th, 2008 | LINK
Oh well, that makes sense with what i heard from an anti-gay marriage proponent. He said that this issue was not for a court to decide but the ppl.
So i guess this means that if enough ppl vote for it in November then gays will NOT be allowed to marry then?
Also… are there any other states that have already turned in the votes, voted for and succesfully amended the constitution?
If some states amend the constitution … would this ‘violation’ in ‘gay rights’ be subjected to other higher authorities and be overturned? Or is the majority(christians) the voice that determines what is permitted(morally right) or not?
Joel
May 18th, 2008 | LINK
If a
“voter initiative… changed the legal cod…” what exactly are we hoping for in the elections? They already voted once, they will vote again… and win.
it could be possible in the fiture to re-amend the consititution no?
gkroyse
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Here in CA.the polls are pretty much split right down the middle on the issue of state constitutional amendment to ban marriage equity:49% are for, 48% against,according to Gallop Poll published Saturday in the Sac.Bee. However the same people in that survey said that 56%were against legalizing same-sex marriage to 40% for it, go figure.
gkroyse
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
No matter what happens here in Nov., and it’s going to be close,WE have no intention of letting the right-wingers shut us down!
Walter Hollis
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Well…………..@ least they cannot reproduce, thank goodness.
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