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Bratton Endorses Marriage Equality
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Anderson County Teen Charged With False Report
Featured Reports
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"
Part 6: The Science Of "Love Won Out"
Part 7: The Politics Of "Love Won Out"
Part 8: Hope For Parents Who Struggle
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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Erica B.
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Well, let’s see who hasn’t asked whether my heterosexual marriage has been “properly” consummated…
* the IRS, to validate my right to claim joint filing on annual taxes
* my health insurance, to validate his right to be covered
* the state, when we filed our license
* various banks, when we opened joint accounts
Quite correct of them not to ask, it’s none of their damn business.
Beyond this, annulment is not limited to “no consummation.” It is also used in cases where one party has been forced into the marriage; for example, a woman who is kidnapped and raped. In that case, her fundamental definition of “consummation” has occurred, but is it even vaguely appropriate to say that means they must stay married? It’s the “natural” conclusion!
Side note: link to the op-ed is broken, it has an extra < in it. Given its idiocy, maybe that’s fine :-)
GayMormonBoy
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Tom Cruise is a well-known Scientologist. A group that is widely known for being very anti-gay.
If nothing else, Melanie Scarborough’s choice of Tom Cruise as an example of celebrity gay acitivism shows how mind-numbingly misinformed she is.
GayMormonBoy
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Another thought - So according to Melanie, if one partner entering a heterosexual marriage was disfigured in a way that prevented them from “consumating” the marriage, (as per her definition,) the marriage would not be “physically possible” and would have to be annulled.
Devlin Bach
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
The last thing I thought when I went to your link Porno Pete and found it was a Christian news blog, was that I would get a half-master at the pic they published. I hesitantly submit, Porno Pete does good porn.
Thanks for the link to the LA Times Ronald George coverage. Considering his stances through his tenure, he is now quite an evenly robed California super-star.
As far as consumating gay marriage; After a good dick/ass fest, I think we should add a second asset, a little more flair, by requiring a shop fest by cashing in gift cards from marraige attendees at Macy’s, Crate’n Barrel or Bloomingdales, or any similar tag. Doing both might signify a longer marriage prospect.
We are creating history here, these things do need consideration, donchyathink?
Thanks for your great coverage Jim.
Devlin Bach
Johno
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
I think the link to her article has an error in it. It’s easy to add your comments here:
http://www.examiner.com/a…_physically_possible.html
Jim Burroway
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
Thanks Johno. I fixed the link.
Ben in Oakland
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
I have to disagree that this is the dumbest one. I doubt if she is truly worried whether my husband can ‘do it’ in such a way as to satisfy (no imputation imputed) her.
I would have to say the dumbest one is that families will fall apart if gay people are allowed to marry. Doesn’t say much for your average run of heterosexual parenting.
but it does give me an idea. can we have a contest and maybe a vote on the dumbest one? Winner gets one week in Porno Pete’s utopia.
2nd place gets two weeks.
Pepe Johnson
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
This is definitely one of the worst I have read. Marriage is not a priority issue for me, but I still try to keep up with the debates because the reasoning people use in the marriage debate will show you what the truly think about gay people.
Anyway. I didn’t think the law specifically stated that the marriage must be consummated to be final. I also thought annulment was something the church gave you, while the state gave you a divorce. My father (a Roman Catholic) received a divorce from his first wife (a devout Roman Catholic), but the marriage was never annulled since it was obviously consummated (my two half-sisters, as evidence). My father considered the divorce final, but his former wife still considers herself bound to him because it was never annulled. Pretty clear to me that the church and state are separate when it comes to the subject of marriage already.
Bruce Garrett
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
I hadn’t realized the Examiner was competing with The Sun on a race to the bottom.
I’m so sorry. Really. Please do not blame Baltimore. Our idiots may be a tad dumber then other cities but our beehive hairdos and crab cakes make up for that.
NaturallyGay
May 19th, 2008 | LINK
This is definitely one of the stranger arguments I’ve ever read.
I just looked up the California forms for filing an annulment. There is no checkbox for indicating whether or not the marriage was consummated. I guess they forgot to put that on there?
David W
May 20th, 2008 | LINK
Hi Jim! Long-time reader, first-time commenter. Read the comments below the Examiner article. I learned a new legal term there: “consensus non concubitus facit nuptiam” - Consent, not lying together, constitutes marriage. Obviously Miss Melanie did not do her research.
Jerry
May 20th, 2008 | LINK
If heterosexual intercourse is required to validate a marriage then they’ll have to stop arguing that I, as a gay man, already have equal access to marriage simply because the law allows me to marry a woman. I promise you, THAT marriage wouldn’t get consummated, either.
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