Box Turtle Bulletin

Box Turtle BulletinNews, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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Latest Posts

Iowans couldn't care less about gay marriage

A Personal Note

Military Times poll shows sharp decline in support for DADT

Today's Question

Our condolences to the Burke family

"Family" Leader Reportedly Confirms Opposition to Uganda's Anti-Gay BIll

Ollie North: Repeal DADT and What's Next? NAMBLA and Same-Sex Marriage

Michigan Christians sue because the Matthew Shepherd Act restricts their rights. They must want to violently attack gay people

Featured Reports

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 two hundred 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

Daniel FettyThe 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.

LaBarbera Award: This Guy

Jim Burroway

June 17th, 2008

Anonymous protester

The LaBarbera AwardWe’ve never given the LaBarbera Award to an un-named person before, but we don’t know the name of this particular anti-gay protester in front of San Francisco City Hall yesterday. All we have is this photo, and this lovely example of a “Christian” witness.

“God killed him for loving fags!!”

According to Storm Bear (yes, that’s his name) at the Bilerico Project, a marriage supporter was playing a guitar when he “suddenly dropped like a tree” of an apparent heart attack or cardiac arrest. Police immediately swooped in and began administering CPR.

And while that was going on, one of the “loving” Christian protesters was chanting, “Satan Got You!” and “What is the Devil whispering in your ear about now?”

Storm Bear takes it from there

I yelled at the guy, “If you are such a Christian, why aren’t you praying for the guy dying on the concrete?” The protester replied, “God killed him for loving fags!!” The cops even stepped in and told the guy to shut his mouth.

I have no idea what the ultimate fate of the guitar player is. I have high hopes he will live to sing another day.

We are still waiting to hear whether the guitar player is okay. We hope and pray that he is. (Update: We have learned that the man did suffer a cardiac arrest and he is in guarded condition at St. Mary’s hospital.)

I have no idea whether this anonymous “Christian” (and I’m using quotes here deliberately to distinguish this “gentleman” from real Christians) is a fan of Peter LaBarbera’s or vice versa. But we do know that LaBarbera is a huge proponent of confrontational forms of “witnessing,” and he’s accused this web site of “anti-Christian bigotry” when we call him on it.  But we’ve challenged him to find a single post anywhere in which, even by the stretch of his wild imagination, we’ve engaged in the practice. Unsurprisingly, he hasn’t taken us up on the challenge.

And I think there’s a reason for that. We well understand that the confrontational, emotional, hyperventilating, panic-inducing style of “witnessing” that people like LaBarbera and this anonymous “loving Christian” perform is deeply embarrassing to millions of truly loving Christians the world over. This is why these extremists remain on the lunatic fringe. They see their failed efforts being eclipsed by the forward march of reason and sanity.

We recognize that those who think this sort of “witnessing” is constructive are not a reflection of Christianity. It’s only reflective of its lunatic fringe. It’s not anti-Christian bigotry or Christian bashing to say that. In fact, we can’t even come close to bashing Christians as badly as those who hijack the faith to serve their own perverted brand of self-described ”love.”

Update: We have a name. It’s Kevin Farrer.

Kevin Farrer

[Hat tip for the name: Scott H.]

Comments

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The Story So Far… » Blog Archive » Loving The Sinner…(continued)
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

[...] Go read the whole thing.  This happened in front of San Francisco’s city hall, I think as same sex couples were lined up for marriage licenses.  [...]

Avery
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

The rhetoric from “Christians” like him is always a mind-bending hoot. I escort at a woman’s clinic off-and-on, and have had Christians attempt to “intimidate” me because I was alone, staying late to make sure patients were safe. Certainly, everyone else had just abandoned me, not that they had sick cats they had to pick up from the vet.

The best piece of “advice” I ever received from them was when I was talking to another escort about how I hope to one day undergo the transition process. Right in the middle of the conversation, a “Christian” yelled, “I hear one of you wants to be a man. You can’t do that, you know. It’s impossible! God didn’t make you that way!”

Gee, thanks!

JTW
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

As far as confronting these people is concerned, it largely seems to be a waste of time.

Let’s look at it this way: They’ve gone to the effort of making up signs, printing t-shirts, and taking time off of work to show up at the county courthouse and protest the marriages of people they don’t know and will never see again.

In light of these facts, dialogue appears to be out of the question, nd vicious confrontation is to be expected. Trying to change their minds about anything is next to impossible.

As I am fond of saying: Positions that haven’t been reasoned into cannot be reasoned out of. (This seems doubly true during a live protest.)

The only way to reach folks like Kevin–if at all–is to live simple lives of integrity and honesty, and to continuously demand freedom from their theocratic designs on our secular government.

My thoughts are with the guitarist. No one deserves to be treated like that during a medical crisis. All creed and beliefs aside, it’s simply cruel and inhumane. I will leave it to the blog readers to decide whether folks like Kevin would, if given the opportunity, treat all of us like that.

Ben in Oakland
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

What amazes me is their low opinion of G. Not that they believe he thinks exactly the same way they do (that’s obvious and hardly blameworthy, as many people seem to think that way), but that G is so offended that he wants to smite someone (his usual response when he’s pissed), he’s got 1000 cavorting or prancing (I never can remember which we do) sodomites (Daddyyyyyyyyy!!!! I love that word!) to choose from, and he can only manage to hit…

THE GUITAR PLAYER?

Bill S
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

Maybe He didn’t like the song.
Or liked it so much, he wanted to hear it in person.

Timothy Kincaid
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

The amazing part of the day is how very FEW protesters turned up. There were some last night in SF but throughout the state there was hardly any today.

Kern county got one! (No, it wasn’t Ann Barnett)

Three Phelps’ showed up in Contra Costa. Most counties reported only one or two if any at all.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-opponents18-2008jun18,0,3026225.story

West Hollywood got half a dozen protesters.

Another protester, Dale Parks, 46, said he drove from his home in Coronado near San Diego to be present. He said gays were risking the wrath of God.

“I believe this is an act of rebellion against almighty God, and it’s just wrong what they’re doing. … There will be eternal consequences for those who do this … eternity in the lake of fire,” said Parks, a truck driver who said he was “single and virgin.”

Jeff
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

The LaBarbera Award winnenrs name is Kevin Farrer. The LA times has a picture of him with his name here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gayweddings-pg,0,5597152.photogallery?index=25

JTW
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

As if there was any doubt about the inability of reasonable people to engage Kevin in civil debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltIUCvrJMd8

http://www.crytogod.com/articles.html

But one cannot debate faith with the faithful, can one? That’s the beauty of faith, after all–it admits of no debate, because it demands an unquestioning, non-evidence-based approach to understanding of the world.

Arguments based on reason and evidence are of no avail against such certainty.

Johno
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

Re: low numbers for protesters, there is an AP article circulating out there somewhere (I can no longer find it as there have been so many and some of them have been updated over and over again…) that implies a deliberate strategy on the part of the anti-marriage folks to get their side to stay away, so as not to look like jerks, in the hope that there will be a backlash towards gays and not them.
I’m sure they would have liked to muzzle Phelps too, but it seems not to have mattered, most of the MSM coverage I’ve seen (especially TV news stories,) has been light on the importance and jubilation, (no Del and Phyllis,) and gentle on the opposition while carefully describing their position and the November election for most of the piece; one article I saw that was clearly about the Phelps clan at City Hall yesterday went way out of the way not to name them or describe their signs.
I doubt there will be any MSM coverage of Kevin Farrer either, though he deserves Michael Richards-style villification.
I’m a little disturbed by the sense of MSM complicity after reading about the intentional lack of protest.

Johno
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

“The words that I use have no malice, no hatred, and no malicious intent in them; every word I speak has the motive (as much as I understand my own motives) for the highest good of my listeners, even though sometimes at that moment it sounds like a hard word.”

-Kevin Farrer

http://www.crytogod.com/articles.html

tom
June 17th, 2008 | LINK

Firstly, I would like to apologize to the many people that were offended by this individual posing as a “CHRISTIAN” Clearly this is a gentleman that has not learned “too much who has been forgiven, much will be loved.”
Someone in this frame of mind has not come to grips with their own need of Love, compassion, kindness,forgiveness for it to be truly given away. Basically a stone thrower with a hell of a beam in his own eye. The senselessness of going around and pointing fingers at people is NON-CHRSITAIN.
“As Christ has forgiven you , you should forgive others”..obviously these finger pointing “CHRSITIANS” have not learned that they had a need for forgiveness and forgiveness is bigger then an act of what one does, it is what we are made of of as people.
We all have proclivity to do wrong,offend, harass, point fingers, judge and the list can go on and on never exhausting itself.
What the world needs to see is “CHRISTIANS” that possess who they claim God is about and what they say they have received. To me not to portray this from the heart is the most evilness of hypocrites for what is not being portrayed transcends people. ..Love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness. I guess you can’t profess if you don’t possess
P.S. If someone felt a need to know or come to want to know about GOD, who would want a GOD that breeds children as hateful as this person? This is a warped veiw in an attempt to win brownie points with GOD. How sad , how foolish. besides I thought God took away the sins of the world.
“Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” so why are we as “CHRISTIANS” messing around with what GOD took care of. Let others know GOD loves them period.
http://www.realanswers.net/radio/index.html

Alex Blaze
June 18th, 2008 | LINK

Thanks for the link. This dude’s definitely nuts.

But there’s not need for the quotation marks around Storm’s name. It’s his legal name. I guess his parents were hippies.

Jason D
June 18th, 2008 | LINK

So have FOF, Exodus, AFA, CWFA, or anyone else popped up to say what an unchristian response that was?

Or is it the usual silent complicity?

Martin Lanigan
June 19th, 2008 | LINK

I think it is a mistake to link anti-gay bigotry with all Christians and Christianity in general. The anti-gay industry has had a vested interest in trying to make a necessary link between these concepts.

In truth, even folks who describe themselves as “evangelical” and “Catholic” are hardly monolithic in their views towards the LGBT community and its legitimate aspirations.

People like this gentlemen should be labelled for what they really are: “anti-gay pseudo-christians”.

Johno
June 19th, 2008 | LINK

With the culture now at a tipping point in regard to attitudes toward us, Real Christians should take it upon themselves to loudly differentiate themselves from these opinions if there really is a difference, and if those who do not hate are really in the majority. And I don’t mean as individuals. It isn’t up to me or any gay person to validate their choice of religion for them, especially when the above is the only message we get. As Jason noted the response is almost never loud official condemnation for these people who would call themselves Christians, but silent complicity.
I agree with not being absolutist in use of language, but most people here put Christian in quotes when referring to these people anyway. That’s already more than the anti-gay industry does for us.
Churches and organizations that don’t approve of this behavior need to speak up.

‘God killed him for loving fags’ : PinkNews.co.uk
June 19th, 2008 | LINK

[...] quick LaBarbera Award for protester who mocked man who collapsed in San Francisco [...]

Ben in Oakland
June 20th, 2008 | LINK

Has anyone tried to contact this guy and invite him to read what is bewing said about him? Might be helpful. Or instructive. Or amusing. Or annoying.

Or a complete waste of time.

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