Most Pathetic Protest Ever
Jim Burroway
July 17th, 2008
The AFA’s McDonalds boycott has started off with a resounding thud. Have you ever seen anything more sad?
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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.
Rob
July 17th, 2008 | LINK
Wow, less than three minutes long, and people start leaving. maybe she went to get a McHappy Meal.
homer
July 17th, 2008 | LINK
Looks like they forgot to super-size their protest.
Matt M
July 17th, 2008 | LINK
You know that big bear in the background likes to head to the local leather bar and crawl up in the sling when he’s not working the AFA front
L. C. Burgundy
July 17th, 2008 | LINK
I don’t think they have enough people to boycott one McDonald’s, let alone them all.
Robguy
July 18th, 2008 | LINK
I can think of plenty of reasons not to eat McDonalds (or any fast food chain) but their “promotion” of homosexuality isn’t one of them. How empty those people’s lives must be…
JJ in Chicago
July 18th, 2008 | LINK
McDonald’s Oak Brook headquarters is about 30 miles west of me.
I counted about 19 people, including the kids and 2 guys holding up their sign. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. These people are the laughing stock of Illinois.
Peter LaBarbera is going ballistic that the Chicago media ignored their pathetic photo-op.
I’ve seen nothing in local TV and print media.
As I’ve said here and in other blogs, the news media ignore this clown. They know he’s a freak, even when he’s with fellow nutcases.
On a side note: Matt Barber looks like someone I’d see at IML. If he only knew the vibes he’s emitting. He’s a big bear and probably doesn’t even know it. I wonder if he’s ever been to the Chicago Eagle or Touche’ ?
JJ in Chicago
July 18th, 2008 | LINK
(Follow up to my own post …)
By the way, McDonalds has an 85 rating from the HRC CEI. The one item they’re missing is gender identity protections in their diversity policy.
Maybe it’s just me, but if I was going to boycott someone, wouldn’t it be someone who has a 100 rating?
Just a thought….
Christopher™
July 18th, 2008 | LINK
Two things I found interesting:
1. The woman that walked away in the middle of the protest. That was amusing.
2. When the man asked if people “hated” anyone, everyone gave an emphatic “No!” while Matt Barbera barely nodded his head. Then, when the man asked if the people loved their country and loved the Lord, and everyone said “Yes!”, Matt didn’t even react. That’s pretty telling.
Emproph
July 18th, 2008 | LINK
We should boycott sunlight, it shines on gay people.
Johno
July 19th, 2008 | LINK
They should boycott the oxygen they have to share with us.
Wowza
July 28th, 2008 | LINK
I love the rhetoric….
“the gay agenda… to destroy traditional marriage….”
Does anyone out there notice that heterosexual people are the ones destroying traditional marriage. They don’t need help from anyone.
d
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