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Box Turtle BulletinNews, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 19

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

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

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.

FactCheck.org Responds to Political Rumors

Timothy Kincaid

September 10th, 2008

Here at Box Turtle Bulletin, one of our principal efforts is to debunk and clarify inaccurate claims, statistics, and rumors that are utilized in the efforts to discredit, minimize, dehumanize or otherwise harm gay people and their lives. While it would be nice if we had the luxury (i.e. time, staff, and finances) to expand our quest for accuracy to areas outside of our specialty, we do not.

Others, however, do fill in some of the gaps. Snopes.com addresses urban legends and FactCheck.org seeks to provide a source to verify political claims.

Recently, the internet has been ablaze with claims, rumors, and conjecture about the history and political positions of various political candidates. Sadly, some gay sites have been among those most eager to make declarations that have not been well verified. (It is my sincere hope that at BTB we have avoided that mistake).

We believe that candidates and politicians should be held responsible for the things that they have said and done. But not for the things which are based solely on myth and speculation. And if we seek to be credible and honorable, we are obliged to know the difference.

FactCheck.org, a non-partisan organization, provides clarification about the internet rumors and other political claims and commercials awashing us with (often inaccurate) information. I encourage our readers to be informed in their discussions both here and at other sites and check out the information they provide.

Comments

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Jim Burroway
September 10th, 2008 | LINK

Of the five bullet points analyzed on FactCheck.org about Sarah Palin, I’m happy to note that we took a pass on all of them! :-)

G-A-Y
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Timothy: I know we’ve talked about it on G-A-Y. But I wanted to reassert my belief that the FactCheck point about the books is very oversimplified. It really only acknowledge the banned books list (which everyone knows is bunk), and doesn’t at all acknowledge some of the other claims made by folks associated with Wasilla (like the former Frontiersman reporter and the author of ‘Pastor I’m Gay’, Howard Bess).

I, like you BTB boys, hate misrepresentations. I want the truth. But I think there is an equal danger in giving Palin a total pass on this point. In my estimation, there are still questions to be answered.

Timothy Kincaid
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Let’s not give Palin a pass.

The latest revision to the FactCheck article was on September 9. It does not include subsequent information including a possible newer list of “discussed books” based on the newspaper reporter’s recollection of a later conversation with the librarian.

The St. Petersburg Times PolitiFact reports:

Stuart told PolitiFact that in a conversation with Emmons after his article ran, she listed three titles. He said he could recall only two, and initially said they were I Told My Parents I’m Gay and I Asked My Sister. We looked for these titles; they don’t appear to exist.

“Mary Ellen told me that Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves,” Stuart said. “She refused.”

Asked later if the first book could have been Pastor, I am Gay, a controversial book written by a pastor who lives just outside Wasilla, Stuart said that was it.

They conclude

As for Kilkenny’s claim, there is no proof that Palin tried to fire the librarian because she refused to consider removing books. In fact, Palin asked for the resignation of a handful of department heads to test their loyalty, according to reports at the time. The claim that Palin had specific books she wanted removed is also unsupported. Kilkenny herself said she does not recall that any titles were named by Palin at the time.

Yes, a reporter provides a secondhand account 12 years later in which he says the librarian named books Palin wanted removed. But Stuart’s recollection seems hazy (he didn’t get the right title at first). The librarian isn’t talking. There are no public records or meeting minutes to substantiate the claim. And no one else corroborates that Palin ever listed any titles. So we find no basis to find that part of the story true.

But Palin did ask the librarian if she would consider removing books. Maybe it was posed as a rhetorical question as Palin says. But she asked. So we rule the statement Half True.

Other than the addition of Stuart’s recollections, the facts do not appear to be materially different from FactCheck’s. However, it would be useful for FactCheck to update their article to include this latest assertion.

Priya Lynn
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

The claim is that Palin tried to remove the book “Pastor, I am gay”. The suggestion that that claim is unsupported is by no means an assurance that the claim is “mistaken” as Timothy suggested in the other thread.

Timothy Kincaid
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Priya,

I did not suggest that the claim is mistaken. I stated very clearly that you were mistaken in your assertions about what has been reported.

Kindly avoid misrepresenting me.

Priya Lynn
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

I provided a link Timothy, there was no mistake on my part.

Timothy Kincaid
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Priya,

You said:

The libary director at the time Palin was mayor of Wasilla says that Palin tried to ban the pro-gay book “Pastor, I am gay”

This does not agree with the facts as provided by PolitiFact.

Priya Lynn
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Politifact didn’t provide any facts to contradict that, merely their opinion that the claim is unsupported. Calling a claim unsupported is not the same as proving it false or “mistaken”. Again, here is the claim – ““Mary Ellen told me that Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves,” Stuart said. “She refused.”

Asked later if the first book could have been Pastor, I am Gay, a controversial book written by a pastor who lives just outside Wasilla, Stuart said that was it.”

Priya Lynn
September 11th, 2008 | LINK

Here is what you said Timothy:

You are mistaken. The library director is not now saying that Palin tried to ban a pro-gay book.

A former reporter referenced a conversation from 12 years ago in which he recalled being told that three books were discussed by Palin and the librarian. One of them may have been “Pastor, I’m Gay”, though he got the name of the book wrong.

You did not state “very clearly that you were mistaken in your assertions about what has been reported.”

You asserted without condition that I was mistaken. You then made the unsupported assertion that the libarian is not now saying that Palin asked her to ban a book – you have no way of knowing if that is the case or not, thus you have no proof that I am “mistaken”. You also mischarcterized the reporters conversation. He didn’t merely recall the libararian saying she “discussed” the books with Palin, he recalled her saying Palin asked to ban the books.

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