Focus on the Family discusses bullying with Anderson Cooper
Gov and AG will not be forced to appeal Prop 8 decision
Utah GOP selects Log Cabin leader as candidate
Calling All Ex-Gays
O'Connor to weigh in on judicial process in Iowa
PJI and Meese argue nonsense, sue Governor and AG
When Does Opposition to Suicide Prevention Equal Murder?
Omaha World-Herald creates criteria to exclude same-sex couples
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
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.
David C.
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
In the words of The New Yorker magazine:
I think the individuals that present themselves and their beliefs with this kind message are in the process of self-destruction. At least, I hope that is the case.
cowboy
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
Even if someone gay found a cure for cancer or even if a gay let someone merge into his/her lane of traffic…gays will be vilified, will be bashed, will be discriminated and will always be a scourge.
I may be wrong. I certainly hope I am not, though. But those people wearing those t-shirts with the anti-species phrase are not likely Mormon. That kind of demonstration, wearing those t-shirts, and the anti-gay placards I saw in the news would not be the sort of thing a Mormon generally would do. Key word here: Generally.
This looks more like some rabid reaction from some loony fringe group.
The 23+ Senators, who stood at their We-Are-Disappointed-In-Our-Gov press conference yesterday, use other insidious tactics: Secret meetings and political ploys in an attempt to make the gay issues just go away.
I’m more incensed when someone at the press conference said they’re not anti-gay. Oh really? I would hate to be duck hunting with one of them.
Matt Algren
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
According to the caption on one of the article’s photos, the “Anti-Species” group calls itself “America Forever”. They have a website at americaforever.com. Watch the first video if you dare!
It doesn’t get any easier to understand as you head into the text pieces. There’s one that tries to explain this Anti-Species Syndrome of theirs, but I got lost two pages in.
Their theme song is pretty darn awesome. They had a little girl say “For the children!” THREE TIMES!!!
Pender
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
I really don’t like this “___ hates the sinner” formulation you are using on these posts. Maybe it’s meant to be ironic, and I understand the phrase off of which it is based, but I really don’t like being called a sinner for being who I am. Sorry if this is hypersensitive.
Jason in Canada
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
Wow….”anti-species”…I’ve got to blog about that label…
One more thing to put on my resume. lol
Don’t these people see how rediculous that is…”anti-species”…jeesh!
Truth Wins Out - Antigay Utahns Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
[...] Source: Salt Lake Tribune. Hat tip: Box Turtle Bulletin [...]
lurker
February 12th, 2009 | LINK
I’m genuinely confused about this “anti-species” claim . . . what does this mean?
Are they talking about Homo sapiens? why don’t they say “anti-human” then? that’s a much clearer rallying cry.
The word “species” of course is plural, so do they mean all living things on the planet? or some subset? animals? do they imply that queer people act against all biota? how? I don’t get it.
MaskedBandit
February 13th, 2009 | LINK
Pender, it comes from a common phrase that Christians Fundies tend to use when loving their gay neighbors with the law-equivalent of a two-by-four:
“I hate the sin, not the sinner.”
As in, they don’t hate you for being you, they hate the things that you do. You know, like choosing to be innately attracted to people of your same gender.
Timothy is showing that this is a blatant lie.
Cowboy, we do have some loony fringe groups here in Salt Lake. When we had the November 15th rally and march, there were two separate groups counter-protesting. The mormons who showed up brought a few signs like “They Voted/You Lost/Get Over It” but we not terribly loud or annoying. The other group shouted Hellfire and Damnation, holding multiple 3′ by 5′ signs explaining how we were to all suffer in Hell, in extremely dense text.
At the time, one of the other marchers pointed out that the H&D group protested that all the Mormons were also going to Hell every Sunday at the Temple Square.
The Mormons counter-protesters were smugly annoying. The other group brought the crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people wearing those shirts were with the latter group of people.
cowboy
February 13th, 2009 | LINK
Bandit,
Yeah…we think the formula is: If Group A hates Group B. And Group C hates Group B. Then: Group A and Group C would be equal haters.
It doesn’t work that way…does it? Group A and Group C hate each other too.
I think TWO (Truth Wins Out) pointed that out with their newspaper advertisements in Salt Lake City a couple months ago. Why would Mormons align with those wackos with the “dense” signs. They’re obviously anti-gay and anti-Mormon.
Don’t expect these two different Groups to hold a protest-planning-meeting together either. They’ll probably serve coffee/tea which would only offend the Mormons.
Pender
February 13th, 2009 | LINK
Bandit: I understand the origin and angle of the formulation. I just don’t like it. It concedes that we’re sinners, even if it’s in attempted irony. It hurts to read, and that’s even without the possibility of an anti-gay nutjob out there using it to fire off an “EVEN THE HOMOSEXUALISTS ADMIT THEY ARE SINNERS” out-of-context kind of response.
Andrew
February 13th, 2009 | LINK
I checked out that “americaforever” website referenced in an above comment. Okay, indeed, the ideology behind their work is loonier than Fred Phelps’.
cowboy
February 15th, 2009 | LINK
This is just great. Here is the full-page advertisement in the Salt Lake newspapers today (Sunday Feb. 15th)…(with typos too!)
http://qsaltlake.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1083:anti-gay-group-places-full-page-ad-in-sl-tribune&catid=26:local
Note the ad uses a picture of a mixed-race, same-sex couple kissing. Which seems to go against their wish to keep gays from displaying affection in public. This full-page advertisement does ironically that! I’m not sure if they used a mixed-race couple to raise the “ick” factor because of the populace here.
Inside the text we are being compared to hookers?! (That’s a new one for me.)
They try to use some quote (obviously out of context) from some printed gay “agenda” from 1987.
I predict The Mormon Church will immediately distance itself from this advertisement. I might even expect the local Eagle Forum and/or Sutherland Institute will haggle over some of the points presented.
The effectiveness of said advertisement might work to their detriment.
For a good laugh, I would suggest following the links to the high resolution copy of the ad. Just don’t be drinking something when you do. You might gag or cough it up through your nose.
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