The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 24
Boy Scouts of America Votes To Allow Gay Members, Retains Ban On Gay Leaders
Nevada House votes to reverse marriage ban
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 23
It's Not the Principle, It's the Prejudice
Congratulations Mitch!
Gay Couples Excluded from Immigration Bill Markup
How To Spot A Swivel-Eyed Loon
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
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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KipEsquire
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
The timing is likely not coincidental: the statute of limitations for many torts in many jurisdictions happens to be one year.
Timothy Kincaid
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
Kip,
Per the Ventura County Star, they had another year.
Stefano A
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
Timothy:
I think you have mis-read something somewhere.
The Kings filed the lawsuit because because the one-year limitation for filing such a suit was expering this month.
They Kings first had to file a claim, which they did in August 2008.
California state law requires plaintiffs seeking damages from public agencies to file claims first. If they’re denied, the plaintiffs have six months from the date of rejection to sue.
The claim was promptly rejected 12 August 2008, four days after the Kings filed it.
Thus, the deadline for filing the lawsuit was February 12 2009.
Stefano A
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
Addendum:
The county claim was rejected 12 August.
After a claim is filed it has to be acted upon within 45 days. If no action is taken at all the claim is considered rejected by default. The school took no actions so the claim against the school thus was considered to be rejected by default in late September 2008.
That would have given the Kings until March 2009.
However, because the county is included in the lawsuit with all the other bodies being sued, the Kings had to file by 12 February 2009. Otherwise, they’d have had to have left the county out of the suit.
Stefano A
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
Correction
That should be six-month limitation, not one-year.
Stefano A
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
For the source of the info in my posts, see the coverage from The Ventura County Star by Kathleen Wilson “Slain student’s family files claim against district, county” August 2008; “County, school district reject King family claims”, October 2008, as well as the “King family files wide-ranging lawsuit” of 14 February 2009 by Kathleen Wilson, Cheri Carlson and
Raul Hernandez.
As for your sentiments regarding the lawsuit and how that “blames” Larry King, I agree. I’m sure McInerney’s criminal defense are delighted the suit was filed.
John
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
I think that this case is going to be an uphill climb for this family. Even if a jury finds that the school district or someone else did not adequately protect this kid from being killed, the very nature of the filing indicates nothing but contempt for the kid on the part of the suing parents. They are not going to come accross as very simpathetic in the courtroom. They are also going to have to overcome the question of what their loss is with a kid they never bonded to and who they reportedly abused.
They may seek to trash everyone else, but every awful thing they did to this kid and anyone else is going to come out in a trial. They may regret filing this lawsuit in the long run.
David C.
February 14th, 2009 | LINK
Well, just maybe, that force that protects and looks out for all children is acting here to expose just what this child had to endure. I hope so.
Regan DuCasse
February 15th, 2009 | LINK
I think I’m going to be sick. I can remember SO vividly, all the situations that gay children found themselves in, from their bio parents, to foster parents.
I volunteer for gay young people and those in the GLASS (gay and lesbian adolescent social services), have similar stories of abandonment and abuse. Mostly because they are gay.
It’s not surprising that the Kings didn’t bond with Larry (Letitia), and that he ended up in a group home.
His troubles were worse than those of McInerny.
But young King didn’t bring a weapon to school, even though HE was the one who was threatened with violence.
Parents, bio or foster make HUGE mistakes. I think that the state, and any public entity has a job to do with parents, schools and clergy in educating them on the proper care of gay CHILDREN.
They will just have to come to terms with the biological factors of homosexuality and it’s manifestation in the young.
Abuse is no excuse and can’t and won’t resolve into mental and physical health for young gay children.
Period.
NARTH and all the rest like them be DAMNED for the kinds of fear mongering and incompetent interference with parent/child function and care when it comes to this issue.
And throwing this poor boy under the bus is despicable.
He was beyond innocent in this. What could he do?
How could he have defended himself when the adults around him, responsible for him…were the failures in learning to deal with HIS need and RIGHT to be himself?!
His utterly harmless, expressive, and entertaining SELF?
There has to be a serious moratorium demanded from our leadership on dealing with gay young people AS people, not animals or convenient vehicles for abuse.
And their straight peers require something too. They look to the adults for signals that they EMULATE.
And some kids would rather just have the LK’s of the world as simply a friend.
And for that THEY shouldn’t be punished and left to wonder why the adults aren’t making sense.
I’m so furious I could spit.
Seriously.
CLS
February 15th, 2009 | LINK
One’s first inclination is to see these people as family and feel sorry for them. But as more and more I saw how they were acting and learned more about them it because quite clear that they are a rather dysfunctional couple who probably shouldn’t have been allowed to adopt. The “father” has repeatedly shown contempt for Larry in comments he has made. They don’t deserve a cent as far as I’m concerned.
Timothy Kincaid
February 16th, 2009 | LINK
Stefano and Kip,
Thanks for the clarification on the timing.
McInerney sentenced to 21 years for killing gay classmate Larry King | Houstini.com
December 19th, 2011 | LINK
[...] King, adopted by Greg and Dawn King at age 3, was not living with them at the time of his death, having been removed from the home by state officials the previous [...]
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