New Hampsure results silence NOM's Maggie Gallagher
Mormon/Boy Scout sexual abuse problem
"Not Equal" Flag Debuted in New York DADT Protest
"Not Guilty, Not Ashamed, and Not Finished"
Anti-gay general's comments infuriate the Dutch
ENDA Sit-ins Result in Arrests in DC and San Francisco
Anti-Gay Group Sells Snakeoil
Schumer Argues for LGBT Incusion in Immigration Reform
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.
elaygee
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
At least he was brave enough to say both what he believes and what is true as opposed to espousing the conservative right wing Creepublicans usual rhetoric.
Ben in Oakland
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
“Or will moderate Republicans be relegated to the sidelines by the party’s socially conservative right wing?”
I have a really difficult time applying the word “moderate” to Mr. Steele.
But to answer the question, I can only hope so. The more the [Religious Right] involves itself in politics– assuming we don’t have a handmaid’s tale style takeover– the more likely they will be exposed to truly moderate people for what they are.
I just read an article written by a quaker yesterday on this subject, but can’t seem to find it. Someone said something to the effect that he had signed up to be a good Christian, not to be the footsoldier in some political cause. I wish I had saved it– it seemd tp be good way to look at the issue
Timothy Kincaid
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
Steele said something very intersting and very important in that statement. He compared orientation to race.
Once America comes to the conclusion that orientation is like race in that it is unselected, innate, and immutable, then we have won.
Yes, we continue to struggle with our cultural racism and we all battle stereotypes and harbor hostilities that are often unknown until placed under stress. And yes, homophobia is here for a long time to come.
But recognition is the first step. And if more people – especially those who are identified as social conservatives like Michael Steele – come to see orientation as comparable to race, the less comfortable they will be rationing out punishment and restricting rights.
I think we see some of that in other comments Steele made:
This is, as I’m sure you all know, something that would NEVER have been the position of the head of the RNC just a couple of decades ago.
Ben in Oakland
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
moderation of comment cheerfully accepted. I’m particularly pissed off a bigoted iggerunts today.
SharonB
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
Kudos to Steele for admitting the oh-so-obvious.
Unfortunately, he’s toast, as he has touched a Republican third rail. Why he might well have said that individual gun ownership is not a fundamental right, or that America was not founded as a Christian nation.
Or that abortion is a personal choice.
What? He said that last thing recently?
Buh-bye!
David C.
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
Maybe, just maybe, the Republican party is ready to jettison the most socially conservative elements of it’s base, which is an increasingly smaller percentage of the overall US population. After all, where are the ultra-conservatives that are so inimical to basic civil rights for gay people going to go? They are a noisy bunch, but that may not make them as powerful as they once were. The republican party could use to loose some of that baggage anyway if it hopes to stay relevant.
Trevor
March 12th, 2009 | LINK
Not that I enjoy pointing out the cloud in the silver lining to you people BUT: all but the dumbest hick doo-dah moron Republican “Christian” nitwit already knows homosexuality is not a choice. It doesn’t matter to them. They’ll gladly send “genetic inferiors” to the gas chambers whilst proclaiming its “teh lawd’s” work just as gleefully as if gays were deliberately choosing to be “perverts”. We shouldn’t be looking for signs of hope from these idiots. We should be trampling them into the ground and destroying them.
Alex
March 13th, 2009 | LINK
To add to what Trevor just said, it’s nothing new for a right-winger to say that being gay is not a choice. They just expect us not to act on our “urges” and be celibate or married to someone of the opposite sex. It’s easy – just ask Ted Haggard and Larry Craig!
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