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.
Deb
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m watching the live coverage of Lambda Legal announcement of the decision. Each of the 6 couples in the case are now making statements. I am so happy for them. The couple on now have their kids with them!
It’ll be forever coming to Ohio unless there’s a Federal action on this issue.
Curtis
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
This made my morning! Iowa, of all places…I live in California, I’ve had my share of disappointments over the last several months, but when Midwestern states such as Iowa begin to change like this, for the better, I have high hopes for the rest of the country.
Lindoro
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
This is good news indeed! Can someone please tell us what is the making of the Iowa Supreme Court? How many Reps av. Dems?
Scott
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
This is truly a great victory for us, one in hopefully several to come in the future. I just finished reading the entire decision from the court. They stated at the end of their decision the concerns of religion in this situation. They understood them but stated that religion, according to all Constitutions, cannot be part of law. They also touched on the fact that religions can continue to define marriage as they see fit. It is the law of Iowa, ie civil marriages, that are to change and be granted to same sex couples.
KUDOS, to the Iowa Supreme Court for following the law and not pressure from either side of the issue! They have paved new ground and formed the ground work for future litigation in other states. KUDOS to the Plaintiffs defense team, they played it perfectly. They took on equal protection, which should be the basis for all litigation when it comes to same sex marriage. Marriage may or may not be a civil right, however equal protection under the law and due process is. This is where we need to concentrate our efforts in the future in all the other states as well as the US DOMA. Every state has an equal protection clause in its Constitution, it MUST abide by that clause or they must throw out all of their laws.
Great job to everyone in Iowa. It proves that just because the majority of the people want something doesn’t mean that they are going to get it. Sometimes they just have to bow out gracefully, but we know that is not going to happen.
Peace,
Scott
John Culhane
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
I just posted a summary of the decision for anyone who is interested. I’m a law professor but I wrote the summary for interested readers who don’t have a background in law. You can find it at: wordinedgewise.org
occono
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
Heh, I’m thinking of Harvey Milk’s quote when Anita Bryant got the Adoption Ban passed in Florida.
“She didn’t win.”
Go Iowa! :)
cowboy
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
I’ll admit I am mildly surprised this came from Iowa…but pleasantly surprised. (I must be too engrained with The Music Man stereotype.)
Thank you Mr. Culhane for your analysis. Those points need to be heeded in our debates in other States.
I loved the part where they said “…“sexual orientation is [so] central to personal identity” that it would be destructive to ask that it be changed.”
Swampfox
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
I must agree with cowboy when he said:
I loved the part where they said “…“sexual orientation is [so] central to personal identity” that it would be destructive to ask that it be changed.”
Joel
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
After California banned same sex marriage with an amendment right after it legalized it… i don’t quite have too many hopes this will remain.
Last i checked Iowa was not more socially liberal than California.
cd
April 3rd, 2009 | LINK
Last i checked Iowa was not more socially liberal than California.
It’s the first time a state Supreme Court has spoken unanimously and utterly clearly to say that justice demands gay marriage legalization.
From the soc con websites I read, the rank and file knows it has lost Very Big. There is lots of loud talk about how voters will overturn it. But no talk at all about their side being able to prevail on the merits of their arguments (as such), let alone serious thinking about what would be justice.
The way the Iowa SC blew up their Authority of Tradition argument is what I suspect has really hit them hard. They seemed to think it could be denied but not demolished. Now that the Iowa SC has shown everyone how to dismantle it, their whole retrograde social policy platform (banning contraception and like sillyness) can get torn up in the public eye by a clever and determined opponent.
They can still win battles at the ballot box. But this particular unanticipated staggering blow to their public argument has their knees buckling moralewise.
Leave A Comment