House of Commons officially passes marriage equality
British Commons Approves Marriage Equality Bill
Email address of Attorney General prosecuting 18 year old Florida lesbian
Gay Man's Murder Sparks Massive Rally
The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, May 21
Connecticut Scouts simply announce that they are accepting gay scout leaders
Church of Scotland allows ministers in relationship
Last Minute Bid to Sink Marriage Bill Fails in British Commons
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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occono
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Remember the People’s Veto. I don’t think it’s not a concern.
But putting that aside momentarily.
Sweet Jeebus Hallejuhah!! Prop 8 seems to have created, as Harvey Milk would put it, a “National Gay Task Force” (Or something like that.)
I can’t wait for the Rapture! :) Go Maine! (As long as it sticks.)
jOHN
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
I am sitting here in disbelief. The news of this past month is something I thought I would never see.
I used to feel that living is San Francisco was just living in a gay bubble and that has burst!
Congratulations Maine!
Bruno
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
@occono: it’s a HUGE concern, because another well-funded, well-publicized vote by a state’s people on our marriages can have huge effects, as we saw with prop 8.
However, this is unlike prop 8 in 2 ways:
1) it’s not an amendment to the Maine constitution
2) it’s not technically dealing with voting on our rights, because the Maine judiciary hasn’t addressed marriage rights there…however, it does suck.
I’m 99% sure the People’s Veto vote will occur, and about 60% sure that they will not choose to veto the legislation.
occono
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Apparently there’s a bit of history with these People’s Vetos overturning Gay Rights Bills in Maine…Yeah, big brouhaha coming.
occono
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
“Yes means keep the bill, No means veto it.”
Oh God, why?! So. Stupid. Yes means No to NOT Vetoing Gay Marriage? Why can’t there be some standard for Anti-Gay Initiatives?
occono
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Wait, scratch that, Yes would mean Not Vetoing. Sigh. I know people in California who voted Yes who meant No and didn’t understand “Eliminates…” apparently. Hopefully Gay-friendly Mainers read these things more carefully.
Matt Algren
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
According to my reading this morning (inter-state politics is kind of interesting once you get into it), if they present the signatures between Sept. 4 and Sept. 15, the issue would be placed on the June 2010 ballot.
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/6279275.html
My guess, and that’s all it is, is that they’ll hold the signatures until that eleven day window to ensure six more months of inequality for us and fear mongering for them.
Duncan
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Some of the things being said on conservative blogs:
“It is becoming ever clearer that to most of these voters, marriage doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a routine to go through before divorcing. So they have no qualms about debasing its nature. How sad that the only ones who do care about it do not understand how it works! When will these people understand that it is pointless to have a privilege if everyone else has it?
“However, polls show that social conservatives can gather sympathy if the public knows of them. We should show our face to the voters, not as activists or politicians, but as ordinary people who want to have a meaningful, exclusive matrimony. It should be us, not our party, at the head of our campaign. We can win any battle with the favour of Ilùvatar almighty!”
Amandil the Faithful, Nùmenórians for Proper Marriage
“I keep saying that to fight this insidious cultural subversion we must be out and proud with what motivates us, our Christian heritage. Yet, when I ask those running our campaign, they talk of “reaching out” to all faiths and none, that we risk alienating secular voters. Well, alienate them! They do not belong in this nation! Christians in this country -real, not self-declared- are a tiny and persecuted minority and it is time we fought for our rights. By my extrapolations, by 2120 white straight middle-class Christians will be slaves, and by 2400 they will be gone. I know the assumptions are questionable, but it is still cause to worry…
“I feel far more comfortable with people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who are open with their hatred of Christianity and their desire to see it go away. Hearing ACLU saying that they are protecting my rights as well just sickens me. Anyone who denies this nation’s Christian principles is an anti-Christian bigot, pure and simple. It is thanks to those principles that America is the richest nation on this world. That is why they persecute us: because we are in power.”
Mohammed Singh, Foundation for the Funding of Fond Fundamentalists
“These people think it is enough to say that they love each other. It is our job, unpleasant as it is, to tell them that they are getting that love wrong, that they should be doing something procreative instead. It is as my great-grandfather said: Negroes who can work, Negroes who can’t become abolitionists.
“Yet just as political action is needed, FotF and its allies call on supporters to pray, fast, build temples, sacrifice virgins, whatever. This will just take us the way of the god-fearing Aztecs against the self-believing Conquistadors.”
Stéphan Ours-Froid.
Honestly, you can’t make this up. (Yes, I did, but the point is, you can’t. You don’t have the imagination.)
Maine gets Marriage « Steven Milverton
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
[...] Aber es ist noch nicht alles in trockenen Tüchern. Die Kleingeister wollen wie üblich Schwierigkeiten machen. Einzelheiten beim Box Turtle Bulletin. [...]
Richard Rush
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Maybe that’s at least part of the reason he changed the name of his organization from “Christian Civic League of Maine” to “Maine Family Policy Council.” Perhaps the word “Christian” does not play well in focus groups. Actually, most of the major Christian-based anti-gay organizations exclude the word from their names. I wonder why.
AJD
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Steven Milverton:
Schreiben auf Englisch hier, bitte.
Regan DuCasse
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
I’d like to know why our governor was so timid, in his last term, no less.
Ephilei
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Props for the Tolkien references, Duncan.
Jason D
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
AJD, that’s a link back. People do it when they write a blog about something they read on BTB. They post a link to their blog, with a small snippet of their article (which in this case, is in German).
Your two clues, for future reference, are the fact that the link contains both the title of the blogger’s post + their name(or the name of their blog) and the snippet of their writing is bookended with [...]
I don’t believe there are any rules stating they have to translate it to english.
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