NOM Commits Sodomy
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, February 11
The Daily Agenda for Friday, February 10
Again anti-gays blindly and gleefully shoot themselves in the foot
Rep. Walsh leads with her heart
Advocate, WaPo, AP Get it Wrong On Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Uganda Executive, Parliament Tussle Over Anti-Homosexuality BIll
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, February 9
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 450 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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Suffering from record low tourism, some organizers in Tahiti want to tap into a new market, gay travelers. From the Age:
Ben in Oakland
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Polynesia had a very gay positive history. Hawaii, which I especially knoew about, had the ‘aikane, which depending on how you wish to translate it, means either bosom buddy, in the least suggestive translation, to the literal ‘ai (sex) and kane (man). Transgender was also well accepted in the mahu.
Until, of course, the christians brought their peculiar morality. Tonga and Samoa are highly homophobic places, and are also the few places that are remarkably still polynesian. I do not know the status there of mafu (mahu in Hawaii).
Mark Twain, as always, said it best, tohugh I don’t remember the exact quote: “imagine those people living in those beautiful islands of eternal summer, before the missionary, living and dying and never knowing there was a Hell.”
Lou Donohoe
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
Ben: I believe this is what y’all remember:
“Nearby is an interesting ruin–the meager remains of an ancient temple–a place where human sacrifices were offered up in those old bygone days…long, long before the missionaries braved a thousand privations to come and make [the natives] permanently miserable by telling them how beautiful and how blissful a place heaven is, and how nearly impossible it is to get there; and showed the poor native how dreary a place perdition is and what unnecessarily liberal facilities there are for going to it; showed him how, in his ignorance, he had gone and fooled away all his kinsfolk to no purpose; showed him what rapture it is to work all day long for fifty cents to buy food for next day with, as compared with fishing for a pastime and lolling in the shade through eternal summer, and eating of the bounty that nobody labored to provide but Nature. How sad it is to think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves in this beautiful island and never knew there was a hell.”
- Mark Twain, “Roughing It”
Dave Hughes
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
We just returned from a one-week Atlantis all-gay cruise that started and ended in Tahiti, to which the French article refers. The last evening (Friday, May 1), the locals organized a party for the passengers at one of the local bars, which is probably the “rainbow party” to which the article refers.
News of the gay cruise had been reported in the local media and chatted about on the island, but we noticed no negative reaction whatsoever. In fact, while riding on “Le Truck” (public transit in Papeete), one woman motioned to my husband, inquiring as to whether we were a couple. When he replied affirmatively, she gave us the thumbs-up.
One afternoon, anthropologist Mark Eddowes gave a fascinating lecture on the history of same-sex relationships and transgenderism in Polynesia, which was overall very accepting.
Olivia also hosted a lesbian cruise on the same boat, the Regent Seven Seas’ “Paul Gauguin,” a few weeks prior.
Tahiti is a nice place to visit. The people are famous for their friendliness and hospitality, which we were offered just like anyone else. The only downsides are that it is very expensive and the journey to get there can be long and tiring.
Patrick
May 6th, 2009 | LINK
The Polynesian Islands have traditionally been more open about sex and varieties thereof than Western society. I’ve spent considerable time in the Pacific and have never heard a single never comment about gays, etc. Personally, other than location for the East Coast and Southerners, I don’t know why people would go to the Caribbean when they can go to the Pacific. Just my preference of course.
Ben in Oakland
May 7th, 2009 | LINK
Thank you, lou. that was exactly it. I used to have the complete works of MT, and having an excellent memory for things literary, used to quote him at length. Unfortunately, when i bought my house 11 years ago, I didn’t have enough room, and got rid of close to 1000 books or more, including most of my paperbacks.
Another of my favorite quotes from MT, regarding Virginia City in its heyday: “It was no place for a Presbyterian– and I did not remain one for long.”
Pender
May 7th, 2009 | LINK
My boyfriend and I went on a two-week vacation to Moorea (the island next to Tahiti). It was gorgeous. We held hands everywhere, and there was nothing but friendly support from the French Polynesians. The most intolerance we encountered was when we sat near an elderly couple of vacationers from Arizona, and their only fault was in having difficulty understanding what my boyfriend meant when he said that we were “together.”
Great place, beautiful coral reefs, wonderful people. We stayed at Residence Linareva (google it) which is founded and run by a gay couple — highly recommended if a bit out of the way. The trip was fairly expensive but well worth the money.
Rob
May 7th, 2009 | LINK
My native language is French, so I’ve always considered a vacation in a former french colony or a departement outremer. The former English colonies such as a Barbados and Jamaica are the worst.
Christopher Waldrop
May 8th, 2009 | LINK
I can think of numerous reasons to visit Tahiti that have nothing to do with whether they’re accepting of same-sex relationships, but if they are (or if they’re generally moving in that direction) I’d call that very sweet icing on the cake.
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