The Daily Agenda for Monday, June 17
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, June 16
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, June 15
The Daily Agenda for Friday, June 14
South Africa Teen’s Death Shows It’s Time to Ban Ex-gay Therapy Everywhere
NJ Assembly Committee Moves Conversion Therapy Ban
Rubio: "I'm Done" If Gays Included In Immigration Bill
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, June 13
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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Lucrece
May 26th, 2009 | LINK
Sorry to be crass, but you Americans can be such morons when it comes to ethnicity. You have come to create the little fairytale that white means English-speaking Anglo-Saxon.
You can have Black, Asian, and White Hispanics. Ethnicity doesn’t compete with race.
As for Miguel, it depends. Does he still maintain inherited cultures? Gastronomy? Customs?
I’ve always been of the mind that you’re not particularly Hispanic unless you are born and raised in an Ibero-American culture.
gar
May 26th, 2009 | LINK
Disproportionate compared to what?
JJQR
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
New York state polls generally show Hispanics and whites to be the same with support for gay marriage. One poll even showed Hispanics scoring a point higher.
AJD
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
I’ve always found that interesting as well… In the purest sense, a Latino person of Spanish or Portuguese descent would be racially white, but it has more to do with the perceptions of others. For a long time, Irish, Italian and Jewish people weren’t considered white in this country, either.
“White” has historically been more like an exclusive country club than a race.
AJD
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
I was also going to say, Hispanic and Latino are ethnic terms, not racial, sort of like “Anglo-American.” A Hispanic person can be Caucasian, black, Native American or Asian. Cases in point: former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (Japanese) and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim (Lebanese).
I tend to prefer the term “Caucasian,” as it lacks the exclusivity of “white,” not to mention the fact that not all “white” people have stereotypically “white” features.
JJQR
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
But all this talk about what defines “white” or Hispanic is neither here nor there. It’s just fun material for a college classroom. For the purposes of this poll, we generally know what they mean.
Timothy Kincaid
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
gar,
Disproportionate compared to other states. California’s ethnic makeup is
43.0% are White, non-Hispanic or Latino
35.7% are Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
12.2% Asian American
6.3% Black or African American
3.3% mixed
0.7% American Indian
For some reason, the No on 8 Campaign seemed to primarily target the 43% and didn’t appear to put much effort into the remaining 57%. Hindsight shows that to have been an error.
Burr
May 27th, 2009 | LINK
I never understood the notion that somehow Hispanics/Latinos are more rabidly against same sex marriage. I’m Latino and pretty much all of my relatives (even those back in South America) are for equal rights. Spain legalized same sex marriage, and a few other Latin American nations now have at least civil unions or domestic partnerships. People assume that just because they are overwhelmingly Catholic that they are automatically bigoted, but religion there is more of a cultural thing than a impetus for political action, and liberation theology dominates their interpretation of faith rather than dogmatic fundamentalism.
Alex Blaze
May 28th, 2009 | LINK
I agree with the fact that “hispanic” is largely meaningless. But those surveys will keep on asking about it because it’s a whole lot easier to put white, black, asian, and native people from Cuba, Puerto Rico, central America, and Mexico all in the same box than to actually stop and think about who they are.
What about me? Half argentine (1st gen) and half “whatevah” white (you know what I’m talkin’ about). My mom’s more middle eastern than she is native american, and yet gets lumped in with mexicans who are mostly native, and cuban immigrants who are mostly white-european. (not that there’s anything wrong with those racial backgrounds, and she identifies as “argentine” first and “spanish” well after. so maybe a “hispanic” designation is necessary for the New World?)
Then I found out that my alma mater used me as a “minority” to talk about how diverse they were (well, it wasn’t so personal, but I was included in their “23% minority” statistic), and I was like, well, on some levels, yes, and on others, no.
Race is a lot more complicated than ticking a box. I wish we could move beyond that, but seeing the conservative response to Sotomayor, where they’re picking apart her name, her culinary tastes, and calling her an affirmative action appointment, well, it’s kinda obvious that we haven’t moved beyond all that.
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