Iowans couldn't care less about gay marriage
A Personal Note
Military Times poll shows sharp decline in support for DADT
Today's Question
Our condolences to the Burke family
"Family" Leader Reportedly Confirms Opposition to Uganda's Anti-Gay BIll
Ollie North: Repeal DADT and What's Next? NAMBLA and Same-Sex Marriage
Michigan Christians sue because the Matthew Shepherd Act restricts their rights. They must want to violently attack gay people
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.
Lindoro Almaviva
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
This is sounding worse by the minute. And I was going to start a savings fund to go there. Guess I’ll go to my fall opera orgy at Lincoln Center instead.
JJ in Chicago
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
Jim, you are not alone.
While I respect Cleve’s passion and his dedication to equality, his actions highlight the misplaced priorities that I often mention when I post here or elsewhere.
That is, the tone deafness of activists on the coasts, such as San Francisco or New York. This includes various national non-profits too.
People in Maine need to focus on their state.
New York may still have a shot at a marriage bill, even with the shakeup in Albany.
Here in Illinois, we almost got a civil unions bill, but it fell through.
I won’t even get into the economic reasons of wasting money for this ….
Michael Ditto
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
Actually I could see value in doing a citizen lobby day where you do organizing in every congressional district and then send one or two from each district to lobby all on the same day. Then people could group up and descend on all 535 offices of senators and representatives on the same day. That would make an impact. And then instead of a “march” and a rally, it could be strategy and training meeting, maybe a fundraiser, and a party.
We do exactly that at the state level in Colorado every year and it actually, really makes a difference.
Neither federal nor state legislators typically get in-person visits from constituents. All they ever talk to in person is lobbyists, staffers, donors, and the press–none of whom typically has our community’s best interest at heart.
Jim Burroway
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
Re: Actually I could see value in doing a citizen lobby day…
Of course, that would only have value if Congress were in session and senators and representatives are actually in town. But Congress will be in recess for the Columbus Day holiday when this so-called march takes place.
Swampfox
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
The economy is in the tank and some leaders want to march on Washington with an unemployment rate at over nine percent. It is the wrong time.
Michael Ditto
June 9th, 2009 | LINK
Well there’s that, obviously. But I mean in principle I think there’s work to be done at the federal level as much as the state. I don’t discount doing some kind of event, but I do think a march on any date is a waste of time.
We already had a march on Washington, and it was a total disappointment. If it weren’t for the embezzlement of $750,000, it wouldn’t have gotten any press coverage at all. And then there’s the other three marches. About one every 8 or 10 years.
Remember the pro-choice march on Washington in 2004? Me either. It was the largest march on Washington in the history of marches on Washington, and it got as much media coverage as any other traffic jam in DC.
Marches are dumb whether or not Congress is in session.
brandin jackson
June 10th, 2009 | LINK
i think that the march is going to be amazing i cant wait to be apart of it!!!!
BJohnM
June 10th, 2009 | LINK
I think your most important point is the one about numbers. To have any impact at all, with or without Congress in session, it has to be a crushing crowd…and if it turns into a small crowd, you are correct that it will be used against us. Congress critters will see this as a weak lobby, and we’ll get even less attention.
I went to the very first march way back, and it was great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but now’s not the time.
jp
June 10th, 2009 | LINK
This is all just BS and not even worth going on about anymore.
Toodles and good luck with that.
Kenny Jacobs
June 12th, 2009 | LINK
Why not have a lobby day in every congressional office in the country? No need to go to DC for a lobby day. The next step is to lobby all the state reps.
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