The Daily Agenda for Thursday, June 20
BREAKING: Exodus International is Shutting Down
Liveblog of Exodus Conference
First Impressions Ahead Of Exodus 2013 Conference
Arizona group to put marriage back on ballot
Exodus International Issues Apology, Hints At Further Developments Tonight
Ex-Gay Leader Sentenced For Criminal Sexual Assault of Male Clients
Andrew Comiskey Doesn't Believe In Apologies
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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AJD
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
The problem is that the GOP hasn’t learned how to be pro-business without wrecking the public good. That’s why they need the religious right, to dupe people into thinking they still care about the Average Joe.
NH Baritone
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
Apparently in Britain, winning the gay vote outweighs winning the Christian vote.
This a laudable trait. But he same is far from true in the US. Republicans cannot abandon their conservative Christian values by endorsing gay equality: they would simply cease to be Republicans.
The past 2 decades have seen the defining characteristic of “Republican” shift from fiscal conservative (George W. Bush oversaw a huge increase in the deficit) to social reactionary. And with the now evident lack of sexual morals of some of their leaders, they have lost fallen from their high horse on all of their principles.
Burr
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
The GOP is pissing away more potential votes by continuing its vice grip on hate than they would risk by giving it up. What are bigots going to do, vote for the (We don’t know s*** about the) Constitution Party?
We would see wide swing in both gays and non-gays in the Republicans favor if they took down that massive barrier of ignorance (and of course went back to actually promoting small government and free markets instead of embracing corporatism).
Pomo
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
Now if only America could get past the two party system and gay people who are politically conservative and believe in small government would realize that the LIBERTARIAN party has been pro-gay long before the democrats ever were!
Burr
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
If only the LP hadn’t decided to burn some bridges by nominating DOMA architect Bob Barr.. :P
Emily K
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
Good point, Burr.
All these parties have ideas that are just fine n’ dandy, but in the end, humans are the ones controlling the parties, and human beings are by nature selfish and corrupt. the Libs and Minarchists have cute party ideals but they place a faith in human responsibility that I will never achieve. This is only my view, of course, as a part of the single-member Cynicist Sarcasmican Party.
cd
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
It took about four years for Democrats to catch up with their voters and clear out some loud problematic politicians in their upper ranks.
The Republicans also need to catch up with a lot of their voters and clear out some loud problematic politicians. Could well take a similar amount of time.
Lucrece
July 6th, 2009 | LINK
It’s no surprise. The Conservative party is the only party taking a stand against so-called “multi-culturalism”, aka look the other way as its many Muslim immigrants spit on the face of assimilation and comprise a large portion of gay bashings in most progressive countries that take them.
Elisabeth
July 7th, 2009 | LINK
Like the previous poster said, the obvious reason is because the Labour government has placed more emphasis on appeasing conservative Muslims while in power than really pushing for LGBT rights. Most of the rights I would say are resultant from UK compliance with the European Court of Human Rights rather than real political will.
I have seen the same phenomenon in The Netherlands where many of my fellow lesbians now vote for more conservative parties, which would have been unthinkable a decade back. People just do not trust parties which claim to be progressive but ally themselves with the most conservative elements of our society.
tavdy79
July 7th, 2009 | LINK
Don’t get too excited over those figures. A lot of gays are planning to vote Tory because they’re no longer any worse than Labour on gay issues, and are less distasteful on most of the rest. In the UK we don’t generally vote for who we want in power, but for who we least dislike.
Labour could actually win back gay support if they manage to do three things: get rid of the Blairite/Brownite contingent, replace civil partnerships with full marriage equality, and pass the Single Equality Bill, which would extend employment protections to include the trans community. Unfortunately only the last of these is likely.
The legalisation of gay marriage in ME, VT, NH, CT and IA in the US, and in SE and NO in Europe, has reopened the debate in the UK. Public support is at over 60%, however Brown seems to be ignoring it (probably doesn’t help that the loudest voice is the increasingly-popular Peter Tatchell) and that isn’t going down well with LGBTs and allies. It’s a situation remarkably similar to DADT in the US – 60% public support for repeal, yet the senior pols aren’t giving it much support.
Similarly Brown is refusing to leave office despite even some senior Labour pols calling for his resignation. Once he becomes a liability for enough backbenchers he may be forced out a la Thatcher after the poll tax riots, but that doesn’t yet seems to be happening. It would appear that ignoring public opinion is infectious…
Terence
July 7th, 2009 | LINK
Careful in taking this poll at face value. (The op-ed was written by a prominent Conservative spokesman). As for the ‘reputable’ poll, the only such poll I have seen reported here in the UK was not a scientific sample, but was selected from a ‘network group’ begun by a Conservative member. Not all members of the group are Conservatives, but one would expect that in any network group, the early members will cast a definite bias over the later membership. The claimed 38% support from gay men is in any case unremarkable – it is pretty close to national Tory support by all men, in spite of the biased sample.
The larger point, though, is sound. There is no longer any political mileage to be made in arguing against gay rights, which are now clearly endorsed by all THREE (not two) major parties.
It should also be noted that for years, London Pride parade has included groups from all branches of the armed services marching in military uniform – as it did this past week. A far cry from DADT.
Helen in Ireland
July 7th, 2009 | LINK
Please take careful note – during the recent European Parliamentary elections, the Conservative Party was seen to align itself to various right-wing parties that included those with noted racist and anti-gay biases. They included the Polish Law and Justice Party, headed by the controversial Kaczynski twins.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/racists-may-plague-tory-europe-group-1710729.html
So, wolves in sheep clothing?
Latestarter
July 11th, 2009 | LINK
I too would be sceptical of these figures.
Many gay people in the UK are still deeply suspicious of the Conservative Party’s line on gay issues.
David Cameron may represent the more forward looking views of ‘new tories’, but there is a significant proportion of ‘old tories’ in the party who have ingrained anti-gay views.
At the large London Pride parade there were groups from both the Labour and LibDem parties, but no Conservative group, and the single Conservative speaker at the after-rally was reputedly booed.
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