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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Dan
August 18th, 2009 | LINK
Tim:
I wanted to bring to your attention a WA blogger who has been doing some real hardcore (or perhaps I should say nerdcore) analysis of the R71 signature count. He has been running regular Monte Carlo analyses. They are all way over my head, but since you are an accountant, you might be able to better assess the quality of the analysis.
Anyway, he is extremely pessimistic and concludes that R71 is virtually certain to qualify. He says that in over 100,000 simulations, R71 fails to qualify in only 34 scenarios. (He has not yet posted in regard to today’s results.)
I frankly do not understand how he can come up with that conclusion given that we are at the half-way point and are now just over 1 percent behind on the necessary minimum error rate. Also, his analysis disregards entirely the controversy over the one-sided master check policy.
Here is the site. I can’t deep-link for some reason, but just scroll down to one of Daryl’s posts:
http://www.haseattle.com/
One other point: Tomorrow the SoS releases data about their “sample” master-check of 200 signatures that had been accepted by the junior checkers. If even 1 signature shifts to the reject pile (a .5% error rate), then this is becomes a huge issue — the 2009 equivalent of the hanging chad. Frankly, I think this issue will be litigated if R71 qualifies, even if no signatures are shifted out of the sample.
Timothy Kincaid
August 18th, 2009 | LINK
Dan,
Sadly, I’m not much of a statistician. Instinctively, I’m not on the same page as the reference, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Gabriel Arana
August 19th, 2009 | LINK
Tim,
This reporting is great, though I must say I’m finding the play-by-play stressful!
Lurleen
August 19th, 2009 | LINK
Tim, I encourage people to get active NOW in preparing for a fight on the November ballot. It’s great to be hopeful that the referendum won’t qualify, but in the mean time we must prepare for the worst. Washington state now uses mail-in ballots, and people can start voting as soon as they get their ballots. Ballots will be mailed out October 14th. That’s less than 60 days away. If people sit around daydreaming about the chance that the referendum won’t qualify, we lose precious time.
Referendum 71 voters will be asked to approve or reject the domestic partnership law in November. Vote “APPROVED” to preserve the new domestic partnership law. Sign up with Washington Families Standing Together (WAFST.org) to help get the word out.
REFERENDUM 71 Ballot Title
Statement of Subject: The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners [and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill].
Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.
Should this bill be:
Approved ___
Rejected ___
Timothy (TRiG)
August 19th, 2009 | LINK
The reason you can’t deep-link is that the site merely frames another site. Here’s a direct link to Darryl’s post: http://horsesass.org/?p=19106
TRiG.
Dan
August 19th, 2009 | LINK
The error rate continues to deteriorate. It is now at 11.67%. We only have .74% to go.
We are within striking distance. Last week, it had been moving up at about .31% per 10,000 signatures checked. Then we hit a bad Monday when it barely moved up at all. But the last two days, it has been moving up significantly. This last uptick is .35% after only 7,000 names checked.
I may not know how to do complex Monte Carlo analyses, but if we can keep this rate of deterioration going, then we will be at 12.41% even before we hit the 100,000 name point. No wonder Gary Randall has been accusing the Secretary of speeding up the process and generating false rejects. But they are checking fewer names each day, indicating they are taking it slow.
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