The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 25
The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 24
Boy Scouts of America Votes To Allow Gay Members, Retains Ban On Gay Leaders
Nevada House votes to reverse marriage ban
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 23
It's Not the Principle, It's the Prejudice
Congratulations Mitch!
Gay Couples Excluded from Immigration Bill Markup
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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Air Force Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach has made the rounds on radio and television ever since he came forward with the news that the Air Force was trying to discharge him under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He even scored a meeting at the White House during the much-derided LGBT Cocktail Party to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in June. What hasn’t been told was how Lt. Col Fehrenbach got caught in the DADT crosshairs to begin with:
Leonard Drake
August 24th, 2009 | LINK
That is completely messed up. Another reason why DADT(DP) needs to be repealed. (Also, the city is misspelled: it is Boise.)
gar
August 24th, 2009 | LINK
Good grief. Will this madness ever come to an end?
Gregory
August 25th, 2009 | LINK
Whoa. A little unrelated, but that detective is my uncle twice removed. Weird. I didn’t even know this was going on in my hometown of Boise. Again, evidence that DADT(DP) is dated and broken and needs to be repealed.
GDad
August 25th, 2009 | LINK
Quick correction – The Defense Sec’y is Robert Gates, not Bill. You can delete this comment if you want, and nobody will ever know.
Timothy Kincaid
August 25th, 2009 | LINK
GDad, Thanks.
Penguinsaur
August 25th, 2009 | LINK
So a 30-something man *I’m guessing, they said the other guy was 30* has to find dates on the frickin internet and never let anyone know or he’ll lose the career he’s worked his whole life at.
Yeah, we can’t possibly repeal this policy. Can you just imagine how AWFUL it would be for some poor homophobe to share a shower with a gay? Better to just ruin people’s lives for ever admitting they had sex. That’s the fair thing.
Matt
August 25th, 2009 | LINK
The more of these stories I see, the more I wonder why gay people even want to serve in the US Armed Forces in the first place. I can understand the urge to serve one’s country, but there’s got to be a better way to do so without joining an organization that essentially supports and encourages gay repression.
Become a cop or firefighter, join the Peace Corps, or something like that instead, imo.
skookster
August 27th, 2009 | LINK
According to Dan Popkey, the Idaho Statesman reporter who got the details on Fehrenbach’s outing, Cameron Shaner has left Boise State and returned to Arizona. It would be interesting if another reporter could get Shaner’s story, his decision to seek revenge against Fehrenbach, his reaction to the resulting publicity and controversy. An exposé, if you will.
Jarred
August 27th, 2009 | LINK
Matt:
For starters, a gay person would likely run into many of the same problems in their local police department or fire department. Sure, there might not be an official policy of terminating employment if one is found to be LGBT and there might even be a law or policy explicitly forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But that doesn’t mean it would be a walk in the part.
Also, I get the impression that the number of job openings for both police and firefighters is awful small and there’s usually an overabundance of applicants waiting to fill those positions. The likelihood of getting into one of those positions is probably much smaller than the likelihood of getting into the military, which has been struggling to meet its recruiting requirements for years now.
Also, it may be about more than just serving one’s country. Military service can provide essential connections, tools, and training for future career plans. Remember that for the past couple decades, short term military service has been promoted as an alternative for those young men and women who want to work towards a better future for themselves but don’t feel called towards college. I can see why LGBT might consider that route themselves.
But in the end, their reasons are their own. And whatever they are, it’s a route they should be allowed to take, just like their heterosexual compatriots.
DC
February 17th, 2011 | LINK
I find Shaner’s ‘investigation’ to be interesting. I have read that his unidentified acquaintance claimed that a group of gay hiv+ civilians were inviting servicemen to sex parties in hopes of infecting them. Any servicemen that could support this story would be at risk of outing themselves. Shaner believed that Fehrenbach had information about this group. Was Shaner attempting to seduce Fehrenbach into revealing knowledge of said group? What might be the motivation then behind the rape accusation? I realize he’s been discredited by the Air Force and Idaho Police, but why would he do all of this?
Even if it’s the ravings of a quack, there is more to the back story in all of this…
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