The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, May 21
Connecticut Scouts simply announce that they are accepting gay scout leaders
Church of Scotland allows ministers in relationship
Last Minute Bid to Sink Marriage Bill Fails in British Commons
Will Illinois Be #13?
The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 20
Gay Man Shot To Death In NYC Hate Crime
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 19
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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Penguinsaur
September 15th, 2009 | LINK
So why exactly do these people who dont hate gays in any way want to be able to fire them for being gay?
Its such a load of a pathetic BS. You hate gay people, their is literally no other reason. NONE. No one believes those racist jackasses we see in civil rights era footage claiming to be defending ‘tradition’ and ‘moral integrity’ and we don’t believe the current batch of bigots either.
Matt
September 15th, 2009 | LINK
Because in conservatives’ minds, the right of business owners to fire somebody for being gay outweighs a gay person’s right to work for a living.
Désirée
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
Actually Matt, it’s a Freedom of association thing. A business owner shold have the right to hire and/or fire who ever they wish. A potential employee has no right to a job *at someone else’s expense* There is no “right to work for someone” It doesn’t exist. If someone doesn’t want to hire me because I’m lesbian, trans, white,atheist, libertarian, red headed, too fat, too thin, left handed, Catholic or any other non-merit based reason, they should be free to sabotage their own business that way. Of course, they should be called out it as well and consumers shou8ld be free to choose whether or not they wish to do business with such a company.
Matt
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
So in theory, Desiree, you’d be fine if a gay-owned business decided to fire all of its straight employees because they were straight?
Timothy Kincaid
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
Desiree,
I appreciate your value of the right to association. And, indeed, if there were no non-discrimination laws at all I would be in agreement.
But currently we have laws that protect some targets of discrimination and not others. This actually serves to give permission – encouragement even – to discriminate against those not on the list. This is especially true when the legislature is fully aware of anti-gay discrimination and decides NOT to protect gay people.
It’s a bit like a teacher noticing that Amy, Brian, and Charles are all being picked on in school and standing the three up in front of the class and saying, “Children, you have been picking on Amy, Brian and Charles. You are NOT allowed to pick on Amy or Brian.”
Yeah, that’s good for Amy and Brian, but Charles is going home with a black eye.
Chris McCoy
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
Désirée said:
I disagree with you here. People should not be free to say “I don’t like you, you’re fired.” We are adults, not school yard bullies, and employment shouldn’t be a popularity contest.
As for your explanation that public outrage is enough to bring down companies who unfairly discriminate – do you know the employment policies of every company you do business with?
Do you know the employment history of the farmer that grows the tomatoes you bought at the grocery store? How about the company that supplied the rubber for the tires on your vehicle? What about the transportation company that delivered the furniture to your home?
We can’t know everything about every company in the country – for that reason, we need equal opportunity employment laws.
Vancity
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
“Matt
“September 16th, 2009 | LINK
“So in theory, Desiree, you’d be fine if a gay-owned business decided to fire all of its straight employees because they were straight?”
A case could be made that the majority of gay-owned and straight-owned businesses would not want to fire an employee on the basis of sexual orientation, simply because doing so would depress the productivity of the company.
That said, there are some gay bars that have a policy against admitting straights as *customers*. Should these establishments be forced to hire straights as bartenders?
Timothy Kincaid
September 16th, 2009 | LINK
Vancity,
Ironically, in states with non-discrimination policies, gay bars cannot refuse admission to straights nor refuse to hire them as bartenders.
In West Hollywood, for example, you can’t go to a gay bar without meeting straight patrons, some of whom are regulars. And a large number of the bartenders are straight (the smart ones keep it a secret, the tips are better if you flirt with the customer).
And really, would it benefit the Abbey to deny admission to Elizabeth Taylor or Britney Spears? After all, on those rare days when Liz can get out and about, that’s about the only place she goes.
paul j stein
September 17th, 2009 | LINK
I live in OHIO, Have a same sex partner, with 3 kids. He worked for a LARGE “HOME FURNISHINGS COMPANY” (BLANK&BLANK HOME FURNISHINGS) GAY OWNED. He was discriminated and harassed by a STRAIGHT co-worker for 6 months. At the time he was STRAIGHT, dating women,paying his child support, doing the redneck bar on weekends. The company in effect did NOTHING to penalize the harasser, laid my spouse off, screwed him out of a job he loved. They ignored all complaints to his manager, and complaints from other employees about this harasser. IN OHIO YOU CAN GET YOUR ASS CANNED FOR ANYTHING AND YOU ARE SCREWED. END OF STORY. He was assumed straight at the time. Now he would have a better shot at compensation if this law passes since he’s now living as a PROUD GAY MAN!
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