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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October 16th, 2009 | LINK
“I love everyone in the world.”
Oh, the irony.
AJD
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
There’s no irony. His “love” is the same as that of fundamentalist Christians or the “love” that a physically abusive husband and father feels for his wife and children.
Ben in Oakland
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
I have a theory about this.
I went to Jamaica 18 years ago. We had a very nice time in a very different kind of place. Food was not so hot, and there were always people trying to get us to buy pot or hash– even in the middle of the ocean. It was also educational– imagine how much residual racism you have to deal with when two very large black men come up to you on a dark street and ask you if you want to buy drugs?
About those men– Jamaica was an island full of the most hunky and beautiful black men I had ever seen. Nearly Every man, even old ones, had a stunning body. Eye Candy Island. Or maybe, Porn Island.
I can’t help but wonder if this bigot’s attitude is a direct reflection of an island-and-culture wide effort to repress all male homosexual thoughts, which on that island, I, at least, was having in plenty. (fortunately, for my partner, I’m a one man man). I can’t imagine living there, surrounded by a great deal of nearly Hellenic masculine beauty, and not thinking about it.
A lot.
And if I, my island, and my culture, were just a little bit homophobic to begin with, that might be enough to really scare the hell out of me.
As we know, it is not an unusual pattern. homophobia is not the fear of homosexuality. It is the fear that you, yourself, are homosexual.
Ben in Oakland
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
“As we know, it is not an unusual pattern. homophobia is not the fear of homosexuality. It is the fear that you, yourself, are homosexual.”
Sorry, left out two words:
As we know, it is not an unusual pattern. homophobia is not MERELY the fear of homosexuality. It is ALSO the fear that you, yourself, are homosexual.
Stefano A
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Entertainment/html/20091015T200000-0500_161899_OBS__J_FLAG_NOT_IMPRESSED.asp
When J-FLAG maintains such negativist attitudes toward dialogue and constantly undermines any outside efforts of assistance, it’s difficult to expect any progress through such meetings as the one in San Francisco.
Lindoro Almaviva
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
Do all Jamaicans sound this uneducated? I mean, English is not my first language and my grammar is a hell of a lot better than his.
Jim Burroway
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
Londoro,
I would be very careful with that assumption. Jamaica has developed its own dialect of English that has its own rules of spelling and grammar, much the same way that Cajun and Haitian Creole are distinct dialects of French.
More info here.
Burr
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
Seriously, he sounds like an even bigger moron than the usual hater.
Pepper-sprayed the concert? Is that serious?
werdna
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
Jamaican patois is just different than standard US or UK English (and the way most people in both of those countries talk varies pretty widely, too). Many Jamaicans speak excellent standard English as well.
David Malcolm
October 16th, 2009 | LINK
Maybe Dobson should see if he can get him signed to a Christian label? I’m sure Forefront would take him ;) Maybe INO.
The guy’s a moron, I don’t know why anyone would even bother talking to a guy this far gone? What they should be doing is waiting to find him on his knees in a bathroom stall.
SamK
October 17th, 2009 | LINK
Buju Banton grew up in a poor section of Jamaica, one of 15 children. The area where he lived, Kingston’s Salt Lane, is described as being full of conservative Christian churches. You will find that Buju Banton has converted to the Rastafarian religion and they too are homophobic. Like the conservative Christian churches that Buju Banton grew up around, the Rastafarians follow the rules in Leviticus in the Bible which call for not eating pork or shellfish and which also call for the execution of gay men. Rastafarians do not eat pork or shellfish. Probably most conservative Christians do eat pork or shellfish.
You can read an important article about Buju Banton in this Time Magazine article: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1182991,00.html “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?” Britain has given asylum to a number of Jamaican gay men because of the extreme homophobia and violence in Jamaica. This article also has an account of an alleged armed assault on six gay men in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2004. Buju Banton was later arrested for this assault, but it never came to trial. Buju claims that he was “cleared” of the assault charges. http://www.gargamelmusic.com/artists_buju_time4.html In actuallity the case never came to trial. No evidence was ever presented to a jury. Buju was neither “cleared” nor “acquitted” of the charges.
Buju Banton is a very homophobic man. He comes from a country which is very homophobic. Buju’s religious background and beliefs, fundamentalist Christian and Rastafarian, are extremely homophobic. I believe that he believes that the Old Testament of the Bible requires that homosexuals be executed. What he says in YouTube video “Elephant Man Buju Banton Shabba Ranks Boom Bye Bye” is that he thinks homosexuals should be executed, in so many words.
We need to keep the pressure on during the final two and a half weeks of his current tour. See http://cancelbujubanton.wetpaint.com/
Emily K
October 17th, 2009 | LINK
His being Rasta explains his use of English. They have their own dialect.
Howie
October 19th, 2009 | LINK
To bow to any pressure from lgbt groups would make a dancehall artist look weak in the the eyes of his fans and the industry which prides itself sometimes at great embelleshments to have stood up to the Stop Murder Music campaign in the UK and Europe.
Hence comments from Sizzla and others that suggest that they will not bow to “nasty people”
Many artists earn their main income from tours in the US and elsewhere and there was a belief that the SMM would not take off as it did in Europe.
NOTICE THAT THE OTHER DANCEHALL ARTISTS INCLUDING OTHER SMM ACTS LIKE SIZZLA AND CAPLETON TO NAME A FEW HAVE BEEN VERY QUIET DURING BUJU’S TOSSLE WITH THE AMERICAN LGBT COMMUNITY.
This is very instructive as Buju has been alone in this I feel the other acts fear there earnings and reputations may also be damaged from joining the discussions.
The level of scorn that is implied in the anti gay statements fits pefectly into the anti gay sentiments on the ground whether those sentiments are real or just clandestine gays hiding theit true selves is another matter which I have addressed and will continue to address on my blog.
(see labels on situational homosexuality and down low lifestyles)
http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/search/label/Down%20Low%20Lifestyles
http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/search/label/Situational%20Homosexuality
There is more to this so called opposition than meets the eye friends and those issues also need to be carefully elicidated if we are to make any meaningful moves towards tolerance as a nation.
It’s a loooonnnng run ahead.
H
Matt
October 19th, 2009 | LINK
Got ill reading the comments on the Jamaica Observer website.
Many outrageously claim that all gay murders are done by other gays who are jealous/jilted lovers, etc. When a crowd of people beat to death a gay man, how exactly is that a crime of passion among gays? When a father incites a crowd to kill his own son, how is that pleasing to “God”?
Weird that in other countries pot makes people mellow and loving (Woodstock, anyone?). I really don’t understand Rastafarian beliefs, but the explanations here–it’s interpretation of Leviticus/connection to Fundamentalist Christianity–is very revealing.
e2c
October 19th, 2009 | LINK
I think…. that slams on Jamaicans, their dialects (including patois) and religious beliefs are not going to help anyone’s cause, no matter how good that cause is. (And I think it’s a worthy one.)
It also strikes me that Americans (including me) tend to assume that the rest of the world should be like us, rather than acknowledging that we don’t have any real cultural claim to “superiority.”
What I’m *not* suggesting: that Banton is right. I believe him to be very wrong on this issue. But it might help the whole cause (on many levels) if, say, Americans were to look for ways of starting a dialogue with Jamaicans in general, and with Jamaican Christians *and* Rastas. All too often, we tend to come off as arrogant (not to mention rich!) in the eyes of those in other countries who have much less than we do.
My thought is that that is exactly the place where most Jamaicans are, and that it’s not their fault. For every man who appears to be “eye candy” to American and European tourists (of all sexual orientations), there are probably 3-5 more people at home who are depending on that man’s salary. Hate and anger can be as much about people who don’t have much seeing those who do as uncaring about them and their culture. I’m afraid that observations (made by anyone) about “eye candy” might only serve to fuel negative perceptions of those who make them.
My .02-worth, anyway…
e2c
October 19th, 2009 | LINK
You may need a UK proxy server to listen to this story, which includes interviews with a JFLAG staffer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/gayinja.shtml
Should help explain a bit of the background.
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October 23rd, 2009 | LINK
“I really don’t understand Rastafarian beliefs, but the explanations here–it’s interpretation of Leviticus/connection to Fundamentalist Christianity–is very revealing.”
Rastafarianism is just an offshot of Ethiopian Christianity with the twist that they smoke ganja and worship Haile Selassie as God incarnate. They also hold Afrocentrist nonsense in their movement and condemn western society, even though their “moral” views descend directly from Fundamentalist Christianity and Orthodox Judaism.
e2c
October 24th, 2009 | LINK
@ —-
There’s much more to it than what you’ve just said. The connection to the Ethio. Orthodox Church isn’t something that’s agreed upon by all Rastas, or all Ethiopian Orthodox, for that matter.
ravenbiker
October 25th, 2009 | LINK
I hope the fool goes broke. I hope when his stomach goes hungry, his religion will be there to feed him.
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