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
Something I'd Like to Know, But Never Can
The Solicitor General impact
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 therapist 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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TerenceWeldon
November 14th, 2009 | LINK
Absolutely, the opposition is splitting into two camps: those who base their position on a genuine, if misguided, interpretation of Scripture, and those who are simply using religion as a cover for bigotry.
As the Episcopalians and Lutherans showed in the summer, and the LDS have now done, when genuine Christians approach the matter in a proper Spirit of sincere Christian principle, they can make progress towards justice, which is at the heart of Gospels.
Those who do not, quickly expose themselves as motivated only by prejudice.
libhomo
November 14th, 2009 | LINK
LaBarbera’s obsession is amazing. It is rare for anyone to have any obsession that intense without it being sexual.
Quo
November 14th, 2009 | LINK
The conservatives are right: it is absurd for a religious denomination that still believes that homosexuality is seriously immoral to support anti-discrimination legislation protecting homosexuals. If homosexuality is indeed immoral, that would be the equivalent of supporting legislation protecting liars or thieves. The inherent absurdity of the Mormon church’s new position means that it will likely abandon it in the long term.
Timothy (TRiG)
November 14th, 2009 | LINK
Quo, what you fail to understand is that there are two kinds of immorality: There’s immorality that hurts people, such as theft and murder. Much of this immorality is legislated against. Then there’s immorality that doesn’t hurt anyone, but that offends some people’s invisible friend in the sky.
The fact is that even people who believe that the second type of immorality is a real category (and I certainly don’t count myself among their number), are often aware that it is a different category, and feel that these “immoral” acts should not be punished by legislation.
See an example from a couple of Islamic thinkers:
The Vatican too feels that homosexual acts should not be criminal.
Source.
Of course, it’s a long way from decriminalisation to anti-discrimination acts and full equality. It’s a long walk. But it’s a walk down the same road. Once you accept the logic of decriminalisation you will, sooner or later, get all the way to equality. That’s the only place the logic can take you.
TRiG.
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November 14th, 2009 | LINK
“The inherent absurdity of the Mormon church’s new position means that it will likely abandon it in the long term.”
Unless they get a “REVELATION” about it, like the ones about polygamy and non-whites.
Jim
November 15th, 2009 | LINK
My political advice it ignore the morman church. (lower case intentional)
They have lots of money and support.
They are ultra conservative.
They are not open to views outside their own.
On the positive side, the are so much like Scientology. Look at Tom Cruise!
Regan DuCasse
November 15th, 2009 | LINK
Quo, you have a seriously contrarian tic.
As Trig rightly details, there are actions and decisions that ALL of us agree with that are harmful and can affect anyone and does.
There are RELIGIOUS disciplines that are up to the individual to decide to what extent they will follow them, or not.
None of which can be COERCED by the government.
There are also things that will offend SOMEONE’S faith, which, in our diverse society is clearly unavoidable.
Which is why I always bring up the examples of autopsy, organ and blood donation, contraception and dancing. Of all these, dancing is the most innocuous. But a secular society would not only agree they are acceptable, but NECESSARY to basic and general quality of life, however risky for some.
And none of those whose religion is offended by these, can coerce the government to ban the choice to have it.
Although some have tried to do just that.
But what we should hold to any person of faith is the directive that most cultures AGREE is the one that requires the utmost of ethical decisions and actions simply: treating another person the way you’d want to be treated.
That is one, the other is reminding faith communities of the religious abuses that have gone on before and that they should go forward with extreme caution and avoid repetition of abuse. A dominant culture will find a way to rationalize and justify that abuse, or apply a religious discipline INCONSISTENTLY, all the time.
And it’s clear that the demands to discriminate based on religious belief IS being directed almost exclusively at gay people, but not heterosexuals who more than meet religious criteria for their discrimination or the demand to practice it freely.
It is fair to call people on this inconsistency and accountable.
Homosexuality has been around longer than EVERYTHING to do with religion.
And any number of them have made shit up to create problems based on artificial gender expectations, not natural ones.
Mormons haven’t been around that long comparatively, and they had to get over a lot of things to bring them in line of acceptable behavior that didn’t abuse blacks or women LEGALLY if they wanted to participate in the fullness and protections of this country.
And they weren’t hurt in the least by having to do so.
No one is.
Emproph
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Wow, quite the deranged rant.
Poor thing thinks he’s a truth-teller with credibility. *sigh*
Aaron
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
I have to wonder Qou, if you had your way, how would the government and society treat homosexuals?
Priya Lynn
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Trig said “The Vatican too feels that homosexual acts should not be criminal.”
Oh, they’ve disingenously claimed that, but when the U.N. introduced a resolution to decriminalize gayness the Vatican came out in opposition:
http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/vatican-opposes-un-resolution-to.html
Action’s speak louder than words and the Vatican is loudly exclaiming that they want gayness to be criminal.
Timothy Kincaid
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Poor Peter.
He doesn’t know that dictionaries don’t define words. They simply report definitions.
Words are symbols used to represent ideas, and they are defined by common usage. Dictionaries only provide the most commonly accepted definitions in use to assist us if we are unfamiliar with a word or what it represents.
Webster actually rejected the idea that some authority (in his time, British aristocracy) should determine usage and spelling and impose it upon the culture. Rather, he argued for “the same republican principles as American civil and ecclesiastical constitutions”; in other words, the definitions are determined by the people.
But Peter has never much cared whether what he has to say makes any sense at all. And he has absolutely no concept of history.
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