The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, June 19
Another Exodus Conference Is Upon Us. Let's Review.
For Our Opponents: Talking to Your Kids About Same-Sex Marriage
The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, June 18
The Daily Agenda for Monday, June 17
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, June 16
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, June 15
The Daily Agenda for Friday, June 14
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
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
That’s the question that Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, has for the Republican Party. 
Ben in Oakland
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
“…Meghan McCains of the country can join or whether it wishes to only appeal to those with the perception, character, and intellect of Carrie Prejean.”
Ummmm, sorry to be so snarky, but what perception, character, and intellect are you referring to?
Lindoro Almaviva
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Wow, any way that we can get rid of her daddy and put her on his place?
Andrew
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Not just the Meghan McCains — don’t forget the George W. Bush captured 50% of the gay vote in 2000. There are plenty of gays who’d like to see competition for their vote — and let’s be frank, how much action are we seeing right now out of the Democratic leaders — the best they can muster is to attach pro-gay legislation to troop-spending bills because they know the opposition won’t dare oppose military spending. There’s no courage from them on LGBT issues because there’s nothing to fear from the LGBT community.
There are plenty of libertarian, small-government, fiscally-conservative LGBT people in this country who don’t feel they have a party they can truly stand behind, but line up behind one party because anything else means sacrificing any sense of self-worth. If the GOP would get out of the habit of telling everyone how to live and get back to policies about how to govern, they’d have a lot more appeal. Ask Bill Weld… a little flexibility and common sense can lead to big landslides when you realize the public is already ahead of you.
Timothy Kincaid
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Andrew,
No, George W. Bush captured 24% of the gay vote in 2000. Less in 2004.
Ben,
I have the same question.
Transplanted Lawyer
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
Count me as one of the small-government, libertarian Republicans cheering on the Meghan McCains of the party today. I can’t think of a more principled Republican stance on social issues than letting same-sex couples marry — it’s pro-family, pro-child, and pro-stability in the social sphere. But the party has sold out to the wingnuts, for the time being, and I fear this process will need to run its course through 2012 before it gets better.
Burr
November 16th, 2009 | LINK
My answer to her question: Dede.
As an unaffiliated libertarian I really hope folks like Meghan can get the Republican to start walking the walk of limited government instead of just squawking it, but let’s face it: as much as they are hypocrites for calling for big government nanny stating our sex lives and relationship contracts, they are equally hypocritical about their so-called fiscal conservatism as well.
There’s hardly anyone out there sticking up for liberty in all realms of our lives any more.
Timothy (TRiG)
November 17th, 2009 | LINK
As much as libertarians annoy me (and that’s a lot, by the way), most do seem to be principled people and fairly consistent in their views. They’re misguided, and they clearly haven’t read enough Dickens, but they aren’t actually prejudiced.
Libertarians merely annoy me. Many other right-wingers disgust me.
TRiG.
Timothy (TRiG)
November 17th, 2009 | LINK
(Oh, and what’s wrong with making a sex tape?)
Désirée
November 17th, 2009 | LINK
It would be nice if all the people like Meghan, instead of trying to create a big tent in the GOP, simply abandoned it to the fundies and joined the libertarians, which they in effect already are.
Some high profile defections could actually get the Libertarians some traction and create a viable third (or better yet replacement second) party in America.
Priya Lynn
November 17th, 2009 | LINK
Trig said “(Oh, and what’s wrong with making a sex tape?)”.
Nothing, its the hypocrisy of having a wild and crazy sex life and then trying to deny other’s their rights because you think their sex lifes are out of line with the religious ideas of morality that also preclude you from premarital sexual activities, making sex tapes and posing nude.
Priya Lynn
November 17th, 2009 | LINK
Hooray for Meghan Mccain. She truly is a person of integrity and principles that stands as a shining example for all. What a breath of fresh air in the Republican party.
andrew
November 18th, 2009 | LINK
Tim, I definitely seem to recall “50%”, but after 9 years, it could have been “50% of gays in Florida voted for W” for all I know. I went back to check and all my demographic references are no longer online. It sounds like you have a precise value, which suggests an awesome resource. Can you share?
werdna
November 18th, 2009 | LINK
@andrew-Google.com is an awesome resource. A search there located this, this, this, and this among others.
All these sources (except the last, which uses 23% for both 2000 and 2004) agree with the estimate that GWB got 25% of the LGBT vote in 2000 and 23% in 2004. The source for these figures seems to be the CNN poll.
Robert in San Diego
November 19th, 2009 | LINK
There is nothing wrong with making a sex tape, especially if you are of legal age and not lying to make yourself 17 when she was really 20. I make many and post them all the time, the thing about her is that she seems to of forgotten about that “moral” against pornography. Just like everything else in the bible, christians pick and choose which things to like and which things to dislike, and gays they do not like.
Regan DuCasse
November 21st, 2009 | LINK
She was right about a few things:
That any kind of individual transgression IS forgiven as long as you’re against gay rights.
But if you’re supportive it defines you altogether.
Note all those family values politicians caught in sex scandals who have held their offices. Whereas gay politicians have left under clouds, with one exception in OR.
Note those politicians, while simply running for office or who were incumbent, lost because of their support for marriage equality.
Brian Brown so much has rejoiced that those supporters have lost in the elections.
Several writers and more commenters at TownHall, the two editors of WND have been vicious in their attacks on me. I support gay equality and I’m very conservative in all else, but you’d think I was a flaming liberal lefty on ALL things just because of the issue of gay people.
So, Ms. McCain is right about the hypocrisy, and it’s not really a Democrat/Republican issue anymore. It’s gay vs. straight, conservative Christian, vs. moderate people of faith or secular.
Any suggestion of pro gay support goes radioactive in no time.
People have allowed themselves to get so damn crazy about gay people, it’s scary.
And it’s really ugly.
werdna
November 21st, 2009 | LINK
“Note all those family values politicians caught in sex scandals who have held their offices. Whereas gay politicians have left under clouds, with one exception in OR.”
Don’t forget Barney Frank and Gerry Studds, both of whom were reëlected numerous times after being involved in scandals.
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