Now THAT’S Advocacy!
Jim Burroway
December 5th, 2009
Yale students turned out to demonstrate against an itinerant anti-gay preacher.
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Sheehan blames Bosnian massacre on gay Dutch soldiers
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Blogswarm: Call Nancy Pelosi, Demand ENDA's Passage
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 two hundred 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yale students turned out to demonstrate against an itinerant anti-gay preacher.
Anders
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Hey we at SUNY Geneseo have been doing this for a couple years now!
http://media.www.thelamron.com/media/storage/paper1150/news/2008/10/02/Opinion/Tuesdays.Demonstration.A.Triumph.Over.Hate-3466531.shtml
http://media.www.thelamron.com/media/storage/paper1150/news/2009/11/12/News/Candlelight.Vigil.Precedes.Nycf.Lecture-3831032.shtml
GreenEyedLilo
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Lovely. Reminds me of the time a Muslim woman yelled at L’Ailee and I for kissing goodbye on our very own stoop in front of her children. (It’s not just conservative Christians who hide behind their kids.) I started trying to debate with her. L’Ailee saw what a losing battle that was, bent me back until the ends of my hair touched the stoop, and deep-kissed me like she was going off to war. When we came up for air, we had an audience that did not include the Muslimah.
Sometimes you just have to assert your right to be yourself, you know?
AdrianT
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
The best thing to do is to wave some books by Darwin & Dawkins in their faces – the poor man is missing out on so much knowledge, excitement, and life in general. I pity such people.
David Malcolm
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Oh please Dawkins is a joke, an obnoxious one at that.
But I’d probably do the same thing… if I had a boy friend that is.
Burr
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
I’m not sure it’s worth the time antagonizing a mentally-handicapped former drug dealer. But oh well..
Lindoro Almaviva
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Love that story. I have myself gone on to a deeper and longer kiss in public just to make a point.
Regan DuCasse
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Doesn’t this guy know that the most Christian thing he can do is give to charity, extend a gesture of kindness like helping someone carry a heavy load or shovel their walks or rake leaves?
Maybe in the Starbucks line, pay for the coffees of everyone else behind him? Or maybe even offer to read to the blind or give to a scholarship fund?
Rants and raves and criticism and general diarrhea of the face won’t cut it.
You have to DO, not talk.
It’s sort of like when I ask those who are anti gay in particular and still believe HIV/AIDS is a gay disease: did you donate any money to AIDS research or preventative education?
Did you volunteer for any support for people living with AIDS?
Did you even pray that those committed to fighting AIDS through medical research and development will FIND A CURE OR VACCINE?
Or do you just bad mouth people with the disease, but do nothing to help actually FIGHT it?
I know a GOOD Christian when I see one. I know a GOOD Jew, Muslim, Buddhist and so on, when I meet one.
These are the folks who fight injustice, poverty, help the diseased and sometimes just fix a flat or give piano lessons for free.
Just about anything but preach and point out the faults they think everyone else has.
Were that same guy, put out a sign that said: Free hugs, God is love.
That would say a lot more to make a better world than his current method.
Can I get a witness?
Richard W. Fitch
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Regan’s comments prompt me to mention a recent interview clip I saw with the incredible Karen Armstrong. I am a bit vague on specifics but the gist was: In religion, and Christianity in particular, we have come to assert that orthodoxy is more important than orthopraxy; that is, what we *believe* is more important than what we *do*. And to quote an ancient source: “Faith without works is dead”.
KZ
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
Homosexuals and Sodomites are mentioned on his sign. I thought the terms were one in the same to anti-gays.
Burr
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
It’d also get a LOT more converts, which I thought was the point?
Nah his point was just to be a prick, and his method only proves it.
John
December 5th, 2009 | LINK
This exact same guy was at my college just two months ago. Apparently he goes around doing this a lot.
Robert in San Diego
December 6th, 2009 | LINK
He was hoping to be a martyr for the recent hate crimes legislation since they all think that it silences their right to free hate speech.
Timothy Kincaid
December 6th, 2009 | LINK
Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said:
I’m not adequately familiar with the holy texts of Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists, but I suspect you’d find something similar there.
Oh, and for those who were wondering, there is no accompanying verse of Jesus saying “all men will know you are my disciples if you hate the sin”.
Nick
December 7th, 2009 | LINK
When the fundies make these “REPENT” lists I always count to see how many I am and try to go for the high score. I got 9 on this one.
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