News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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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
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.
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.
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.
Real man Rob Tisinai saw a photo of this bumper sticker making the rounds at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this weekend. He also is a man with photoshop and is not afraid to use it. More here.
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Burr
February 20th, 2010 | LINK
Real men aren’t threatened by other men, no matter what they do that they disagree with.
Alex
February 20th, 2010 | LINK
Real men don’t need a bumper sticker to affirm their masculinity.
anteros
February 20th, 2010 | LINK
lol!
funny:-)
That ‘real men’ crap is just adopted from stories where kids describe what they were taught being a ‘real man’ was all about – by their imperfect father figures…
Real men drink beer to get drunk. Real men use tobacco (dip or cigarettes or cigars). Real men smack their spouses and kids.
I wish people would realise what kind of twisted mentality lies behind the urge to attempt to define a ‘real man’ or a ‘real woman’. It’s just wrong, outdated, tacky, backward, sexist, and uncool.
Much as it irritates me, it’s their car bumper… if only they knew what such statements really say about them.
Donnchadh
February 21st, 2010 | LINK
Real cars don’t let their drivers debase their bumpers with crass political messages.
Eric in Oakland
February 21st, 2010 | LINK
On the subject of “real men”, what does everyone think of the jokes made by Canadian sports commentators regarding Olympic Skater, Jonny Weir’s masculinity (or lack of it)?
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Canadian-commentators-fail-to-cool-it-with-Johnn?urn=oly,221050
Richard W. Fitch
February 21st, 2010 | LINK
@Eric – I haven’t seen any of the comments, but my personal opinion: If that observer can execute the moves that Johnny does then maybe he can question JW ‘manliness’. Otherwise, keep your snide comments to yourself. Many years ago some of the pro football players trained under a ballet master during off season. The objective was to gain flexibility and agility. Most of them decided they would best stick with football.
Burr
February 21st, 2010 | LINK
The only point they had was that it may have cost him. I don’t think Johnny was good enough to medal but he was definitely better than 6th and I don’t understand why he didn’t place better.
Other than that.. it’s figure skating, what do they expect? Who’s to say the other male skaters aren’t the phony ones? ;)
Eric in Oakland
February 21st, 2010 | LINK
@Richard & Burr – the commentators I referenced stated that JW should have been competing in the women’s competition and joked that he should undergo tests to determine his sex.
It seems to me that this topic is important because it cuts to the heart of why many people are prejudiced against gays and lesbians. Their image of their own masculinity or femininity is called into question when these gender roles are ignored.
Christopher Waldrop
February 22nd, 2010 | LINK
I don’t know if it’s so much a matter of gender roles being “ignored” as it is the gender roles certain people have established for themselves being challenged. And it’s not hard to challenge those roles when people create “masculine” and “feminine” roles that are so removed from reality.
Here’s my idea for a bumper sticker: “Real men are comfortable with who they are.”
Ben
February 22nd, 2010 | LINK
I read someplace that homophobia is very common in figure skating. I belive the theory is that they are threatened by anything that drags them even further from mainstream ideas of what a ‘real’ man is.
Its sad really.
Jason D
February 22nd, 2010 | LINK
the original picture has some woman from CWA holding it.
Which I find rather hilarious. Women tend to vehemently frown upon men telling them how they should be, so it’s funny to see a woman doing the same thing.
Also, I doubt very seriously that these women would know what a real man is. So many heterosexual women I’ve seen treat men as projects for them to mold and fix.
Frijondi
February 22nd, 2010 | LINK
How’s this for a bumper sticker –
All adult male humans are men.
All men are real.
Rob in San diego
February 22nd, 2010 | LINK
Would these be the same real men who cheat on their wives with other women or prostitutes?
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