Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyFebruary 22nd, 2010
CPAC Poll results. Click to enlarge.
This is bad news for Maggie Gallagher and the folks at the National Organization for Marriage. According to this straw poll (PDF: 14 pages), nobody at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) listed banning same-sex marriage as their first priority, and about 1% listed it as their second choice. Maybe that helps explain the boos directed toward Ryan Sorba on Saturday. More than half the votes were cast by people 25 years old or younger, which bodes well for the future.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
paul j stein
February 22nd, 2010
So if we kill off the older, bigoted cpac members by pissing them off regularly and driving their blood pressure through the roof then the future looks great for us gays. Sounds like a plan.
Désirée
February 22nd, 2010
looks like with the exception of the abortion issue, the CPAC is really more a libertarian organization. I would love for the fiscal conservatives to jettison the religious reich and focus on the important goals of reducing the size & scope of the government. This poll definitely bodes well for us and anyone else who believes in individual liberty.
Timothy Kincaid
February 22nd, 2010
I might have more in common with the CPAC folks than I thought.
Fred in the UK
February 22nd, 2010
The cynic in me wonders whether some of the people who stated that stopping gay marriage was not a high priority for them, because there is already a constitutional amendment in their state banning it and at the federal level there is DOMA. They reckon there is little more that can realistically be done to stop gay marriage, so for the moment they have better uses for their political energies. However I doubt that was the reasoning behind many participants’ answers.
As the author points out 56% of respondents were aged 25 or younger, also 48% were students. So we should not fool ourselves that the raw numbers reflect the views of conservative activists as a whole. However let’s assume that none of the 75% of respondents aged 40 or younger were among the 1% who rated stopping gay marriage a priority. Therefore, at most, only 4% of respondents who were aged over 40 rated stopping gay marriage a priority, a figure that surprised me. So if the opponents of gay marriage do not attend CPAC, what conferences do they attend and meet together?
Burr
February 22nd, 2010
Stopping gay marriage probably fits under promoting traditional values and that was at 5%. Still not much, but something to consider.
If CPAC polls are indicative of the future of the movement though that’s pretty good.
Rob in San diego
February 22nd, 2010
Why should they want to continue to try and ban gay marriage when most states already have. They’ve pretty much already won in this argument.
paul j stein
February 23rd, 2010
Maybe the term “marriage” should be dropped. A Federal law changing the language of benefits and protections provided by “traditional” marriage should be enacted. Giving equal benefits to legally committed persons in a relationship, regardless of composition would be the answer. Marriage denotes a religious ceremony and a blessing from a clergy or church official. Removing the church from it would make the distinction of the legalities of the benefits and not the religious sanction. If a couples religion allows or sanctions the union then have the ceremony sanctified. That would take the heat out of the question. I for one want a wedding with my spouse but NOT a religious one. Although our 3 daughters would love it!
Rob
February 23rd, 2010
Fred in the UK:
So if the opponents of gay marriage do not attend CPAC, what conferences do they attend and meet together?
The values voters summit of course, where almost all of our enemies centralize to a conference. Don’t expect GOProud to be there.
Burr
February 23rd, 2010
paul, that subtlety would escape the moronic bigots out there, who would see it as the “literal” destruction of marriage.
Leave A Comment