The Daily Agenda for Thursday, June 20
BREAKING: Exodus International is Shutting Down
Liveblog of Exodus Conference
First Impressions Ahead Of Exodus 2013 Conference
Arizona group to put marriage back on ballot
Exodus International Issues Apology, Hints At Further Developments Tonight
Ex-Gay Leader Sentenced For Criminal Sexual Assault of Male Clients
Andrew Comiskey Doesn't Believe In Apologies
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
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Oh you saw coming, didn’t you? You just had to know that Maggie Gallagher would see the lovely Lauren Ashley, hear her opposition to marriage equality, and see an opportunity to create a new martyr. (Fox News)
Regan DuCasse
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
“Avalanche of hatred”??!!
WHAT avalanche of hatred? I’ve had it, HAD it with this woman’s hyperbole around the reaction to Prop. 8.
She needs to be called on it, roundly, publicly and shamed for it.
The more she keeps reiterating how many people voted to ban marriage, and when I look at the fear mongering ads that helped it, she has a lot of gall calling it hatred from pro equality supporters.
I’d like to know how SHE would respond if millions of people divorced HER involuntarily and sent HER family into a morass of legal difficulty and insecurity?
How would SHE react if she’d had a gay child who was executed in his classroom or bullied to the point of suicide?
How would SHE react if at every turn, she was called evil for simply wanting to marry and show the world that she was in love?
She thinks that however gay people have reacted is UNJUSTIFIED or she would go away quietly and not challenge anything so unfair and DANGEROUS?
Well, what was her excuse BEFORE when happy gay couples were getting married and wanting to?
She hits and then runs and then accuse those she hits of being hateful and threatening.
I’m not so stupid that I don’t know an ACTION from a REACTION.
I understand the REACTION coming from gay folks, but her ACTIONS are inexcusable.
Priya Lynn
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Hear Hear Regan. I can’t believe how profoundly stupid Maggie is. She calls the reaction to being stripped of equality an “avalanche of hatred” but can’t somehow see the hatred in Lauren Ashely calling for gays to be put to death. I despise that woman.
Candace
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Because apparently saying, “Please do not speak for me because I don’t share your bigoted attitude towards that group” is “an avalanche of hatred.”
I think that Maggie has identified the gay community with some part of herself that she hates deeply and no amount of reason or logic will ever dissuade her from her crusade against us– at least not until she gets some form of therapy that enables her to stop hating herself.
Does anyone know a good cognitive therapist where she lives?
Lindoro Almaviva
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Who knows what this little delusional attention-starved girl has in her closet?
You mean besides the clothes that even the Beverly Hills Walmart would be horrified to see in their hangers? Do you think there is enough room for all that celebration of trashy Vegas and skeletons?
And one last thing: How does Maggy-moo know what 45% of the hill’s youth voted for pro H8? Is she that delusional?
Wait! don’t bother, DUH!
Timothy Kincaid
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Lindoro,
Exit polls found that if you define “young” as 18-24, only 36% voted yes. If you extend that definition to 18-29, then it goes up to 39%. But Maggie gets 45% by defining “young Californians” to include everyone under 40.
If you look at Ms. Ashley’s demographics: white, female, under 24, living in Pasadena, then it becomes even clearer that Ms. Ashley is a very rare bird indeed.
jeff
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
I’ve always wondered about those percentages being tossed around about Prop. 8. Has a firm percentage of nonresidents voting for Prop.8 ever been established?
Nevada Blue
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
“Who knows what this little delusional attention-starved girl has in her closet?”
And it’s always something, especially if the standard your being held to includes an ancient book of harsh and conflicting parables.
Perhaps two times will be the charm for Maggie?
Jcrr
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Timothy,
The Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s poll showed 45% of those between 18-29 years old voted Yes on 8. No idea if that’s the poll Gallagher is referring to. Other polls have showed higher support for marriage equality among that group, so it’s entirely possible to be due to the margin of error. Anyway, here’s the link to that poll: http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_affairs/glbt/pdfs/Prop%208%20Report.pdf
JFE
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Interestingly enough, Maggie only mentions the gay marriage portion of it. She’s silent on the fact that Ashley (or Lauren?) insinuates that having gay sex pretty much sentences you to death. But Maggie probably believes that too…
AJD
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
I know what this little delusional, attention-starved girl has out of the closet: the belief that gay people should be put to death.
I find myself wondering how deep Maggie’s homophobia really goes. I mean, from the appointment of Orson Scott Card to NOM’s board to her courting of Ashley, she appears not to have any trouble associating herself with some pretty extreme homophobes, despite the great umbrage she takes to accusations of anti-gay bigotry on her own part.
Frijondi
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
Maggie et al assume we hate them, because they really do hate us. (By we, I mean supporters of marriage equality.) They’re mistaken, but that mistake hasn’t exactly hurt their campaign so far — it’s helped to mobilize a lot of antigays.
We, in turn, have mostly assumed a certain level of rationality on the other side, and treated this like an honest difference of opinion rather than the full frontal assault on our humanity that it really is. That has hurt us a great deal.
A lot of commenters on pro-gay blogs seem confident that we’re on the brink of a major demographic shift, one that will tip the scales in favor of marriage equality. I hope so, but I’m not convinced. Fundamentalist religion has gotten awfully good at packaging itself in a way that appeals to the under-thirty crowd, and to a wider range of ethnic groups than in the past.
I don’t think it’s wise to discount 36%, 39%, or 45% any age cohort — even if those percentages are a little off, that’s still a lot of people. Not a majority, but enough to swing an election when other voters stay home, and enough to commit a lot of violent acts. Instead of assuming the kids are all right, I say we keep an eye on them.
(Speaking of which, what were Lauren Ashley’s parents thinking??!? That latest picture is just so…inappropriate.)
Duncan
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
If something similar comes out with this woman, NOM will probably start insinuating that she’s part of a gay plot to discredit them. They have no trouble holding in head the conception of gay people as mindlessly driven by sex and as frighteningly cunning long-term planners.
BTW, I have to say that hearing Prejean’s ideas on sex made me marginally respect her.
Emily K
February 25th, 2010 | LINK
According to Joel McHale of “The Soup,” Carrie Prejean made not 1 but 8 sex tapes. And as Joel said: “Fool me once, shame on you. M********* on camera 8 times, you’re a porn star.”
[censored so it wouldn't get caught in filters.]
werdna
February 26th, 2010 | LINK
Does “masturbate” really need to be censored?
Emily K
February 26th, 2010 | LINK
if it wants to get by corporate filters, yes.
Not Lauren
February 26th, 2010 | LINK
the city of Beverly Hills says she is a fraud and disavows any connection with her, the L.A. Times reports:
“In a statement Wednesday, the city said it was shocked by Ashley’s description of herself as ‘Miss Beverly Hills.’ The city ‘does not sponsor a beauty pageant and has no association with Miss California USA,’ the statement said.
“…As such, there should be no individual claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills.’ The city’s statement said Ashley lives in Pasadena and ‘does not represent Beverly Hills in any capacity…”
Our forefather’s anticipated her and her ilk:
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise”. James Madison”
“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.” -Thomas Jefferson
Now we await her next FOX show visit wherein the host will surely be asking her if her parents follow the Bible’s law ordering them to sell their [fraudulent beauty queen] daughter into slavery.
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