The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 25
The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 24
Boy Scouts of America Votes To Allow Gay Members, Retains Ban On Gay Leaders
Nevada House votes to reverse marriage ban
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 23
It's Not the Principle, It's the Prejudice
Congratulations Mitch!
Gay Couples Excluded from Immigration Bill Markup
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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Steve
May 1st, 2010 | LINK
It amazes me at the mockery dished out on many right wing Christian websites (i.e. Stand Firm in Faith)about efforts to cut down on bullying. It is not uncommon to see comments such as “it helps with character development for a kid to get beat up every now and then”, or “bullying is part of growing up, deal with it”.
I dealt with two years of non-stop bullying by two other boys when I was in the 7th and 8th grade. Why was I bullied? In retrospect perhaps they could sense that I was gay(or at a minimum somehow different)although at that time I had no inkling of what being gay was. It was a miserable two year experience that only ended when I left for high school. I dreaded going to school, and to this day I would like to find the two guys who perpetrated this and beat the living daylights out of them. That is how strong my feelings are to this day at age 50. The bullying had a profound impact on me and created a low sense of self esteem, depression, and a sense that I was inferior.
So, in response to the right wing Episcopalians and others who view this bullying as a non-issue, it clearly is an issue. Shame on the teachers who don’t act to stop it. Shame on parents who also don’t have the courage to discipline their children. And shame on so called Christians who have some warped idea that Christ would encourage misery and hopelessness in a child’s life. Childhood should be associated with happiness and hope for a good future. Life only gets harder as you age. Have we not evolved beyond the pecking order in a flock of chickens where the newcomer who may have a different color pattern or comb size is pecked unmercilessly to death?
Regan DuCasse
May 1st, 2010 | LINK
I concur, Jim. We see also, how quickly the same people who claim they represent God, play the persecution card when challenged by gay people, no matter what it is.
Their level of tolerance for their own medicine is about zilch.
Even when they aren’t being forced to swallow it, they STILL cry out in indignation.
The usual faces we’re confronted with (the white, heterosexual, Christian males ones) in leadership of the staunchest opposition organizations: could hardly claim THEY have ANY experience with discrimination or unfair systemic social practices on their LIVES.
So they aren’t too interested in defending those who do have that experience.
I’m almost of a mind to make them experience what children like C Walker-Hoover did, FOR REAL.
Steve
May 1st, 2010 | LINK
Agree fully with Regan’s comments. The ability to show empathy is often based on one’s previous experiences. By and large from what I have seen in Colorado, is that the staunchest right wing Christians who want to make bullying a non-issue have lived sheltered lives. And yes, they are usually white males, often from the midwest or south, have never lived in large racially diverse cities, and often believe that gay people are only in areas far from there safe, sterilized communities. Furthermore, the indignation and pouting that they put forth when confronted is laughable. The typical response is “how dare you question me” and then the tired old argument of the domino effect…..i.e. if we prevent bullying then what? Will kids be punished for any playground fight? Will teachers be at risk for losing their jobs if any schooyard altercation should occur. They take everything to the nth degree trying to make us think that if this thing happens(even though it may have some good outcomes)it will only lead to worse things down the road and the fall of human civilization as we know it. This line of logic is getting old. I call it the hyperbole defense. Common sense dictates that kids will always get in fights. Common sense also dictates that kids can be incredibly and relentlessly cruel to one another. It is that kind of relentless persecution that the law is supposed to help correct.
paul j stein
May 1st, 2010 | LINK
The school killings that happen are most usually the result of bullying. I don’t condone this behavior but without the skills to deal with the effects of bullying the results are horrific. I kicked a lot of guys asses in school. Spent a lot of time in the deans office. After the first situation of “education of IDIOTS” I was asked if it was true that I was GAY, I thought about it and responded that “I am GAY, WILL be GAY, and it is illegal to treat me any different and I will sue their asses”. This was 1973, I was 14 years old, OUT and PROUD. At 6’1″, 185# I was ready for the shit and willing to go a few rounds.
paul j stein
May 1st, 2010 | LINK
If anyone EVER bullied my kids I would snatch the little bastard up and drag his ass home and kick his parent(s) ass, then post bail and sue everyone involved!
Jason D
May 2nd, 2010 | LINK
Not to defend them, but bullies are often someone else’s victim. Their parents, older siblings bully them, or they have a learning disability/low self-esteem, some other difficult issue and their destructive way of dealing with it is to bully someone else. It gives them a feeling of power, of control. Chances are the kid being bullied will him/herself become a bully, and the cycle will continue.
When we ignore it, we let down both the victim and the bully.
Bullying is anti-social behavior and should alarm any parent, teacher, or administrator because it can and often does lead to MORE anti-social behavior.
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