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 lobbyMay 17th, 2010
It’s bad enough when people refuse to recognize your dignity while you’re still alive, but Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (R) has ensured that the insults will continue even after you die:
Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill Saturday that would have given same-sex partners the right to decide what to do with the body of their loved ones, should they die.
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:
John Graykoski
May 17th, 2010
Sadly, Pawlenty began as a fairly enlightened politician. Then came thoughts of the Presidency. Then came the Teabaggers. Now he is the Governor of “NO” and has become the new Republican model for NOT negotiating, NOT seeking consensus or compromise and FOR taking any stand which puts him in favor with the right wing domination of the Republican party. As a moderate, there is no place in the Republican’s big tent for the likes of me. Very sad to watch.
Priya Lynn
May 17th, 2010
What a scumbag. Just shows what an outrageous lie it is when these people claim to not hate gays.
John in the Bay Area
May 17th, 2010
I doubt that Gov. Pawlenty hates gays. It is far more likely that he just doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than his potential political future. In the long run, I hope that this veto haunts him with the label of “The Heartless Governor.” He might even regret his actions, if it cost him some votes (not of course for any moral reasons).
Priya Lynn
May 17th, 2010
I don’t doubt that he does hate gays.
Grant
May 17th, 2010
I don’t know if he hates gays or not, and it doesn’t really matter. His actions speak for him. We’re expendable.
Being gay is the last socially-acceptable category to discriminate against publicly and openly. But that’s changing – and I agree, these decisions will end up haunting the politicians who calculated that their decisions against us would net them more votes.
Ethan
May 17th, 2010
Actually, Grant, it seems that transgender people (or gender-variant folks, for that matter) are the “new gays”, in that even members of the LGBTQ community think it’s perfectly acceptable to discriminate against their trans* allies.
it hard enough to fight the bigots in the hetero community, without also having to combat the ignorance of queer community, too.
John in the Bay Area
May 17th, 2010
Ethan
I have noticed that the bigots here in my Bay Area town have tried to split the gay/transgendered folks. Particularly the Mormons have toned down their anti-gay hate campaign (but not completely, and are demanding that gay people not call them bigots) but attacking transgendered adults and children with gender atypical attitudes full bore.
Here, I don’t sense a shift on the pro-equality side, especially since the particular victims we are addressing are kids in the school district.
Rick Brentlinger
May 17th, 2010
As a former Republican, now an Unaffiliated voter (Thank you George W. Bush for convincing me to leave the Republican Party), I know at least one guy – Gov. Pawlenty – who will not get my vote should the Repubs be dumb enough to nominate him in 2012.
Tommy
May 18th, 2010
Yes, the transgendered are the new gays. Too many people know a gay person. Being gay is too easy to understand.
So now they claim schools will have to hire crossdressers. Which is horribly insulting and a lie. But when have social conservatives ever failed to be horribly insulting and lie?
Désirée
May 18th, 2010
Us trans folk do have a harder time – coming out as gay is becoming more socially acceptable, and once someone is “out of the closet” that’s it, they are out.
For trans folk, the object is often to go back into the closet. I transitioned almost 15 years ago on the job, so all 200+ people in the building knew about me. I spent several years being “out,” running the local tg support groups, doing the presentations in front of collage classes, marching in the parades and basically being the go to person on trans issues in Long Beach. Then I moved to another country and now, other than my wife and 1 or 2 close friends, no one knows. No longer am I Desiree the Transsexual, but just Desiree. It’s nice for me, but yeah, it doesn’t help trans visibility much. That of course is the dilemma all t* folk have – living stealth for ourselves or living out for the community.
We are the new gay. Haven’t you ever heard how to get your parents to accept you as gay? Just tell them you want a sex change because eventually, they will ask “Can’t you just be gay?” The rest of the world is even less understanding.
Jason D
May 18th, 2010
little note, John, Ethan, you don’t need the “ed”. It’s just “transgender”. Just like we don’t say gayed, lesbianed, bisexualed, or straighted. It’s a noun, not a verb.
Secondly you do have a point, there’s this very disturbing trend I see amongst the GLB community to look at our T-folks and say “why are you here?” It’s a toss up between seperatists who don’t care about any other member of the alphabet soup except their letter, be it the L, G, B, or T parts -or- it’s this condescending attitude that T-folks are hangers-on, trying to ride on our coattails.
Matt
May 18th, 2010
Maggie is on Thom Hartmann at 2PM EDT to try to defend this…
http://www.thomhartmann.com/
Ben in Oakland
May 18th, 2010
Jason: straighted?
Isn’t that what Rekers did to his rent boy?
Oh, wait.
Ethan
May 19th, 2010
@Jason D:
Not to nitpick with you here, but (though I didn’t actually use the word ‘transgenderED’), either are acceptable, as it refers the noun (gender) being in transition.
There was an interesting article in a Canadian magazine a few months ago comparing the fervor with which so many queers in Canada attacked the same-sex marriage issue, to the general apathy that exists about other queer issues now that that right has been achieved.
The article suggested that so many of those who came out in strong support of the right to marry were middle-class gays & lesbians, whose biggest concern was being treated as social equals among their middle-class straight counterparts. They got what they wanted, and now they can go back to not giving a rat’s ass about other issues in the community.
Jason D
May 19th, 2010
@Ethan,
Sorry for the mistake, somehow I thought you used the “ed”. From my conversations with actual transfolk, and the glaad media reference guide:
Problematic: “transgenderedâ€
Preferred: “transgenderâ€
The adjective transgender should never have an extraneous “-ed†tacked onto the end. An “-ed†suffix adds unnecessary length to the word and can cause tense confusion and grammatical errors. For example, it is grammatically incorrect to turn transgender into a participle, as it is an adjective, not a verb, and only verbs can be used as participles by adding an “-ed†suffix.
I was wrong about it being a noun, it’s an adjective, and adjectives don’t get “ed” added to them.
Timothy Kincaid
May 19th, 2010
All the MTF transgender persons I know either use “tranny” or “T-girl”. While that might just be an example of insiders getting to use whatever term they like, it does add to the confusion.
And considering the pejorative terms that are frequently thrown about, I think that we really can cut some slack for those who inadvertently add an “-ed” to the end.
Désirée
May 19th, 2010
I have never had a problem with transgendered, but then, PC in the English language has gone a bit far. We also aren’t supposed to refer to people as “the blind” “the handicapped” “the deaf” (i.e. we are not supposed to take a condition and use it as a collective noun), instead we are are to use them as adjectives – blind people, handicapped people, deaf people. However, in other languages, like Swedish, (where I live mow) this is common practice and considered proper grammar.
I have never referred to my self as a t-girl, but then, I’m over 40 now and not very “girlish.” “Tranny” has all sorts of baggage and in fact is currently causing a stir in the community thanks to a low budget exploitation film making the rounds called “Ticked-off Trannies with Knifes.” Personally, I have never had a problem with the term but don’t use it on myself that often.
I think ultimately, so long as whatever term is used, isn’t used disrespectfully or has an obvious negative connotation (he-she, she-male shim, it, etc) I’m fine with whatever term someone is comfortable with.
Leave A Comment