News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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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
Gay Couples Excluded from Immigration Bill Markup
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.
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.
I’m often amazed when a comment on the site will give a local perspective to what, for me, may be a very distant story. And I’d love to know just how far this site reaches.
I’ll update the map above and color in each nation that is represented, so please give us a hello from your part of the world. I’d love to hear from infrequent commenters as well; just a one word comment to tell us what nation you live in would be great.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Sean Wills
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Infrequent commenter from Ireland here :)
Sean Kerrigan
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from Scotland, myself.
Kirsty
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
My dear friend Sean (above!) pointed me to this sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring, ALWAYS fascinating site!
neil h
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Sheffield, England here!
joakim
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Swedish guy located in London. Found btb through the similar website antigayretorik.blogspot.com.
Aaron
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Rugby, England ;)
Coxygru
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
An avid Franco-American reader here in Paris, France. Greatly appreciate your work.
Coxygru
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
There are widgets for tracking international visitors. Here’s but one: http://whos.amung.us/
Stephanie
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
The U.K.
Robguy
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Sydney Australia – although when I first started reading this blog I lived in Wisconsin.
Cheesfondue
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
UK
corina
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
austria here~ thanks for your great news coverage~ read it regularly
john
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
hailing alternatively from Bangkok, Thailand and Yangon, Myanmar
Derek
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Ottawa Canada here. I repost your stuff frequently, so THANKS!
F Young
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Frequent reader from Canada.
Chris B
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Birmingham, UK
Timothy (TRiG)
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Frequent reader, occasional commenter from Ireland. (Hi, Sean!)
TRiG.
Iain P
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Ex-pat American in Oxford, UK.
klaus
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
“hallöchen” from germany. i have a more or less daily look at this website for some months, and i think you do a really good job here.
Ben Mathis
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Hello from Iceland.
Karl af Hällström
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Finland.
Other Fred in the UK
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader, Manchester, U.K.
MJC
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Fort Lauderdale FL
Scott
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
San Antonio, Tx
Paul Mc
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
London, UK
keep up the excellent scrutiny of all things homophobic
Kent Sinkey
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Philippines
toujoursdan
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Gatineau, Québec Canada.
Porsane
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Canberra, Australia, read it every morning before work
Kelly
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Tucson AZ. Guess I don’t win any prizes for furthest away! ;)
Shofixti
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Auckland, New Zealand.
Got the RSS on my iGoogle.
Willem van Oranje
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
RSS-reader from Gelderland, Netherlands ;-)
Thomas
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Pretoria, South Africa
Cowboy PhD
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
A daily reader from the ‘remote nation’ in the wilderness of north Idaho. I appreciate your coverage for equality!
occono
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Another Irish reader here :)
Steven Milverton
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Cologne, Germany. ;)
Paul in Canada
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Seems there’s lots of us from Canada’s capital.
Jim Burroway
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Arizona. Keep out!
Cobus Fourie
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Infrequent commenter reporting and supporting from South Africa
James
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader living in Brazil, currently travelling in N Europe.
BTW…Glad to see you use “whence” in your title, but “Whence” = “From where” “From whence” = bad grammar (yeah, I know, I should get a life)
Roger
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Atlanta, GA. :-)
jo
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
London.
joe
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Boston, MA
just J
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
The Great State of Texas here…we used to be a country…lol
justsearching
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
American living in China for the present :D
Cory Sampson
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Another Ottawa reader here!
Rebecca Ashling
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Colchester, England, UK
David
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from Calgary, Canada
WildwoodGuy
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Rare contributor, but faithful reader, Longview, WA
Jessamine
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Milwaukee, WI
Emily K
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
philadelphia, pa, usa
Edwin
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
La Junta,CO. Great subjects some I give my opinion on some not. Still a very informative site.
meaninglessnoise
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Norway, love your work, guys!
Tamora
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Hawaii here – aloha!
Rob
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Toronto, Canada here.
Jon Trouten
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Frequent reader/infrequent commenter from Iowa City, IA
fred
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader in Wichita, KS.
Nathaniel
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Tjabba from Sweden!
In here daily, but I very rarely comment…
Derrick
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Irvine, California!
TJMcFisty
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Alexandria, VA
Aeval
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
We are a Swedish/Finnish girl-couple from the northen part of Sweden, and long time fans of this site.
Titus
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Vancouver, Canada
homer
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Tucson, Arizona
William
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Cheshire, UK
Jutta Zalud
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Vienna, Austria
David van Duyl
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from The Netherlands.
You’re doing splendid work!
SpADeSPX
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Atlanta, Georgia, USA :)
John
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Costa Mesa, CA or Minneapolis, MN, depending on what time of year it is. Currently Costa Mesa.
Denis Bedard
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Ottawa, Canada. Great site!
Timothy Kincaid
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
James, Sorry for the bad grammar.
TampaZeke
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Guess!
In case there’s another, I’m in the one in Florida, USA.
Luciano
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Lurker from Italy.
Ciao
Luciano
KZ
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Salutations from Bowling Green, Ohio!
JB
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Divide my time between Ohio and Germany.
PBCliberal
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Palm Beach County, Florida
Helen in Ireland
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
As the name says, I’m in Dublin, Ireland
ZRAinSWVA
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Greetings from southwestern Virginia!
Greyfox
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Brazilian here!
cooner
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Sorry, just the boring old U.S.A. here.
Chris McCoy
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Phoenix, AZ
Jaft
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader, occasional commenter from Gages Lake, Ill. (*right* next to the bigger Gurnee, where Six Flags is, if you’re unfamiliar with Illinois).
Been a fan ever since I first found this site; keep up the fantastic work.
Roy
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Ex pat living in London, England, relying on BTB for sense!
Andrew
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Berkeley, CA, United States
Fiona
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
I am a U.S. citizen living in Canada and a daily reader of Box Turtle Bulletin.
MJ
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
I’ve been reading the blog daily since 2008, but only commented once. I’m from Ottawa, Canada.
EZam
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Mexico
AdrianT
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
This is London calling…….!
PS and this Sunday I’m going to be an honorary dutchman…. wij houden van Oranje ;-))
Jean-Paul, Canada
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
I have never once regretted reading BTB.
Here’s me in Eastern Canada.
Duncan
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Wellington, in Kiwiland.
Ray
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
“Arizona. Keep out!”
LOL!!!!! Jim. You got me.
Cathedral City, Calfornia, USA
There isn’t an actual cathedral with 100 miles of this god-forsaken desert. That’s probably why I live here.
Kevin
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
The dark green one.
If you want to collect actual data on readership, you should check out statcounter.com
Mario Marin
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Infrequent… well, never-commented-before-but-has-boxturtlebulletin-in-his-daily-RSS-feeds reader here from central Mexico.
AMPGlass
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from Southern Illinois (Carbondale to be exact), but a future resident of the Netherlands.
Joe in California
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
From Los Angeles County nestled in the foothills near Pasadena!
Keep ‘em coming!
Candace
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Miami, FL…. that probably counts as a foreign country.
Soren456
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
US of A; MA; Brookline/Cambridge/Nantucket (but never all at once).
MaskedBandit
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
From the United States (Utah).
Tom
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Illinois, USA
Neil
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Melbourne, Australia. I’m a daily reader and may have commented once or twice. This site is an excellent resource.
Piper
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Amarillo, TX
I’m glad I’m not the only Texan here! When I first started Commenting I was living in Tacoma, WA.
Arnaud
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from France.
Mark
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Tel Aviv, Israel
Robin
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
daily reader – keep it up!
Beijing
A.
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
west virginia :-)
found you through freedom to marry’s blog roll
Kath
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Melbourne, Australia – daily reader and very grateful for this site
Richard Rush
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
The Northeast megalopolis, USA
cowboy
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Land of Zion a.k.a. the State of Deseret
volpi
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
italy, umbria perugia
johnathan
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader, occasional commenter here in Tucson, Arizona, USA.
antarcticub
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Ross Island, Antarctica
Frequent reader on ice
sam
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Knoxville, TN
And to Adrian T above, I’m looking for Spain’s much more beautiful men to win Sunday, and then I’m going to figure out how to marry David Villa!
Lynn David
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Backwoods of Indiana.
Tysa
July 9th, 2010 | LINK
Santa Clara, California, USA
Piet Dhont
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader fron Utrecht, Holland
CB
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
San Diego, CA
Alex
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Hi,
Occasional reader from Belgium here.
;-)
Rene van Soeren
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader from Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I work for COC Netherlands, the Dutch LGBT organisation.
Uki
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Where’s Indonesia? :(
Uki
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
I’m from Indonesia, happy to have a website like this with much more cultural-neutral, since other sites are too ‘western’ :P
Deacon Barry
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Another Scottish daily reader here!
Malcanoid
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Reader from Staffordshire England. Thanks and best wishes.
Wirrrn
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Pert, West Australia!
The Lauderdale
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Beverly, MA. I know the U.S. is covered, but I just love saying it. 8)
JuhaniV
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Espoo, Finland
Regan DuCasse
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Hello, EVERYONE!
Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Wow…this is such a tiny planet!
David C.
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Vista, in northern San Diego County, beautiful, sunny, southern California.
Timothy Kincaid
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
I’ll continue to update this from time to time as others respond.
But, I’ll admit that it never occurred to me that I’d need a map with Antartica on it. I don’t know what we’ll do if we have any readers on the space station.
:)
ian
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader on the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia
George Bingham
July 10th, 2010 | LINK
Kansas City, Missouri here!
Mihangel apYrs
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
Caerdydd, Cymru (Wales) in th UK.
Almost a daily reader, along with Pam’s House Blend, Holy Bullies, and Joe My God (also Huff Post)
It’s nice to see that there are people in the US fighring the Right and the Fundies so hard
Keep writing and we’ll keep reading (and commenting, and squabbling, and bitching……
Argos
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
Milwaukee, WI, USA here.
Tyler
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
i am writing my master’s thesis about uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill, and your blog has been very helpful!
i am from the columbus, oh, usa, but i just wanted to point out that you have at least one reader in uganda: the blogger gay uganda links to your site… so you can add that to your map :)
Alice
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
Bologna, northern Italy!
Your web site is the best source I’ve found to keep updated on LGBT issues world wide. Well done!!
andrew
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
bulgaria
Dotty Daphon
July 11th, 2010 | LINK
Australia.
Roger
July 12th, 2010 | LINK
Daily reader & infrequent commenter from Brazil here. Your work is awesome, keep on!
Erik
July 12th, 2010 | LINK
Portland, Oregon.
Selly
July 13th, 2010 | LINK
Regular reader, currently living in Ghana.
Amii aka NoxiousNan
July 13th, 2010 | LINK
Frequent reader/sometimes commenter from Nevada
Jon
July 13th, 2010 | LINK
I first started reading your articles in Ethiopia, continued reading them in the Ukraine, and still read them here in the USA :-).
Timothy Kincaid
July 14th, 2010 | LINK
As commenters on other threads identify their location, I’ll try and update the map. It may be a bit inconsistent.
Adam
July 15th, 2010 | LINK
Infrequent reader from Hants, UK. Really appreciate your work.
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