French President Hollande Signs Marriage Bill
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 18
Fox News Ignores Marriage Equality Wins
The Era of Civil Unions Is Coming To An End
Orthodox Priests Lead Violent Attack On LGBT Rights Rally in Tbilisi, Georgia
France's Marriage Equality Bill Clears Final Hurdle
The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 17
Marriage Equality Made This Maryland Legislator Drive Drunk
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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Jaft
August 5th, 2010 | LINK
“Justices have a long tradition of thwarting expectation and presumption.”
Our most recent judicial win being a great example. However, I have the same gut feeling as you, Tim.
daftpunkydavid
August 5th, 2010 | LINK
why do you have that feeling? the woman wrote that there is no constitutional right to same-sex marriage. if that’s not clear, i don’t know what is.
Jaft
August 6th, 2010 | LINK
Because the first issue I have is with the wording: “There is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”
As a good friend of mine said, “Don’t refer to it as same-sex marriage. It’s just marriage. You’re in favor of marriage equality.”
Do I think it’s more likely she’s playing games with wording? Well, it is a habit of liberals, if you were to ask anti-Clinton-ers, but no.
I think it’s more likely what Tim said: “Justices have a long tradition of thwarting expectation and presumption.”
Further, I’d say it’s pretty obvious she’s a liberal and, at the end of the day, judges do have to actually listen to the arguments, and I think, on a judicial level, the arguments made by Judge Walker are pretty damn sound. She may hold that opinion now, but I don’t think it’ll last.
Lastly, it’s only one issue. While I’m not a single issue-er when it comes to queer issues, I think on the whole she’ll be good for gay (hopefully queer) issues in general.
Naturally, I’ll admit I might be wrong here about her…but I’m hoping I’m not (for all our sakes).
Timothy Kincaid
August 6th, 2010 | LINK
daftpunkydavid,
While I do not have insight into Kagan’s thinking, I do think that this sentence has to be read in context. It is from her senate hearing for solicitor general.
The question goes to whether Kagan would support law as it was currently held and would not act outside of the court’s decisions. This is the correct answer for someone seeking the position of solicitor general.
I don’t think it tells us whether or not she believes that individuals with a homosexual orientation are covered by the protections for “any person” in the 14th Amendment.
In other words, the quote is worth noting, but not determinative.
cd
August 6th, 2010 | LINK
Justices tend to shift liberal on the Court unless they have a strong conservative ideological structure they’re committed to defend. The nature of their duties is essentially to distinguish kinds and degrees of barbarity. Most come to a realization of how harsh the American social condition is in absolute terms and how little of it is justified by external circumstances.
I’m surprised at all the skepticism about Kagan. It’s good form for freshman Justices to be deferential and polite and moderate for a couple for years, in essence paying off a subtle debt of obligation to their political patrons who are almost always in both Parties. Kagan got five relatively moderate Republicans’ votes in her favor. Though also thirty six votes against, which frees her from any obligation to the hardcore Right.
Burr
August 6th, 2010 | LINK
I don’t particularly care for her first amendment views, among other things.
Priya Lynn
August 6th, 2010 | LINK
I don’t know why you’re surprised CD, she basically said that if an equal marriage case came before her she’d rule against equal marriage. I’m surprised anyone thinks that’s no problem.
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