The Daily Agenda for Friday, February 10
Again anti-gays blindly and gleefully shoot themselves in the foot
Rep. Walsh leads with her heart
Advocate, WaPo, AP Get it Wrong On Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Uganda Executive, Parliament Tussle Over Anti-Homosexuality BIll
The Daily Agenda for Thursday, February 9
Something I'd Like to Know, But Never Can
The Solicitor General impact
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 450 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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Tony P
August 15th, 2010 | LINK
Actually I’d love to see the appeal moved forward so that it eventually moves to the USSC and we get equality for ALL like it says in the Constitution and its Amendments.
johnathan
August 15th, 2010 | LINK
Tony, I wholeheartedly agree. I fear if the appeal does NOT move forward, there may not be a case with such strong merits as Perry v. Schwarzenegger in a long time.
As far I understand, if the stay is denied, this does not prohibit the “ProtectMarriage” side the right of appeal. So, at least they will have an opportunity to present their side to the District Court (should the Ninth Circuit so choose to take on the case). It would be great if this case is appealed all the way up to SCOTUS, but, then again, if Olson and Boies lose, that would be horrible for GLBT people everywhere.
David C.
August 15th, 2010 | LINK
Tony and johnathan:
From the point of view of risk management, and were Prop 8 to meet its demise next week, the longer-term march to full LGBT rights in this country might be better and more rapidly advanced by having successfully defeated an anti-marriage equality plebiscite on constitutional grounds, even if (and perhaps especially so) if it is in a single but large state like California. No matter what, the ultimate goal is invalidation of DOMA, and victory over state-by-state gay exclusionary legislation is almost a forgone conclusion if DOMA is finally declared unconstitutional.
RWG
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
I agree with David C. The ruling in Perry, if upheld, forms a very solid foundation with which to challenge similar discriminatory laws around the country, and builds wider understanding in the public of the fact that these laws are unconstitutional, including DOMA. We should be very happy indeed with what has been accomplished. Perry is truly a watershed event in the history of our struggle for equality under the law. After New York and New Jersey achieve marriage equality, almost a certainty now, a full one-quarter of the nation will be living with marriage equality. That will be the tipping point and the war will be very quickly won thereafter.
Désirée
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
I would like to see this go to the 9th circuit not because I win there means equality for more states, but because it removes the ability of the other side to claim this just the ruling of one activist gay judge. Having 3 9th circuit judges (or 9 or however it works out) makes that a much harder claim to sustain. I don’t want the anti-equality crowd to be able to say they didn’t get their fair shot in court, which true or false, they will do if the appeal gets tossed on the question of standing. I’d rather the 9th circuit toss the appeal on the grounds that based on the evidence, they most likely wouldn’t win. That takes away their thunder and gives us a much more solid victory. Sure Judge Walker’s ruling is a masterpiece but it is still quite easy for any other judge to ignore it in the future. Ignoring the 9th circuit is a little harder.
customartist
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
The NEXT logical step on the agenda should be an Olsen/Boies challenge to the Constitutionality of the Federal Government’s not acknowleging California Gay Marriages using the very same plaintiffs.
Mark F.
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
If the Intervenors are denied standing to appeal, this means that the state can de facto nullify any law it doesn’t like by refusing to defend it in court. This seems wrong to me.
Désirée
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
@Mark: not entirely true since there was a trial and had the Prop8 people had any evidence at all, they could have won the case, so the state can’t automatically nullify a law.
However, the idea that the state would have a law that the state doesn’t want to defend is fairly absurd anyway and occurs only because California is one of the states that allows ballot propositions to become law – a horrible system that promotes extremes and avoids the compromise that results from the legislature making law.
Publius
August 16th, 2010 | LINK
I just learned that the Ninth Circuit has issued an indefinite stay on Walker’s decision of Aug 4, 2010. Furthermore, the hearing as to whether appellants have standing to appeal is scheduled for December, which of course will be moot if Republicans are elected as either Governor or Attorney General in November. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger and Brown are being pressured by the religious reich to appeal Walker’s ruling. It seems like the federal Appeals Court is doing what it can to deep-six same-sex marriage.
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