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
How To Spot A Swivel-Eyed Loon
The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, May 22
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
August 17th, 2010 | LINK
I agree that issues such as this should be more central to our arguments. After all, we are asking for ‘civil’ marriage rights, not ‘religious’. I’ve always said part of the problem is that there is that one word “marriage” describing those two very different things.
One other thing that should be central to our argument is the way it affects children. That essentially the children of gay headed families do not have the same benefits and security as the children of straight headed families.
Their parents pay more in taxes (as do families headed by single parents). Their parents pay more in legal fees to try to approximate the security that marriage and joint adoption will give their children. Their parents do not have the same job security in some states. Their parents have more trouble securing health insurance for the entire family in some states (especially if one wants to be a stay at home parent). The children do not have the same protection in the unfortunate event of a breakup. There may be no child support and the custodial parent may be able to insure that the children never see the other parent again if they want to be nasty.
It goes on and on. Marriage protects children too and puts the children of gay people at a disadvantage.
Coxygru
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
And this is why we need to lobby hard (and blog hard) for the complete overturn of the very unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. Federal Judge Tauro in Boston struck down DOMA’s section 3 about six weeks ago. I hear the US government has until Oct 11 to react.
Check out Mass. Sen. John Kerry’s perspective: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/108831-doma-denies-constitutional-rights-sen-john-kerry
Jacob
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Why in this day and age do people still find the need to get married to one another,
Its just names on paper and an expense you could do without.
In my opinion its completely pointless.
Priya Lynn
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Jacob, I guess this post went completely over your head.
Franck
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Jacob, you might not find it pointless if for example, lacking that piece of paper was what kept you from ever being allowed to live with the one you love. Or, like someone I know, lack of that piece of papers makes them legally NOT the parents of their own children. Pointless? I don’t think so.
Marriage isn’t for you, fine, but don’t call it pointless. For many people, it isn’t.
Jason D
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
The point of marriage is, in fact, legal recognition of an existing relationship.
My brother is batsh!t crazy. He got his secret girlfriend secretly pregnant and left town. He threw a hissy fit afterwards and disowned both sides of the family.
Once my parents are gone, this crazy person who won’t let me see my own nephew is now my next of kin. If I end up in a coma or dead, this nutbag who lives on the other side of the country will have more say in what happens to me than the man I’ve been living with for almost half a decade. My brother will have every right to seize my property and assets and my partner could be left without a home in the process.
I don’t trust my brother as far as I could throw him, and I work out 6 days a week.
Of all the legal arrangements you can make, nothing is quite as complete and unstoppable as a marriage license. Without it, my partner is my roommate, and nothing more, according to the government.
That’s why it’s not pointless.
Timothy Kincaid
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Jason,
That is perhaps one of the better personal explanations I’ve heard as to why marriage rights are so important.
alfred
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Jason what do you think about a will and a living will?
Jason D
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
alfred, I think a will can be contested in court—especially by next of kin.
I would suspect, but do not know if a living will is just as vulnerable.
Plus even with a Will, I do believe there would be fees my partner would encounter that my next of kin would not.
Jason D
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Timothy, I am actually quite frightened of what could happen to me if things are left up to my brother. He is a scary vindictive person. I won’t go into details, but my partner and I aren’t quite at the point of talking about living wills and such. But I did tell him that I can’t leave things up to my brother, once my parents pass we HAVE to do something about this, if not before.
For the time being we’re okay. Our families are very much supportive of us to the point of being obnoxious about it :P I have no doubt my tiny, frail, feisty, elderly mother would knock over just about anyone who tried to stop my partner from being at my side if worse came to worse.
AlexH
August 18th, 2010 | LINK
Coxygru is right.
With DOMA in place we will NOT be equal even when same-sex marriages are allowed.
In Calif, “domestic partnerships” provides the same benefits that the marriage will provide to same-sex couples (once Prop 8 is overturned). Nothing changes except the term, which is basically all State and NO Federal (and incidentally equal to hetero marriages minus the Fed).
I didn’t realize this until I read a legal self-help book written by practicing attorneys who specialize in same-sex marriages & domestic partnerships.
So DOMA is really the wrench in the machine.
@Jason D, I hope you can convince your partner to get this straightened out ASAP and to overlook the uncomfortable aspects of it, especially since you don’t trust your brother. I hope that you both will live long and happy lives together, but when a death occurs, it can happen within hours and that’s not the time to try and figure everything out.
Kitty
October 4th, 2012 | LINK
Marriage is a commitment not to be taken lightly
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