The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 19
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
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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Leonardo Ricardo
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
¨God says you deserve death¨
I wonder what God has to say about Rev. Long? Surely Long will know and we´ll know after Sundays upcoming crybabyathon for forgiveness (that will be automatic)…really it´s scary when one starts loving the sound of ones own voice and preaching dangerous stupid sh-t like that to passionate people who are themselves VULNERABLE to this superstious un-holy SLOP!
T.J.
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
Talk about a reaction formation…
Ben in Atlanta
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
Some of these numbers are coming from gossip blogs. At the moment I believe there are two additional witnesses being vetted.
If Baptists wind up reversing their position on teh ghey it could be a good thing.
Bernie
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
Ben – “If Baptists wind up reversing their position on teh ghey it could be a good thing.”
Yes that would be good thing. But I’m not holding my breath for that. It wasn’t until 1995, 130 years after the Civil War ended, that the Southern Baptist Convention issued an apology for their position on slavery.
Like I said, I ain’t holding my breath…. Look for the to apologize to teh ghey around the year 2140.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112329862
Emily K
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
“Age of Consent” is such a tricky thing. The age of 17 in my opinion is one of the worst years a teenager suffers, so fraught with selfishness, difficulty, and confusion it is.
While I think these boys were plenty old enough to consent to sexual relationships with other teens, I think the playing field is not level when a decades-older adult enters, especially one with a position of power and influence in the community.
But even if the boys had been the same age as Long, I think it still would be grounds for legal action. It amounts to sexual harassment and coercion. It doesn’t matter if the victim is “flattered” with gifts and vacations. In fact such flattery is often a sign.
He singled these people out for his coercion – boys at a vulnerable age with bad relationships with their fathers – so that he could become their “father,” a person in a position of power and influence in their lives. And he got what he wanted.
Now I want Lady Justice to get what SHE wants.
gar
September 24th, 2010 | LINK
Homeboy needs to give it up and go.
justsearching
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
I hope someone is in that church on Sunday to record what sort of bullsh!t apology/excuse-making he pulls.
Hunter
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
I can see this unfolding:
His congregation supports him, but he resigns “for the good of the church.” Ted Haggard leads a team of ministers to “rehabilitate” him. In a year or two, depending on how the suits go, he’ll be back, possibly less virulently homophobic, but I ain’t holding my breath.
Bernie
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
I think Hunter has nailed how this scenario is going to go down. As I commented on JMG blog a few days ago when this first broke, this is “Ted Haggard – Part Deux”
darkmoonman
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
Yet another self-hating gay man in the closet trying to make life miserable for the rest of us who don’t hate ourselves.
customartist
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
THIS seems to be the mindset of many “straight” men. They can fool around with men, a little oral, etc, but…”Oh Hell No! I’m not Gay!”
There is a disconnect. One can do the act but just cannot accept the title, even the one of Bisexual. This is planted by the fear of society. A valid concern.
To thy own self be true.
Ben in Oakland
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
It reminds me of a story I read in tom robbins’ “another roadside attraction”, truly one o the great books in the world.
I guy decides to invent a religion. He does so, and gets thousands of followers who praise his name. Finally, he gathers all of his followers together and tells them that he has fooled them and made the whole thing up.
They kill him and go on believing anyway.
Even iwth 30 young men “under his belt”, so to speak, I suspect his followers– and the Long One himself– will go on believing that crap they dish out.
What we need is for one of these a week to be found out, something well beyond “This Week in holy Crimes”.
Richard Rush
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
Ben in Oakland said,
This Week in Holy Crimes is one of my favorite features on Joe.My.God. But those criminals are only the tip of the iceberg. They are just the dumb ones who got caught doing something really stupid. It’s so unnecessary.
There is no endeavor in which fraudsters/scammers can function with greater impunity than the religion racket. All they have to do is work behind a religious facade, and, if they’re smart about it, their fraud is usually immune from prosecution. Religion truly does enjoy special freedoms. One of the few things that can bring them down are sex-scandals, and interestingly, those are not usually the real crimes unless they involve children. One of the most profitable lessons a con-man can learn is that religion is your best friend.
Maurice Lacunza
September 25th, 2010 | LINK
If Long does confess, the irony is that he will judged by the same rules that he used on others in his church. Thus death would be the appropriate punishment; per Long’s own words.
Jesus was ironic too. He said that the judgment you use on others is the judgement that will be used on you. However he strayed from organized religion and said that we should therefore not judge, but rather love one another.
Can the anti-gay preachers reading this understand this concept called love? I am dumbstruck by preachers everytime they open their mouths against gays. And then I find out that they open their
Eastsidejim
September 26th, 2010 | LINK
I don’t recall the exact words, but on HLN this morning, during his Sunday morning service, he issued a “non-denial” and promised to “fight” the sinners. He definitely did not explicitly deny any behavior, but implied that the alligations were an attack on him… an attack that he would fight.
Regan DuCasse
September 26th, 2010 | LINK
Long certainly isn’t going to give up his material comforts for the likes of these young men who accuse him. He’s been media savvy and heavily influencing other influential people in the country, not just his own community.
This could be about having an extramarital affair. This could be about having financial interests in a South African diamond mine that virtually enslaves other blacks.
Most of the televangelical, rich ministers, is that they MUST rail and shout against ‘sins’, but their own armor cannot show any cracks.
This is why they invest in those with little to fight him with. These are men who use women, gay identifying boys, people of lower economic class, to exploit, so that if any of them can show the cracks in the armor, they will predictably be discredited and the rich pastor can deny,deny, deny, deny.
He’s not going to give up his church. He might have some lieutenants keep it warm while this litigation plays out. But an egotist like Long will have the sort of over confidence in winning and blaming the boy’s greed to carry the day.
He’s going to try and wait it all out in his palatial home. I doubt even any settlement will put a dent in his income. He might even have and encourage his congregation to help him pay for his troubles.
Any bets?
I think this situation might go more like what happened with Michael Jackson, except without the criminal implications because Long’s accusers weren’t so young.
But I’m about as sure as I’m sitting here, he thinks he can get through this without much damage. And he likely will.
I hate the idea of that. I really do. Because what it will be spun as, is how vindictive gay people are. Especially these gay young men he did so much for and tried to help and turn from their ss attractions.
Surely Long will paint himself the victim of gay people trying to bring him down.
I saw Ted Haggard’s interview with Anderson Cooper and an openly gay pastor.
Ted Haggard was a dismissive prig who isn’t owning up to what happened and what it actually meant. He’s the insufferably immoral phony he always was. He just wants to blame being gay for being that way. The coward.
Long is that kind of coward too. We can see it, but he’s hoping no one else will or be able to disseminate why what happened, happened.
For the most part, your average homophobe isn’t that deep a person, and isn’t that capable of much introspection and analysis of the damages of the closet. They aren’t charged with being that way.
And people like Long count on that too.
Scuter
September 26th, 2010 | LINK
Funny how the ones preaching so loudly against gays are the ones that are having secret relations themselves!
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