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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BlackDog
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Given the known immorality of so many politicians in many respects (particularly on the Republican side) if I had kids I think I would rather they have a single unmarried teacher who’s sleeping with her boyfriend (or for that matter, girlfriend) than be around a person like Senator DeMint.
Before they are done with it, the word “Christian” will be an insult and a swear word…but in spite of their bad behavior these people will try to blame the rest of us.
Jake
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Maggie Gallagher could NEVER cover her ass, either morally or physically. She’s proudly complicit in creating the gay-hostile environment these poor kids are forced to live in. And now that the bodies are starting to pile up she’s trying to distance herself from the bloodbath she’s created. And she’s doing a sh!t-poor job at it. Maggie and her ilk are vile, reprehensible monsters. If I were gullible enough to be a praying man, I’d request pain and suffering for every gay-hater commensurate with the horror they’ve caused.
Molly
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
I got into an argument with my father once. He said that gays suffered from higher rates of mental illness, such as depression and suicide, than the general population, which was evidence that homosexuality was in itself a mental illness. Try as I might, I could not make him see that the depression and suicide came from gay kids being told that their parents, communities, and god thought that they were subhuman slime.
The only good that will come from the existence of NOM is that they will reveal their hatred for what it is, helping the rest of society to move toward being a bit more civilised.
Ben in Oakland
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Jake– just to be fair to Mags, she didn’t start the bloodbath. That’s been going on for a few thousand years.
she’s just the willing perpetrator.
Emily K
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
And what exactly is the point of getting angry? It’s not like THEY feel any remorse over this at all. So why waste our energy feeling angrier and angrier. What will come of it? Just anger. It leaves me and possibly others paralyzed to be in such a state.
MJC
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
It sends a chill down my spine to think that DeMint is making a play to becopme majority leader in the Senate: thus will the “Family” move closer to it’s goal of unlimited power. Senator Palpatine, indeed.
Reading Jeff Sharlet’s “C-Street”.
Equality Revolt
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Funny how our PREZ can say, “This is a moment where every one of us – parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience – needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms. Whether it’s students harassing other students because of ethnicity, disability or religion; or an adult, public official harassing the President of the University of Michigan student body because he is gay, it is time we as a country said enough. No more. This must stop.”….while simultaneously being PART OF THE PROBLEM.
Until the United States can let go of it’s own INSTITUTIONALIZED “legal” HATRED OF LGBTQ PEOPLE, we are under the helm of a flaccidly fierce leader.
Pender
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
I can’t get any angrier than I already am. When I try, the excess just spills over into cynicism.
:(
These bigots are almost enough to make me wish hell existed.
Stefan
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
I’m starting to think more and more that it won’t hurt our side to get violent. It’s not like much of the general public actually follows these groups, and the ones who would bash us for it are those who area already against us. Remember too that the Carrie Prejean incident was a public event, so it’s different.
Steve
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
As long as the message is:
Suicide is a tragedy and should never be the solution for your problems
but…..
you are an evil young person, a degenerate, a sinner, a disgrace, and should be ashamed to feel the way you do.
No hope will ever be forthcoming.
Timothy Kincaid
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
stefan,
At BTB we DO NOT advocate for violence.
Rob Tisinai
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
I agree Timothy. The wonderful Sean Chapin posted this comment over on my blog (where I cross-posted this article):
Here’s a vehicle for everyone to do something with their anger:
Make It Better Week Of Action:
http://equalityevents.ning.com/
- Attend or organize an event in your area to stand up for safer schools.
- Call Congress to pass safe schools legislation on Oct 11, National Coming Out Day.
More on Make It Better Project here:
http://www.makeitbetterproject.com
Everett
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
This really isn’t anything new that we are hearing from anti-gay folks. Some have always asserted that it isn’t homophobia that contributes to glbt folks committing suicide, but rather the condition of the glbt “lifestyle” itself. And then, of course, there are those few who try to deny that anti-gay rhetoric in the political and social arena does not affect the psyches of glbt people. Maybe one day these people will wake up and realize that words (when repeated constantly) do impact people.
BlackDog
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Oh, I think they know that already. They know exactly what they’re doing, and the only reason they ever even try to cover their asses is because, like most bigots, they realize their behavior is not acceptable to the majority of people.
Seamus Ruah
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Vox Day, the man who said that only fear of God keeps him from going on a rape/killing spree.
Can we (as a species) shun this Ftard already?
Eshto
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
All CHRISTIANS who do not support gay equality are complicit in these suicides, albeit to varying degrees.
Everett
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Stefan, on a side note to your comment…
I’ve always wondered if the rights of black people would have occurred in the 1960s if it wasn’t for the violence and the riots that got white people’s (and Pres. Kennedy’s) attention.
I’m NOT advocating violence, but maybe part of the reason we GLBT folks do not have our rights even with greater understanding from a growing number of hetersexuals is because we have chosen the law-abiding, civil way to seek our civil rights.
Just some food for thought…
Bernie
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
Everett,
Please, perish the thought. That would be all the bigots need.
BTW, Timothy, I went to Vox’s column….Sweet Jesus in Heaven! Those people are anything but Christian at World Net Daily. The comments and the disciples of this guy(Vox) exuded nothing but the most putrid pride and hate.
All I can do is pray for those people.
JCF
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
These bigots are almost enough to make me wish hell existed.
Word.
But… Purgatory—for a HELL of a long time! [Their purgatory will be as cage-dancers for all the gay bachelor/bachelorette parties (prior to the Gayest Weddings) in Heaven!]
JCF
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
All CHRISTIANS who do not support gay equality are complicit in these suicides, albeit to varying degrees.
Agreed, Eshto (along w/ gay-equality deniers of every/no faith!).
Thank God, more and MORE Christians support LGBT equality every day!
Bernie
October 4th, 2010 | LINK
I was born Gay, and I believe I was born with Christ in my heart as well.
That’s what I always say to them….it’s fun to watch their eyes twitter and blink at the comprehension of this. It is completely out of their box. They can’t handle anything that doesn’t end in “Amen, brother.” They don’t pray to a magnificent, infinite Christ as I do. They pray to the Bible instead. The religion of Christianity is their God.
Shannon Drury
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
I always said that “family values” to these creeps means MY family is valued, not yours. My heart breaks for these kids and their families, but I suspect Everett may be on to something….people are realizing that bigotry has a body count. May these losses not be in vain.
Publius
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
Jim (Burroway), I love the graphic in this article. Can I post it on my blog, with proper attribution, of course?
Rob Tisinai
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
Hey Publius, I’m the author of the article and creator of the graphic. You’re welcome to post it on your blog (with attribution, of course).
Jim Burroway
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
Yeah, Rob is the terrific graphics guy. I’m just the misspelled werd guy.
Amii
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
Emily K – If anger renders you useless, then by all means refrain. For many, and indeed for movements of social justice, anger is a vital ingredient. It moves people to action. And that is the point.
Empress Divine
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
if Jesus Christ came back today, He would be disappointment at some Christians. He preached love, and unless u can love another human regardless of their race, religion or sexual orientation, then you have no business preaching the gospel of christ. I am straight but I am in support of equal rights and justice for LGBTs.
Lauren--NY
October 5th, 2010 | LINK
Great work, as usual, Rob. Passing it on.
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