Email address of Attorney General prosecuting 18 year old Florida lesbian
Gay Man's Murder Sparks Massive Rally
The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, May 21
Connecticut Scouts simply announce that they are accepting gay scout leaders
Church of Scotland allows ministers in relationship
Last Minute Bid to Sink Marriage Bill Fails in British Commons
Will Illinois Be #13?
The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 20
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.
lurker
October 26th, 2010 | LINK
Olson is so wonderfully eloquent
Link: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Brief.pdf
Lucrece
October 26th, 2010 | LINK
Hopefully Olson’s argument will sway Kennedy and his two new fellow justices. I really foolishly hoped even Scalia or Roberts might be swayed by the efficacy of his argument but it’s clear their ideology will trump everything else.
Oh, and welcome back!
Victor
October 26th, 2010 | LINK
“Moreover, because Proponents concede that gay men and lesbians have faced
a history of discrimination, see SER 302, they find themselves in the untenable position
of arguing that sexual orientation is sufficiently “definable” to serve as a basis for
discrimination, but insufficiently definable to protect gay men and lesbians from that
same discrimination.”
How can people like this live with themselves?
Mykelb
October 26th, 2010 | LINK
I have lived in this country for 49 years, most of it an out gay man (since 17) and an activist form most of that time. I have never seen any legislation at the federal level giving us rights to stop the bigotry spewed by many on the right. I support AFER and other organizations who are laying the foundation for our equality, something our fierce advocate and the cowards in Congrss have failed to do. That is why I have decided not to vote in federal elections any longer. Politicos are of no use to me and the LGBTQ community and have proven it over and over again.
Stefan
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
Don’t dismiss Roberts yet. He did pro-bono work in Romer v Evens for the plaintiffs and he also refused the stay of the DC gay marriage law with the trial over a referendum pending.
Kennedy will side with us though. He’s very consistent with gay rights cases.
Ray
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
(exhaling) Welcome back, Timothy. You were missed.
Ben in Oakland
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
Thank you Mr. Olson, for pointing out the obvious.
customartist
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
“normalization of homosexuality”
There is no requirement of “normality” in the Constitution.
Victor, Excellent quote.
Mykelb, I have long held the contention that our rights must be gained via the courts, not via the Legislatures that are beholding to the majorities.
Craig
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
@Mykelb:
I have no patience with individuals who choose to voice their opinion in public spaces, but not in the ballot box. I have voted in every election for which I was eligible to vote, even when I felt that I couldn’t vote for any of the listed candidates. If someone can’t be bothered enough to go to the poll, ask for a write-in ballot, and write in something along the lines of “not one of the listed candidates is acceptable to me,” I request that they not waste *my* time with their “not so important” opinion.
Frijondi
October 27th, 2010 | LINK
Mykelb wrote:
“I have never seen any legislation at the federal level giving us rights to stop the bigotry spewed by many on the right.”
The Fairness Doctrine used to do this, up until 1987, by ensuring that the radio-listening public at least had the opportunity to hear other points of view. It’s no coincidence that right wing extremism has become worse in the last twenty years, as there are now large segments of the public that are exposed to nothing else.
Your congressperson, if a liberal or centrist, may be able to be persuaded to take this issue seriously — especially if he or she is worried about being replaced by someone like Christine O’Donnell.
David
October 28th, 2010 | LINK
@ Craig, I have voted in every election since I was eligible (1980). What has it gotten me? DADT, DOMA, Prop 8, 30 state bans on my marriage, etc.,etc., etc. Why should I waste another breath on these people, much less a thought? They have done absolutely zero for LGBT equality for over 40 damn years.
I am emigrating to Canada as soon as I retire. I don’t want to spend my golden years worrying about whether or not I can visit my husband in the hospital, whether my home will be confiscated by the government if he dies, and all the rest of the horrible things that happen to older gay couples in the U.S. F*ck that.
Donny D.
October 29th, 2010 | LINK
After getting a little way into the Plaintiffs’ brief against the appeal, I just HAD to get hold of the Defendant-Interveners’ appeal brief, which I found here: http://www.equalrightsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/2010.09.17-Defendant-Intervenor-Filing.pdf
In its own pathetic way it’s quite entertaining, especially when read side by side with the Plaintiffs’ brief.
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