Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyDecember 18th, 2010
Remember when an important component of the overall strategy to end DADT was that it be attached to the Defense Authorization Bill because, the political theory went, a lot of frightened legislators wouldn’t vote for it as a stand-along bill and including it in the larger “must pass” bill would give them cover because nobody wanted to vote “against the troops”?
And remember when they said the same thing when the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was attached to last year’s Defense Authorization Bill?
The Hate Crimes Act passed using that strategy, but this year the bulk of GOP Senators and a couple of Dems were willing to vote against the troops in order to keep LGBT people from serving openly. Instead, a straight up-or-down vote on DADT’s repeal as a stand-alone issue has passed the Senate after having sailed through the House earlier this week.
As far as I can tell, this is the very first piece of pro-gay legislation that is not attached to any other piece of legislation making its way through both chambers of the U.S. Congress on its way to the President’s desk. Please correct me if I’m overlooking something, but I cannot think of any other federal pro-LGBT legislative accomplishment that has been achieved through a straight up-or-down vote as a stand-along bill. Repealing DADT itself is historic itself, but doing it this way changes everything!
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Ryan
December 18th, 2010
What an amazing day to be an American. I’m especially proud and humbled by the Republican senators who bravely went against their party and risked Tea Party primary backlash by voting yes to equality.
tristram
December 18th, 2010
65-31 !!!
Ryan
December 18th, 2010
I know. That means eight Republicans! Eight! My mind is officially blown.
Kate
December 18th, 2010
I’m so grateful and happy and thankful for all the people who worked to make this happen…it’s one of the most clear statements of civil rights that the US has made in ages. I still don’t quite believe it. But the champagne is coming out of the basement (pantry shelf, not wine rack) and I shall be celebrating tonight!!!
Amicus
December 19th, 2010
Ryan White CARE Act may have been done stand alone. Not the same, but in many ways “pro gay” or gay-friendly.
As memory serves, DADT itself was not a stand alone, either.
MJC
December 19th, 2010
Apparently, some Republicans are going sane.
Beth in VA
December 20th, 2010
Okay good for those eight Republicans? But what about all the Democrats–hey, we’ve been working long and hard for this. And the Republicans just about killed it again by only narrowly allowing cloture.
Meanwhile, the Republicans in my state keep voting to limit gay rights. Let’s give due to the Democratic Party for leading on this issue!
B-Rob
December 20th, 2010
As I told a gay friend more than a year ago, “On DADT, y’all have won, Jason! You just haven’t processed the victory yet.”
As soon as the decision was made to poll the troops, DADT was going one way or the other. Why? Because an entire generation of age 40 and under soldiers and officers have grown up in a very different world than those over 40. Even if the Congress had refused to repeal the statute, the responses to the survey totally undercut any rationale for DADT, and courts would have acknowledged that.
And the military is ready, too. Anecdotal, yes, but Andrew Sullivan had a great story a few months ago. A Special Forces soldier received a telephone call while being interviewed by a reporter about another issue. During the call he berates and belittles the SF soldier who called him. Seems the caller was back in the US and rather than go out and get drunk with his SF bros, he was going to stay with his partner! He was getting sh*t NOT because he is gay, but because he is [the gay equivalent of “p*ssywhipped”]. He refused to hang out and act stupid and get drunk with his straight bros, and THAT was his sin! So much for gays destroying unit cohesion!
Gregory King
December 20th, 2010
The Hate Crimes Statistics Act, enacted in 1990, was not attached to other legislation. It was the first federal legislation in history to include the term “sexual orientation.”
Leave A Comment