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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Lindoro Almaviva
February 23rd, 2011 | LINK
OK, serious question:
What is it with these republicans? they walk around with an America and a Constitution enema and then they pull stuff like this out? Are they for real or are they ensuring that future generations see the Republican party as the party of the Xenophobes-Racist-Homphobic people?
Stefano A
February 23rd, 2011 | LINK
If I’m not mistaken, Campfield has introduced this bill every year since 2008. He must be betting that with Republicans in control it’ll stand a better chance this time around.
beachewtoy75
February 23rd, 2011 | LINK
So no talking about current events, either?
I guess that also means no talking bad about gays either, right?
MarcusT
February 23rd, 2011 | LINK
It also means no mention of asexuality, pansexuality, or the sexuality of people who don’t fit into gender binaries, who can’t by definition be heterosexual.
Messrs. Campbell and Dunn might be casting a wider net than they realize.
Joel
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Their reasoning is quite interesting… and i suppose quite rational if you put yourself in their place. Their childhood probably dictates that their were no gay people or extremely few. They find that gay people exist, not where they live, but rather were homosexuality is purported to exist. Since everyone is heterosexual by nature, and homosexuality is only learned behavior, then it follows that the less you discuss homosexuality the more your protect people by not exposing them to assimilating this ill.
Timothy (TRiG)
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Ah, Section 28.
TRiG.
Christopher
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
If this bill passes (and I suspect it probably will despite the idiocy of it) I have to wonder how far it will go. I can’t really tell what’s in public school libraries, but Nashville’s public library has three copies of both Heather Has Two Mommies and Zack’s Story, as well as dozens of other books aimed at younger readers that deal with homosexuality.
If any of these books are also in elementary or middle school libraries across the state are they going to be pulled? Sadly, even if they are, I have a feeling a lot of parents will be happy about it.
Other Fred in the UK
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Section 28 was a bad law, in a technical sense as well as (in my opinion) a moral sense. This proposed law is absurd. Teachers might be able to admit the law on marriage was different in Iowa, but could not explain why. Various passages in the bible would have to be censored.
TampaZeke
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Something tells me that the “Don’t Say Gay” law won’t apply to using “gay” as a slur or saying “that’s so ‘gay’” about anything and everything stupid, lame or weak. Of course, in the opinion of these homophobes, those uses are OK because they are the proper use of the word “gay”.
Bruce Garner
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
I have often wondered how secure guys like these were in their own sexuality. I would have picked one out as being gay just by his picture.
Upbringing played a big role in many people’s views of African-Americans and other people of color. It took getting to know those who were different to change hearts and minds…..at least those open to change.
I would also wager that these two boys go to church regularly. Yet they forget that there were absolutely no exceptions or qualifications to the commandment that we love our neigbors as ourselves. (Please don’t bring up the “love the sinner but hate the sin” argument. It is not anywhere in Scripture.
Let’s hope people with more sensible judgement will prevail.
Mihangel apYrs
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
y’know
there are parts of the USA that are more primitive than Albania, and about par with Uganda.
How can the country that gave us MLK and others of that quality have such a large population of mediaeval throwbacks?
Timothy Kincaid
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Isn’t this the fourth year in a row that Campfield proposed this nonsense? He’s a joke in Tennessee
2008
2009
I don’t think we commented in 2010.
Now Campfield is in the State Senate rather than the House (Knoxville must love its loons) and it looks like he’s found a fellow loon who wants to toss his reputation in with the least respected legislator in Tennessee.
Regan DuCasse
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
WTF?!
Are these the same people who would jump on their Constitutional 1st amendment rights of expression if they were restricted in bigoted or discriminatory rhetoric?
Aren’t these the same people who don’t seem to know the difference between say, and Christian telling someone they SHOULD be Christian and they aren’t good people unless they are A Christian, as opposed to a gay person conveying the truth about themselves and NOT trying to MAKE someone else gay?
How does being informed, educated and able to live peacefully with someone gay possibly be a bad thing for an educational institution?
Schools are OBLIGATED to perform this duty, regardless of what people like these think of a particular minority.
Schools can’t restrict POSITIVE expression, and should restrict very negative expression that’s not conducive to a safe school situation.
I’m sick of people like these idiots not knowing the difference.
CPT_Doom
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
I commented over at Joe My God – won’t this mean schools can’t teach kids how to avoid pedophiles? You know, the whole “Stranger Danger” training the Oprah loves so much? The training may not specifically mention “sexual orientation” but it sure talks about people who might not be straight.
AdrianT
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Freedom of expressoin is the most basic of all human rights – without it, none of the others are possible, because it strips your right to defend yourself. That’s why I believe, proponents of anti-expression laws, who abuse their political position and seek to silence victims do deserve pies, eggs, vegetables in their faces – at any opportunity. Why this is not anti-constitutional in America I will never understand.
Beltaine
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Campfirld and Dunn…they look like they’d make a cute couple.
DreddPyrateRoberts
February 24th, 2011 | LINK
Why do Republicans go off the small-government reservation when they wish to promote fundie legislation. This will require more government theocracy. So government intrusion into peoples’ lives is okay if it doesn’t cost them any money. Am I getting this right? Not in MY America!
cowboy
February 25th, 2011 | LINK
A certain teacher in a rural Utah school district was commanded by a written notice that she couldn’t “make comments, announcements or statements to students, staff members or parents of students regarding [her] homosexual orientation or lifestyle.. “
That was in 1997.
Maybe Campfield/Dunn need to bone up on the resulting lawsuit. It was Wendy Weaver vs. Nebo School District. (ACLU archives.)
Joey
February 25th, 2011 | LINK
Are we not the nation that is supposed to be showing the entire world equality and understanding? What happened to this belief? I love how they are always trying to shut off the gay world to everyone. First of all when I was in Elementary and Middle school they never spoke of homosexuality and guess what I turned out to be gay!!! Homosexuality is NOT a damn learned behavior either! I am so sick and tired of the Republican Party always bitching and gripping about their rights to speech, but as a homosexual person I need to be silent….that’s complete and UTTER BULLSHIT. Get in touch with your own SEXUALITY and leave everyone else alone!!!! It makes me sick to say I am from the state of Tennessee.
Peter Dybing
February 25th, 2011 | LINK
Have they lost their minds. How do we educate young adolescents have hormones raging about responsible behavior, sexual STD’s, etc.
Right wing nut cases seem to be coming out of the wood work.
Bobby
February 26th, 2011 | LINK
They’re complete idiots who think bigotry and homophobia are family values. They’ll be protested and condemned for this if it passes until they are thrown out of office.
However, this might be a great way to ban all religion and religious groups of school campuses.
okami
February 27th, 2011 | LINK
This means they can’t mention about half the Republican Party, or religious ‘leaders’, named in the past 30 years or so.
James
March 18th, 2011 | LINK
These legislators are quite active – they have also plan to ban vegetables (because vegetables contain nicotine!):
http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ashtray-blog/2011/03/tenessee-to-ban-vegetables.html
Mike
April 22nd, 2011 | LINK
I’d be curious to know the increase in the rate of gay youth suicide in conjunction with this kind of talk –and there will be. I can’t imagine the terror struck in the minds of young people who are subjected to this kind of talk.
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