The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, May 22
House of Commons officially passes marriage equality
British Commons Approves Marriage Equality Bill
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
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
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Priya Lynn
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
I would have known what NBA means. As a child I wanted to be a pro basketball player.
tiqueboy
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
(I would have written NBA but, admit it, many of you would not have known what that was.)
A Very stereo typical comment not appreciated. You do not give the GLBT community enough credit for liking sports.
Jim Burroway
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
Actually, it looks like I may have given the LGBT community too much credit for having a sense of humor
KZ
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
I thought it meant “National Breeder Association.”
What is this game that involves baskets and balls?
Timothy (TRiG)
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
I’d have known what it means, and I’m not even American. I just read far too much American media. But I appreciated the humour.
TRiG.
Leonard Drake
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
@ Jim Burroway: I, for one, very much appreciated the humor. I sometimes believe the PC police within the LGBT humor run rampant.
There are MANY times I am either reluctant or have flat out refused to post a comment because I am afraid I will either use the wrong noun or improper verb tense. In so doing, some PC police-person. (Oh, wait, I can’t say person, because it ends in -son, thus validating some -ist power structure… that someone will jump all over me for using. What IS the right term?)
You see what I mean? All from — at least from my honest intent — an innocuous posting.
Leonard Drake
May 7th, 2011 | LINK
Oops, forgot to finish sentence… some PC police-person will jump all over me for something I didn’t even intend on meaning in the first place.
Anyhow, the fact the ad went to a wider audience is absolutely what is required.
Jaft
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
Leonard – if you didn’t intend it to begin with, I’ll simply correct you and explain the correction. But, in most cases, there’s generally a reason for the correction.
Also, I enjoyed the joke, Jim. Made me chuckle.
Hunter
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
It’s interesting to watch the growth of — I don’t know if I can call it “pro-gay,” but maybe “anti-homophobia” messaging in professional and college sports lately. The UK seems to be much more aggressive on it, but it also seems to be catching on here.
Good show, and thanks for the report.
enough already
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
I’ve been in many movements over the years and one thing which has always been a constant.
When we were winning, the nasty comments and belly-button gazing, the mandatory trainings on how to run an APACHE server were pretty much nowhere to be seen.
When, however, the PC-Police and the how-many-angels-can-sit-on-a-pin crowd had the upper hand, we were in trouble.
There’s way too much wheel spinning and not enough winning in our American gay and transgender rights movement. Otherwise, nobody would have time to be offended by Jim’s daring to possess a sense of humor.
Time to get to work, darlings – we are so not winning.
Leonard Drake
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
enough already wrote, in part: “When, however, the PC-Police and the how-many-angels-can-sit-on-a-pin crowd had the upper hand, we were in trouble.
There’s way too much wheel spinning and not enough winning in our American gay and transgender rights movement. … ”
Precisely the point I was trying to make in my earlier post, only MUCH better stated. Thank you!
enough already
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
Leonard,
No, thank you.
I usually get nailed, immediately, with “wrong! we are making wonderful, fantastic, incredible progress!”
Now, I understand the value of agit-prop and I understand the American tendency (without sharing it) to apply hurrah-hurrah, we’re the best! BS to every action.
That said – let’s be honest here.
The sole values of our current civil unions, domestic partnerships and marriages in the few states which grant them is:
a) The minor protections they sort of grant.
b) The agit-prop effect of making it harder for courts to say “no”.
But that’s it. Everything, every single solitary thing depends on whether the Supreme Court finds against us or not.
Right now, we have four Justices who would rather spit in our faces than talk to us.
One conservative, Kennedy, who may or may not decide for right above religion.
And four non-conservatives, at least one of whom is not certain to be on our side.
Kennedy wants to retire. Badly. He is only hanging on until a Republican is back in office.
By sitting on our hands in 2010 – or, worse, by actually voting Teapublican or “one’s conscience”, as 1/3 of us gays and transgender did we opened the way for the hateful ones to attack us.
If Obama loses in 2012 – and I am not optimistic, the polls show most people have already forgotten who caused this mess (hint: I wasn’t a Democrat), then the game is up. Kennedy will step down, at least one if not two of the conservatives and one of our liberals, sadly, well almost certainly not be around until 2018 and the Republican president will install a six or seven vote extreme-religious-right conservative court.
The next months count more than ever before. We are that close to loosing everything in the US for decades to come.
enough already
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
Leonard, that “no, thank you! wasn’t clear – I do thank you for your kind words.
Amicus
May 8th, 2011 | LINK
oh, you bitch.
On the other hand, face it, NBA is invisible because it’s just not possible to be fashion forward on the court (Dennis Rodman aside, perhaps).
Meanwhile, lycra has … oh, nevermind.
Christopher Eberz
May 9th, 2011 | LINK
“Actually, it looks like I may have given the LGBT community too much credit for having a sense of humor”
This.
PC
May 9th, 2011 | LINK
I saw it at the end of “The Amazing Race” as well – which is another very gay friendly show (they always have gay racers – the current season had at least 3 or 4 gay individuals racing).
Désirée
May 9th, 2011 | LINK
The Amazing Race is incredibly gay friendly (although they have been generally lacking in lesbians and trans people are nowhere to be seen), but this seasons only gay people were father-son duo Mike & Mel (unless Kynt has finally come out as well)
Ryan
May 9th, 2011 | LINK
Yeah, but which one is “basketball” again?
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
oh pooh, did I miss an entire season of Amazing Race?
My stupid DVR recognizes each season as though it is an entirely new television show and I just don’t watch enough network TV to keep up on which shows are upcoming. I had a vague sense that there was a ‘reunion’ series upcoming…. but I missed it. Pooh!!
Désirée
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
TAR is the only reality show I watch, but this season was weak. You didn’t miss anything Tim
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