Last Minute Bid to Sink Marriage Bill Fails in British Commons
Will Illinois Be #13?
The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 20
Gay Man Shot To Death In NYC Hate Crime
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 19
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The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 18
Fox News Ignores Marriage Equality Wins
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
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Daniel Fetty Doesn’t Count
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News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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Lindoro Almaviva
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Like we have been sayinmg all along: Xenophobic,racist, homophobes in patriot drag
Rob in San Diego
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Gee I’m not sure if we should consider them the “fiscally conservative” party or the “we hate gays” party.
On a military note, since muslims execute gays, I can’t think of a better fighting force to exact revenge. The thought of gays killing muslims on the battlefield is kinda cool.
Kristie
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
First of all, I’ve never even heard of this guy, and to assume that because he says he is a “founding father” of the Tea Party means that he speaks for all those that support the small government movement is like saying that Perez Hilton speaks for the entire gay community. It’s ridiculous! Yes, there are bigots and idiots in every political/social activist group out there, but that does not mean that everyone in that group is a bigot or an idiot. There is a large portion of the Tea Party movement that is made up of Libertians as well as many Independents, Republicans & Democrats that have Libertarian leanings, so by lumping them all together as racists, bigots & homophobes, aren’t you really just guilty of doing what you claim this guy is doing? Aren’t you judging an entire group of people based on the behavior/beliefs/statements of a few?
I’m also curious to know if any of those that have responded or the author of the piece have actually ever been to a Tea Party event?
enough already
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Kristie,
There was a time, not even that long ago, when one could pretend that the Teaparty was all about small government, sane fiscal policy and that was it.
After the 2010 elections, all the Teaparty has done in every single venue over which they now have control was:
To do nothing about jobs.
To do nothing to heal the economy.
To do everything they could to attack women, gays, the transgender and children.
Show me a real democrat or a real libertarian (Ayn Rand for starters, even – or don’t you know what she firmly believed about fundamentalist Christians?= who is in this movement. Oh, but you can’t because the whole point of the Teaparty is to impose their christofascist program upon the country.
Priya Lynn
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Kristie said “the Tea Party movement that is made up of Libertians as well as many Independents, Republicans &
Democrats“.There, fixed it for you.
Edwin
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Tea partiers need to go pound sand in a rat hole. With People like them running around loose this country is F***ed.
TampaZeke
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Is that Kristie Palin or Kristie Bachman?
AdrianT
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
When people take away other people’s right to freedom of expression, then you have to shut them down. If he gets media attention, then the way to deal with Temple is to stick a pie in his face, or eggs etc. No point having a debate with an idiot.
Patrick Hogan
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Inappropriate conduct going on inside tanks, convoys, cockpits and latrines? He’s either trolling or completely batshit…
I’ve been in more than a few cockpits, tanks and latrines in my life — tetris has nothing on the idea of having sex in any of them. As for convoys: I would think that the large number of other people would be rather prohibitive to intimacy…
Or maybe he’s just seen too many low budget porns. “Cockpits and Convoys” sounds like a porn…
Ryan
May 10th, 2011 | LINK
Kristie, there are many polls out there you can google. The numbers don’t lie: the vast majority of Tea Partiers vote Republican, are Christian conservatives, are anti-gay and anti-choice. Claiming otherwise is just dishonest. The “Tea Party” is just the GOP rebranded, poorly.
customartist
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
Please humor me while I say “I told you so”.
I said all the while that Tea Partiers were campoaigning on Fiscal Issues that as soon as some of them got elected they would flip like a pancake onto Hating the Gays.
Prophecy fulfilled.
Queen
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
Kristie
Yes, Teabaggers are racists, bigots as a group. Yes, I have been to Tea Party (as they are now so politely called) rallies and they were scary, angry mobs of ignorant people spewing the stupidity fed them by their corporate masters and Fox News by racist bigots like Glen Beck and such astute economic advisers as Sarah Pallin.
As they say, you’re known by the company you keep.
PS. Are you a birther too?
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
For those who would rather rain insult on Kristie than think about the matter, ya really ought to reconsider your motivation. Hate ain’t pretty, no matter who it comes from.
She is correct that many people are drawn to the Tea Party movement because of the reasons that it publicly espouses: fiscal conservatism. And that truly is the primary focus of their efforts.
A great deal of the attraction of the Tea Party, I believe, is that it is populist. Many Americans think that the Republican Party is ran by a CEOs and that the Democratic Party is controlled by special interest groups.
Neither party has proven to be particularly interested in what they see as happening to them. Within the memory of many members, “middle class” went from one working parent to both working, education is seen as failing, and the country’s status on economic, scientific, and cultural matters has slipped. They perceive that the Democrats care only about minorities and the Republicans have sidetracked them on social issues. They see the Tea Party as representing them, just good ol’ average Americans.
Unfortunately, “good ol’ average Americans” are also a demographic that isn’t particularly familiar with, informed about, or supportive of gay people (or minorities of any stripe).
So it is also true that although the Tea Party movement is primarily focused on fiscal issues, its members are generally not progressive on race, religion, sexual orientation or other social issues. We really shouldn’t be surprised that they hold anti-gay views.
But – and this is important – it’s not a bait and switch. They genuinely do want to focus on economic issues and while they are anti-gay, they are pissed off at politicians who have been trying to appeal to social issues while spending like a drunk sailor.
It isn’t that they aren’t anti-gay, rather that they are first fiscal conservative and then social conservative.
Temple’s statements above are traitorous to what the Tea Party folks have rallied around. He placed anti-gay advocacy higher than fiscal matters and gave debt raisers a pass if they were homophobic.
I’m certain that many a Tea Partier was screaming “No!!” This is exactly the same stuff the Republicans have been doing for decades.
Or, then again, maybe they are gullible and all nodded when he spoke.
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
Surely there is a special prize somewhere for this. The Irony Award, perhaps.
:)
TampaZeke
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
Timothy, I’ll ask you the same question that Kristie asked. Have you ever been to a Tea Party meeting or rally? I’ve been to BOTH and I can assure you that the ones who are most visible and vocal fully deserve, and have earned, the “crazy” label that’s been given them. Are ALL of them anti-gay? Of course not, but it would be ridiculous to act as if most of them aren’t. Poll after poll have proven that. It’s like saying it’s wrong to claim that most fundamentalist Christians aren’t against gay civil equality. It may suck, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
Zeke,
I don’t think that your comment addresses anything that I said. Perhaps you should read it again, as it seems to me that you may be responding to what you imagine is my opinion rather than what I actually wrote.
Ryan
May 11th, 2011 | LINK
It may very well be true that the “Tea Party” (actually just a faction of the Republican party) cares primarily about economic issues and secondarily about social issues. However, that’s a distinction without meaning. They’ll still vote against any and all gay rights issues, even if their primary objective is tax cuts for the rich.
Désirée
May 12th, 2011 | LINK
If Tea Partiers really cared only about fiscal conservatism without regard to social issues, they’d be Libertarians. When one chooses Tea Party instead, that tells me they care about both fiscal and social conservatism. No free pass from me just because some claim to only care about economic issues. Such a party already exists and they ignored it.
TampaZeke
May 12th, 2011 | LINK
My comment did address your post and I stand by it. You chastised people for the way they challenged Kristie, pulling out the “hate” card that you get bent out of shape when gay people use against anti-gay people. You also made the point that it is inappropriate to point out that Tea Partiers tend to be crazy. I pointed out that I have been to a meeting (accidentally) and to a rally (intentionally) and found them to very much live up to their billing.
John
May 12th, 2011 | LINK
Why do these people have so much power? They do not represent the majority of Americans. They don’t even represent the majority of Republicans. So why is everybody so afraid of them?
Timothy Kincaid
May 12th, 2011 | LINK
Zeke,
yep, I chastised people for attacking Kristie. But that’s all you got right.
I didn’t, for example, “make the point that it is inappropriate to point out that Tea Partiers tend to be crazy.”
And look at this whole thing:
Ummmm…. what I said was
* its members are generally not progressive on … sexual orientation
* they hold anti-gay views
* It isn’t that they aren’t anti-gay
But I guess I didn’t say it quite enough.
So, Zeke, did your comment address mine? Well…. maybe not quite so very much.
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