The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 23
It's Not the Principle, It's the Prejudice
Congratulations Mitch!
Gay Couples Excluded from Immigration Bill Markup
How To Spot A Swivel-Eyed Loon
The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, May 22
House of Commons officially passes marriage equality
British Commons Approves Marriage Equality Bill
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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Stefano A
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
Interesting, the Metro Weekly article is the second bankruptcy news article to hit today. In another California case, the Sacramento Bee reported on Brenda and Lynda Ziviello-Howell, who married in Sacramento in June 2008, who filed for joint bankruptcy and were denied by the US Trustee, which handles such cases.
Likewise, the bankruptcy court, finding the women were legally married, while declining to address the constitutional issue, overrode the US Trustee and ruled that their bankruptcy could go forward as spouses in a joint bankruptcy.
This couple, represented by Chico attorney Joe Feist, have also filed a lawsuit challenging DOMA.
TampaZeke
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
drip, drip, drip…
Dakotahgeo
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
Weare beginning to see the DOMA gnawed away, legally, piece by piece by piece, until nothing will be left of it to defend. That will be a great day for our justice system. Just a matter of time… thankfully.
Bernie
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
Wow! Never saw THAT coming.
I wonder what(I am a Federal Tax Attorney) Michele Bachmann has to say about this?
@Dakotahgeo, thanks for helping me diffuse the illogical arguments on the CP, and RD blogs. I think I still have your email address, if not, here’s mine;btkestrel777@yahoo.com. We should indeed talk…
Timothy Kincaid
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
What we are seeing is a society that is coming to realize the existence of gay people – as such – and recognize our relationships as similar to their own. And once you take that step, then it is actually an annoyance and irritation to treat gay couples differently.
While I’m certain that the judges who signed this order did so out of sincere belief in the Fifth Amendment, I’m also sure that part of their decision was a desire to simplify the process. It’s much less paperwork, fewer hearings, less administration to just treat all married couples the same. And Judge Donovan is a busy man; he doesn’t have time to deal with stupid “are they married or aren’t they” hearings.
Regan DuCasse
June 14th, 2011 | LINK
I think there are times when most people can be reminded that the war on gay people IS expensive and not worth the energy and expense it’s taken to wage it. Gay people obviously are part of the tax base, who also have to vote on fiscal issues that effect everyone and are essentially law abiding.
That going on the offensive against gay people requires engaging them to the extent of higher visibility and outreach which wouldn’t occur, were gay folks mainstreamed and fully participating in everything other people do legally every day.
The people who donated heavily to support Prop. 8 surely have to ask themselves, while gay people were stopped from marrying, did it do anything to prevent divorces or domestic violence or the economy downturn in their own lives? Anyone’s?
Even while we’re engage in two wars, and need to have soldiers posted in other parts of the world, why were competent and willing gay soldiers discharged?
Which was very costly and posed a security risk?
Perhaps really seeing that it costs more than it’s worth to attack gay people, while at the same time, confront anti gay orgs with whether they are doing anything that truly helps marriage or children or families OTHER than attacking gay people would be the point.
Courts have better things to do too than to try and defend the folly of the anti gay.
Gus
June 15th, 2011 | LINK
Mr. Kincaid, you are correct. We have found most judges (even the most conservative ones) and government entities we have dealt with in the last 27 years want the simplest and quickest solution. Ohio’s anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment and DOMA just gummed up the works in many areas. It took us a while to understand the looks and attitudes we would get from government workers to a sitting judge was not discrimination, but more of a “Oh crap, more paperwork with these guys.”
Ben M
June 15th, 2011 | LINK
CA is a Community property state, which, I assume, would make handling these as separate bankruptcy cases even more complected.
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