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
Last Minute Bid to Sink Marriage Bill Fails in British Commons
Will Illinois Be #13?
The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 20
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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Louis Marinelli, the former coordinator for National Organization for Marriage’s “Summer for Marriage Tour” who has since left NOM and announced his support for marriage equality, has launched a new group. He’s calling it the National Organization for Marriage Equality, and his web site indicates that NOME “is registering as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.”Marinelli will be hitting the road once again, just like old times.
Kevin
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
I always delighted by conversions. I am curious to know what/who and how he was converted.
Ben in Atlanta
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
If you so desire you can look at Saul/Paul’s convenient seizure on the road to Damascus. (Drama Queen). He really wasn’t any less of an a-hole after. He just changed targets.
Irreverent yes; not true; think about it for a minute.
John Blatzheim
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
This is awesome! I think the more that genuinely conservative (read: small-government) voters see how much of the anti-equality position is based solely on religious doctrine, the more they will flock to our side. And it seems like that is exactly what Louis Marinelli is doing, given that I’m pretty sure he’s still religiously opposed to homosexuality, but has realized that it is a civil right and shouldn’t have anything to do with one particular religious doctrine.
Fergie
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
It’s a shame Marinelli is straight otherwise he could have created the “Gay National Organization for Marriage Equality” or GNOME.
The Gnome T Shirt slogans, word-play, and merchandising could have been epic!
Timothy Kincaid
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
Ben,
I do have to disagree in part with you. As Saul he sought the end of the Christian movement through legal means (sort of the 1st Century equivalent of what the anti-gay groups do to us).
As Paul, he sought to give structure to the new movement and reign in some of the wilder elements. While Christians today give broad interpretation to the remonstrations in Pauls epistles, they mostly were direct instruction to real people in exact situations. (As one of the more not-brilliant examples: His objections to idol worshipers have been stripped of context and are now, according to Exodus, Scriptural evidence that “change is possible”)
One of Paul’s dominant themes is his change and how he was a different man. So much so that he took a new name.
And, to some extent, he was. He was instrumental in negotiating compromise on areas such as circumcision, dietary rules etc., all of which was a sharp break from Saul.
I think one of the illustrations of how Paul benefited from having been Saul is his sensitivity in one passage. He said that he felt no restriction about eating meat that had being ritually offered to an idol but that he realized that others would be confused or think that Paul was honoring other gods so, for their sake, he would just avoid eating meat in a temple.
But, yes, even though he thought of himself as “free” (and, considering his background, had come a long ways) his first instinct remained towards rigidity, conformity, and more than a little self-importance. That was probably an asset when dealing with a bunch of start-up self-monitored churches all claiming to be Christian but with no written doctrine, no agreement on what being a Christian meant, and with the limitations of communication at the time.
But today, some of Paul’s writing – stripped of the context of who he was writing to, the culture in which they lived, why he was writing, and what he was writing about – can seem like intolerance and rigidity. For example, while Paul’s position on a woman’s role was wildly liberal for the time and community he was talking to, in today’s world it would be seen as sexist, if not downright misogynist. And, of course, most of the clobber passages are attributable to Paul*. Literalists (both within and without Christianity) want only to deal with the specific words that they think proves their point (which has become far too often the only reason to quote Scripture) but someone looking at the themes of his writing and what it meant to his audience can find an entirely different message.
But he certainly was direct and aggressive. And well… If I knew Paul, I probably wouldn’t disagree with your assessment of his personality. Yeah, he probably was pretty much an a-hole
:)
(* caveat: I wonder if perhaps Paul’s decision to make up words that have been presumed to be about homosexuality rather than use the common words at the time may at some point in the future be seen as radically liberal and counterculture. I don’t know, but religious conclusion may at some point be that he wanted to criticize specific excesses – Paul hated excesses of all sorts – but did not want to do so in a way that did not demean people. Maybe.)
Ben In Oakland
July 22nd, 2011 | LINK
And there is always the question of exactly what that thorn in the flesh that Paul complained about might be?
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