The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 24
Boy Scouts of America Votes To Allow Gay Members, Retains Ban On Gay Leaders
Nevada House votes to reverse marriage ban
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
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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Timothy (TRiG)
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
It keeps happening!
TRiG.
David Roberts
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
It really is uncanny how often this happens, isn’t it?
Ben in Maine for now
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
These people are beyond shame, beyond irony…
and beyond farce.
RobNYNY1957
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
I suspect it will also matter to some GOPpers that the young man involved was black.
AJD
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Fröhlichkeit, deine Name heißt Schadenfreude.
BlackDog
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
I’m starting to be surprised that more antigay activists, preachers, and politicians don’t get questioned about their sexuality by reporters on a routine basis.
It just blows my mind how many of them come across as shockinly creepy (The Peter and a lot of the “ex-gay” crowd) or completely, repeatedly embarrass themselves by NOT acting like normal straight people (Marcus Bachmann) or get caught with “rentboys” (Rekers and this guy) or give off a severe gay vibe (Bradlee Dean and that “scarfboy” dude) or just plain show themselves to be a bunch of immoral religious fanatics (NOM) or for that matter, some combination of the above.
Something in my brain wants to scream “These guys can’t ALL be gay, can they? CAN THEY??” but sadly enough, the evidence keeps backing up the stereotype that the more rabidly homophobic someone acts the more likely there’s some issues there.
That’s a shame, my mom taught me not to put much stock in stereotypes. I’d really hate to see one prove her wrong.
Timothy Kincaid
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Really? $140 to play with that, ahem, somewhat-less-than-Brad-Pitt fellow?
I guess the economy is making everyone desperate.
Timothy Kincaid
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Ya know, I’m not getting the impression that Hinckle was an anti-gay activist kinda legislator. It seems he was more “good government” than social conservative… or, at least, so far.
Jerry
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Hinkle has garnered a Wikipedia entry that seems to have only happened because of this story. It lists his age and marital status(married) and religion(catholic) no children mentioned.
He also has his own featured story in the Huffington Post.
You would think politicians would learn not to play on Craig’s List or at least buy a computer and identity reserved just for those activities.
Mark F.
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
A pal of mine who frequents gay bathhouses says about 1/3 of the guys he plays with are married to women.
Jim Burroway
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
I’m taking his vote for Indiana’s anti-marriage amendment as enough justification to hang the anti-gay tag on him. I’ve long since lost patience with people in positions of power, even if it is in the lower house of a state legislature, who vote against the rights and dignity of their fellow citizens and constituents. And anti-gay vote is the mark of an anti-gay politician in my book.
cd
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Red State family values. If you’re adamantly
closetedinsistent that you’re not gay you count as straight. You just happen to be a straight man who chooses to have sex with other men when you can.For a more detailed description of how this works (or doesn’t), the Reverend Ted Haggard will be glad to expound on it at length. So to speak
TomTallis
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
Old goat.
Charles
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
I just wonder what his wife has to say. I had a first cousin who married a gay man. It was his second marriage. He had had two children from his first marriage. The divorce was extremely bitter.
Coxygru
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
This case is merely sad. But it could have been tragic or horrific if it had played out in Kenya, Uganda, Iraq or China, or in 1970s America. Let us not forget that the progress we have made in western nations is tenuous and precious. It must be safeguarded.
Sir Andrew
August 12th, 2011 | LINK
I believe the wife then offered $10,000 to the boy to keep him quiet about this.
Gotta love them Catholics.
BlackDog
August 13th, 2011 | LINK
Oh yeah, that’s right…I’d forgotten about Ted Haggard…gee I wonder why? No one else takes him seriously anymore either?
I kid you not, I saw his interview towards the end of “Jesus Camp” and I was so creeped out by him I felt like I needed to take a shower. What’s even more funny is it wasn’t long after that interview that he got caught.
jc
August 14th, 2011 | LINK
my favorite part that i’ve seen as the final words in several news articles is him telling the boy’s sister “you’ve just ruined me”. way to own his responsibility in the matter!
Timothy Kincaid
August 14th, 2011 | LINK
Jim
I can’t agree that having voted against marriage equality, alone, qualifies one as anti-gay. I would not call Gary Jackson anti-gay for saying in the Republican debates that while he personally opposes gay marriage that he supports civil unions and “we have not done enough”. That is not good enough, of course, but neither he nor the President are anti-gay.
Voting for an amendment is worse, of course, but even still there is a difference between a vote based in prejudice and being anti-gay. 7 million californians voted for prop 8. Many were fooled or fearful or not ready or whatever. Many more voted out of prejudice but have never before taken a negative act against us. I don’t think one position or action makes a person the enemy.
And there are many legislators, especially on the Republican side, that are sometimes supporters. They vote with us on some things but not all. I don’t think that voting to repeal DADT makes them an ally, but surely “anti-gay” is best applied to those whose voting is by default “anti”.
And there is a difference even between voting anti-gay and being an anti-gay activist. Doug Skelos voted against marriage in NY as did all but four Republican senators. Yet somehow the caucus magically advised him to take the vote and for some magical reason Skelos made an exception and let the caucus decide. Or the senator who voted no last time with his head in his hands and was the first to announce support this time He may not be a supporter, but I have difficulty making the anti-gay label fit.
I prefer to save anti-gay for those for who are either proactively or consistently so.
It seems likely that Hinkle was a consistent anti-gay vote. He may even have been proactive or ranted on the floor. But, so far, I haven’t seen that.
And I didn’t say that Hinkle wasn’t anti gay. Just that he doesnt yet appear to have been an anti-gay activist.
Priya Lynn
August 14th, 2011 | LINK
Its all a matter of degree Timothy. Some people are more anti-gay than others but if you’ve done any voting against gays or supported any inequality then you are anti-gay. Obama is anti-gay and Hinkle is anti-gay although they may be a good deal less anti-gay than say a Peter Labarbera.
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