News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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First Impressions Ahead Of Exodus 2013 Conference
Arizona group to put marriage back on ballot
Exodus International Issues Apology, Hints At Further Developments Tonight
Ex-Gay Leader Sentenced For Criminal Sexual Assault of Male Clients
Andrew Comiskey Doesn't Believe In Apologies
Massachusetts GOP Senate Candidate goes to Pride
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sgt. Jesse Boomer said two cars pulled up beside the 18- and 19-year-olds walking in the 1700 block of east Douglas, near Hydraulic, around 2:30 a.m. Six men, all in their late teens or early 20s, got out of the cars, accused the two men of “being homosexuals” and attacked them, Boomer said. The victims drove themselves to a local hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
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BlackDog
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Okay…so these people are so anti-gay that a dude simply walking down the street with another dude merits an accusation of Teh Gay and a beating?? So a guy hanging around with his guy friends is automatically suspect, or what??
I’m calling bullshit on that, unless there was an equal number of women involved in the attack, these people aren’t living up to their own standards and the potential exists that they may have Teh Gay, too.
Who the hell even knows if either let alone both of the guys that got attacked was gay, not that such a thing would legitimize the attack in any way. Even if they were it’s still wrong.
There’s something seriously wrong with this country when you can’t even walk down the street with a person of the same gender without the potential to be assaulted.
This society has just gotten way too obsessed with sex for my tastes.
Regan DuCasse
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Hear! Hear!
If same gender casual contact puts ANYONE at risk in this way, this country’s obsessive and violent reactions to such is insanity.
And what DOES that say about how they are INDOCTRINATING young people to react to the most innocent and necessary of social interactions?
BlackDog
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Not to mention…at the rate this is going how long is it going to be before some foreign tourists or immigrants from say, places like Greece or Israel or Poland…get attacked because it’s two guys or two girls walking down the street holding hands?? That’s perfectly normal in a lot of countries!
What about (gods forbid) a couple Arab businessmen or diplomats or simple tourists being attacked…because men who know each other well, kissing each other on the cheek is considered a proper greeting in many middle eastern cultures??
Honestly, compared to a lot of the rest of the world we’re not only homophobic but downright backward and provincial, and this sort of crap shows it. Grow the fuck up, America.
This is the kind of crap people might’ve TALKED big about doing when I was in high school (not that there actually were any open gay GUYS in the high schools I went to, both of which were in small redneck towns) but we KNEW not only would we have got our asses whupped but we’d of almost certainly ended up in jail. The only people who really talked that kind of talk when I was that age were mostly little punk-asses themselves…
I wonder if the people who did this are aware of what they might be putting themselves at risk for, involving men far worse than their most inflated opinions of how tough THEY are. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure simply assaulting a random person because you THOUGHT they might be gay ain’t gonna get you no props in prison.
What happens after that is worse…
BlackDog
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Although…I think I’d laugh at what’d likely happen if a couple of American rednecks were dumb enough to attack two random Israelis for walking down the street holding hands, since chances are high one or both could be IDF veterans.
Why this kind of ignorant shit is becoming so common is beyond me. I suppose much of it comes down to religion. Sadly,In the end, all this bad behavior in the name of religion will end up reflecting on the religious…and when Fundamentalist Christians have lost much of their influence because no one likes them much anymore…I’m guessing they WILL be dumb enough to wonder why.
What a ridiculous country we are, most of the rest of the civilized world doesn’t listen to such people all that much.
JesterKatz
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
This is what happen when fear and paranoia rule society, where people are beaten or killed not because they ARE homosexuals, but because they’re ACCUSED of being homosexuals.
Since there’s nothing physical or tangible about homosexuality, homophobes go with the next best thing: see two people of the same gender together, and assume they’re gays.
When you use fear, irrational fear non the less, then the fearing will do more damage then the fear. Not that homosexuality should be feared, which just makes things worse.
To but it more bluntly, the true threat to society is the homophobes, not the homosexuals.
If homophobia isn’t stopped, then more beatings like this will happen, on both gays and straights. But hey, if it’ll keep our society and children safe from the evil gays, then beating up two guys because they SEEM gay is a small price to pay.
BlackDog
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
“But hey, if it’ll keep our society and children safe from the evil gays, then beating up two guys because they SEEM gay is a small price to pay.”
Until enough people have to pay the consequences of their actions, that is, and I have a feeling American prisons will only make the people doing this shit worse, and make them want to do it more.
Ya know, it goes on and on, around here that different right-wing Christian groups (NOM, etc.) are behind a lot of this crap. Well, I was raised Christian and I was taught that Christians were expected…SHOULD be expected to obey the law, period.
Last I checked, beating people up for any reason other than they attacked you first was called assault and battery, use a weapon and it’s called Aggravated Assault or Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
That’s frankly something that even according to God’s laws, much less human laws, people shouldn’t be doing without extremely good reason and attempting other solutions first.
“But…But…But…they looked like they might be queers…” that ain’t a reason.
Ben in Atlanta
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Whenever I hear about things like this, this song comes to mind. What can I say? It’s an oldie that may not be all that golden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtVBrXvmmJw
I’m still just an old hippie.
werdna
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
BlackDog wrote:
It already has
werdna
September 6th, 2011 | LINK
Oops, I should’ve included this link as well.
Regan DuCasse
September 7th, 2011 | LINK
Thank you Werdna, we should never forget.
And to their credit, Jose’s family spoke out IN FAVOR of gay rights,of equality specifically. They didn’t just say how horrible and unfair it was that there was such violence happened to their kin, but that gay people deserve to be able to live openly and express love openly too.
I was very impressed by that. Because sometimes as you all know, the families of bashing victims are either silent, or non committal about saying anything in support of the gay community at large. Let alone becoming activists, the way the Shepards, or Gwen Araujo’s did, for example.
It’s a horrible world when expressions of love and care, CAUSE violence in response.
And it’s not gay people who deserve to be blamed for it.
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