The Daily Agenda for Monday, May 21
Kiev Pride Cancelled, Two Beaten
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, May 20
NAACP Board Approves Statement Supporting Marriage Equality
What Makes Cameron Tick? (Cont'd)
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 19
Marriage equality predicted for France
Marriage positions: the politic and the personal
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 450 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
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
Tony P
November 22nd, 2011 | LINK
I perused the site and I noted they’ve locked out comments on almost all their posts. I guess they don’t like feeling the heat.
David C.
November 22nd, 2011 | LINK
@Tony P: Another Special Right NOM insists on is that all that open and rational debate they like to call for be one-sided—their side. The very last thing NOM wants is a completely open, honest, fact-based discussion of marriage equality because they know they would be on the losing side of that argument.
Betsy
November 22nd, 2011 | LINK
Hi, Rob. Long time no “see.” About this Ari business, this was entirely my fault. NOM has nothing to do with the Ruth blog, and they had no idea about Ari. I’ve never met or even spoken to anyone at NOM. I’m just a stay-at-home mom whom Dr. Morse hired to manage her blog. As she gives me almost entirely free reign there, she’s not to blame for the Ari thing either. Therefore, Ruth Institute isn’t to blame either. Dr. Morse didn’t know anything about the Ari post until today.
Months ago she and I had reprimanded Ari for going over the line in his comments. We suppressed him for a while, but then let him try again months later. He sometimes writes good stuff, but now it’s clear he has his own agenda and is using the Ruth blog to get readers for his own site. What he posted on the Ruth blog seemed safe enough, I thought, so I allowed it, but it was my fault for not following it back to his blog to see where else he would go. If he had written that ridiculous stuff on the Ruth blog I would never have allowed it. I only saw it today. I get the impression that he is being purposely inflammatory in order to sell his book.
I’ve never met the guy. He wasn’t employed by Ruth. Dr. Morse let him start posting things years ago because she thought he was witty, but he has clearly changed.
Rob, I remember you asking me to print a retraction on the Ruth blog, and I complied. I would expect you to extend the same courtesy now. If you want to blame someone for the Ari debacle, it should be me, as manager of the Ruth blog. Pinning this on NOM is completely unfair.
Thanks, Rob.
Betsy
Pat
November 23rd, 2011 | LINK
So I guess you were okay with the ridiculous inflammatory stuff that you did post, then, right Betsy?
Ryan
November 23rd, 2011 | LINK
The main difference is that Ari was associated with NOM directly, and in your other three examples, the people were not. Guaranteed that if Ari had been fired from his job somewhere after publically’ calling gays terrorists who should be spat upon, NOM would be defending him as vociferously as they are the other three. And of course, they would be lying as well, claiming Ari was fired for nothing more than opposition to gay marriage. It’s their standard lie, and it’s hilarious that they can’t employ it this time.
Ray Harwick
November 23rd, 2011 | LINK
Ruth is discriminating against Ari’s right to assert his Christian principles. Call Maggie! That’s her department. She’ll make a martyr out of him.
StraightGrandmother
November 23rd, 2011 | LINK
Betsy,
Yes well I am glad you pulled it and then followed up publicly with why. Additionally taking the time to comment on Box Turtle Bulletin is also good.I think it is really admirable of you to stand up and take personal responsibility, usually NOM doesn’t do that.
Now I would like you to answer a question for me. A question I have asked many times on the Ruth blog but got no answer so I finally gave up asking. I know NOM and the Ruth Institute are focused like a laser beam on families and children. What I have asked and have never gotten an answer for is, “What about the children and families of sexual minorities?” It seems to me that Ruth Inst. and NOM only care about the children with heterosexual parents.
The Defense of Marriage Act and all of the 31 State Constitutions that deny loving couples who are sexual minorities the benefits of Legal Marriage are hurting the children with parents who are sexual minorities.
Take Sue and Sally parents to Liza and Robby. Sue works and Sally is the stay at home mom like you. Because of mean discriminatory state laws that prevent both Sue and Sally from being equal co-parents only Sally is legally Liza and Robby’s parent. Sue is not legally their mother but in every other way is their mother. I know a family like this Betsy, so this is not theoretical.
Betsy what about the children Liza and Robby? If Sue died the children would not be able to claim Social Security survivor benefits from the earnings she paid in. If Sally got breast cancer Sue would not be able to take off of work and have her job protected by the Federal Family Leave Act and take care of Sally and their children.
Furthermore because the state will only permit Sally to be the one legal mother now Liza and Robby get cheated out of not just a legal second parent, but another set of legal grandparents. Grandparents who would like to leave them money. Sue’s parents love and adore their grandchildren and would like to put money away for them in a college fund. BUT because they are not legally the children’s grandparents Liza and Robby must claim these gifts as ordinary income and pay taxes on it. Not true for children who have parents who are heterosexual.
Betsy I finally have my opportunity here. Is it in the BEST INTERESTS of the CHILDREN of sexual minorities to deny their parents civil marriage and all the benefits that come with that? How do you justify denying equal rights to sexual minorities when you know how it harms their children?
Betsy do you really only care about children with heterosexual parents and just plain don’t give a damn about children, if through not fault of the children, their parents happen to be gay. Betsy what is best for children who parents are sexual minorities? What is best for them Betsy? I really want to see your answer. But I bet you don’t answer. That is my bet, that you will not answer. I asked this question so many times on the RI blog and never got an answer. What is best for the children?
Ray Harwick
November 23rd, 2011 | LINK
Re: ” His sarcasm has gone over the line”
Betsy,
It’s not mere sarcasm when someone calls for spitting on gay people. It’s advocacy for ASSAULT. Stop trying to diminish what he and you paymasters at NOM do at every opportunity. Maybe you didn’t read about this fellow, Burke Burnett, a gay guy who lives near Paris, Texas. He showed up at a social gathering and three guys who absorb the hatefulness coming out of NOM first BEAT him, stabbed him with a broken bottle, then threw him into burning 55 gallon drum – and LAUGHED about it.
When asked what he’s like to see the court do in terms of punishment, Burnett responded, “I’ll have to pray about it. God is our judge.”
You’re hanging with the *wrong* crowd.
Did you read about the lesbian who got fired at New Life School in Waxahatchie, Texas? She’s been there coaching and teaching and *poof* – she’s fired when a new principal shows up and finds out she’s a lesbian. Oddly, this teacher had 50 parents show up at the school to demand her reinstatement AND ask why she was fired. The principal’s answer: “We’re not allowed to reveal private information.” So the parents said if you can’t reveal private information, that REMOVE the action from her records that say she was fired for cause because she *must* report that when she applies for *any* new job in accordance with Texas law.
Of course, the principal refused their recommendation.
See, it was suitable enough to the principal to just get rid of her. He wanted something negative to follow her so she couldn’t get any other job as a school teacher.
That’s the kind of crowd YOU hang with, Betsy. They don’t want to merely stop marriage equality – they want gays and lesbians to HURT economically.
Rich
November 25th, 2011 | LINK
Betsy, I think “StraightGrandmother” has posited a very sincere and worthy series of questions that The Ruth Institute and NOM are obligated to answer. And, like StraightGrandmother, I, too, have asked similar questions and posed sincere gay family scenarios only to be ignored because, I have had to assume, the questions and scenarios are too logical and rational to be countermanded. In other words: no one at The Ruth Institute or NOM has a viable argument to offer.
But, in truth, I believe that the most recent pulling of all posts by Ari has as much to do with this: It would appear that The Southern Poverty Law Center may be close to designating NOM as a Hate Group and, by association, The Ruth Institute. I suggest this because I have been in touch with TSPLC and their responses to me are clear that NOM is in their sights. The fact that TRI and NOM have cut off so many of their hateful blog posts would suggest that they are desperately trying to clean up their actions. Betsy? StraightGrandmother and I await your response.
StraightGrandmother
November 30th, 2011 | LINK
Betsy, I am STILL waiting….
Betsy you take the time and take advantage of the good graces of The Box Turtle Bulletin to advertize your error asking for forgiveness but when we ask something of you, what do we get? Silence. Please come back and answer my question!
Timothy you were nice enough to offer Betsy space here on your website, will you please do me a great favor? Will you E-Mail Betsy and ask her to reply to my questions? I really want one time to see my question answered maybe you can get my question kicked upstairs and answered.
Thank you Rich!
Timothy Kincaid
December 1st, 2011 | LINK
SG,
That was Rob, not me. I don’t have Betsy’s info.
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