The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 25
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
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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Steve
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
Anyone with an ounce of intelligence will realize that no matter what they say, they don’t mean ANY of it. It’s just PR for the gullible. Their actions speak different.
Stephen
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
Sachi
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
Contrary to the previous posters, I think I agree with you. Of course, actions will speak louder than words.
Baby steps!!
Sachi
TampaZeke
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
I think they can tell which way the wind is blowing and they are desperate to find a way to survive in a world that increasingly is rejecting their side of a the culture war that they were once VERY happy to participate in. I think they are still interested in fighting to make gay people and their family’s lives miserable in hopes of driving them toward their religious and political world view. They just realize that they now have to be much more covert and subtle about it.
Even still, it’s good news.
David Roberts
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
[Comment removed at the request of the commenter.]
Richard Rush
May 25th, 2012 | LINK
Maybe Alan Chambers was just responding out of fear after reading this article on BTB: Researcher Predicts Rising Unemployment Among Ex-Gay Therapists.
iDavid
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
Nothing has changed, absolutely nothing.
Exodus has no concept of “change is possible” as they prove once again when they open their manipulative lying mouths amplified through their warped and ill bred flock-shock business.
The only change we will ever see with Exodus is when outside sources I.e. financial failure shut them down. They do not have the courage nor the dignity to tell the truth nor stop the persecution. They falsely live under a Judaic god of manipulation and negative mind control. They are a cult trading dollars on guilt.
They are a disgrace to Christ and what he stood for and a disgrace to humanity which Christ serves. They only live to make Christ’s job more difficult.
Aaron
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
Thank you Timothy, but here’s my problem. YES, Exodus is repackaging themselves, BUT, it ISN’T Exodus who does the “therapy”, it’s the member ministries, and Exodus’ job is to refer people seeking help to one of thos ministries, and most of those ministries are, of course, the reparative therapy touting snake-oil salespeople that we know them to be, and THEY aren’t changing.
Any real analysis of whether Exodus is changing from an ex-gay model to a celibacy model will have to be done at the member ministry level, NOT at the umbrella level.
Regan DuCasse
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
I was reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog and there were several readers who posted their experiences from being married to a gay person.
Their marriages ended in divorce, each party bewildered and betrayed and in pain.
Each had tried to fulfill what Exodus or most other Christian communities say is their natural or God given duty to do.
Which selfishly sounds more like what the church community wants, instead of the individuals who have to be in the relationship.
It’s the denial of what kind of pressure and coercion that entails for a gay person and the costs to trust and endurance of their own commitment. Let alone to the family they created.
The irony of ironies, using the word ‘struggle’ with homosexuality, while denying the struggle to carry the burden of deceit.
What I want to see, is some real honesty about a ROUTINELY accepting society, and what that would do about truth.
A straight person not held accountable or deceived into believing they can change a gay person, and a gay person who can be free of the same burden WOULD be damn refreshing.
The veil that Exodus has been using, is growing thinner and a bit more diaphanous, but I was impatient a LONG time ago, with them using a veil at all.
I absolutely, cannot stand the indifference of religious communities, to when they become a LIABILITY to a community. Whether it’s someone who chose to be religious or not.
That is quite unforgivable, and what’s so sociopathic about some religious people.
Priya Lynn
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
Regan said “The irony of ironies, using the word ‘struggle’ with homosexuality, while denying the struggle to carry the burden of deceit.”.
That…was….profound.
TampaZeke
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
Regan NAILED it!
Reed
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
“Ready to end the war” is a good thing.
The rest seems in line with Chambers’s recent statements, with additional semantic padding.
That said, Aaron’s point is well-taken -(queer kids could wind up being farmed out to “religious counselors”).
Regan’s point (the constant lies, evasions, and compounded guilt) really struck close to the bone.
Shofixti
May 26th, 2012 | LINK
I am a little confused about how the average pastor of the average pentecostal church will read this.
I was managed out of a congregation due to their insistence that I re-undergo a reparative style therapy. Will the average church that relied on the change message from Exodus pause to re-think?
The collapse of the reparative hegemony is evident, but the culture likely moves slowly.
Mark F.
May 28th, 2012 | LINK
Celibacy does suit some people, I have no problem with that. I have at least 3 friends who are celibate by choice. I think it is a weird choice, but it’s their choice.
I just ask that these groups stop lying about gay people and stop supporting discrimination.
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