The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, June 19
Another Exodus Conference Is Upon Us. Let's Review.
For Our Opponents: Talking to Your Kids About Same-Sex Marriage
The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, June 18
The Daily Agenda for Monday, June 17
The Daily Agenda for Sunday, June 16
The Daily Agenda for Saturday, June 15
The Daily Agenda for Friday, June 14
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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Too Little Too Late
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
This Facebook comment by Raphael Mazor says it all in my opinion:
I have no reason to disagree with the above quote.
Perhaps when this person stands up in public and unequivocally states that the Mormon church has made a grave error in religious doctrine that has resulted in untold harm to the LGBT community and is willing to do what is necessary to cure that harm then I will believe that the Mormon church has changed.
Until then this just comes across as a cynical attempt to co-opt LGBT event(s) to try and put the church in a better light with regards to equality.
And by the way, supposedly they will march in a few other Pride Events if this is to be believed.
jOHN
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
The Mormon Church has not changed just a small part of their followers. I think the biggest effect is that these are members that have chosen to not blindly follow the church. This is not what the church want for they know that to keep the church strong is to not have their member’s question their teachings. They are not know for allowing their members to question them or to use their own mind and usually when they do they are removed from the church so as to the spread the idea of free thought. Free thought does not lend itself to following the Mormon Church’s teachings!
I think of this as similar to the Catholic church teachings on birth control. I remember reading that there was a survey of American Catholics (about 25 years ago) where it was like 60% did not follow the church’s teachings of no birth control. I would assume that it is much higher now. I believe that this too will grown unless the Mormon Church acts quickly to place these members under disciplinary action to scare the others for thinking for themselves. Let’s face they say they are all about family but what happens when they have a gay child? They are banished from the family and their family members are no longer allowed to communicate with them. They (meaning the church) are less about family and more about the control of their members.
cowboy
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
This was not a PR stunt by the LDS Church.
What does not get reported in the news has been the rash of suicides of late. I’m not sure that this was the genesis of this group of LDS members who marched in the parade yesterday but I will venture a guess it has a great part of it.
How can anyone ignore the amount of strife and angst someone goes through…enough to take one’s own life. It makes a statement which might be finally getting some goodly Saints’ attention and they want to reach out and stop these suicides from happening.
In the past we have had PFLAG and Straights for Gays contingents at the Utah Pride Parades but this is a first for this type of parade participation. It was certainly well received by me and a huge part of the crowds along the parade route.
Muscat
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
To characterize this as some kind of PR stunt by the LDS church or its members is an incredibly ignorant statement. This isn’t some kind of LDS-church-sponsored action. The Mormons marching in this parade are putting themselves at risk of being disciplined and perhaps even excommunicated by their church. You can poo-poo that if you want, but I think it’s pretty clearly a positive step – and this could be the start of a larger movement challenging the hierarchy of the Mormon church’s stance on homosexuality.
TomTallis
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
Those marchers are going to be terrorized by their bishops at their next mandatory meeting.
CPT_Doom
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
I have no problem with people who theologically disagree with homosexuality nevertheless openly embracing LGBT human beings and agreeing to meet them as equals. It is a huge first step.
I am an atheist, but even as a Roman Catholic youth I disagreed entirely with the Mormon “lifestyle.” I do not believe that Joseph Smith was anything but a con man, I do not believe the the “Book of Mormon” has any more divine origin than the Yellow Pages that were delivered to my house and, were I still Catholic, I would believe that all Mormons were risking Hell for not believing in a “true” religion.
That being said, I firmly and totally believe in the rights of Mormons to practice, share and grow their faith, as long as I have an equal footing in society. This is also was I was taught throughout my upbringing as a Catholic, when the parable of the Good Samaritan was pointed to as the most important teaching of Jesus. We do not have to agree to respect and care for one another, and I see this movement as a big step forward to a day when LGBT citizens are treated as full and equal human beings by all religious, even those who believe we are risking Hell.
Gene in L.A.
June 4th, 2012 | LINK
Demanding that individual Mormons atone for the full wrong of their church is about as sensible as demanding that every gay person apologize for the wrongs of all gay people, whatever they be. I salute and thank these people of good conscience who joined with my gay brothers and sisters in this march. Their integrity outshines that of their church.
cowboy
December 26th, 2012 | LINK
The Salt Lake Tribune has named their “Utahn(s) for the Year”
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55512855-78/mormons-gay-bridges-mormon.html.csp
a sample:
and:
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