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
The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, May 22
House of Commons officially passes marriage equality
British Commons Approves Marriage Equality Bill
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
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
I’m an engineer by training, which means that I’m always looking for ways of measuring and quantifying things. So when I was putting together this post, the thought occurred to me that Robert Gagnon’s fabled method of responding to those with whom he disagrees just might be an instructive measurement. We can call it the Gagnon Score, which measures the reaction by at least one spokesman for established Evangelicalism to challenges to his beliefs. The Gagnon Score is measured in the number of pages he devotes to his response, and it goes like this:
Craig L. Adams
July 7th, 2012 | LINK
I suppose that Alan Chambers’ high Gagnon Score is due to the fact that he is perceived by Dr. Gagnon as a traitor. Timothy only achieved his high score by keeping the conversation going (and good for him!).
Scott
July 7th, 2012 | LINK
So a Gagnon is a unit of measurement? Please tell me there wont be milligagnons or centigagnons. God forbid there might be megagagnons or gigagagnons.
Reed Boyer
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Gagnon? Must have missed him in the mix.
Reed Boyer
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Given Timothy Kincaid’s demonstrated track record of being able to wield the big spoon to stir up masses of . . . “discussion,” may we remove “the TK factor” from the Gagnon scoring process?
TK tends to queer the results (or “skew” or “disproportionately weight” if another verb is desired).
Alan Chambers
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
I’ll take the bronze.
Lee
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Dr. G. insists he has focused on the homosexuality issue because it is so profoundly dangerous to Christ-inane-ity. I DO think he’s a little too obsessed with boy-sex for a straight guy. Toss in the sin of pride over his sense of his grasp of the material, and you have Dr. G on toast.
On a more personal level, with that beard of his I think he’d make quite the cuddly teddy bear. There: I’ve just said something nice about him so this couldn’t possibly be an ad hominem post.
Ben in Oakland
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Lee, gagnon is both completely correct and completely incorrect at the same time. It’s an occupational hazard forthe self-appointed magisterial of Christ.
You see, he has made homosexuality his Armageddon, the last stand of all of the faithful who agree with him, becuase homosexuality is, after all, the subject that obsessed jesus and paul. If the church is wrong about homosexuality–and it couldn’t be more wrong if it entered the I am wrong sweepstakes and took the top three prizes– then people might question anything else the church has to say. He’s correct in that anybody with a brain ought to reject the church’s teaching on socalled moral issues in toto , not just the antigay part.
However, he lacks understanding of how people think. The church has been dead wrong on many issues– witch burning and segregation come to mind– and it has had little, if any effect.
People believe what they want to believe. That’s the operating principle here.
Richard Rush
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Ben said, “The church has been dead wrong on many issues . . .”
I have a tough time thinking of any issues where the church has ever been right. And, like the classic broken clock that is right twice a day, on the rare occasions when the church has been right, it’s generally been for the wrong reasons.
Wonk
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
I think you have to distinguish between single and cumulative page lengths. So Chambers leads in the single-sitting category though not yet in the cumulative standings.
Ben In Oakland
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Richard, there have been a few.
Loving one another.
Being kind and generous to others.
Treating others as you would like to be treated.
Minding your own business, not other peoples.
And believe it or not, having a proper attitude of gratitude to the Universe.
Timothy Kincaid
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
I can’t decide between the Grammy Response (praise God for winning for a song called F*ck That Skanky Ho) or the Sports Response (generically point upward to indicate that you think God loves you just a pinch more than the other team). I think maybe I’ll just smugly pretend to be modest. I am humbled by the company.
Nathan F
July 8th, 2012 | LINK
Very interesting idea, but it seems counter-intuitive to me that a high Gagnon score is a good thing. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? As it stands, Gagnon himself would have the lowest possible Gagnon score. :)
Smith
July 9th, 2012 | LINK
I think a more useful service to BTB readers would be to explain why Gagnon’s responses are so voluminous. I really don’t want to wade through his writings to find out. Are they larded up with Bible quotes? Does he make the same point multiple times? Does he go off on irrelevant tangents? That’s really the issue, not the number of pages. If he writes 50 pages of compelling, relevant argument, then he shouldn’t be criticized.
Michael Bussee
July 9th, 2012 | LINK
Love Alan Chambers’ comment. Hey, we could make reading Gagnon an Olympic event…
J Chervaux
July 14th, 2012 | LINK
Once and for all, let it be said that Gagnon is an inaccurate and poor student of Biblical homosexuality : he is far too opinionated and self-indulging for someone who would have us believe in his impeccable judgement (whence my jibe at his status as an ayatollah), has no grasp whasoever of the major ancient Near Eastern languages apart from Masoretic Hebrew, never consults scholarly literature in other tongues (German and French Bible studies simply do not exist for him), and he is ridiculously parochial in his selection of primary and secondary sources (they are principally American, and wherever possible come from the Evangelical right).
Just consult any piece of his which appears on his website ; you will discover that he is all rhetoric and blistering, with virtually nothing in guise of scientific apparatus. I would have been loathe to expose him for what he is (see S. Ackerman, When Heroes Love. The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David [2005], 16-17 ; J. E. Miller, ‘A Response to Robert Gagnon on “The Old Testament and Homosexuality”’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 119, 2007, 86-89) had he been decent enough not to charge his opponents with gross dishonesty. So let us not mince words any longer.
Jean-Fabrice Nardelli
J Chervaux
July 14th, 2012 | LINK
Time has come to conclude and leave aside the duty of impartiality which
it was oftentimes found difficult to adhere to in the face of the detailed evidence forour a uthor’s [Gagnon's] crass academic and scientific dishonesty in the making of his book, but which nonetheless had to observed.
The Bible and Homosexual Practice is a quite a slippery target to criticize, despite its documentary flaws and outrageous claims, for Gagnon never grants anything that does not square with his conservative methodology,
thus putting those who disagree with him in an uncomfortable position. If they multiply rebuttals over minutiae, they are bound to produce, in the average reader,the feeling that but for these blunders, the book basically stands, which could not be more wrong-headed ; and if these critics fault the author for indulging in ideology driven
special pleading at odds with the critical method in Bible studies that rightly dominates the more academically-minded studies of Scripture, all Gagnon will have to do is ignore this charge as stemming from a ‘liberal’ viewpoint.”
There exists no middle ground between bowing down to Gagnon and stepping up as the sneering,scholarly onlooker who deems himself capable of proving that, eleven years after,at a times when America looks torn between twin extremes of acceptation and outright
demonization, most provocatively advocated by Lady Gaga and Fred Phelps
(of the Westboro Baptist Church), The Bible and Homosexual Practice is moot. As Queer scholars or ‘liberal’ exegetes, we have a duty towards students and the GBLT community who needs guidance rooted in sound interpretation of the Scripture, not
to wallow in a pity party around such a detestable pile of junk.
Jean-Fabrice Nardelli
Universite de Provence
Timothy Kincaid
July 14th, 2012 | LINK
J Chervaux, I think that you will enjoy a commentary that I will be posting tomorrow or Monday
J Chervaux
July 16th, 2012 | LINK
Timothy,
Thank you for the follow-up post. I eagerly await your commentary.
pmview
July 16th, 2012 | LINK
Thank you for sharing your analysis. This man consistently failed to
reach out or respond to multiple opportunities to actually discuss any
of these issues man to man between Marin and Gagnon. His so-called educated response was never
predicated on any real-time discussion on a face to face level. After we
made many repeated efforts to open up any sort of dialogue, Gagnon consistently refused to leave his ivory tower. This is not the Jesus I believe in as the gospels indicate a very involved leader who walked with the people to bring them good news, abundant life and hope for a better way.
J Chervaux
July 17th, 2012 | LINK
@PM View: Who are your talking to??
pmview
July 19th, 2012 | LINK
The Marin Foundation reached out to Gagnon multiple times without success. It was very disappointing as we kept discovering his ‘analysis’ as published attacks. This ranking system highlighted for us the way in which Gagnon treated others.
Leave A Comment