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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JCF
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
Prayers ascending!
Victor
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
He is an honourable and decent man, a rare thing today. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
TampaZeke
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
Much metta Warren.
Jess
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
Prayers go out to him and to his family, I know what it is like dealing with a family member with heart problems. Worry about the future and worry about the present.
Sami
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
“On Sunday Warren had a heart attack. Mild as it was, it led to tests which led to a heart cath which led us to a triple by pass surgery on Tuesday”
Doesn’t sound very ‘mild’ to me!
I hope he pulls through. It’s so rare to find people in this world willing to acknowledge evidence and admit when they were wrong, I’d hate to lose one of them.
Stephen
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
I’m confused.
Professional evangelical Christian felled by heart problems. Shouldn’t Jesus made this go away? Just sayin as one of those he’s spent years denigrating before his recent conversion. No he’s not an honorable man. He’s not any better than any of the other full-time fag bashers. He’s a provincial Savanorola who can’t begin to comprehend the greater world outside his own self-obsessed purlieu. Let him get better. Let him learn.
I suspect I’m blocked but whaves.
Bernie
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
Been praying for him since I heard the other evening…still am. He is one sagacious fellow.
Maris
September 20th, 2012 | LINK
Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.
Rick Rosendall
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Sending positive thoughts his way.
MattNYC
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for him :)
A religious man with a brain and some level of skepticism is a rarity–we need more of him.
Snowman
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Wow, will definitely keep him in my thoughts and send what good energy I can his way.
He seems to be a good person, you don’t have to agree with somebody to respect them, and it’s a tough thing to stand up for decency and doing the right thing among American Christians…which it should not be, if you ask me.
Not much for prayers, but if I feel the need to, I will pray for him, too.
Blake
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Thanks for the update. Here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.
Gene in L.A.
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Stephen, that is possibly the meanest get-well I’ve seen in my 65 years. It doesn’t read as if your heart is in it. Did you think you were exposing something not generally known? Why even expend the energy if you think so poorly of him?
Ben In Oakland
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Thank you, gene.
Reed
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Stephen – Throckmorton is as described: “a good man who has risked his reputation and welcome among his peers to stand up for us.”
YEARS denigrating? RECENT conversion?
Seems as though your animosity has gotten in the way of your facts, but it provides a great springboard for those elegant phrases following, replete with exsufflicant and blown surmise, fulsome with bombast, and reeking with self-aggrandizing bloviation.
If you’re “blocked,” then it’s just a situation of your own head being up your lower intestine while you’re attempting to takj,
Reed
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
^TALK.
#fricktardium
gsingjane
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
Prayers ascending here, too. I think it’s actually not uncommon for a person to have what’s initially diagnosed as a “mild” heart attack, which then leads to heart tests of various kinds, which then finds more significant blockage, which then leads to bypass. In many ways the initial heart event is a blessing in disguise because otherwise the person might have a much more serious attack from which s/he never recovers.
I also hope we can keep this thread free of religion-bashing. I do understand that Prof. Throckmorton may not *always* have been 100% pro-LGBT, but if that’s a reason to exclude someone permanently, or say they are incapable of redemption, well, that’s kind of an unproductive message to send out!
chiMaxx
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
He is indeed an honorable man. No, I haven’t always agreed with where he’s ended up, but he’s always presented his case with integrity, bending toward the truth, doing his best to not let doctrine or personal prejudices get in the way of a dispassionate look at the evidence. I would rather have a principled disagreement with him than agree with many of the less honest or perceptive folks on our “side” of the issues.
Best wishes on a speedy recovery. Modern cardiac care is fairly miraculous. He will probably soon feel better than he did for months before this incident.
MsRowena
September 21st, 2012 | LINK
I don’t have strong opinions on him, but did want to add that gsingjane is exactly right. These “mild” heart attacks are often early warnings that save your life.
And he will likely recover quite well from the procedure and almost immediately start feeling much better, better than he’s felt in years. Anyone who calls Barton out can’t be all bad, even if he’s not a shining beacon of good either.
Who knows, maybe this experience will cause him to examine his precepts.
Warren Throckmorton
September 25th, 2012 | LINK
I want to give thanks and an update on my situation. First, thanks to the gentlemen of BTB for this post and the kind words, prayers and thoughts in response to it on my behalf.
I am now home recovering with several weeks of that to go. I did have triple by pass as the result of heart disease I didn’t know I had. The heart attack was mild but severe enough to move me into diagnostic and treatment mode. This turned out to be a good thing.
Again, thanks all for the positive feelings; they have a beneficial effect.
MattNYC
September 25th, 2012 | LINK
As my peeps say, wishing you a r’fuah sh’leimah! There are too few of your kind to lose one. :)
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