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
How To Spot A Swivel-Eyed Loon
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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With Uganda poised to pass what would become one of the most draconian anti-gay laws in the world, human rights advocates, LGBT activists, and diplomats from around the globe are lobbying members of the Ugandan government to set aside the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. But there is one set of voices that is conspicuously silent: church leaders. So far, the only religious voices to speak up about it are those who favor its passage, including Scott Lively and the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer. The Family “Research” Council’s Tony Perkins, while not addressing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill directly, praised Uganda over the weekend as “a modern example of a nation prospered by God.” (Perkins had previously lied about what the bill would do if enacted and lobbied Congress against a resolution condemning the bill.)
Dave H
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
“American Christian faith leaders with ties to Uganda, like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes, must reach out to their influential Ugandan friends to ensure that the human rights of Ugandans are not put up to a vote.”
REALLY?!?!? I know Chad Griffin is new in his role as President of HRC, but he can’t be this naive. “American Christian faith leaders” like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes actively support efforts in this country to put our rights up for a vote (and have them taken away), so why would anyone think they would they try to influence their friends in Uganda not to?
Ben in Oakland
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
Though things are certainly better in this country than they were as far as “religious leaders” go, much the same question can still be asked.
here the hell are they?
Steve
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
Yeah, this is pure nativity. Did anyone really expect anything else? Christians will always be Christians
Lord_Byron
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
Since when is Uganda a prosperous nation? I really wish these bigoted fundies would stop with the god bs.
Richard Rush
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
People like to believe the problem is only with the Crackerjack Christians (CCs), but to a large degree it’s also with the so-called moderates who help enable and give some credibility to the CCs. If a moderate believes in just the basics (that God exists, inspired the Bible, hears prayers, and has a son who died for their sins, was resurrected in three days, then rose into heaven, etc., etc.) then they are giving credibility to about 85% of the beliefs. The CCs then just carry it all over the top. I think the CCs have as much of a case for taking the Bible literally as moderates do for twisting it every which way to make it say what they want it to say. I, of course, believe it’s all superstitious nonsense.
Actually, I think a substantial number of moderate Christians do speak out, BUT they don’t do it in the name of God. So that leaves the impression that only the CCs are speaking for God.
Timothy Kincaid
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
“American Christian faith leaders” like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes actively support efforts in this country to put our rights up for a vote (and have them taken away), so why would anyone think they would they try to influence their friends in Uganda not to?
Because Rick Warren has already done so. It was three years ago, but it wasn’t “never”.
It’s easy to assume that those who oppose our rights are evil ogres living in a cave and that there is no limit to their hatred. In fact, I regularly see such thought trotted out. But this is simplistic and hurts our ability to find commonality.
We should recognize that many of the fears that we have about those we label “enemy” are no more accurate than their fears about us.
Timothy Kincaid
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
Yeah, this is pure nativity.
Well it is Christmas, after all.
Timothy Kincaid
November 27th, 2012 | LINK
Actually, I think a substantial number of moderate Christians do speak out, BUT they don’t do it in the name of God. So that leaves the impression that only the CCs are speaking for God.
I think you are mistaken.
I challenge you to look a bit and you’ll see that at event after event, small town council meetings, Minnesota State Fair, whatever it is there are people there wearing collars and calling for equality in the name of God.
It’s just that these voices NEVER make it onto the news. They just aren’t as interesting as the screaming lunatics spewing hate and, besides, it just doesn’t fit nicely into the predetermined boxes that the media loves to fit people in.
No one says, “gay marriage is the topic so lets get a pro-gay preacher and an anti-gay preacher”. Instead they say “let’s get a gay activist and an anti-gay preacher”. And it leaves the impression that all gay people are anti-religious and all religious people are anti-gay.
customartist
November 28th, 2012 | LINK
Tell Obama:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
He has some newly found cred.
Ian Streeter
November 29th, 2012 | LINK
Where indeed? Where is the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen? He has close links with Uganda’s Anglicans, and benefits from their support in his church politicking. Yet, despite a number of requests, he can’t bring himself to make any comment on the this legislation.
customartist
November 29th, 2012 | LINK
Rick Warren has been on CBS & CNN diverting attention from Uganda by selling his book. No mention of Uganda.
CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=generalcomments&hdln=4
CBS: 212-975-3247
(betw. 10:00-11:30 a.m. specifically)
Whitehouse:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
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