Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyApril 8th, 2013
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) calls for a tactical retreat on the federal level in the short term in exchange for a thirty-year state-by-state ground game:
(at 5:29) I think that we’ve got a long history with marriage. I’m not willing to give up on it yet, and the family unit, even above and beyond America and before America, the family unit is something that has come about for thousands of years, you know. We’ve had a family structure and thing it’s an important structure. And not everybody in the country is going to agree with me on that. You know, there are people, and young people seem to be changing their opinions. But I think we should still be in favor of what what we’re in favor of. And that there is a traditional family unit and that it’s important.
The law is going to be someone different in the sense of where marriage is adjudicated, whether it’s at the federal level or at the state level. We’ve always had marriage certificates and we’ve had them at the state level. If we keep it that way, maybe we can still have the discussion going on without making the decision go all the way one way or all the way the other way. Because I think right now if we say we only believe in a federally-mandated one-man, one-woman marriage, we’re going to lose that battle because the country is going the other way right now. If we were to say each state can decide, I think a good 25, 30 states still do believe in traditional marriage, and maybe we allow the debate to go on for another couple of decades and see if we can still win back the hearts and minds of people.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
occono
April 8th, 2013
What a sterling libertarian.
David in the O.C.
April 8th, 2013
Who the hell is “giving up” on opposite-sex marriage? People that support marriage equality ALSO support men and women still getting married.
So according to Mr. Paul, if you allow gay couples to ALSO have the right to get married, then the opposite-sex couple “family unit” will no long exist? How exactly does that work? Men won’t marry women anymore if that gay couple that they don’t even know gets married?
Ben In Oakland
April 8th, 2013
Still the same protect marriage defense of marriage nonsense. Protect marriage from little old me, who can destroy marriage with two snaps up of my little pinky and bring down the wrath of god?
This is why civil unions are not going to make it for me. becuase it accepts that so called logic, which in my book is simply another antigay imsult.
Priya Lynn
April 8th, 2013
I’m sick of this trojan horse too. All this “we’ve got a long history with marriage…I’m not willing to give up on it…the family unit…a family structure an important structure…we should still be in favor of what what we’re in favor of…there is a traditional family unit and that it’s important.” is just a mask for what they’re really about which is being anti-gay.
They do NOTHING for “marriage, the family unit, the important structure, the traditional important family unit”, their actions are strictly anti-gay, not pro-family. They don’t get to pretend they’re about something good when the reality is they’re all about something bad.
Sir Andrew
April 8th, 2013
The implication in all of the anti-marriage equality thetoric is that if gays are allowed to marry, straights will be denied marriage rights. AND the children of opposite-gender parents will be taken from them and given to gay parents to raise. Fear, fear and more fear based on non-existent threats. It pisses me off that news analysts have yet to identify this weakness in the arguments.
Gene in L.A.
April 8th, 2013
“You know, there are people, and young people seem to be changing their opinions. But I think we should still be in favor of what what we’re in favor of. And that there is a traditional family unit and that it’s important.”
Why can’t Americans teach their children how to speak?
Richard Rush
April 8th, 2013
The bottom line is that gays are icky, and anything we touch is forever tainted. Ergo, the sanctity of traditional marriage and divorce must be protected from those whose presence would soil it.
I’ve sometimes thought that my husband and I are a major threat to traditional marriage because our 31 years together make so many of them seem inferior when you consider all their irresponsible reckless breeding and frequent divorces. But then I always come to my senses and realize that it can never play out that way because we are icky.
kathy
April 8th, 2013
Paul says marriage is adjudicated at the state level but my husband and I get over 1000 benefits because our marriage is federally recognized. As long as that injustice exists for married gay and lesbian couples, we have to change federal law.
Tony
April 8th, 2013
This is from the guy who wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act, and abolish the Fed. He has lots of unrealistic dreams. Him and his father act like naive school children.
JohnAGJ
April 8th, 2013
I don’t know why everyone here is unable to see a victory from this. Paul may not be an advocate for SSM but what he is doing is giving the GOP, especially its social con wing, a way to disengage on this issue on the national stage. That only benefits SSM moving forward. I’d like a total victory now, today, but am realistic about it. We’ve accomplished much more than I thought possible in the past decade, and State after State are slowly coming around. So if the battle is thrown to the States for awhile, so be it. As Paul tacitly acknowledges, it’s a losing battle. There’s a generational change that’s quickly coming and the more States that break for SSM or even civil unions the closer we get to a Loving-type ruling on the remaining holdouts. This is not perfect but I see Paul’s remarks as good progress.
Timothy Kincaid
April 9th, 2013
Ugh.
But if, IF, Paul is saying that DOMA should be reversed and that the FMA should be abandoned, I’ll welcome that message.
(But he really does need to stop pretending that he’s libertarian)
Hunter
April 9th, 2013
JohnAGJ — I’m not so sanguine about a state-by-state approach. Look what’s happening in the states on women’s health care and reproductive autonomy. And now there are clowns like Cuccinelli in Virginia, who’s fighting to keep an unconstitutional sodomy law on the books. While support for equal marriage may be growing nationally — and in every state, if I’m to believe this morning’s headlines — that doesn’t translate to votes in legislatures. And the idea of popular votes on this matter makes my hair stand up and always has.
And there is a fundamental federal issue involved here — the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal treatment under the law. I’m perfectly happy to have that supersede any state law.
And Rand Paul is an idiot anyway. I’m pretty sure he’s the stupidest sitting senator.
MattNYC
April 9th, 2013
Well, he does hold the “Jim Bunning Certifiable Moron” seat…
homer
April 9th, 2013
He wants so bad to tell the rest of us exactly how to live our lives. While pretending to be a libertarian.
JohnAGJ
April 10th, 2013
@Hunter: It makes the struggle more lengthy but I view Paul’s remarks as a tacit admission of defeat. He strongly has indicated that the most the socons can hope for is to prolong the inevitable and maybe reverse the tide, although he doesn’t seem very confident of the latter. In fact, I’d say this is just a sop to the socons to help them disengage nationally without “losing face” or feeling like they’ve compromised on their principles. Whatever, if it helps move this along than I’m all for it. I’d prefer having two parties that focus on real issues rather than just the social wedges.
Leave A Comment