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 9th, 2015
The Obama Administration has announced it’s opposition to reparative therapy practiced on minor for the purpose of changing their sexual orientation.
The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm. As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.
Alan Chambers has written an opinion piece in the Religious News Service to support the act of the administration.
This ban is in no way an attempt to strip parents of their ability to be good parents or to keep them from helping their child to navigate the complexities of sex and sexuality. Nor is it an infringement on religious liberties.
Regardless of a person’s opinions on sexual morality, efforts to change someone’s primary sexual orientation are dangerous and always unsuccessful. Every adult should have the right to choose his or her own path. And if someone has a religious or moral objection to a particular sexual expression, then who are we to tell that person he or she must embrace a specific act or identity?
But this has nothing to do with that.
This is about protecting kids from unsubstantiated claims that sexual orientation can be changed. This is about protecting the mental health of kids by validating their worth as human beings who are loved by God. This is about reducing shame and stigma and providing an opportunity for them to grow into mature adults who make decisions based on reality, not fear.
I suspect many at the Religious News Service need to hear that message.
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:
Ben in Oakland
April 9th, 2015
I have to say, and I will give him credit for it, that Alan is trying to make up for the damage he did.
Thanks.
etseq
April 10th, 2015
Maybe its just my moral failing but I still have a difficult time believing anything that comes out of his mouth – especially his claims about his wonderful marriage and his still oddly ambiguous assertions that he is really heterosexual. Protesting a bit too much…
Timothy Kincaid
April 10th, 2015
Etseq,
Alan doesn’t identify as heterosexual. He’s gay and says so.
He’s also in love with Leslie and has a happy marriage. But that doesn’t make him heterosexual.
Priya Lynn
April 10th, 2015
“Maybe its just my moral failing but I still have a difficult time believing anything that comes out of his mouth”.
Given his past your view is understandable, but keep in mind just how drastically he’s changed his position – he’s come a very long way from where he was. He wouldn’t be taking such a drastically different position if he hadn’t really changed.
SharonB
April 10th, 2015
They may not like it, and will pillory him as a sellout and worse; but it is harder for anti-gays to ignore his voice. That alone is significant.
JohnAGJ
April 13th, 2015
I give him props for doing this.
Eric Payne
April 13th, 2015
And, once again, the publicity whore gets his name in print.
What’s next, Chamber? I know… why don’t you get one up on JP? After all, he was only on Cutthroat Kitchen that one time… if you can become a contestant on, say, Survivor, you could get 13 episodes of exposure (presuming you weren’t voted off)… hell, maybe they could bring back Colton, and the two of you could be on the same team!
Soren456
April 13th, 2015
When he acknowledges the suicides—in which his behavior was a participant—I will begin to believe him.
Unless I’ve missed something, he continues to dodge that aspect of what he did. Even listing reasons to ban the “therapy,” he won’t say what it can lead to.
Timothy Kincaid
April 13th, 2015
Soren,
Alan’s op-ed ended with this:
Soren456
April 13th, 2015
Thanks, Timothy.
I didn’t see that.
It changes my opinion of him.
Leave A Comment