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 lobbyAugust 29th, 2007
Hat tip to Barry James Moore for bringing this to my attention:
[Jef Evans, a] 36-years old gay man, who was raised in a strict fear-based Baptist tradition and who “played the part” but is now agnostic because of the church, gave this 37-minute talk given at Jay Bakker’s Revolution Church in Brooklyn, New York. In the talk Jef also mentions his struggle with the conflict between his faith and sexuality and the idea that “God hates fags”, and the ups and downs of spirituality trying to be pleasing to God. Jef also talks briefly about his time as a student at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, and a book, by Sy Rogers from Exodus, given to him by another student.
Listen to the audio:
[audio:http://www.revolutionnyc.com/audio/20070826.mp3]
(Jef’s first minute is a bit quiet but the mic problem is quickly fixed)
August 29th, 2007
From PFOX’s press release:
As happens every year, gay activists disrupted our booth activities. They screamed obscenities, threw our materials from the exhibit table to the ground, insisted we recognize their same-sex “spouses,” demanded that PFOX leave, and hit a PFOX volunteer because he is ex-gay.
LifeSite.net has a shortened account but as of this blogging no reputable news sources have reported on the incident.
Update: Ex-Gay Watch did some investigating and found local authorties have no knowledge of such an event ever taking place. See more recent post here.
August 29th, 2007
On September 11, 2007 at 7:30 PFLAG Columbia-Howard County is hosting their monthly meeting on the topic of the ex-gay movement. Featured speaker Chris Camp “was part of the ex-gay movement for a number of years” and now works as a mental health professional for the state of Maryland and is involved with Truth Wins Out.
August 28th, 2007
Last November Timothy Kincaid reported at Ex-Gay Watch that Greg Quinlan planned on taking his ex-gay and anti-gay political message to the churches of New Jersey.
PressOfAtlanticCity.com reports Quinlan will take his message to Cumberland County Community Church this weekend.
Since the Ex-Gay Survivor’s Movement has begun there has been a sea-change in how ex-gay issues have been phrased and debated. Cumberland’s paster, Sal Roggio, seems to have picked up on the new and admittedly weak party being used by people pushing ex-gay therapy saying:
“When you lie to someone, you take away their hope,” he said. “I want folks to come in and know there’s hope.”
This “deny people hope” line appears to have been first employed by Randy Thomas and (speaking from personal experince) was met with laughter by ex-gay survivors.
Really guys, come up with a better angle than that.
(via Good As You)
August 23rd, 2007
First I’ll give you a tidbit on Mike Jones who was last spotted in Denver’s independent weekly, Westword, leading absolutely filthy bar trivia.
As for Ted, although he seems to have been cured of his homosexuality in three weeks, we haven’t heard much on the crystal meth front — which is why it’s comic that:
…the Haggard family plans to move into the Phoenix Dream Center to minister to ex-cons, recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, and “other broken people,” Haggard writes. “I identify.” [Source: CO Confidential]
It’s no secret ex-gay groups consider gay people to be “broken.”
However most interesting is a snippet of Ted’s fund raising letter which was reprinted in CO Confidential:
But for the next two years, we [my family] will need support. Between now and the end of the year, we have to find the people who want to help us transition into our future. So I am starting today to let friends like you know that we are raising money for support as we move into the Phoenix Dream Center.
[snip]
If any supporters need a tax deduction for their gift, they can mail it to Families With a Mission at P.O. Box 63125, Colorado Springs, CO 80962. The supporters would need to write their check to “Families With A Mission” and put a separate note on it that it is for the Haggard family, then Families With a Mission will mail us 90% of the funds for support and use 10% for administrative costs.
BoxTurtleBulletin author Timothy (who is an accountant by day) provides this insight about tax law:
[I]f a non-profit is receiving funds which Haggard solicits to be used for his personal benefit and then providing a tax deduction, that would be tax fraud.
There’s plenty more to the story on CO Confidential’s site including the fact his severance package includes pay through the end of 2007 and that the family still owns their $715,000 home in The Springs which has not even been put up for sale but frankly his method for providing tax-deductions was what caught our eye.
August 22nd, 2007
This isn’t big news outside So Cal but Mickey’s, one of WeHo’s more prominant clubs burned down yesterday. I never particularly liked it but it did hold a special place in my heart because it was the first “gay place” my first boyfriend took me out to.
Oh and last year’s Pride float for Mickey’s?
August 8th, 2007
The current issue of The Onion satire newspaper features the headline “Small Town Holds Annual Gay Shame Parade” accompanied by this image:
While The Onion clearly intends for the idea of shaming gay people to be satire Peter LaBarbera has increasingly been using the term in all seriousness. Here’s a Google inventory of LaBarbera’s use of the term “shame.”
July 25th, 2007
I’m sure a couple of you have been wondering what I’ve been up to since the recent flurry of activity at the Survivor’s Conference and Survivor’s Initiative. The answer; moving to Denver.
Why? Because despite having zero debt, zero dependants and working full time as an architect I can’t afford so much as a 600 SF studio condo here in LA, and that’s unacceptable.
Denver was selected because it’s the intellectual, financial and cultural capital of the west with beautiful historic urban fabric, excellent mass transit, and laws which protect me from discrimination. Oh and the job market is booming, I spent a week hunting for jobs there recently and had TWELVE interviews.
Some of you may complain Denver is sooooo expensive — Go tell that to someone who’s not coming from a place where the median home price is 234% higher than Denver. In case you’re curious here’s what $190,000 will buy you in Compton, a 582 SF house that’s been gutted by a fire.
My last day of work is Friday and I begin at one of Denver’s largest, oldest and most prestigious firms on August 13th.
Lastly, it didn’t exactly factor into my decision but I have to add it’ll be nice to be an hour’s drive from Focus On The Family.
July 19th, 2007
Part 1: Former LIA client Brandon Tidwell describes the positives and the negatives at Love In Action. He describes the burdens placed on parents of clients, saying, “I am not gay because of my parents. I am gay because this is how God made me.”
Part 2: Former LIA client David Christie married at age 21, but the marriage fell apart two and a half years later. He describes the sacrifices he made during his year at Love In Action, including having been beaten by a staff member. David and Brandon conclude by handing collages of their stories to an LIA staff member.
Thanks to Peterson for sending these our way.
July 14th, 2007
Religious right groups often point to success in Uganda in fighting the AIDS epidemic claiming a religiously based abstinence-only campaign is the cause of such dramatic results. PBS’s Frontline program takes a look at the impact of American policy on Uganda’s war on AIDS. Click here to watch the entire segment.
July 9th, 2007
Yesterday Soulforce held another Survivor’s Initiative action, this time at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. The first two clips below document the action and the third clip is Peterson Toscano’s (one of the participants) explanation of why these actions are unannounced.
July 5th, 2007
Last week when I posted interviews with former Exodus leaders I noted strategically it has always been difficult to counter Exodus’ claims of change when they use the “I’ve changed and I’m living proof change is possible” argument. I believe highlighting the stories of people who once believed they had changed is an effective answer to Exodus’ approach. I shot a couple more interviews at the Ex-Gay Survivor’s Conference over the weekend and present them here:
Twenty-two years pedaling on a stationary bike: He was part of Australia’s first ex-gay program in 1972.
Twelve years in numbness: Until he realized that his ministry leaders weren’t “changing” either.
Ten years, four ministries, time spent hoping: He finally realized that he was just “stuffing” those feelings more and more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8uQ33glBuk
Eleven years; “Like holding a candle to a bonfire”: He felt he was falling in love with a wonderful woman, until he really fell in love with a man in the church.
Followed the rules at Love In Action: But as soon as he left, he realized that not much had changed.
Assistant House Leader at Love In Action: But he saw too many failures around him, leading him to think there was something wrong with the message.
July 3rd, 2007
Being an intern architect I was curious about the legality of this banner erected at the Miami Beach home/campaign headquarters of mayoral candidate Bill Smatt. If you can’t make out the above photo a section of the banner reads “God created Adam + Eve, not Adam + Steve.” What follows is my analysis of how the Miami Beach municipal code applies to said banner…
July 3rd, 2007
Soulforce has posted some nice photos of the Survivor’s Conference on their website here.
July 3rd, 2007
Earlier today I wrote about Soulforce’s action at NARTH. Here’s video of the event in two parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Kg6_NLElY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J-cfXq23VMSpecial thanks to Esteban Rael for shooting this and all the local community groups that came to support us.
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: