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 lobbyFebruary 6th, 2009
Social change occurs in the living room. And in February, marriage equality will be coming to the living room of at least two million housewives. Bianca, Erica Kane’s lesbian daughter, will be marrying her partner Reese (Out.com)
On February 13 and 16, All My Children’s gay super couple, Reese and Bianca will tie the lesbian knot. It’s a historic milestone for daytime TV as no other gay soap couple has ever walked down the aisle — until now. The story is already getting major coverage and snagged the coveted cover of Soap Opera Digest.
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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.
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AlexM
February 7th, 2009
There’s going to be another soap opera very soon — the explosion from the professional anti-gays. Get out the popcorn, sit back, and get ready to hear even more ridiculous statements!
Trevor
February 7th, 2009
Will she get amnesia, forget she’s a lesbian and run off with her long lost twin brother?
David
February 7th, 2009
In a similar vein, HGTV, which runs programs related to home remodeling, home purchases, etc – consistently includes same-sex couples in programming, and does not flag them as unusual or different – but tends to treat them like any other couple.
Duncan
February 7th, 2009
Friends filmed a lesbian wedding in 1995. (2:24) Why are soap operas so far behind sitcoms?
Emily K
February 7th, 2009
Duncan:
Because traditionally, the soap opera audience has been the most conservative of TV audiences.
Elise
February 7th, 2009
Oh, Trevor.
I bet you thought you were joking.
But as a matter of fact, for the past few weeks Reese has been forgetting she’s a lesbian and is slowly falling for her brother-in-law to-be. Spoilers confirm that she’ll kiss him on the eve of her wedding. Seriously. I wish I was making this crap up.
I don’t follow soaps, but I have been following this storyline for the past few weeks out of a morbid fascination with just how god awful lesbian representation has gotten on TV. This isn’t even the only lesbian who’s fallen for a man in the past month–there’s also Liz on Nip/Tuck, who gave her boss comfort sex (like we lesbians do), and then fell for him.
It’s like lesbian representation has fallen through a wormhole and landed somewhere in the mid-1980s.
Emily K
February 7th, 2009
that sucks, Elise. It only reinforces the stereotype among straights that lesbian women are just “going through a phase” or are really “confused,” or “just haven’t found the right man..” and any other number of bullshit reasons.
David
February 7th, 2009
“It only reinforces the stereotype among straights that lesbian women are . . .”
Maybe it means that straight men nowadays are just so darned much like lesbians, sometimes real lesbians get confused. If only straight men would just be more masculine, like, oh gay men . . .
Sure put the whole “moobs” thing in a new light – straight men must be deliberately growing ’em just to trick lesbians into awkward moment sex!
(all of the above is meant in jest, poking fun at het male ideals, rather than make light of the misrepresentation of lesbians on tv)
Trevor
February 9th, 2009
Don’t knock the “awkward moment sex”. If it wasn’t for that I would have actually had to study in college.
Kel Munger
February 9th, 2009
Please don’t forget that it’s a SOAP OPERA.
How often do soap weddings have one or the other of the partners falling for someone else right before the wedding? (Answer: The wedding is ALWAYS threatened by something or other.)
Infidelity is what makes the drama work; no one on a soap is married once. If Bianca had a happy life, she wouldn’t be a soap character. Instead, she’s her mother’s daughter (Erica has been married so many times I’ve lost count.)
Elise
February 9th, 2009
The point is, though, that when those relationships are threatened, it’s very, very rarely by one of the straight partners suddenly and randomly falling for a member of the same sex. If you’re a out lesbian on TV though, odds still run about 50-50 that you’ll go running into the arms of a man at some point (or be strongly tempted to do so). Certainly I can only think of one TV show that never inflicted that storyline on at least one of its out lesbians. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)
homer
February 12th, 2009
On As The World Turns, the gay character Luke made out (while drunk) with his step-grandmother’s new husband. This always makes for awkward family dinners.
Jason D
February 12th, 2009
Elise, Joss Whedon, exec producer of Buffy (and the new Dollhouse) is a self-proclaimed feminist– it wouldn’t occur to him to have a gay character go running off to heterosexuality for safety, especially a lesbian character.
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