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 lobbyMay 17th, 2010
Anibal Cavaco Silva, the conservative President of Portugal, has announced that he is ratifying the nation’s marriage equality bill. (AP)
Vetoing the bill would only send it back to Parliament where lawmakers would overturn his decision, he said, adding that the country needed to focus on overcoming an economic crisis that has increased unemployment and deepened poverty.
The Socialist government’s bill was backed by all of Portugal’s left-of-center parties, who together have a majority in Parliament. Right-of-center parties opposed the measure and demanded a national referendum.
“Given that fact, I feel I should not contribute to a pointless extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the divisions between the Portuguese and divert the attention of politicians away from the grave problems affecting us,” Cavaco Silva said.
Portugal now becomes the eigth nation (the sixth in Europe) to recognize same-sex marriage.
Green = marriage; Red = civil unions or other recognition
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:
Paul in Canada
May 17th, 2010
…and on the heals of Papa Ratz’ visit – love those Portugese!
Burr
May 17th, 2010
And America continues to fail to live up to its billing..
Tommy
May 18th, 2010
Yes Burr, America tends to be a great idea on paper, less so in reality.
Eric in Oakland
May 18th, 2010
I can’t help but also notice that Italy and Ireland stand out on this map as islands of dark age morality and superstition amidst the rest of enlightenned Western Europe.
Timothy Kincaid
May 18th, 2010
Eric,
Ireland is in process and will likely soon enact law that will provide gay couples with all the rights of heterosexual marriage (the big debate was over whether their constitution would allow them to call it marriage).
Italy, on the other hand, is still in the thrall of the man with the fancy dress and red Gucci slippers.
Mark in Denmark
May 19th, 2010
Eric,
Bear in mind too that public opinion is changing very fast right across Europe on this issue, even in the former Commnunist bloc states.
Same-sex marriage legislation is likely to come in within 2 years max in Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Finland and Denmark. But also in France, Austria and the UK at the moment, there are increasingly loud demands for marriage equality, and the conservative religious lobby has nothing like the influence anywhere in Europe that it has in the US, so this may well become reality sooner than one might have thought.
I predict that within 10 years, all EU countries will have same-sex marriage. There is interchangeability of rights throughout the EU, and it won’t be long before people bring European Court cases claiming recognition of their marriages throughout the Union: such a judgement would lead to the laws automatically being brought into line immediately everywhere in the EU. No-one at all except the Pope is going to complain when that happens: in that respect, Europe is very different from America.
Leave A Comment