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 8th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
California House Committee to Hold Hearings On Ex-Gay Therapy Ban: Sacramento, CA. S.B. 1172, the bill which would ban therapy intended to change sexual orientation for minors, is expected to be heard in the California Assembly Appropriations Committee today. It’s expected that the bill will sail through the committee since it has no impact on state expenditures or revenues. This is the last step before the bill hits the House floor for a final vote.
The bill has undergone extensive changes since it was first introduced in the Senate earlier this year. The bill originally mandated that adult patients undergoing SOCE (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts) sign an informed consent statement, and provided civil penalties for those who felt they were harmed by SOCE. The bill also banned licensed therapists from providing SOCE to minors under the age of eighteen. Because the bill applied to licensed therapists only, it did not affect ex-gay ministries operating in the state.
The original bill garnered opposition not only from NARTH, but also from several professional groups such as the California Psychiatric Association, the California Psychological Association, the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. During negotiations with the professional organizations, all of the bill’s provisions were dropped except for the ban on SOCE for minors. The bill also now stipulates that the violations of that ban will subject the therapist to penalties as determined “by the licensing entity for that mental health provider.” As a result of those changes, the professional organizations have dropped their opposition to the bill, and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists have switched to supporting the measure.
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Antwerp, Belgium; Eugene/Springfield, OR; Fargo ND/Moorhead MN; Indianapolis, IN (Black Pride); Mannheim, Germany; Moscow, ID; Orange Co, CA; Reykjavik, Iceland; Sligo, Ireland; Toledo, OH; Wakefield, UK; and Windsor, ON.
AIDS Walk This Weekend: Denver, CO.
Other Events This Weekend: Northalsted Market Days Street Fair, Chicago, IL; Provincetown Carnival, Provincetown, MA; Rendezvous LGBT Camping, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY; Toronto Leather Pride, Toronto, ON.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Congress Holds Hearings on Mattachine Society: 1963. “If these people are a charitable organization promoting homosexuality, I’ve grown up in a wrong age,” Rep. John Dowdy (D-TX) said as the House Subcommittee for the District of Columbia opened hearings on a bill to strip the Mattachine Society of Washington of its fundraising permit. The permit had been award to the group by D.C. officials in August 1962 when the group demonstrated that it qualified for the permit under the Charitable Solicitations Act. Mattachine president Frank Kameny then sent a statement to members of Congress along with excerpts from the Society’s constitution. Noting that gays were barred from federal employment, military service and security-sensitive positions in the private sector, Kameny blasted federal laws as “archaic, unrealistic, and inconsistent with basic American principles. … Policies of repression, persecution, and exclusion will not prove to be workable ones in the case of this minority, any more than they have, throughout history, in the case of other minorities.”
Kameny’s letter ended with an offer to meet with members of Congress. Dowdy, instead, introduced a bill in July which specifically singled out the Mattachine Society for the revocation of its permit. A second section of the bill would provide that no solicitation permits could be issued unless the District’s Commissioners determined that the “solicitation which would be authorized by such certificate would benefit or assist in promoting the health, welfare and morals of the District of Columbia.”
During the subcommittee’s hearing on August 8, city officials opposed the measure on constitutional grounds, with the District Republican Committee joining the city in opposing the measure. Dowdy was indignant at the opposition. “You contrast that with permitting the solicitation of funds for perversion and morality. Which is more important to the community?” Noting that Congress had passed laws designed to curb the Communist Party, he continued, “As far as I know, all the security risks that have deserted the United States have been homosexuals. Do you place them on a higher plane than communists?” Rep. Basil Whitener (D-NC) joined the fray, asking if the Commissioners “want to repeal the section of the Criminal Code dealing with sodomy.” Mattachine president Frank Kameny was also at the hearing. He was just beginning to read a prepared statement when the hearing was suddenly adjourned until the next day due to a quorum call on the House floor.
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Dave H
August 8th, 2012
“If these people are a charitable organization promoting homosexuality, I’ve grown up in a wrong age,†Rep. John Dowdy (D-TX) said…
Well, at least he was correct on that point.
MattNYC
August 8th, 2012
Jim,
A Mattachine cliffhanger!
Please tell me that you will follow up on the upcoming “agendas”! I could google it, but I like the serial format :)
Jim Burroway
August 8th, 2012
A cliff-hanger indeed. There will be more tomorrow.
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