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 lobbyMarch 7th, 2015
The plethora of amicus briefs have now been filed encouraging the US Supreme Court to find that anti-gay marriage bans violate the Equal Protections and Due Process provisions of the US Constitution. They included
Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. This brief was signed by the 229 mayors from the nation’s largest cities to tiny burgs, from cities with vastly different racial, religious, and cultural heritage, by Republicans and Democrats, along with several dozen towns that signed on.
Corporations. Leaders of the nation’s largest corporations circulated a brief which garnered support from the Who’s Who of business. Most of the names you would expect to see – such as Apple, Microsoft, Target and Wells Fargo – are there. But also included in the 379 names are some less obvious supporters like Alcoa, New England Patriots, and ConAgra Foods.
Project Right Side. Ken Mehlman circulated the brief obtaining support from Republicans, Libertarians and other conservatives. Among the 300-plus signatures are some expected names: Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Senator Susan Collins, and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Other names were less expected, such as Meg Whitman, who did not support equality while running for California Governor in 2010, Andrea Saul, Mitt Romney’s press secretary, and Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the guy who hired Andrew Shirvell. They range from longtime supporters to newly evolved to some I assumed were foes of equality.
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:
Straight Grandmother
March 7th, 2015
You know Jim & Gabriel Arana are cited in the Amicus Brief filed by the
Ex-Gay Survivors.
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/resources/entry/amici-briefs-to-the-united-states-supreme-court-in-support-of-the-freedom-t
Hunter
March 8th, 2015
It looks as though Mehlman got all the sane Republicans to sign on.
And it seems the hard-core AFA supporters are going to have to go back to living in caves and wearing skins — that is, if they’re really serious about their boycotts. Hmm — now that I think of it, sod houses used to be quite the rage in Kansas and Oklahoma, didn’t they?
Lord_Byron
March 8th, 2015
I would point out that if it weren’t for Mehlman and many of the republicans that signed on we wouldn’t have these bans in the first place. They either directly supported the bans or supported those that pushed for the bans. Signing something now that marriage equality is practically assured means nothing in my opinion.
For example, one of the koch brothers signed and yet he and his groups have spent millions to help elect increasingly homophobic conservatives to office.
Mark F.
March 9th, 2015
Anyone who criticizes Republicans yet voted for Obama in 2008, when he ran in opposition to marriage equality (which later turned out to be a cynical lie), can’t be taken too seriously.
Marcus
March 9th, 2015
@Lord_Byron: I largely agree “Signing something now that marriage equality is practically assured means nothing” politically (it may be personally important to them and their friends, but it shouldn’t matter much to voters). That includes Democratic politicians who recast themselves as LGBT advocates for opposing marriage bans since 2009 or so, when their donor and voter bases had already made it risk-free and beneficial, and to corporations who jumped on board once the winning side became clear. They all deserve an acknowledgement, but not high praise.
Nathaniel
March 9th, 2015
Furthermore, the support of “increasingly homophobic conservatives” is coincidental. If you aren’t educated enough to to understand the ramifications of human impact on the climate and environment, then you are likely not educated enough know that love is love. But a Koch candidate need only meet the former requirement.
But, as both Mark F.’s and Marcus’s comments suggest, if it weren’t for Mehlman and co., we would still have had those bans. It is also likely that some of those behind said bans would have switched to supporting equality, just as we see now. We have succeeded in erasing many of the negative impacts of fighting for LGBT equality, and even succeeded in inflicting penalties for denying equality, so no matter what the name or party, we would see people switch to our side for purely political reasons. But let’s not be cynical about them; let’s see them for what they are – evidence of progress, fruit of the labors of generations of people fighting for justice for ALL.
Further, perhaps I am a bit cynical about our chances before SCOTUS, so seeing a chorus of voices raised in our favor makes me hopeful that if a fifth Justice was sitting on the fence, he may be swayed by the tidal wave of support to rule for FULL equality across the nation.
Leave A Comment