Box Turtle Bulletin

Domestic Partnership, Non-Discrimination Laws Signed In Oregon

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed two important bills into law today. One will allow same-sex couples to enter into “domestic partnerships,” with many of the benefits currently available to married couples. The other bans discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in employment, housing and other public accommodations. Both become effective January 1.

Oregon joins California, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington state in offering civil unions or domestic partnerships, although the definitions vary widely among these states. Only Massachusetts allows same-sex marriage. New Hampshire’s legislature recently passed its own civil unions bill which is expected to be signed into law soon.

A Gay Man’s Experience Attending Love Won Out – Part II

Today’s podcast is a continuation of my interview with Jim Burroway who attended Love Won Out. Jim discusses “ex-lesbian” Melissa Fryrear’s talk and the shocking effect it had on parents who took her outrageous statements literally.

A Full Time WHAT?

What does Exodus International do?  Quick, what’s your first answer?  If you said, “Serve as an umbrella organization for ex-gay ministries that seek to serve those unhappy with their same-sex attraction”, you could be forgiven.  It’s an easy mistake.

But let’s take a quick look at a little item in this “Special Report” by anti-media activist Cliff Kincaid (no relation):

Alan Chambers, the former homosexual who runs Exodus International, tries to interest the media in the fact that true change from homosexuality is possible and that people have experienced and can talk about true change. Chambers says he employs a full-time communications specialist to reach out to the media…[emphasis mine]

Personally, I think it’s time to recognize that Exodus has very little anymore to do with serving ex-gay strugglers and much more to do with anti-gay media and political activism.

Paul Cameron Denounced in Anthropology News

It’s been a full year since Paul Cameron’s paper on gay parenting appeared in the Journal of Biosocial Science. Despite a barrage of emails from Abigail Garner, (one of the authors whose work Cameron misrepresented in the paper), myself and others, there has been nothing but silence from the journal’s editors.

This month, Anthropology News published a series of articles in its May edition addressing Cameron’s publication in the JBS. Unfortunately, the contents of that newsletter are not online. But Raymond Hames, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska, sent me the text of an article he co-wrote with Edward H. Hagen, of the Institute for Theoretical Biology at Humboldt University in Berlin.

That article, “A Case of Misrepresenting the Scientific Record on the Effects of Parents’ Sexual Orientation,” calls the Journal of Biosocial Science to task for the failure of its peer-review process to uncover Cameron’s rather obvious weaknesses and distortions. The scientific peer-review process ordinarily assumes that a researcher is acting in good faith, that “a genuine attempt was made to learn about the world.”

However, recent events have shown that an author’s good faith can’t be taken for granted. Not only are there career pressures to report breakthroughs that haven’t occurred, but personal biases can also drive an author’s efforts:

At the extreme, partisans repeatedly shop a piece of strongly biased pseudo-science to a large number of journals in the hopes that their “result” will slip through at one, gaining the imprimatur of acceptance in a peer-reviewed journal. We regret to report a recent instance involving Paul Cameron, an anti gay-rights activist, and the Journal of Biosocial Science (JBS). JBS, published by Cambridge, is edited by well-regarded biological anthropologist C G N Mascie-Taylor and features an impressive editorial board, with members from universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and UC Berkeley.

Professors Hagen and Rames briefly describe a couple of the particular flaws in Cameron’s JBS article, some of which I reported last year. They also note that pro-gay biases can inflect research as well. However:

In light of increasingly sophisticated attempts to manipulate the scientific record to political ends, journal editors must ensure manuscripts are sent to reviewers who know the relevant research literature and who have the requisite methodological skills. In a “Debate” section, JBS did publish a reply to Cameron by Todd Morrison (who does not discuss the problems we identified here). Unfortunately, this has further legitimized Cameron’s junk science by suggesting that Cameron is engaged in a real scientific debate. JBS, unlike Science in the Hwang Woo-suk [fraudulent stem cell research] fiasco, has failed to acknowledge or address the real issue: the severe failure of its review process.

Professors Hagen and Rames wrote to the JBS editors last August with their objections to Cameron’s article, and JBS was invited to respond to the articles in Anthropology News. The editors have not responded in either case.

Luggage Handler Fired For Anti-Gay Airport Announcement

Luggage attendant Jethro Monestime, 23, was fired after admitting that he played a recording of an anti-gay message over the P.A. system of the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport on two separate occasions at 12:45 a.m. on May 1.

Monestime admitted using his cell phone to play a recording that said, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, they should be put to death.” Monestime apologized for the incident, describing it as a prank. Anthony Niedwiecki, a law professor who heard the broadcast with his six-year partner, Waymon Hudson, said he didn’t consider it a prank but a death threat.

Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr., said the Sheriff’s Office would turn the case over to the Broward State Attorney’s Office to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.

“You May Say I’m A Dreamer”

This showed up in my inbox yesterday. It’s a terrific project, so I’ll just let Steve Schalchlin tell it in his own words:

You might know, or know of, Gabi Clayton whose son, Bill, committed suicide after a gaybashing. She’s been a longtime PFLAG mom and advocate. This coming Tuesday, the John Lennon PEACE Piano Project will take its place in her home on the anniversary of Bill’s death. Led by George Michael and his partner, Kenny Goss, the project takes the piano John Lennon wrote “Imagine” on and brings it to places of violence where they are taking photos for an exhibit and a picture book telling these stories. There’s also a documentary of the event being shot.

I’ve been invited to fly to Olympia, where Gabi lives, and play “Imagine” on this piano. I’m also going to sing “Will It Always Be Like This? (Gabi’s Song),” which I wrote about Gabi and Bill. If you have space on your blog, I would love to have this event mentioned. The blog item describing it in detail is here.

Thanks!
Steve Schalchlin

Congratualtions, Steve! This is a terrific way to bring attention to the senselessness of violence.

What About The Parents?

When I went to the Love Won Out ex-gay conference in Phoenix, I fully expected to come out of that conference ready to talk about struggling ex-gays. Instead, as I sat there surrounded by parents, I realized that there are thousands of stories that haven’t been told — the stories of parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and grandparents. We have so much to learn from them about how they are sometimes harmed by ex-gay ministries.

This morning, Peterson Toscano gives us a stark example of how ex-gay programs can harm parents of struggling ex-gays. It’s very poignant. We must remember, ex-gays aren’t the only ones caught up in the harmful fallout of the ex-gay movement. It often affects the entire family.

In The Navy: Discharged Gay Sailor Reactivated

He thought his Navy days were behind him:

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.

Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.

But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Knight– yes, he’s even been promoted — has decided that this time, having been kicked out once for being gay, there’s no reason to go back into the closet. And he’s even more determined this time to remain open, especially since Marine Gen. Peter Pace, Charmian of the Joint Chiefs described homosexually as immoral. Says Knight, “(T)here isn’t much they can do to me they haven’t done the first time.”

It looks like his fellow sailors are completely on board with his new openness while in uniform:

“He’s better than the average sailor at his job,” said Bill Driver, the leading petty officer of Knight’s 15-person customs crew in Kuwait. “It’s not at all a strange situation. As open as he is now, it was under wraps for quite a while. It wasn’t an issue at work.”

Another sailor with the detail, Petty Officer 1st Class Tisha Hanson, works in admin and has had to process discharges for homosexual sailors before.

“I’ve obviously never heard of something like this happening before,” she said of Knight’s return to active duty. “But it doesn’t bother me. The Navy tends to keep people who don’t want to be here, but Jason does.”

Sen. John McCain recently affirmed his support for continuing to discharge enthusiastic and qualified servicemembers in time of war, saying, “I believe polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units.”

But a recent Zogby poll confirms that Knight’s crewmates aren’t all that unusual in their willingness to serve alongside him. Perhaps Sen. McCain should actually talk to some of the those service members before assuming that there would be a breakdown in unit effectiveness. In today’s Navy, that kind of anachronistic thinking is quickly sinking.

Maybe They Didn’t Believe Him – Or Maybe they Really Don’t Care

According to the Stars and Stripes, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally acknowledged that he is gay – on his wedding night.  Being the honest sort, he told his soon-to-be-ex wife and his boss, the Navy.  The wife’s response isn’t reported, the Navy kicked him out.

Then, though no one is sure how it happened, they changed their mind and asked him back.  So now Petty Officer 2nd Class Knight (he’s been promoted) is serving in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo as an openly gay man.

And no one seems to care.  Who knows, maybe everyone except John McCain already realizes that DADT is soon to be departed. 

The Reason for Opposition to HR 1592

Conservative Christian activists have been very vocal – shrill, you might say – in their opposition to HR 1592, a bill that would include “sexual orientation” into the existing structure used to monitor and prosecute violent crimes motivated by hatred of a class of people.  And folks of good will and a desire to understand their opposition have speculated on why there is such a swirl of anger, why those in opposition are willing to make outrageous and blatantly ridiculous claims.

Some think that it might be fear of encroachment on the rights of the religious to vocalize their opposition to homosexuality.  Others think it might be the codification into federal law of the concept of sexual orientation.  Others think it simply that conservatives oppose hates crimes legislation in general and will be against ANY advancement of the concept.

While those are good and smart speculations, I believe the issue is both deeper and simpler than this.  Quite simply, I propose that they oppose the bill because gay people support it. 

The following is extracted from an e-mail correspondence I had with the author of an article who insisted that he was neither hateful nor homophobic (he was both) and that his motivation was not religious but impartial (he wrote for Catholic publications). Nonetheless, I think it is perhaps the most honest explanation of the motivation behind the opposition to this bill and indeed any bill that is viewed as favorable to gay people.

Conservative Christians, I contend, see American culture as going through a process of radical secularization, i.e., de-Christianization. They see the gay movement and its demands as part of this process. They are fighting to resist this secularization process, just as people on your side are fighting to advance it. They see you people (I mean the advocates of moral liberalism) as aggressors; they see themselves as on the defensive. According to your propaganda, you are victims of would-be “theocrats.”

…

As for myself, I have introspected (honestly I hope), and I find no homophobic feelings in my heart. Frankly, I don’t give a damn what people do in their private sexual lives. But I have a very strong dislike of the gay political movement, just as I have a strong dislike of all leftwing political movements. When I was younger I disliked Communism (I still dislike it, but it hardly counts anymore), and now I dislike moral liberalism and the gay movement. I am sorry to hear that you take this personally and feel that I hate YOU (I am assuming, perhaps mistakenly, that you yourself are gay). But I don’t plan to change my political convictions because you and other gays happen to have some misplaced hurt feelings.

I say to all of you: Grow up. Appreciate the fact that you are living in a free country in which citizens have the right to disagree with your political-cultural agenda.

The objection to HR 1592 has nothing whatsoever to do with the content of HR 1592. The opposition is part of the Great Culture War and is simply an effort to defeat the enemy and his agenda.

And gay people, by definition, are the enemy.

I readily admit that there are thinking and principled legislators out there who have estabished an opposition to the bill based on their convictions and principles. But when it comes to the anti-gay activists and the anti-gay voting block, it really doesn’t matter what we ask for. They will oppose it. Period.

This is the same reason that Exodus will leave “mortality rates” on their website for years that they know to be false. This is the same reason that Love Won Out will suggest that Nancy Heche prayed away her daughter’s gay. This is the same reason that Chuck Colson will deliberately lie with invalid statistics comparisons. (see Jeremy’s analysis at Good As You).

Because it’s war. And when in war, they believe that honesty, accuracy, truth, personal integrity, Christian charity, and basic decency are all secondary to destroying the enemy.

A Gay Man’s Experience Attending Love Won Out – Part I

It’s Thursday night and here’s this week’s episode, a chat with Jim Burroway about his experience attending Love Won Out in Phoenix. This podcast is part I and focuses on Joseph Nicolosi’s speech.

Is “Love Won Out” Considered “Hate Speech” in Canada?

The blatant lies (I don’t know how else to describe them, frankly) from opponents to hate crime legislation has reached unbelievable heights, peaking this week as the House takes up the bill. While the rhetoric has crescendoed to a deafening buzz lately, anti-gay opponents have been laying the rhetorical groundwork for quite a long time.

I was thinking about this as I prepared to talk to our local PFLAG chapter last night about the recent Love Won Out ex-gay conference in Phoenix. The topic of hate crime legislation was raised during one of Love One Out’s Q&A sessions. Focus on the Family’s Mike Haley responded by citing Canada as an example of what might happen if hate crime legislation were enacted here:

Right now in Canada, some of the Focus on the Family broadcasts that deal with the issue of homosexuality are not allowed to be aired in Canada. Because to say anything but something positive about homosexuality is considered “hate speech”…

[If hate crime legislation passes in America] …They could basically say that what we are doing today would be considered hate speech. And organizations like Focus on the Family or Love Won Out, we might have stop this at some point because someone would consider this to be hateful.

I don’t know how much of his first statement is true. But as I said before, the Canadian constitution is quite different from ours. As a matter of fact, it’s almost as if they had a whole ‘nother country up there.

Besides, the proposed U.S. legislation has nothing to do with speech whatsoever. We already have hate crime laws on the books to cover race and religion, but those laws haven’t prevented the Klan or neo-Nazi’s from demonstrating publicly. It all comes right down to the fact that our First Amendment is pretty ironclad as far as protecting speech is concerned. So even if the proposed legislation tried to ban speech (which it doesn’t!), it wouldn’t past constitutional muster.

But there’s something else that’s interesting in what Haley said. This flew in under my radar because Focus on the Family maintains a separate web site for Canada, but guess what?  Go on. Guess.

That’s right. This coming weekend, Love Won Out is coming to Surrey, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb. That’s in Canada, where “to say anything but something positive about homosexuality is considered ‘hate speech’.” And as I look over the web site, I see an agenda that pretty much mirrors the American one (absent two talks, one which more specifically addresss American education and the other on same-sex marriage, a fait accompli in Canada).

All of this brings up a whole bunch of questions then. For example, are they going to say anything “but something positive about homosexuality?” Somehow I doubt it. And if they are going to say something negative about homosexuality, will they all be arrested for “hate speech?” Somehow I doubt that too.

Say, you don’t suppose Haley was exaggerating a bit, do you?

If anyone happens to be in the Surrey area this weekend, I’d be very interested in learning more about the conference, specifically who shows up to speak and, if possible, what they say. If anyone has any information about this weekend’s Love Won Out, I’d appreciate it if you could drop it in the comments or send it via E-mail. You can find a link to my E-mail at the top of the sidebar to your left.

Beyond Ex-Gay Survivor’s Conference

Soulforce and Beyond Ex-Gay have announced an exciting new opportunity for ex-gay survivors and allies to come together to share their experiences. The Ex-Gay Survivors Conference, to be held on the campus of the Unverisity of California at Irvine June 29 through July 1.

As an ex-ex-gay ally, I plan to be there, and I encourage anyone who has been through an ex-gay experience as well as their family, friends and other allies to attend. You can find out more about it and register here.

Bush Threatens To Veto Hate Crimes Bill

In an apparent cave to the unhinged conservative base, the White House as issued a veto threat against the hate crimes bill that is currently before the House:

The White House, in a statement, said state and local criminal laws already provide penalties for the crimes defined by the bill and “there has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.”

It also questioned the constitutionality of federalizing the acts of violence barred by the bill and said that if it reaches the president’s desk “his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill.”

Update: The House just passed H.R. 1592 by a vote of 237-180. To override an expected presidential veto, they would need to pick up 55 more votes. The bill now goes on to the Senate where it is expected to pass.

Paging All Sodomites At Baggage Claim 3…

Passengers at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport heard an unsettling announcement over the P.A. system at 1 a.m. Tuesday. A gay couple of six years weren’t sure if they heard it correctly:

‘My partner said, ‘Did you hear that?’ And I said, ‘I kind of think I did,'” said Anthony Niedwiecki. “Then about two minutes later we heard it again. ‘A man who lies with a man as if he were lying with a woman shall be subject to death.'”

“It was almost so threatening that I was frightened,” said Waymon Hudson, Niedwiecki’s partner.

Ft. Lauderdale airport officials don’t know who could have made the announcement over the P.A. systems, which are reserved for employee use only. But they also said that at that time of the morning, almost anyone could have accessed it. How’s that for security?