Notable:
Exodus Presents Failures As Success Stories Out of Desperation
Exodus International, a worldwide umbrella group for the ex-gay ministries, was accused today by former member Shawn O'Donnell of misrepresentation for continuing to post his picture on the front page of its web-site, even though he is now an out and proud gay man. "I can honestly say that in five years, I did not meet one person that I believe had truly changed," said O'Donnell. "What Exodus is doing is damaging lives. They give false hope and when people fail to change they consider killing themselves, as I once did. The harmful work of Exodus almost killed me and I don't want others to suffer."
Why 'ex-gay' programs like Love in Action are immoral
This post will tell you exactly why we have to continue to fight the American Taliban, the Dominionists, that absolutely unhinged element that is trying to take over our culture and invade every aspect of our lives. Homosexuality isn't destroying the family, it's institutions like the "ex-gay" movement that want to emotionally and psychologically destroy gay people. These are gay people who are still trying to come to grips with their orientation; by crushing them with guilt and hellfire, the ex-gay movement represents the height of immorality.
Psychiatric group supports gay marriage
Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group approved a statement Sunday urging legal recognition of gay marriage in the interest of maintaining mental health.
Cincinnati Mayor Challenges Gay Rights Ban
The mayor on Monday called on voters to repeal a 1993 city charter amendment that made Cincinnati the only U.S. city to ban enactment or enforcement of gay-rights laws. [Cincinnati is the only city in the United States to have amended their City Constitution to legalize discrimination against homosexual people (and people who are assumed to be homosexual). The Michigan Anti-gay ballot initiatives were all based on the Cincinnati model.]
Ex-gay
movement's a sham, author says
According to Besen, the ex-gay movement
is a conservative ``strategy in which gay
people could go straight with prayer.''
''The whole thing was political,'' Besen
said. ``They saw the polls and decided that
if they could convince the majority of America
that gay rights was a choice, they could
change public opinion.''
Arrest
proof of American Family Association hypocrisy
I was quite shocked (well, not
really) when I read in an article in the
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal last
Thursday that an employee of the conservative
American Family Association was arrested
on charges of child pornography.
American
Family Association Employee Gets
Porn Charge
A 47-year-old Tupelo man
was being held on a $500,000 bond Thursday
after his arrest on possession of child
pornography.Kerry Dwayne Stevens,
an employee of the Tupelo-based American
Family Association, faces up to 20 years
in prison if convicted. For
the past three years, Stevens has worked
on the production staff for American Family
Radio, which operates more than 140 radio
stations in 29 states.
American
Bar Association Supports Equal Protections
For Children Of Same-Sex Parents
The American Bar Association (ABA), the nation's largest legal group, approved
a policy on Tuesday that supports equal protections for all children, regardless
of the sexual orientation or marital status of their parents. The 410,000-member
group may now lobby for laws that would permit both members of a same-sex couple,
or unmarried heterosexual couple, to establish a legal relationship to the children
they are raising together.
Let
Them Prey
Ex-gay poster boy Michael Johnston starred in television and print ad campaigns.
A full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal featuring the HIV+ Johnston urged gays
to go straight and proclaimed "the truth will set you free". The truth
finally came to light this week after five years of lies and deception. When
Johnston fessed up to the American Family Association, Reverend Jerry Falwell
and Coral Ridge Ministries in late 2002 that he was again having gay sex, these
groups did nothing to warn the public of Johnston's demise.
Council vote expands hate-crimes ordinance
February 5, 2003—Cincinnati City Council
voted 7-2 today to expand the city's hate-crimes
ordinance
to protect gays and lesbians. This in effect
reverses the city ordinance the AFA has been
using
as their sole example (in the entire
United States) of intolerant public policy
and was the basis of the language in the
failed Traverse City Proposal 1 and other
anti-gay ballot proposals around Michigan.
Study
asserts gay folks OK
The children of gay and lesbian parents do just as well as kids of heterosexual
parents, the author of a study on homosexual marriages shows. But Anne-Marie
Ambert, a sociologist for York University who did the report for the Vanier Institute
of the Family, said once kids get to school-age, the main problem they face is
the stigma of others.
Psychiatrist's
Group Supports Gay Adoption Rights
Joining a host of other psychological and medical organizations, the American
Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a statement endorsing the right
of gay and lesbian couples to adopt.
Martin
Luther King's widow assails Bush's
policy
Civil rights leader Coretta Scott King
denounced the Bush administration as
she accepted an award for her work in the
gay community, saying homeland security
should
focus on domestic problems from hate crimes
to homelessness.
Amendment
to remove gay protection from law defeated
Ypsilanti residents rejected an amendment
seeking to remove gays from protection under
the city's Human Rights Ordinance. The amendment
was defeated by 63 percent of the vote Tuesday
in what opponents called a rebuff to discrimination.
The
American Academy of Family Physicians supports
Gay parents
The American Academy of Family Physicians
approved a resolution Oct. 16 supporting legal
rights for gay parents. The measure approved
by the academy’s Congress of Delegates
says the group should work to “establish
policy and be supportive of legislation which
promotes a safe and nurturing environment,
including psychological and legal security,
for all children, including those of adoptive
parents, regardless of the parents’ sexual
orientation.” The group approved support
for medical and life insurance coverage for
domestic partners. “As family physicians
who care for all ages, we believe the health
of American’s children is one of the
utmost importance,” Dr. Warren A. Jones,
president of the academy, said in a written
statement. “Children deserve to be raised
and protected in a safe and nurturing environment.
This policy advocates for the family in all
its complexities and particularly for children.”
How
to do Fraudulent Research on Homosexuality
One of the most frustrating aspects about
much of the so-called research into homosexuality
is the need to separate the authors political
or religious agenda from the facts. This page
outlines ways authors manipulate data - either
because they are ignorant about what they
are discussing or because they are deliberately
seeking to misrepresent the truth.
My
Turn: Don’t ‘Protect’ Me; Give
Me Your Respect
Growing up with a gay father wasn’t easy—but
only because our society doesn’t accept
families like mine
American
Academy of Pediatrics endorses homosexual
parents
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says
children who are born to, or adopted by, one
member of a gay or lesbian couple deserve
the security of two legally recognized parents.
Judge
Orders Arrest
The Mabons are being sued for not paying $30,000
in damages stemming from a 1991 lawsuit filed
by Catherine Stauffer, a photojournalist,
who was assaulted by Scott Lively during an
anti-gay rally. [Scott Lively is one of
the AFA spokespeople who spoke in Traverse
City]
The
American Family Association Culture War's
Latest Round Won by City
The unwelcome mat that the city of San Francisco
laid out for the AFA President Rev. Donald
Wildmon and his companions on the religious
right can stay exactly where it is, the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. New City
Attorney Dennis Herrera issued a press release
praising the decision. "Cities have the
right to state their views about human rights
just like anyone else."
The
Real American Taliban
Now
that America has taken on religious persecution
in Afghanistan–and boasted about it from
here to kingdom come–will we have the
courage to do so right here in our own country?
Anti-gay
rights drive ignores facts
It is quite telling that the gay-bashing crusaders
continue to push for the amendment even though
it doesn't infringe on any of their rights.
Their very persistence exposes their true
motives. They're in it for the intolerance,
not for the democracy.
Gerald
Ford: Treat gay couples equally
Former President Gerald Ford believes the
federal government should treat gay couples
the same as married couples, including providing
equal Social Security and tax benefits.
A
survey of gay and straight adults shows both
to be equally happy with their lives.
The
study, by David L. Weis, a professor of family
and consumer sciences at Bowling Green State
University in Bowling Green, Ohio says happiness
is not "as simple as gender." Weis
and a team of researchers analyzed data from
surveys of 1,500 men and women and determined
whether the study participants were heterosexual,
homosexual, bisexual or not sexually active...
Source
for the full study: The Journal of Sex Research,
Volume 38, Number 3, August 2001, Article
Entitled: Differences Between Sexual Orientation
Behavior Groups and Social Background, Quality
of Life, and Health Behaviors, by Stephen
M. Horowitz, David L. Weis, and Molly T. Laflin
Church
plans to welcome gay, lesbian members
Peace Mennonite Church members said they would
follow in the compassionate steps of Jesus
by publicly welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgendered people to their services
as full members.
State
voters 3, outstate closed minds 0
Michigan residents in three cities voted for
tolerance Tuesday and sent a strong message
that they trust their local elected officials
to do the right thing without outside influence.
Gays
ensure rights legislation
Michigan has had more anti-gay ballot
proposals than any other state in the country,
but the Nov. 6 elections dealt the anti-gay
movement a devastating blow.
Anti-gay
bias is being replaced by fairness
When citizens showed up at a City Council
meeting to wave Bibles, they gave us a revelation:
America's bigots are living in their own version
of end times. Read
You
Decide
Are fundamentalist Christians using anti-gay
arguments that echo back to the Nazi era?
Examine the quotes, and decide for yourself.
League
of Women Voters say NO to Proposal 1
The Board of the League of Women Voters voted
unanimously today to support a NO vote on
Traverse City Proposal 1. The League at all
levels (national, state and local) affirms
its belief and commitment to diversity and
pluralism. LWV in both principles and practices
promotes the inclusion and participation of
all persons, whatever their gender, race,
socioeconomic status, creed, age, sexual orientation,
national origin or disability. Proposal 1
would prohibit city officials from amending
the city charter to extend any city non-discrimination
policy to cover sexual orientation. All people
deserve equal protection under the law. We
urge Traverse City voters to vote NO on Proposal
1.
Jane
S. Watts, president of the League of Women
Voters
Traverse City
Anti-gay
campaigns under fire for Boy Scout literature
Unauthorized use of the Boy Scouts of America's
name and image has two anti-gay campaigns
and one Scout leader under fire this week
as three communities inch toward important
votes on gay and lesbian issues.
TC
Democrats and Rights Commission reject Prop.
1
Two more organizations have taken steps to
defeat Proposal 1 in Traverse City. At a meeting
last week The Grand Traverse County Democratic
Party decided to mail their membership, aproximately
2,500 people, and urge them to "just
say no" to the proposed charter amendment
which they recognize "would make it permanently
legal to discriminate against gay people."
Area
clergy, doctors call for a 'No' on Proposal
1
Local doctors, clergy and other civic groups
banded together Monday morning to urge a "no"
vote on the city's controversial Proposal
1 ballot question to be decided Nov. 6.
Spotlight
on state
Activists on both sides of gay rights are
closely watching ballot measures on Nov. 6:
In Traverse City, voters will decide whether
to adopt a charter amendment banning city
leaders from adopting legislation offering
civil protection to gays.
New
Michigan Website Exposes the American Family
Association
"The AFA, like most of the religious
right, relies on outdated, inaccurate, and
sometimes ludicrous "research" or
"data" to back up their anti-gay
campaign of bigotry. In nearly every area
that the AFA uses this "research"
it is misleading at best and complete rubbish
at worst."
Abusing
images of children does not help family values
Anyone who didn't get the connection between
the Boy Scouts and Traverse City's Proposal
1 in recent mailings from Proposal 1 backers
shouldn't feel bad.
TC
Yes “Proposal 1” postcard riles
local Scout leaders
A campaign postcard endorsing the city's Proposal
1 ballot issue which shows three Boy Scouts
saluting the American flag has drawn strong
objections from local Scout leaders! The local
council will be pursuing legal remedies against
TC Yes and the AFA...
