Cartoon via SlapUpsideTheHead.com.

The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is rabidly fundraising in an attempt to block a California bill that would limit how ex-gay therapy could be offered in the state. The bill, SB 1172, would prevent minors from receiving ex-gay therapy and require all interested adults to sign an informed consent form that describes how the therapy is harmful and ineffective. NARTH’s latest email today features a list of legal “concerns” from the anti-gay Pacific Justice Institute that are incredibly easy to debunk:

‘CONCERN’: This bill strictly bans counselors from telling young people that it is possible to overcome same-sex attractions and feelings–even if the minor or their parents seek out this type of counseling.

REALITY: Given that it’s not possible to “overcome same-sex attractions and feelings,” the bill simply requires that counselors not lie to clients in order to sell them a bill of goods.

‘CONCERN’: It mandates a new government form that adults must be given before a counselor or therapist can talk to them about “changing” their sexual orientation. The form would strongly discourage anyone from attempting such a change.

REALITY: Discouraging people from harmful therapy by accurately informing them about it is a good thing.

‘CONCERN’: It imposes an absurd government orthodoxy that insists it is possible to change one’s gender, be bisexual, or go from straight to gay, but it is dangerous and not really possible for an LGBT person to become straight.

REALITY: That “absurd government orthodoxy” happens to also be reality. People who are trans don’t “change” their gender — they actualize it, bisexuality exists, and nobody has ever posited the idea that sexual orientation can change in other directions. People just come out.
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Ex-gay fringe group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) has filed a complaint with Maryland’s Montgomery County Board of Education against School Superintendent Joshua Starr over alleged sexual orientation discrimination. The group charges that Starr engaged in “hate speech” when he publicly criticized PFOX for distributing offensive ex-gay flyers to high school students:

STARR: I find the actions of PFOX to be repressible and deplorable. We are bound by law… to enable nonprofits to distribute flyers [...] This group has figured out a way to use that law to spread what I find to be a really disgusting message, quite frankly.

Watch it:

The problem with PFOX is that the group places being LGBT on par with being plagued by a mental illness that can be treated with therapy, a theory that has been disavowed and disproven time and time again. The organization’s entire premise is built on the belief that being gay or transgender is mainly a matter of gender confusion, and that “no one is born gay” and “same-sex attractions can be overcome and gender identity disorder reversed.” Such messages have a harmful stigmatizing effect on all LGBT students, and parents swayed by the pamphlets might force their children to endure the bogus therapy.

While the PFOX flyers never explicitly mention the use of a harmful and ineffective practice most commonly referred to as ‘reparative therapy,’ the group’s website does include a referral directory for obtaining ‘ex-gay’ counseling, as well as Christian prayers for those “tired of living a gay life and wants a fresh start and a new life.” As reparative therapy has been ruled dangerous by numerous medical experts, California is currently pushing through legislation that would ban the practice.

– Fatima Najiy

Colorado Rep. Don Coram (R)

When Colorado Rep. Don Coram (R) cast the deciding vote killing civil unions Monday night in committee, he oddly referenced that he has a gay son — perhaps trying to sugarcoat how anti-gay his decision was. Now, that son, Dee Coram, has spoken out about his father’s failure of leadership, noting that Rep. Coram previously supported letting the full House vote on the bill — where it would have passed:

DEE CORAM: He did say at that time if it goes to the floor, I will vote no. But at that time his stance was that the committee should send it and let the House vote on it. He was given an opportunity here to actually be a leader, and I guess he didn’t take that leadership role. And it’s disappointing to see that on something like this, he said it should have gone to the House floor for a vote. Essentially he prevented that from happening.

Listen to Coram’s comments and his father’s response:

Rep. Coram claimed that he thought it was “appropriate” to discuss his gay son, but he voted against the bill because his constituents don’t support it — though 62 percent of Coloradans do. Apparently, Coram even supports civil unions, but felt the word “spouse” appeared too many times in the bill’s language. As the Gill Foundation’s Leah Pryor-Lease noted on Twitter in the wake of Coram’s vote, “Wonder if Rep. Coram’s district will be coming to his house for Christmas instead of his gay son.”

World-famous Nike-endorsed boxer Manny Pacquiao recently spoke out against marriage equality, suggesting same-sex couples are violating God’s law:

PACQUIAO: God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man. God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other. It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old.

Pacquiao’s comments imply the annihilation of gays and lesbians, putting him in stark contrast with his primary sponsor, Nike. Not only does Nike have a 100 percent score on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, but it has also been a vocal advocate for marriage equality. The Courage Campaign has now launched a petition calling on Nike to drop Manny Pacquiao for his offensive remarks, urging the company not to let its pro-equality reputation be tarnished by such a negative role model.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is often cited to condemn homosexuality, because in it, God destroyed the two towns after its citizens attempted to gang rape two male visitors who turned out to be angels — though little in the story resembles modern-day understandings of same-sex orientations or relationships. In his Examiner story about Pacquiao’s comments, journalist Granville Ampong also invoked Leviticus 20:13, which calls for men who lie with men to be put to death, confusing other outlets to believe Pacquiao had quoted it himself. Ampong has since clarified that he added the verse himself because of his own desire to emphasize his view of the Bible’s anti-gay perspective.

The Obama administration announced yesterday that it would consider vetoing two bills put forth by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, both of which contain anti-gay provisions. In its one Statement of Administration Policy, the White House outlined numerous reasons it opposes the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains a military “license to bully” provision and restricts same-sex marriages or similar ceremonies from being held on military bases. The other Statement of Administration Policy addressed the Violence Against Women Act, from which House Republicans stripped all protections for minority groups:

H.R. 4970 retreats from this forward progress by failing to include several critical provisions that are part of the Senate-passed VAWA reauthorization bill.  For instance, H.R. 4970 fails to provide for concurrent special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction by tribal authorities over non-Indians, and omits clarification of tribal courts’ full civil jurisdiction regarding certain protection orders over non-Indians.  Given that three out of five Native American women experience domestic violence in their lifetime, these omissions in H.R. 4970 are unacceptable.

The bill also fails to include language that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT victims in VAWA grant programs.  No sexual assault or domestic violence victim should be beaten, hurt, or killed because they could not access needed support, assistance, and protection.  In addition, H.R. 4970 does not include important improvements to the Clery Act found in the Senate-passed bill that would address the high rates of dating violence and sexual assault experienced by young people in college and other higher education institutions.  The bill also weakens critical new provisions in the Senate-passed bill that would improve safety for victims living in subsidized housing.

Last year, anti-gay provisions that House Republicans had added to the defense budget were dropped in conference. Hopefully VAWA can achieve similar agreement this year.