'Phony study on lgbt community called out again' & other Fri. midday news briefs

The Truth About The Massive New Study That Has Captivated Anti-LGBT Groups - Zack Ford of Think Progress provides more proof that the recent "study"/report attacking the lgbt community is yet another anti-lgbt industry fraud. But we all need to start paying attention to the fact that it probably won't be the end of fake studies coming from Catholic universities and right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation with the goal of exploiting science to smear us. In the past, anti-lgbt groups such as the Family Research Council manufacture their own in-house "studies." Now they seem to be relying on these new, albeit, still fraudulent entities. Don't just insult it. Call it out. 

Texas AG to schools: Disregard fed’l guidance for trans students - Because those fraudulent studies will be used in court to justify actions like what the Texas AG did in this article. Our lgbt children are at risk. 

 Where in the Bible does it say you can’t be transgender? Nowhere. - I LOVE this column for so many reasons. It's intelligently written, challenges lazy notions of Biblical beliefs, and the comments section is practically on fire.  

Bryan Fischer Decries Name-Calling, One Day After Calling LGBT Activists 'Bigots' And 'Haters' - Poor Bryan Fischer. A hater AND a hypocrite.

'Why Does God Hate Me?' a wonderful film on self-acceptance

What do you do when your parents want you to join them in protesting at a gay pride parade, but you are secretly gay yourself?

That's the plight of a young man in this powerful, 16 minute movie, Why Does God Hate Me? 

'NC Gov runs ad implying that transgender people are predators' & other Thur. midday news briefs

NC Gov. McCrory goes low: Misleading new campaign ad says trans people want to molest children - WOW! My nominee for the lowest campaign ad of 2016. Behind in the polls to challenger Roy Cooper, NC Gov. Pat McCrory exploits a child molestation victim to imply that transgender men and women are predators in ad seen above.

 North Carolina Agrees 'Bathroom Bill' Is Hurting The State's Reputation - The ad exists probably because of McCrory's stubbornness. Oh well. It's his election career's funeral.  

Police refuse to arrest homophobic attacker despite witnessing assault - This is a mess.

 Tony Perkins: I never said God causes disasters, but He can and does - Even when hate group leader Tony Perkins lies, he can't even do THAT right.

Anti-lgbt news site uses report to create fake narrative about 'gay gene'

Even with bad research they can manipulate for their own aims, members of the anti-lgbt industry cannot resist heaping on more lies.

This week, I've published several posts dealing with a research report - not a study - with a severe anti-lgbt bias. The paper, reviewing over 200 other studies, came to the conclusion that no one is born gay or transgender. Even though the report received  negative critiques over its missteps, (such as the journal which published it, The New Atlantis, was not peer reviewed,  and the fact that one of the authors, Dr. Paul McHugh, has a history of anti-lgbt animus) conservatives and the anti-lgbt industry have been pumping it up as some sort of shocking new development, as well as feeling free to make additions to the report's so-called finding.

The American Family Association's fake news site One News Now had this to say:

Two distinguished scholars at Johns Hopkins University have released a lengthy, three-part report concluding that there's not sufficient evidence to prove homosexuals and transgenders are born in that condition – in other words, there is no "gay gene."

The site then proceeded to get quotes from a member of the conservative Heritage Foundation and anti-lgbt activist "Porno" Pete LaBarbera - but not medical professionals - to further it's narrative about a gay gene. But there is nothing in the report, as politically motivated as it is, about a "gay gene." For those who are not aware, the idea that there may or may not exist a "gay gene" is a straw man argument furthered by the anti-lgbt industry when they attempt to refute the notion that people are born lgbt. 

'Neo-Nazis exploiting Orlando to lure the lgbt community' & other Wed. midday news briefs

Neo-Nazis trying to exploit gay fear over Orlando.

Racism & Rainbows: How Neo-Nazis Are Flirting With The LGBT Community - Like emotional vultures, neo-nazis are exploiting the lgbt community's sadness and fear about Orlando to lure us in. At least some of us. Don't fall for it. 

The Killing of Khalid Jabara is an American Tragedy - And before you think that lgbts wouldn't fall for the lure of neo-nazis, this tragic story reminds you that ANY person in ANY community is susceptible to the lure of prejudice and hate. A gay man's Islamophobia led him to terrorize a family and finally murder one of them.  

Louisiana LGBTs Pick Up the Pieces After Historic Flooding - How the recent Louisiana flood affected the lgbt community. 

 College football athletic trainer comes out as gay in rural Arkansas, finds acceptance - A wonderful story about coming out. 

 Matt Barber: 'We Shouldn't Be Surprised' That Gay People Commit Suicide Because 'The Wages Of Sin Is Death' - And look what crawled out of the bowels of a bloodsucking knid. 


Flag illustration by Diana Quach

American Family Association marketing fraudulent ex-gay therapy to children

A friend of mine sent me the following article featuring the above comic:

A Christian group has amended the Bible with comic books that support ‘gay cure’ therapy – and they’re giving them out to children. The American Family Association, which is strongly opposed to LGBT rights, has partnered with Revival Fires International to give away 65,000 copies of the ‘Truth for Youth’ Bible across the US, encouraging evangelical teens to “commit to give the Bibles to their unsaved friends in school”.

As well as a copy of the New Testament, the specially-edited Bible created by Pastor Tim Todd includes comics on subjects including homosexuality – a subject that is notably absent from the (ostensibly) original Word of God.'

However, the new Bible’s teachings appear far from child-friendly.

 . . . The six-page comic appears to take place during a violent clash between stereotypically-drawn LGBT activists and Christian protesters, seeing the “queers” throwing rocks and tear gas at the Christians. The group is later confronted by a ‘doctor’ who endorses gay cure therapy … despite the practice being disavowed in real life by every major medical authority in the US  . . .. 

The article says that the comic then encourages children to seek "counseling" with an "ex-gay" therapy group Pure Life Ministries.

And they say we "recruit" children?

I should also point out that several states, including California and New Jersey have outlawed the practice of subjecting children to ex-gay therapy citing its dangers and fraud. 

The Daily Beast shines light on anti-lgbt doctor Paul McHugh

Paul McHugh

A member of the anti-lgbt industry is catching a lot of attention because of an negative study he co-authored but it's not the attention he probably wanted.

Former John Hopkins professor Paul McHugh co-authored a paper which claimed that there is no evidence that people are born gay or transgender. This study was trumpeted by several religious right and anti-lgbt publications even though others were quick to point out how its credibility is damaged by the motivations its publishers and authors.

One party which did this was The Daily Beast. In a short, but straightforward article, The Daily Beast called out McHugh and revealed his long history of anti-lgbt bias:

There is plenty of evidence to show that this isn’t McHugh’s first anti-LGBT rodeo. In 2006, he was quoted as saying that sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was the result of “homosexual predation on American Catholic youth,” as GLAAD noted. Four years later, he filed an amicus brief supporting California’s same-sex marriage ban, arguing that “sexual orientation is, in part, a choice.”

 In 2014, McHugh wrote a widely-cited anti-transgender op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that contradicts position statements from several major medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

 Most recently, in the spring of 2016, he helped write a position paper for the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), a small Gainesville, Florida-based organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has called “an anti-LGBT hate group.”



That position paper called health care for trans youth a form of “child abuse.” “It may be an intrinsic problem of American psychiatry to fall into a craze or cult-like misdirection once a decade,” McHugh previously told The Daily Beast about his involvement with that ACPeds paper. “Transgenderism seems to be this decade’s version.”

So it’s no surprise to see McHugh’s name crop up yet again in connection with another round of headlines questioning LGBT identities. In their new paper, McHugh and Mayer express skepticism over the concept of “sexual orientation,” writing that “we may have some reasons to doubt the common assumption that in order to live happy and flourishing lives, we must somehow discover this innate fact about ourselves that we call sexuality or sexual orientation, and invariably express it through particular patterns of sexual behavior or a particular life trajectory.”

The Daily Beast article then goes through a long process of featuring statements and work of several more legitimate medical bodies who refute McHugh's position, including the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.

All in all, it's an article which our community should remember because we know how the anti-lgbt industry operates. Regardless of any refutation, we will be seeing and hearing them cite McHugh continuously.

Related posts:

Meet The Doctor Social Conservatives Depend On To Justify Anti-Transgender Hate

Paul McHugh - GLAAD Commentator Accountability Project