NARTH and Southern Poverty Law Center

[Steven E. Webster]

Folks,

The Southern Poverty Law Center is an important Civil Rights group. They have had success on a couple of occasions, for instance, in bringing law suits against white racist organizations and "putting them out of business." They are also well-recognized as the leading authority monitoring and reporting on "hate groups" in the United States.

Here is a link about a very current flap over NARTH (an "ex-gay" organization of "therapists") and Focus on the Family (the two organizations are closely related). This article is from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?pid=106

Steven Webster

[Zerbie]

Oh my gosh - that guy's IN-SANE!!!!!!!!!!!

That sick-o is a psychotherapist? He needs to be drummed out of the APA before he destroys people's minds.

[dewdrop_world]

Guys like that really help our cause. We don't even need to hand them the rope with which to hang themselves... I say give him as much publicity as he wants.

James

[BruceChris]

Well, gee, I dunno, is stupidity or bigotry? -- I think I like Zerbie's answer better.

BC

[midtnscott]

It's not surprising that Focus on the Family didn't condemn that garbage. Remember that they take the bible literally so they agree with slavery. As for this appearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center's blog, don't put to much stock in that. The have never been overly, or remotely, friendly to the gay cause except when it has been linked to racial issues - OH, like now!

I agree with both Zerbie and Bruce: drum him out of the APA but let him keep putting trash like this out there for the public to read. Being kicked out of the APA would decrease his credibility and let the public see what Focus's agenda really looks like will disgust them.

[Jamie McDaniel]

Originally Posted by midtnscott

As for this appearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center's blog, don't put to much stock in that. The have never been overly, or remotely, friendly to the gay cause except when it has been linked to racial issues - OH, like now!

I don't think that is correct, midtnscott. Are you sure you meant the Southern Poverty Law Center?

I know they featured an interview with Mel White in the Spring 2005 issue of their print magazine Intelligence Report.

www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=525

Also I did a Google search on Southern Poverty Gay. It turned up pages of supporting articles.

[kara speltz]

Originally Posted by Jamie McDaniel

I don't think that is correct, midtnscott. Are you sure you meant the Southern Poverty Law Center?

I know they featured an interview with Mel White in the Spring 2005 issue of their print magazine Intelligence Report.

Dear Jamie: You're absolutely right, about SPLC. They have stood with us for at least the last year and a half, if not more. That whole issue in which they featured Mel was about the attack on gays. Let's not be ungrateful and take an attitude of "it's about time." It's never too late to get on the justice train.

Kara

[Steven E. Webster]

Originally Posted by midtnscott

[snip] As for this appearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center's blog, don't put to[o] much stock in that. The[y] have never been overly, or remotely, friendly to the gay cause except when it has been linked to racial issues - OH, like now! [snip]

I know, for a fact, that this is untrue. I was quickly able to find the following examples of the "friendliness" of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on SPLC site:

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intel...le.jsp?aid=524

You will note that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has officially designated three of the twelve organization listed at the above URL as "hate groups," that includes Paul Cameron's "Family Research Institute." Other groups listed at this URL as anti-gay include Focus on the Family and Traditional Values Coalition. It seems to me that SPLC "gets it" when it comes to the gay cause.

Here's another URL where SPLC denounces an anti-gay bill in Alabama as "unconstitutional":

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intel...le.jsp?aid=538

Below is a URL to an article I first saw in the print edition of the SPLC's journal "Intelligence Report." The article, titled "The Thirty Years War" gives a 30 year time line of the anti-gay movement in the U.S.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intel...le.jsp?aid=523

[revtj]

As a gay man from Montgomery AL where SPLC is located, I can assure you that they are VERY supportive of LGBT rights and they have a direct focus on hate crimes against LGBT people. The SPLC successfully links hatespeech to violence in courts of law and has won several landmark cases. They are not just friendly to us, they represent a crucial piece of what we are all working for through Soulforce!!

I had posted on another thread that FOF/NARTH is coming to Atlanta on Nov 4th for an international ex-gay convention. We are planning an educational vigil. We'd love for anyone to come and join us!
We expect to use the NARTH comments re: slavery in a press release designed to counter-balance the FOF message that homosexuality is curable.

Now to add to the serious humor :IS HOMOPHOBIA CURABLE? WHAT ABOUT MINDRAPE-ARATIVE THERAPY FOR HOMOPHOBES?

[midtnscott]

While I can agree that the SPLC may work now in our behalf, when I attended and graduated from Auburn University, they did not. In fact the leaned, not tended, in the opposite direction. That has been many years agao and I haven't been back in a while.

A lot of my activities were in Montgomery so I know what I experienced then and that has a tendency of sticking around. At the time they believed that homosexuality was more of a behavior. If things have changed for the better - GREAT! Someone finally woke up and they are a real force to be reconned with that has tremendous credibility and integrity. They don't cry wolf without a good reason and they collect data on hate crimes that no one else does.