Anti-Gay Craigslister a Hoax

You may have read it here first two nights ago or perhaps you’ve seen the story from yesterday on Towleroad or JoeMyGod. Maybe you caught it on Fark.com or today on HuffingtonPost.

It seems that a parent was using Craigslist to sell their kid’s Macbook. In itself, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in this instance, the parent was getting him a new Macbook because after getting caught in “homosexual acts,” he was “choosing to be straight.” The new Macbook was to be his reward.

While this sounds ridiculous at first glance, this kind of behavior from parents around the world is not unheard of. But as it turns out, this particular story is a fake.

I’ve now done a great deal of research and this story has now been posted on dozens of other sites so, here’s the story…

The response I received was from a Clarence M. and despite my efforts, there was never another reply from that address. So, I googled the full name in Culver City and came up short. Then I just searched his name to see what I could find. other than the random “find someone’s phone number for $19.99” ads, one post jumped out at me.

It was a post someone made to GLAAD’s Facebook page in November, 2010:

The name was the same and the circumstances nearly identical. And lo and behold, one of the commenters to the GLAAD post has provided me with a screencap of the Las Vegas ad.

Having this new email address, I started another search – which wasn’t too hard. It seems Alex A. of Las Vegas, NV has been for some inconceivable reason, posting fake ads to Craigslist where he poses as the parent of a gay teenager, tells a story about catching his kid having gay sex and either decides to sell his kid’s things or reward him for “choosing to be straight.”

Judging from Alex’s Google+ and Twitter accounts, he’s a handsome young man. So I’m not sure why he sees the need to spend so much time trolling Craigslist with obnoxious, fake stories. I’m trying to figure out how one man’s life could be so boring that he feels the need to obsess over gay teenagers having sex?

And finally, I received a response after calling the poster out via email. It seems a young man named Daryl has been up to no good. Following our excerpts from some of our emails back and forth:

“Yes, I need to keep my aliases straight. It’s Daryl actually. I write horrible posts on Craigslist all over the country to see what issues make people angriest for a project I’m putting together. I’m sorry anyone that was offended.”

“It started out when I got my first computer, my friends and I put an ad on Craigslist saying we were selling Justin Bieber tickets. We made fun of the people that would write us. That gave me an idea to start putting up other things on Craigslist to see what people have passion about and to get reactions out of them. I want to write something about issues that people are most passionate about. I want to be a writer one day. I’m sorry about this all. I just don’t want this to affect me going to a good school one day. I’m sorry.”

I’ve now confirmed Daryl is who he says he is and I think he’s been significantly frightened away from pulling this kind of thing again. And finally, he asked me to tell you all this:

“I guess I just never understood how bad it was for most people. I have no problem with gay people at all. It seems so foreign that someone would hate gays. I’m sorry. I never understood. One of my friends I think is gay. We have been friends since we were little kids. If anyone said something to him I would be pissed. I didn’t understand how bad some people were treated. I’ll never do anything like this again. I’m having panic attacks like crazy right now. I would never be against gays, ever. I’m sorry.”

WE WON (for now)! NARTH Can No Longer Provide Continuing Education in CA

After a quick and successful campaign and a Change.org petition started by this blog, we are very proud to announce that the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has had their accreditation pulled.

NARTH was on a list of several hundred organizations which could have provided continuing education credits for Licensed Educational Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Social Workers to renew their licenses. This essentially meant that NARTH could be responsible for helping to train the people who have to counsel LGBT youth and families.

For those who don’t know, NARTH is a hateful organization which provides conversion or “ex-gay” therapy for their clients. This form of therapy has been not only disproven as being effective, but many who go through it either commit or attempt suicide. As stated in the note above, this form of therapy has been debunked by  the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Counselors Association.

The organization responsible for accreditation of these groups is the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. We put in several calls and sent over 1,100 signatures to demand NARTH be removed from the list. The Sacramento News & Review reports that BBS Spokesman Russ Heimerich said that NARTH was removed from the list as of last week due to “delinquent fees.” In the meantime however, Heimerich said that the Continuing-Education approval process is on the agenda for the next board meeting in September. He also noted “We certainly do believe that there is a lot of room for improvement.”

The following statement was sent to Talk About Equality in response to our Change.org petition:

This is in response to your recent email to the Board of Behavioral Sciences (Board) in which you expressed concerns that the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) appears on the Board’s approved continuing education provider list.

California Code of Regulation, Title 16, Section’s 1887.4 through 1887.14 specifies the requirements to become a Continuing Education Provider. A Continuing Education Provider must ensure its coursework is relevant to a licensee’s practice and is related to direct or indirect patient care. The Board does not have the ability to deny any application that meets these requirements.

Board licensees are permitted to take continuing education coursework from an array of providers such as an accredited or approved school, or an association, health facility, governmental entity, educational institution, individual, or other organization that offers continuing education courses that meet that meet the law’s requirements.  Further, if a Board Continuing Education Provider approval has expired, the provider may not present a course for continuing education credit for licensees of the Board.  Our records reflect that NARTH’s provider approval expired on October 31, 2010. Accordingly, our continuing education provider list has been updated to reflect provider’s with non-expired approvals.

The Board previously identified concerns with the Continuing Education Program.  A discussion about continuing education and possible regulatory changes will be an agenda item for the Board’s September Licensing and Examination Committee meeting.  Additionally, the Board will discuss the concept of a continuing competency model at its October Policy and Advocacy meeting.  Both meetings will in Sacramento, California.  All of the Board’s meetings are public meetings. The agenda and meeting materials will be published on the Board’s website atwww.bbs.ca.gov  ten days prior to the meeting.

Thank you for contacting the Board with your concerns.

Sincerely,

Kim Madsen

Executive Officer

Why Michele and Marcus Bachmann are so dangerous to the LGBT Community.

Marcus & Michelle Bachmann (Image via AP)

Michele Bachmann is a Minnesota Congresswoman and the sweetheart of the Tea Party. She has ignorantly riled up thousands of people with barrels of lies and propaganda against Obama and the Democratic party. Her actions have been at best irresponsible and at worst, criminal. All the while, she has smiled and made some of the most hysterical comments ever made in a political arena. Some of my favorites include:

“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

“I’m a foreign correspondent on enemy lines, and I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.”

“But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.” .

“Pelosi is committed to her global warming fanatacism to the point where she has even said she is trying to save the planet. We all know someone did that 2,000 years ago.”

Reverend Bradlee Dean

But in all seriousness, Michele Bachmann scares me the most out of all these GOP candidates. Her own anti-gay views have been well-documented and her allies in the fight against us are some of the most violently homophobic people we have seen in this decade. Between her pal, Bradlee Dean (who has defended the execution of gay people, and has said about gay people – “On average they molest 117 people before they’re found out.”). Bachmann has repeatedly said that (abolishing) gay marriage is her “number one issue.” A few other homophobic quotes from the Congresswoman include:

“This is a very serious matter, because it is our children who are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children.”

“It’s part of Satan I think to say that this is “gay.” It’s anything but “gay.”

“If you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.”

These are just a few of the ignorant and hateful comments Mrs. Bachmann has made about LGBT people. But this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage her and her husband are doing. Michele’s husband is “Dr.” Marcus Bachmann. Bachmann is no more a doctor than I am a Wimbledon contender. But unlike my false claims to be a tennis superstar, Bachmann’s claims to be a medical professional can kill people. Bachmann practices without a license.

According to his practice’s website, Bachmann dismisses any formal training because “Christ is the Almighty Counselor.” One might ask why Bachmann is getting Medicaid funds if some dead guy is doing all the work, and how Mrs. Bachmann can rail against Medicaid funds when those funds are clearly helping her keep her hair so coiffed, but I digress. On to the crux of the discussion – Bachmann’s clinic is receiving federal funds so that he can “cure homosexuality.”

Bachmann, who’s own sexuality has frequently come into question, practices “reparative therapy” on gay people. He has referred to gay people as “barbarians” that need to be “educated” and “disciplined.” This kind of therapy has been proven to be harmful and even lethal to people who enter into it. While I cannot seem to find any reports or  any of Bachmann’s patients who have come forward to discuss his harmful practices, the harm done by this type of “therapy,” has a long, bloody track record.

Through Mrs. Bachmann’s campaigning, this idea that gay people can somehow be “cured” will be given validation to those who deify her and hang on her every word. This will send more parents home to their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender children to send them in to “reparative therapy,” where those children will learn to hate who they are – sometimes to the point of suicide.

***One more thing…the LGBT community has been calling out others quite a bit in the past two years for anti-LGBT bullying. The assumption that a child might be gay because of the way he or she acts or speaks or even walks, has caused some horrific retribution from classmates, teachers and even parents generation after generation. “Dr.” Marcus Bachmann’s sexuality is known only to him and whoever else he wants to know. Some are concerned that our assumptions about him based on the way he acts, speaks and walks might be hypocritical and might be a bad message to send young people – that he should be called “gay” simply because of his mannerisms.

It’s a tough discussion, because no, we absolutely should not make assumptions based on outdated stereotypes. But at the same time, Bachmann himself has inadvertently alluded to the fact he might be gay on more than one occasion by using the “we” pronoun instead of “they,” and with hints like that, coupled with the fact that he is a public figure potentially responsible for the suicide of LGBT people, his actions and possible hypocrisy must be spoken about openly.