Tag Archives: torture

Via press release: Dear Truth Wins Out Supporters: On our 11th anniversary, it is with a mixture of great sadness and overwhelming pride that I reluctantly announce that Truth Wins Out is closing down. All good things must come to an end – and it is time to say goodbye. Truth Wins Out is closing because we accomplished our major …

Via press release from HBO: VICE News has obtained exclusive access to Argun Prison in Chechnya where it is alleged that gay men were rounded up and tortured as part of an unprecedented ‘anti-gay purge’ by Chechnya’s law enforcement. VICE News is the first international news organization to be allowed into the location, capturing images and footage from the now …

The New York Daily News reports: Conversion therapy that aims to turn gay people straight would be banned in New York under a new bill in the City Council. The proposal — sponsored by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and being fast-tracked to a hearing Monday — would make it illegal for anyone to charge a fee to perform therapy to …

The New York Times reports: France’s newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron, came out of his first meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday with a message of stark challenge, promising French military reprisals for any use of chemical weapons by Russia’s allies in Syria and saying he would closely monitor the curtailing of civil rights for gay …

Human Rights Watch today released a 26-page report detailing the gruesome torture of gay men at the hands of Chechen police. Radio Free Europe reports: “All of the victims suffered repeated beatings,” the report said. “Security officials kicked them with booted feet, beat them with polypropylene pipes and sticks, and made other inmates beat them” — mostly on the men’s …

Last month the SPLC mentioned ex-gay torture leader Greg Quinlan as being among the speakers at an event staged in opposition to GLSEN’s annual campaign to stop the often-violent bullying of LGBT kids. Quinlan says he’s proud to be named as a hater. From the AFA’s OneNewsNow: “It just goes on and talks about how I left homosexuality,” he tells …

Via press release: Today the Human Rights Campaign praised Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval for signing into law Senate Bill (SB) 201 — legislation protecting LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” HRC also commended State Senator David Parks for sponsoring the bill and shepherding it through to the Governor’s office. “No …

Via press release from Connecticut Equality: The Connecticut Senate voted unanimously today to pass HB 6695, AAC The Protection of Youth from Conversion Therapy 36-0, with bipartisan support. Sponsored by Senator Beth Bye and Representative Jeff Currey, the bill has 100 co-sponsors and was approved in the House by an overwhelming margin last week. “We are delighted with today’s vote, and grateful …

Deutsche Welle reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said he supports an investigation into the reported torture and murder of gay men in Chechnya, days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed him on the issue. Putin said he would personally ask the chief prosecutor and the interior minister to cooperate with human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova in an investigation …

Back in early 2016 the SPLC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against the New Jersey-based ex-gay torture group People Can Change, alleging that the group’s practices constitute consumer fraud. It’s not clear why it’s taken them so long, but this week the ex-gay torture industry filed an answering complaint. From the anti-LGBT hate group C-FAM: A complaint …

Bloomberg reports: The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a California law that bans licensed therapists from working with children to change their sexual orientation from gay to straight, rejecting an appeal that said the measure violates religious rights. The rebuff leaves intact a federal appeals court decision upholding California’s 2012 first-of-its-kind law. The measure prohibits the form of counseling known …

“Now Democrats are proposing a bill to ban conversion therapy in the United States, saying that LGBTQ people were born perfect. Actually, they are very misled. We were all born imperfect, with sinful natures — yet loved by God who offers us forgiveness and wholeness through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. “Homosexuality is defined by God as sin, an …

Boing Boing reports: This cartoon from Bill Nye Saves the World uses various ice cream flavors as part of a hysterical analogy on the intolerant views of Christians when it comes to sexuality. It starts off with various flavors of ice cream showing up at an “Ice Cream Conversion Therapy” group. Vanilla is the dogmatic leader of the group. “It’s …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Name something on the agenda for Democrats in Congress and it’s likely DOA — including a bill to protect LGBT kids, which the Republican majority let die last year without a hearing. And yet, buoyed by their progressive constituency and resolve to set themselves apart from the Trump administration, Democrats will take another shot this …

From the editorial board of the New York Times: Moscow is unlikely to take meaningful action against Chechnya, or to rethink its broader policy toward gay rights, in the absence of strong and sustained international pressure. In recent years several countries from the Americas and Europe have promoted equality for gay and transgender people as universal human rights. The Obama …

Even though gays don’t exist there? Gay Star News reports: Chechnya’s president has vowed to ‘eliminate’ all gay men by the end of May. Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, threatened to rid the area of homosexuality ‘by Ramadan’. Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, begins on 26 May this year. Speaking to Gay Star News, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office …

The Associated Press reports: Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation that would ban the use on minors of conversion therapy that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The measure was among dozens signed by the Republican governor as the Friday deadline approached for her to act on legislation passed during the session that ended March 18. …

The Concord Monitor reports: New Hampshire won’t ban gay conversion therapy for minors this year, after a House committee voted this week to hold back the bill. In a 13-8 vote, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs committee retained the legislation Tuesday over concerns that it limits parental rights and counseling for youth working through their sexuality, members …

Notorious anti-LGBT activist Michael Brown is EVER so pissed that the content-sharing platform Vimeo is apparently rejecting all submissions that support ex-gay torture. Today he screeches in a post for the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow: If Jesus has changed your life and set you free from homosexual practice, your testimony is not welcome on Vimeo – not now, not ever. …

The Associated Press reports: Officials in Columbus have voted to ban conversion therapy in the city. The Columbus City Council voted to ban the practice in a meeting Monday night. Conversion therapy is any practice that seeks to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Professionals in the medical community say the practice is illegitimate and does not work. LGBTQ …