Year: 2013

Typical of NARTH, much of the world is talking about them and they haven’t made a public comment on the loss of their tax exempt status. I have heard from people who have written them and the response from NARTH is to claim there is a mistake and they anticipate maintaining their status.
Maintaining, of course, is not the right word since they don’t have it now. They would have to regain it which is possible but involves re-submitting applications and paying fees. If there is some reason why they did not file that would be acceptable to the IRS then they might get the status retroactively. However, I imagine it would have to be a pretty good story.
This means that donations made to NARTH are not tax deductible and there is pretty good chance that donations made now never will be deductible until they regain their status. However, they have offered no official recognition or advisory notice on their website so that donors are warned. Donors who attempt to deduct gifts to a non-eligible organization are subject to penalty.
Here’s another thing, thus far, I know of no religious media source who has written about this. While I can imagine that they might not want to write an embarrassing article, they are not helping their readers.
Last week, I asked NARTH’s Executive Secretary David Pruden for a comment or reaction but thus far, silence.
UPDATE: Surprisingly, One News Now (AFA) covered this story. And they quote someone who knows all about losing one’s IRS status – Peter LaBarbera. Not letting a crisis go to waste, LaBarbera makes the IRS action about government persecution. However, his own group which is even more anti-gay than NARTH got their non-profit status back after filing the necessary papers.
It still seems odd that NARTH did not comment on their status even in what is a friendly venue for them.

World continues the focus on the Barton Controversy with our rebuttal to Barton’s response to our book.
We focus on Barton’s contention that we make mountains out of molehills in our critique. In fact, the details matter as we demonstrate.
We also make it clear that Barton isn’t living by his own standards. He takes historians to task for using secondary sources, but he does the same thing. His sources are often unknown as with the Louis L’Amour story presented on Glenn Beck’s Show as an historical fact.
In this article, we also launch a feature on the Getting Jefferson Right website called Ask a Professor. Have a question about American history facts? Our panel of historians will attempt to help out.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 continues to move up and down the list of items to be considered next by Uganda’s Parliament. Today, it is the third item but the first bill to be considered once current business is completed.
Several bills have leapfrogged over the anti-gay bill in the last several weeks and so the position of the anti-gay bill on any given day is not necessary an indicator of when the bill will come to the floor, if at all. However, Speaker Kadaga continues to keep it on the agenda.
UPDATE: The order paper for today (3/14/13) maintains the same order of business with the anti-gay bill still being third on the list of business to follow the current action on the floor.

In September 2012, the tax exempt status of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) was revoked due to failure to file Form 990 for three consecutive years. The notice of revocation was yesterday according to the IRS website.

Even though the full name of the organization is not listed, the Employee Identification Number and address match up with the 2009 990 form. A call to the IRS also confirmed it.

NARTH’s website advises prospective donors that their donations will be tax deductible but it appears such deductions after September 15, 2012 may not be allowed.

It is difficult to know what this means. NARTH has never been a wealthy organization and conference attendance has declined in recent years. Members are hoping to maintain their ability to conduct reparative therapy with minors in CA via lawsuits against the state to overturn SB 1172 (see this article for more on SB 1172 and then NARTH’s perspective). NARTH has been actively soliciting donations to help support their legal actions. One would not be able to tell from the website that those donations are not deductible.

UPDATE (3/14/13) – I have heard from two commenters and other reliable sources that NARTH continues to tell those who inquire that donations are still deductible. However, according to an IRS representative I spoke with on Tuesday, their status is revoked and there has been no action from NARTH to attempt to reinstate that status. As is typical for NARTH, there has been no on-the-record comment on this situation, despite requests.

Glenn Beck and David Barton went on a rant last week about CSCOPE – a social studies program which is in most Texas schools. I watched part of it and if I didn’t know better, I would have been worried about communists coming to my doorstep in the form of CSCOPE curriculum writers.
At any rate, Barton had big slides of CSCOPE materials (some of it with DRAFT written on it) and illustrations of what had been removed and added by the comrades at CSCOPE. Apparently, the changes that Barton implied that CSCOPE had made and children were learning had not been included in the actual Texas curriculum. So says Barton ally Donna Garner.

At the end of David Barton’s presentation on the Glenn Beck Show, Barton clarified that the examples he presented are not in our new Social Studies TEKS.  I wish he had made this clear at the beginning of his presentation because I am afraid some viewers were left with the impression that Texas has retained those Type #2 elements in its standards. We have not.

Even though I disagree with some of Garner’s concerns over the curriculum, I understand why she wanted to clarify things. Numerous tweets warned of CSCOPE based on Barton’s presentation on Beck. There really wasn’t much news in what Barton presented but they played it up like the wolf was at the door.
Regarding CSCOPE, I feel sure there is another side to the story. One consequence of Barton’s poor history is that even people who might agree with some of what he says are compelled to doubt it until it can be checked out.  For instance, I am watchful when it comes to what is taught in school and have questioned how social studies and English is taught in schools where my children have attended. However, given Barton’s track record, I won’t believe a word until I check it out myself.
UPDATE: Must have been a slow news day at Beck’s place, because the CSCOPE people have already addressed the legislature’s concerns. For more on CSCOPE from their point of view, see their website.