The Case for Not Voting on November 2nd

I first cast a vote in an election over 38 years ago and since that time I have, never ever failed to vote in any city, state or federal election. That track record may change on November 2, 2010, as I seriously consider not voting. Yes, that's right, I may not vote in the coming election. From conversations with others I am not the only one who is leaning toward staying home from the polls. The common statement I hear is that voting will "make no difference." Typically, the speakers making these remarks then launch into the debacle of the Democrats, who were given a mandate and commanding margin in both houses of Congress and control of the White House only to see it all pissed away. Obama blames the Congress; the House blames the Senate; and the Senate blames the White House and everyone else. No one takes responsibility either individually or on the part of the national Democrats as a whole.

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Candidly, I share the above sentiments of these individuals to some extent myself. My larger reason for staying home, however, if that is what I choose to do, is that I refuse to once again be played for a fool and a cretin by the Democrats. Yes, most say all the right words while campaigning but then deliver nothing once in office. As a community, LGBT Americans are rewarding the Democrats for their lies and betrayal if we yet again and again give them what they want - our money and votes - with no accountability demanded or consequences being inflicted for betrayal and broken promises. The message to the Democrats from the LGBT community is clear: you can lie with impunity, don't need to keep any of your campaign promises, and you don't need to deliver on anything because the idiot LGBT voters will still come out and vote for them no matter what. With this constant message being sent by the LGBT community to Democrats of all stripes, why on earth should the Democrats ever change? They are getting exactly what they want and do not need to do anything to get it. Indeed, at times I believe the Democrat goal is to keep LGBT citizens inferior indefinitely so that each campaign cycle the bogey man in the form of the GOP can be trotted yet again. Yes, the GOP may be worse, but then Democrats haven't done anything of substance for LGBT Americans either.

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My second reason for not voting relates to the recent wave of gay teen suicides. It's true that the Christian Right, Mormons and Roman Catholic Church bear the great responsibility for the unrelenting anti-gay message that forces youth to see suicide as their best solution - a point I reached myself twice in the past. But by failing to act to repeal DADT, enact ENDA and repeal DOMA the Democrats also bear responsibility. First and foremost among the Democrats sending out a message of hopelessness to LGBT youth is Barack Obama. Oh yes, he says nice things in pretty speeches, but if one follows his actions, it becomes clear that the pretty words mean NOTHING to him. Just as, in my opinion, LGBT lives and the careers of LGBT servicemembers mean NOTHING to Obama. And I suspect our gay youth are savvy enough to figure out that we are all being played. They realize that there is no guarantee that "it gets better." Their proof: the continuation of DADT and DOMA and the fact that ENDA has gone nowhere even in the Democrat controlled House of Representatives.

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As for my open disgust with Obama, I believe that it is justified. Moreover, in my view, he IS part of the problem no matter what his apologists in Gay, Inc., may say. Let's look at his actions versus his disingenuous rhetoric - which I experienced first hand when he spoke in Virginia Beach in February 2008 - aimed at securing votes and money. First, during the campaign, who does Obama select for appearances at campaign functions? Anti-gay, ex-gay supporter Donnie McClurkin. And when confronted with McClurkin's anti-gay positions and slimy ex-gay past, what does he do? Obama keeps McClurkin on the program. Then lets move to the inauguration. Who does Obama select to deliver the invocation? Rick Warren, homophobe extraordinaire whose finger prints are all over anti-gay agendas in Africa and whose church website had anti-gay rhetoric all over it. Then, of course, we have the on going DOMA and DADT litigation. What do we see from Obama? A vigorous defense of the anti-gay policies and, based on the latest reports, and appeal of the DADT ruling and worldwide injunction against DADT discharges.

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Even as I write this post, Obama is promising that DADT "will end on my watch" yet he has ZERO ability to make that happen if he proceeds with an appeal of Judge Phillips rulings. There is ZERO guarantee that the Senate will ever repeal DADT. Likewise, given the Christian extremists among the conservative block on the Supreme Court, there is ZERO guarantee that DADT will not be upheld if the case makes it to the Supreme Court. Ditto for DOMA.

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The sad truth is that the LGBT community is being played again. Obama believes that we are simpletons and fools and wants us out voting on November 2, 2010. My message to Obama and ALL Democrats: you want my vote, then ALL Democrats as a whole need to start delivering. I want to hold them jointly and severally responsible. I am over being played and cynically lied to.

Obama's gospel mistake - LA Times Op-Ed

Not to beat a dead horse, but this op-ed column from the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein31oct31,0,4417577.story?coll=la-tot-opinion&track=ntothtml) gives perhaps some of the best analysis as to why Obama really screwed up with the McClurkin disaster. It will be interesting to see if he can redeem himself with those in the LGBT community. Watching him in the debate last night, I truly do not feel that Obama is anti-gay. I do, however, wonder how hard he would push for gay rights if elected. Here are highlights from the column:

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But what's really on Obama's mind isn't LBGT Americans. It's black voters. With so much of the African American vote snugly in Hillary Clinton's pantsuit pocket, the Illinois senator clearly is hoping to make inroads before South Carolina's crucial 2008 primary.

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The offspring of a Kenyan father and a white American mother, Obama was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia without much churchgoing until he grew up and ran for office. So he is not only a generation but a world away from the political leadership most of us African Americans have come to know. Putting on Baptist drag and staging a gospel music show is precisely the sort of pandering Obama had scrupulously avoided. Until now.

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Now a gospel star may have driven a wedge between Obama and his gay supporters and roiled others as well. For, by putting McClurkin in the spotlight, Obama has broken black America's 11th Commandment: "Don't talk about it in front of the white people!"

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Black churches are so much at the center of African American public life, and so much in denial about the gays and lesbians in their pews and choir stalls. As the late Marlon Riggs said in "Tongues Untied," his acclaimed 1990 documentary about gay blacks and AIDS, "How many choir directors have to die before we know who we are?" The "Embrace the Change" lineup reflects how this struggle is far from over. McClurkin, who is a minister at an evangelical church in New York, calls homosexuality a "choice" -- needless to say the wrong one. The duo Mary Mary claims to love gays in a love-the-sinner kind of way, equating us with murderers or prostitutes. It is only Byron Cage of the Mighty Clouds of Joy who has been actively working to heal the gay-straight divide.

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Gays played pivotal roles in African American history, but the community continues to wish away their sexuality. Blues legends Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters all took female lovers. (Impresario Leonard Reed once said Waters was "so mean she married her second husband to spite her girlfriend when she found out she was sleeping with him.") Gay composer Billy Strayhorn gave the Duke Ellington Orchestra its sound, including its theme song, "Take the A Train." The fabled Harlem Renaissance was, frankly, a gay and lesbian movement led by the likes of Zora Neale Hurston, Bruce Nugent and Langston Hughes.

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Over and above all these towers James Baldwin, the novelist and essayist whose accounts of the civil rights movement are without peer, and Bayard Rustin, the most important civil rights figure after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin conceived of the 1963 March on Washington, but thanks to a vice arrest in Pasadena a decade earlier, he was forced to take a back seat during the unveiling of his masterpiece.Coretta Scott King never forgot Rustin's sacrifice and went on to support the gay-rights movement. Her daughter, however, the Rev. Bernice King, joined a 2004 march against same-sex marriage.

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And so we now find Obama trying, as it were, to court both branches of the King family. It won't work. And his continued relevance to gay and lesbian African Americans is over.

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Personally, I find it ironic that blacks as a whole, including the (in my view extremely biased) judge who heard the property settlement portion of my divorce, are incensed when faced with discrimination against them, yet are far more likely than other domestic racial groups to be discriminatory against LGBT individuals. One would think that victims of discrimination would be a bit more less discriminatory towards other minority groups.

Andrew Sullivan Changes Course on Obama/McClurkin

To date, Andrew Sullivan had largely downplayed the stink some of us made over Donnie McClurkin's appearance on Barack Obama's South Carolina "Gospel Tour." Now, having seen McClurkin's statements, Andrew now is less forgiving of Obama:

". . . I was under the impression he would be singing. Allowing this guy to preach strikes me as a step far too far. No, he doesn't say anything homophobic as such. He uses the usual formula of loving those he wants to be other than they are - which is a very funny kind of love. But in saying that God "delivered" him from homosexuality, McClurkin describes sexual orientation as something that God wants to save me and other gay people from. If one were being generous, one would say this isn't meant as an attack; but it is certainly experienced as an attack. McClurkin, in short, should never have been allowed to speak at this event, because his words are inherently divisive, his record of comments on gay people offensive, and the point of the event was allegedly unifying. It wasn't. . . . To my mind, this isn't ultimately about the difficulty of forging any kind of alliance between gays and African-Americans. It is the inherent danger of mixing religion with politics. That's called Christianism. . . . But what happened on that stage was inexcusable, stupid, and damaging. I don't blame any gay American for jumping the Obama ship over it. "

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/the-mcclurkin-r.html

Obama’s Gospel Concert Tour

As I have previously indicated, I think someone in Obama's campaign needs to be fired for the inclusion of Donnie McClurkin in Obama's South Carolina Gospel Tour. I feel even stronger about this now that McClurkin used his platform provided by Obama to launch into his gays can be "cured" by prayer bull shit routine. This article from the New York Times (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/obamas-gospel-concert-tour/?ex=1194321600&en=c79c27963d8efe04&ei=5070&emc=eta1) provides some details. Here are some highlights:

". . . Donnie McClurkin, the superstar black gospel singer, decried the criticism he has generated because of his views that homosexuality is a choice. Tonight there was a small vigil of about 15 or 20 gays and lesbians, who stood quietly across the street as people filed into a big auditorium here for the last of three campaign-sponsored concerts (and the only one to feature Mr. McClurkin). The whole controversy might have been forgotten in the swell of gospel sound except Mr. McClurkin turned the final half hour of the three-hour concert into a revival meeting about the lightning rod he has become for the Obama campaign.

He approached the subject gingerly at first. Then, just when the concert had seemed to reach its pitch and about to end, Mr. McClurkin returned to it with a full-blown plea: “Don’t call me a bigot or anti-gay when I have suffered the same feelings,” he cried. “God delivered me from homosexuality,” he added. He then told the audience to believe the Bible over the blogs: “God is the only way.” The crowd sang and clapped along in full support.

As I have said before, if God truly changed McClurkin (and he did not merely discover that there's money in being "ex-gay"), then I am Queen Victoria and just did not know it. McClurkin is full of crap, and Obama gave him a platform on which to peddle it. I am still waiting to hear that some one has been fired by Obama. It looks like I will have a long wait.

Who Was Responsible For McClurkin?

Andrew Sullivan asks a very good question (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/who-was-respons.html). How it is answered will tell much about Obama and his willingness to hold people accountable, unlike the Chimperator who lets loyalty blind him to reality (OK, further blind him since he is living in a fantasy world anyways). It comes down to competence and accountability even in the small matters:

I don't think the use of an anti-gay Gospel singer on a muscial tour is a big deal. I don't believe it was done deliberately. Which means it was a staffer mistake. Here's one key test for the Obama campaign: has that staffer been fired yet? Who has been held responsible and fired for such an unforced error? If we are to be reassured that Obama can do what Bush can't: hold people responsible for mistakes, we need to know who did this and when they were let go.

Obama Explains Why He's the Best Candidate for LGBT Americans

The Advocate has an exclusive interview with Barack Obama on the McClurkin flap -- and gives him a chance to explain how his campaign went off the tracks on this issue (http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid50021.asp). I recommend that folks read the entire article and then make their own decisions. I continue to think that Obama srcewed up royally, but he is saying the right things on a number of issues. Here are a few highlights:

The Advocate: How did this happen? Was Mr. McClurkin vetted?

Senator Obama: Obviously, not vetted to the extent that people were aware of his attitudes with respect to gay and lesbians, LGBT issues -- at least not vetted as well as I would have liked to see. Having said that, we viewed this simply as an opportunity to have a gospel concert as part of our overall outreach, and since he was singing at a concert along with a number of other artists, as opposed to being a spokesperson for us, probably it didn’t undergo the same kind of vet that someone who was serving as a surrogate for me might have.

White openly gay minister to open for Obama's South Carolina gospel concert with Donnie McClurkin

This whole Obama Gospel Tour thing gets stranger and stranger. Either there are total idiots running the Obama campaign or he has moles from other campaigns working to sabotage his effort. I think my youngest, who was a political junky at age 5, could have run a better effort as a kindergartner. Obama seems to be trying to be this election cycle's Howard Dean. Here are highlights of the latest aspects of the debacle from Jasmyne Cannick's blog(http://jasmynecannick.typepad.com/jasmynecannickcom/2007/10/make-me-wanna-h.html):

[W]hat the hell were Obama’s people thinking when they invited a white openly gay minister to open for his South Carolina gospel concert with Donnie McClurkin? Is he trying to lose the race? That’s all I want to know.

It was bad enough that Obama’s people, and I say people because I eloquently explained on Tuesday how these types of things can happen, invited and announced a gospel concert tour through South Carolina with openly homophobic singers Mary Mary and the ex-gay Donnie McClurkin which sparked accusations of Obama running a homophobic campaign. But keepin’ hope alive, I tried to make the best of it hoping that the protests would be used as a teachable moment for Obama and his campaign advisers.

No such luck. First we get the standard statement, that I will point out was posted in the LGBT section of his website in the beginning and not the website’s general newsroom, as if to say that this is for the gays only and we want to keep this under wraps. But to add injury to insult, Obama’s campaign announces that he invited an openly gay minister to open the gospel concert. Initially I thought he’d gotten with someone in the Black same-gender loving community, perhaps a minister from Unity Fellowship Church, or some other minister that was of African descent. Instead we get Rev. Andy Sidden, a white South Carolina pastor.

First of all, let’s address the issue of having a white gay pastor at a campaign event that’s geared towards religious African-Americans. Here we have a perfect opportunity for African-Americans to internally address the issue of homophobia with an African-American presidential candidate and instead of inviting a Black openly gay pastor, they invite a white man. Um, are we trying to see a repeat of 2004? Because if that’s the goal, we sure are headed down the right track. And in the end, in my opinion it’s Black gays who have the most to lose from this happening as there’s already a general consensus that gay is synonymous with white. All this will do is further that notion and drive it home undoing all of the work that Black lesbians and gays have done over the past decade within their communities.

But what about the message in using a white openly gay pastor at a Black event to convince Blacks that homophobia is wrong? What kind of message is that going to send? So now I am wondering who or what constitutes as an ally? Is an ally an ally when it’s beneficial to them and them alone? Is an ally and ally when there are no media around? Is an ally an ally when they have millions in the bank and are still going after the same pots of money as their lesser-funded “people of color” counterparts? Tell me, are we allies then? Because an ally would have bowed out gracefully and encouraged, oh I don’t know, maybe an African-American gay civil rights organization to take the lead.

Now back to my man Obama, who over the past week has made it increasingly difficult for me as an African-American to overlook a horrendous mistake that was only made worse with the announcement of the invitation of Rev. Sidden. But where does all of this leave Black gays? What are we supposed to do? You keep pushing us against wall and I know we let you slide before, but this one can’t be overlooked. We deserve better. Nix Sidden and invite an openly gay Black pastor. Then let’s sit down and talk about this so it doesn’t happen again. Anything less, and it’s a wrap.

An Interview with Donnie McClurkin's Ex-Lover

One had to wonder when someone would challenge McClurkin's "cure" claims as bogus. If the story being reported on Claycane.net (http://claycane.blogspot.com/2007/10/exclusive-interview-with-donnie.html) is true, McClurkin appears to be another Michael Johnston type: preach against gays and homosexuality while nonetheless indulging in it himself. It will be interesting to see if other corroborating information is forth coming. Here are a few segments:

I firmly believe one can be anti-gay, against gay marriage, against gay rights and still be gay. Meaning, you can fully hate yourself and that hate manifests in every part of your life. Senator Larry Craig, Ted Haggard and Mark Foley are not necessarily hypocrites; they are suffering from a toxic, and sometimes criminal, level of homophobia.The story I heard in a face to face interview with someone who claims to be Donnie McClurkin’s ex-lover was one of sadness, sexual deviance and scandal. He detailed in an hour and twenty minutes his relationship with the millionaire pastor, which I have on audio. He demands to remain anonymous being that he is tied to the gospel music industry and explains, “I can be blackballed by him.” For his professional and personal protection he will only go by the name of “Rob”.

In this revealing interview "Rob" details his relationship, or as he described, "roller coaster ride" with the “We Fall Down” hit maker from 2001 to 2004, which is ironically during the height of McClurkin's anti-gay rants and calls for conversion. How they met, his status in the gospel industry, their sex life, why he stayed and why they ended it. Plus, their last encounter in March 2007.

I truly do not understand the mentality of those who attain high profile positions, malign other gays, and then think that their trysts, etc., will not come out.

Obama's Missed Opportunity

I do not intend to comment any further on the Barack Obama debacle with Donnie McClurkin other than to recommend this column by my friend, Wayne Besen (http://www.365gay.com/opinion/besen/besen.htm). The larger message that Wayne makes, and with which I fully agree is as follows:

However, this imbroglio is really not about Obama's missed opportunity - it is about starting a conversation on the expectations GLBT voters have for our "friends." We are five percent of the electorate (much higher in the Democratic primaries) and give generously with our time and money. Just as it was no longer acceptable for candidates to speak at the once-segregated Bob Jones University in 2000, times have changed and it is no longer suitable for "gay-friendly" politicians to court homophobes in southern states.

If McClurkin's bilious statements were directed towards any other minority, he would not be let within a mile of any campaign. The GLBT community will no longer sit by idly and be the exception to the basic rules of decency and common sense. Our votes will not be taken for granted, but earned - and Obama and the rest of the pack can take that as the gospel.

Stated another way, if politicians and others want the time, talent and treasure of the LBGT community, then they need to be willing to be our friends ALL of the time, not just when it's expedient or they want money.

Obama Steps in More S**t, This Time with Woman Beater

Barack Obama's campaign is starting to look like the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" from SNL. Radner, Curtain, Belushi, et al, would have a field day. The McClurkin debacle continues to unfold as HRC takes Obama to task:

Human Rights Campaign Statement on Sen. Obama’s South Carolina Gospel Tour

WASHINGTON — Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, released the following statement in response to Sen. Barack Obama’s South Carolina Gospel Tour featuring anti-gay gospel singer, Rev. Donnie McClurkin: “I spoke with Sen. Barack Obama today and expressed to him our community’s disappointment for his decision to continue to remain associated with Rev. McClurkin, an anti-gay preacher who states the need to ‘break the curse of homosexuality.’ There is no gospel in Donnie McClurkin’s message for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. That’s a message that certainly doesn’t belong on any Presidential candidate’s stage.”

We hope that Sen. Obama will move forward and facilitate face to face meetings with religious leaders, like Rev. McClurkin, and the GLBT community to confront the issue of homophobia.” We also call on all of the Presidential campaigns to look within their ranks of supporters and make the same commitment to engage in a dialogue among differing views around issues of equality and fairness for our community.” Rev. McClurkin, an “ex-gay” gospel singer and minister who has called homosexuality a “curse”, has repeatedly stated his opposition to homosexuality as being against “the intention of God.”

It will be telling to see what Obama does in the face of this statement. If he keeps McClurkin, he's pretty much telling the LGBT community to go f**k itself. In my view, his staff needs a house cleaning. Meanwhile, in Nevada, Obama has teemed up with a convicted batterer of women (http://www.lvrj.com/news/10761301.html):

When Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launches his group of black supporters in Nevada today, the headliner will be a superstar: a boxer who won the biggest title fight in recent history, a flamboyant personality who's been on "Dancing With the Stars." But Floyd Mayweather Jr. is also a convicted batterer with a history of arrests in Las Vegas and elsewhere.

In 2004, Mayweather was convicted on two counts of battery for punching two women at a Las Vegas nightclub the previous year. He was given suspended prison sentences, $1,000 in fines and ordered to complete impulse control counseling. Mayweather in 2002 pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence in one case and battery in another. In 2005, a jury acquitted him of a third domestic violence charge, a felony, after his accuser changed her story. He reportedly was convicted of battery in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Mich., and he has also been the subject of civil lawsuits accusing him of battery.

University of Nevada, Reno, political scientist Eric Herzik said the Obama campaign made a bad choice in associating itself with someone with such a dicey past. "You're dealing with legal problems, and domestic violence in particular," he said. "No candidate wants to be associated with that. You'd think his staffers would have raised a red flag about this."

Nice family values! Can't Obama get some normal, non-hateful people to tour with him? Not too many of my black friends look favorably on homophobia OR assaulting and beating women. Seriously, his selection of these people is on an incompetence level akin to that of the Chimperator.

Obama pressured on gay ‘cure’ preacher

Barack Obama has really shot himself in the foot (or perhaps the head) on this one. One has to wonder what the Hell was he –or his staff who set up this tour – thinking? With HRC stepping in, as I think it should, Obama’s mealy mouth press statement is not going to cut it. Especially since other acts (e.g., Mary Mary) on the tour are also homophobes. Here are some highlights from The Hill's story (http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-pressured-on-gay-cure-preacher-2007-10-24.html):

The nation’s biggest gay rights group is trying to force Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) to cancel presidential campaign event with a controversial preacher who claims he was homosexual but has been cured. The Human Rights Campaign has expressed its strong reservations to Obama over his campaign-sponsored tour that features gospel singer Donnie McClurkin.

The influential organization, representing a powerful Democratic constituency, let Obama’s campaign know that it would issue a public demand if Obama did not immediately cancel the event, said a person who had been briefed on the exchange. Obama will not be present on the so-called Embrace the Change Tour, but public denouncement by the Human Rights Campaign could damage him in his quest for the White House.

McClurkin is notorious among gay rights activists for fighting what he calls the “curse of homosexuality,” for saying sexual orientation is a choice, and for claiming that homosexuality can be “cured” by prayer. Obama has drawn intense fire from gay activists and liberal bloggers in recent days for recruiting McClurkin and other gospel singers for a statewide tour of South Carolina beginning this week. By threatening to weigh in strongly, Human Rights Campaign has elevated what began as a controversy in the blogosphere into a full-fledged dilemma for Obama’s campaign.

One active member of the LGBT community who is supporting Obama said that his e-mail inbox has filled with complaints about the controversy. “I think Barack Obama is between a rock and hard place and I imagine it will get worse not better over the next 48 hours,” said the supporter who declined to speak on the record because he had not made up his mind whether to criticize Obama publicly. “I never heard about [McClurkin] until 36 hours ago. Someone sent me an e-mail of a blog on the Huffington Post. God bless the Internet. Things spread like wildfire.”

To me, if Obama was unaware of McClurkin's baggage, he needs to fire some staffers for not doing a better job in making sure they knew who they were getting in bed with.

Obama to do gospel tour with radical right singer who crusades against "the curse of homosexuality"

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog.com picked up this story line (http://www.americablog.com/2007/10/obama-to-do-gospel-tour-with-radical.html) about Barack Obama that I find unsettling:

As religious conservatives gather in Washington this weekend for the “Values Voters Summit,” Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced its latest effort to attract people of faith to the campaign: a gospel concert tour.All three of the dates of the “Embrace the Change” tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters.Gospel acts including Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Byron Cage and the Mighty Clouds of Joy are scheduled to appear.

I'm sorry, but to me, it's sort of like agreeing to tour with Hitler and the SS in order to pick up votes in Bavaria in the early 1930's. I guess we now know that Obama will stoop pretty damn low in pandering for votes. He's making Hillary look better to many I suspect by doing this. Besides, how many Democrats - even in South Carolina - are Christianists like Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin? Does Obama plan on visiting a couple of Klan functions while in South carolina too? Keith Boykin has more on who Obama will be sharing the stage with (http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2005/09/30/is_donnie_mcclu):

But what makes McClurkin a controversial figure is his preaching. It began with McClurkin's 2001 book, Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor, where he explained his 20-year experience with homosexuality, which he said started after he was raped by an uncle. "Love is pulling you one way and lust is pulling you another and your relationship with Jesus is tearing you," McClurkin told the media. He says that God delivered him from homosexuality, and since that time, he has been counseling adolescent boys that homosexuality is merely a lifestyle choice that can be overcome.

Donnie McClurkin had a very rough childhood. That alone is a tragedy. But what makes his otherwise inspiring story so troubling is that he is now violating young people in much the same way that he was violated. By teaching young people that they can pray their way out of who they are, he is essentially creating a generation of newly confused adolescents.

Gay teenagers are already more likely to be abused in school or to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts. We've already reported on young gays and lesbians who have been beaten to death by their parents (3-year-old Ronnie Parris) and their neighbors (15-year-old Sakia Gunn). Do these young people really need to have their ministers beating them up too? We think not.

Comparing gays and lesbians to liars, McClurkin explains, "There are certain things like, you know, anybody who has a lying problem; they get to the point where they hate being so, having such a lack of character that they make a change."

In the same interview, McClurkin argues again that homosexuality is simply a lifestyle choice. "There's a group that says, 'God made us this way,' but then there's another group that knows God didn't make them that way," he says. Notice the circularity in his rhetoric. The people who say that God made them gay don't know what they're talking about because the people who say God did not make them gay are right. Well how do they know if someone was born gay or not if they are not gay themselves? It's insulting and presumptuous of others to tell gays and lesbians that they're not smart enough even to know who they are.

Is he really cured or, as with all the ex-gays I have studied, is it really about the money? Seems to me that McClurkin has a lot to lose financially if he were to admit he really is still gay:

Back in 2002, we reported that McClurkin's church, Perfecting Faith Church in New York, drew nearly a thousand people every Sunday, including his friend, Starr Jones of ABC-TV's "The View." The collection plate at the church reportedly brought in $100,000 a month.