Former ‘Ex-Gay’ Superstar John Paulk Finally Renounces His ‘Ex-Gay’ Past

1998 cover story lie

If one studies the parade of "ex-gays" trotted out time and again by the Christofascists to support their politically motivated claims that gays can "change," what one finds is a sad parade of still gay men, many of whom later admit that they never changed their sexual orientation.  Yes, there are some how will continue the charade and help the charlatans like Michele Bachmann's (in my view) closeted husband, the "family values" organizations and the fraudulent "ex-gay ministries,"  but most in my opinion are losers who continue the lies because they have no other viable options to make a buck and/or still suffer from religious brainwashing and refuse to let go of the lies they were indoctrinated with.  These fakes are no more straight than the man in the moon.  Now, one of the most high profile "ex-gays" of them all, John Paulk has renounced his "ex-gay" past and asked forgiveness for the harm he did masquerading as an "ex-gay."  Truth Wins Out  has details.  Here are highlights:

In a piece in PQ Monthly, Paulk, who has perhaps done more to hurt LGBT families than any other single person in the “ex-gay” industry, states for the record that he no longer endorses efforts to change people’s sexuality:

“Until recently, I have struggled all my life in feeling unloved and unaccepted,” Paulk said. “I have been on a journey during the last few years in trying to understand God, myself, and how I can best relate to others. During this journey I have made many mistakes and I have hurt many people including people who are close to me. I have also found a large number of people who accept me for who I am regardless of my past, any labels, or what I do.”

Paulk continued, “I no longer support the ex-gay movement or efforts to attempt to change individuals — especially teens who already feel insecure and alienated. I feel great sorrow over the pain that has been caused when my words were misconstrued. I have worked at giving generously to the gay community in Portland where I work and live. I am working hard to be authentic and genuine in all of my relationships.”

John Paulk was at one time the most well known and influential person in the “ex-gay” industry, appearing on the cover of Newsweek with his wife Anne in 1998 under the headline, “Gay For Life?” He was instrumental in forming the Love Won Out “ex-gay” roadshow, which subjected countless LGBT youth and their families to misinformation, indoctrination and lies, and which destroyed many families in the process. In 2000, Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, photographed John Paulk coming out of a Washington, DC, gay bar, and the lies began to unravel. Though John resigned from the board of Exodus International following this incident, the Religious Right continued to use the Paulks’ story as evidence that the “ex-gay” life was a fairy tale rather than a nightmare, and many LGBT people and their families have been damaged or destroyed over the years as a result.

John and his wife moved to Portland, Oregon, shortly thereafter and lived relatively quiet lives as John built a catering company called Mezzaluna, staffed by curiously attractive gay men. John and Anne didn’t really disappear from the “ex-gay” scene, though. John spoke in 2010 at the Evergreen “ex-gay” conference, and in 2012, Anne was a co-founder of the Restored Hope Network, a group of “ex-gay” ministries that defected from Exodus International when Alan Chambers began to tell the truth, that reparative therapy and “ex-gay” ministries do not change anyone’s sexuality. Indeed, Anne seemed to double down on the lie at the group’s inaugural meeting, telling the crowd:

“I never thought I would be married and the mother of three sons,” she told the eager crowd mixed with anti-gay extremists and the hurting parents of gay children.

Anne Paulk continues to propagate a false narrative of her own “ex-gay” life in order to stay in the spotlight and make money off of suffering LGBT people and their families.

In light of  John Paulk’s announcement, Truth Wins Out also calls upon Anne Paulk and the rest of the Religious Right to immediately cease using the Paulks’ story to sell harmful “ex-gay” therapy to vulnerable people. “Anne Paulk and her Religious Right cohort must immediately cease lying to people about the false ‘ex-gay Paulk fairy-tale,’” said Truth Wins Out Associate Director Evan Hurst. “Indeed, both Paulks should become poster children for the very real nightmare that has been the ‘ex-gay’ experience for so many LGBT people.”

The "ex-gays for pay" are truly ugly parasites who prey on troubled gays and their families to make a buck and to aid the anti-gay propaganda spewed from far too many pulpits and disseminated by fronts for the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches.  It's all a lie.  But then, no one lies as often or as maliciously than the "godly Christian" crowd.

Michele Bachmann: Being Gay is "Part of Satan"

Fellow LGBT Blogger Summit participant Jeremy Hooper at Good As You - who's even smarter than he is cute - has once again demonstrated that he's the best when it comes to unearthing past statements and demagoguery by opponents of LGBT equality. His latest "gold strike" is a 2004 video of Michele Bachmann at a National Education Conference in the Twin Cities area in 2004. Very little has changed in Bachmann's hate and fear based extremism over the last seven years and LGBT Americans remain her whipping boy of choice. And given her husband's now documented promotion at the ex-gay myth and reparative therapy, it's not too much of a stretch to see that the 2004 anti-gay rant (see the video below) was possibly calculated to be good for the Bachmann household's bottom line financially.



Obviously, only time will tell whether or not Michele Bachmann and her lisping, mincing husband truly believe the "ex-gay" rhetoric or if they are merely laughing all the way to the bank. Either way, the situation shows that both Bachmann's are ethically challenged and that she's unfit for high office. Here are highlights of what Jeremy unearthed:
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Well there's something that's happening in our schools, and one of the reasons why I felt I was called to take up this issue, of bringing a constitutional amendment to the state of Minnesota before our people — I was the chief author in the MN state senate — is because of the profound impact this [legal recognition of same sex couples] would have on every man, every woman, every child in the state of Minnesota.
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Any of you who have members of your family that are in the lifestyle—we have a member of our family that is. This is not funny. It’s a very sad life. It’s part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It’s anything but gay.
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The Love Won Out conference was here not too long ago in the Twin Cities, and it’s profoundly sad to recognize that almost all, if not all, individuals who have gone into the lifestyle have been abused at one time in their life, either by a male or by a female.
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this new legal enforcement of a new status—homosexuality, lesbianism, bringing it into the mainstream, if you will, giving it a legitimacy if you will -- that will impact not only the gay community, but every man, woman and child, particularly the schools."
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As Jeremy notes, the Dump Bachmann Blog has a full hour of her anti-gay batshitery> It it she goes on to say this about being LGBT:
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“It leads to the personal enslavement of individuals. Because if you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. Personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement. And that’s why this is so dangerous.
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Frankly, if there's anyone suffering from personal bondage and enslavement, it's Ms. Bachmann and her lisping husband. They are in bondage to their false and discredited medical and mental health beliefs about LGBT individuals. One can only hope that the general public will wake up and see how such vitriolic homophobia points to Bachamann's own emotionally and mentally disturbed state.

Michele and Marcus Bachmann - More and More Questions

The questions about Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and the extremist anti-gay views she shares with her husband, Marcus Bachmann, continue to multiply. Marcus Bachmann markets himself as a psychologist who provides "Christian counseling" at his practice, Bachmann & Associates. The Washington Post did a lengthy piece on July 6, 2011, on both Bachmann's history of anti-gay extremism and their joined at the hip mentality of opposing any and all civil rights for LGBT Americans. Pam Spaulding chimed into the mix a post raising serious ethical issues that seem to surround Marcus Bachmann's "Christian Counseling" practice in Lake Elmo and Burnsville, Minnesota. Adding even more fuel to the fire is Think Progress' story of Michelle Bachmann's 2004 endorsement of Focus on the Families utterly bogus and, in the view of the American Psychological Association's ("APA") view, unethical ex-gay ministry, Love Wins Out. While both Bachmann's are dodging questions on whether Bachmann & Associates offers ex-gay "reparative therapy" a lot of questions exist as to (1) the nature of Marcus Bachmann's credentials and (2) how he operates his practice without being licensed. A perusal of the Minnesota Revised Statutes reveals that state licensing is required for (1) psychologists, (2) marriage and family therapists, and (3) professional counselors. Yet, by all reports Marcus Bachmann holds no license. The obvious questions are how and why? Is this the type of "expert" Michele Bachmann would utilize were she to be elected to high office?

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But Bachmann's lack of a license to practice isn't the only irregularity surrounding Marcus Bachmann professional qualifications. He apparently prefers to be referred to as "Dr. Bachmann." Coincidentally, from my years of following "family values" organizations, affixing "Dr." in front a supposed "expert's" name is a favored tactic to add credibility. The Post story and others indicate that Bachmann received his PhD from Union Graduate Institute in Ohio. While it's an apparently legally created institution, it's doctoral program in Psychology is NOT accredited by the APA which means its degree holders cannot be licensed in a number of states. Moreover, it specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. That's right, it is NOT a traditional university offering typical doctoral education program.
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Given these unanswered questions about Marcus Bachmann's practice and his unlicensed status, these thoughts raised in Pam Spaulding's post are most relevant:
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Someone should publicly ask him to provide a copy of the informed consent that he has patients seeking to undergo "ex-gay" therapy sign. Informed consent is a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment. The elements of informed consents include informing the client of the nature of the treatment, possible alternative treatments, and the potential risks and benefits of the treatment.
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For ex-gay therapy, the informed consent should tell a patient that "ex-gay" therapy is not proven, is considered "experimental", is not supported by research, that no medical or mental health association endorses it, that it could have harmful side effects including depression and suicidal ideation, and that change to heterosexuality is not likely. A good informed consent should also list alternative treatments and options, including learning to live life as a celibate homosexual or seeking gay affirmative therapy.
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A good informed consent would inform a potential client that she/he could spend years and tens of thousands of dollars seeking "change" but would most likely continue to experience homosexual attractions for the rest of his/her life.
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As for specifics of Michele and Marcus Bachmann's virulent anti-gay track records, here are highlights from the Washington Post story:
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Michele Bachmann has called gay marriage “probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, 30 years.” In 2005, she ran screaming from a bathroom at a constituent forum, claiming that a lesbian had attempted to keep her there against her will. (The woman said she was merely questioning Bachmann about her position on gay marriage.) As a state senator, she was seen crouching behind hedges to observe a gay rights rally. (She has explained that she was checking the turnout.) Dr. Bachmann’s views on homosexuality have likewise earned him the ire of gay activists and liberal critics.
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The Bachmann campaign declined to specifically address whether the couple’s clinic, set back amid serene ponds in an office park gauzy with floating dandelion seeds, engages in the practice of reparative therapy.
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Both Bachmanns have warned that a greater acceptance of homosexuality could have grave social consequences. . . . In Dr. Bachmann’s interview with Point of View talk radio in 2010, he said that parents and authority figures have a responsibility not to allow homosexual feelings “to move into action steps” and warned that the rate of homosexuality in public schools would increase if it became tolerated with “full, wide-open doors.” Both Bachmanns have been supportive of Janet Boynes, the author of “Called Out: A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Freedom.”
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Think Progress adds this to the already disturbing picture of this frightening couple:
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In 2004, as ex-gay proponents “Love Won Out” prepared to hold their annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota for those “struggling with unwanted homosexuality,” Bachmann not only lent a quote for the group’s press release but also “opened the conference with a greeting and blessing.”
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Yes, criticism of Bachmann and her husband may rally the delusional elements of the GOP base to rally to he cause. However, it is critical that moderates and independents realize just how crazy and extreme Bachmann and her husband are in the beliefs and policy towards civil rights for all citizens.

Gay Couple Found Love at "Ex-Gay" Ministry

The lies and deliberately falsified information coming from the mouths of Christianists and professional Christians is nearly endless. As noted before, these people somehow believe that the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness does not apply to them. One of the most insidious lies (and lucrative as well for the snake oil merchants in the "ex-gay" industry) is the myth that gays can "change" and that by "accepting Jesus" one can magically become heterosexual. On a personal level, I tried to "change" for 37 years and guess what - it does NOT work. Something recognized by every legitimate medical and mental health association. Yet the Christianists persist in telling the lie and raking in lots of cash from desperate individuals and/or their parents. The Dallas Voice has a story on two former enrollees of "Love Won Out" - an utterly bullshit program until recently under the umbrella of hatemeister James Dobson's Focus on the Family - who fell in love and married (see photo above) after they met in a "Love Won Out" camp where they were supposed to be "cured" of their homosexuality. It's a story that has happened time and time again - including in the case of the founders of Exodus International. Here are some story very brief highlights (NOTE: the cost of the "cure" program was $10,000 per person):
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KC Jansson came out to his parents in ninth grade. His parents sent him to counseling. Then he came out to them again as a high school senior. “My dad’s a Southern Baptist pastor in Missouri, in a small southern town.” he said. “They said I was either going to be on the streets or do it their way. They were going to pay $10 grand for me to go to this camp. “I didn’t have a choice but to go there,” he said.
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Jansson described the camp as a sort of drug rehab center for being gay. He said he was raised to believe that if he was gay he was going to become an alcoholic and a drug addict and get AIDS and never go to college or love anyone.
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KC and Larry arrived at the facility at the same time. This was KC’s first time away from home and his first time to be around other gay people. . . . Although they weren’t supposed to look at each other, Larry and KC kept making eye contact. There were no doors on the rooms and each room had three beds. Larry and KC were assigned to share a room.
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KC said his “counselor” was in college but worked at this house unsupervised. Two others were former drug addicts who had gone through 12-step programs themselves. None was a licensed therapist.
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During the first three months of the program, KC and Larry developed what they both called a genuine friendship. . . . . Over the next five months their friendship developed, but without physical contact between them. “No kiss. No hug. No touch,” Larry said. . . . KC said he told Larry, “I love you. I want to be with you. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
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Then three months after moving to Dallas, Larry proposed. For KC’s birthday, the two drove to Galveston. After checking into their hotel, they went to the beach and walked out onto a rock pier. Larry got down on one knee, took out a ring and said, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
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In September 2009 they legally married in Connecticut and then held a ceremony for friends and family at Cathedral of Hope in December. They had 14 attendants and a lavish reception at the W Hotel. Family members came from all over the country and Larry and KC reveled in being the source of joy after so much sadness in the family.
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Now, life for the Janssons has settled into a normal routine. In addition to their jobs and school and a happy suburban life in Frisco, both have returned to activities taken away by Love In Action. Larry teaches dance classes. KC plays the piano. And once KC finishes school, they’ll begin seriously looking into adoption.
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Love Won Out and similar "ex-gay" ministries cause untold misery, perpetuate lies and bogus science and are nothing less that unethical rip offs that enrich the parasites that sponsor the programs. Fortunately Larry and KC had a happy ending. Not everyone does and I hope that someday a damaged victim of these programs will have the wherewith all to sue the "ministry" and its sponsors and wipe it out - causing a chain reaction against other bogus programs in the process.

“Ex-Gay” is Anti-Gay, Disguised as Compassion

Earlier this week the Washington Post gave op-ed space to Tony Perkins, the head of the virulently anti-gay Family Research Council. The same Tony Perkins who has a documented history of racism and fraternizing with racists and who is a feel documented liar. Had anyone at the Washington Post bothered to Googled Mr. Perkins, they'd have realized that no legitimate and credible publication should ever give editorial space to Tony Perkins. After being severely criticized and hit with brickbats, the Post decided to do so CYA by allowing a piece by Sirdeaner Walker who lost her son to suicide as a result of anti-gay bullying. Walker challenges Perkins' bullshit lies. An unrelated piece in Religion Dispatches likewise redirects the blame for anti-gay bullying to its real source: anti-gay Christianists who continue to peddle the "ex-gay" myth, often enriching the proponents of these bogus "ministries" in the process. First these highlights from Ms. Walker's Washington Post response to the gay-hating, Klan loving Tony Perkins:
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I came to know about an organization called GLSEN--the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network--about a year and a half ago in the midst of the most difficult time of my life. My 11-year-old son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover had just taken his life after enduring anti-gay bullying in school. His school had not taken the bullying seriously enough. Eliza Byard, GLSEN's executive director, offered her support.
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[S]ome of my friends and family members expressed concern about the organization's work to address anti-gay bullying in school. They voiced religious opposition to GLSEN. . . . And they're all wrong.
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Mr. Perkins' tactic, and that of others like him, is to use faith and religion to divide us. They seek to thwart efforts to deal with a problem at the heart of this current crisis--anti-gay bullying and harassment.
But Perkins goes further--his "facts" are taken out of context and are, frankly, untrue.
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And we need to be clear on one thing - addressing anti-gay bullying is not a controversial issue. If you move through the smoke screen organizations like Family Research Council try to create, you realize addressing anti-gay bullying is simply the right thing to do if we care about all of our young people.
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I could not be more grateful to my friends at GLSEN for their unwavering support, and I marvel at their determination. They do not allow themselves to be discouraged by the attacks of their crucial work, God's work, by people like Perkins.
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The piece from Religion Dispatches takes Ms. Walker's argument further and slams the snake oil merchants of the "ex-gay" ministries. Here are highlights from this piece:
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Few of the commentaries about Clementi, Brown, Walsh, Lucas and others address the broader context of responsibility for their suicides. What did the family and religious lives of these teens tell them about sexuality and religion? What produced despair so profound that death seemed their only avenue of escape from bullying?
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It’s obvious to condemn the anti-gay hatemongering of Westboro Baptist church . . . More troubling is the subtle and pernicious rhetoric espoused by religious communities and organizations that advise young people to transform their sexuality from gay to straight. Exodus Youth, an entire branch of the Christian ex-gay movement targets those at the most vulnerable and precarious points in their lives, arguing that instead of being gay, they are merely experiencing what they call SSA or same-sex attraction; a temporary malady that can be fixed through ministry, counseling, and prayer.
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The most recent post on the Exodus Youth blog by Chris Stump “Tragic Losses: Enough is Enough!” exemplifies how anti-gay sentiment masquerades as love and compassion.
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I knew a man who took his life after struggling to transform his sexuality in an ex-gay ministry for years. The ideas of “hope for healing” and “freedom from homosexuality” promulgated by Exodus Youth, religious organizations, families, and social communities are deeply entrenched and powerful. Even men and women I met in the course of my research who attended ex-gay ministries and later self-identified as LGBT still struggled. No matter how many years separated them from their experiences as young people in churches, the beliefs of their upbringing and their own same-sex desires still felt irreconcilable.
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By focusing on bullying, Exodus Youth and its supporters avoid the truth that their organization endorses insidious forms of hatred cloaked in the language of compassion.

Brian Brown - Still Sucking on the Anti-Gay Teet

Click to enlarge image.

Having followed the professional Christian set for well over a decade, one thing becomes readily discernible - many of its talking heads bounce from one homophobic organization to another, never holding a real job. Instead, they move from state based anti-gay groups to more national level organizations and the lies that they disseminate never change no matter what legitimate medical and mental health experts say about sexual orientation. Some of these professional gay haters are Peter LaBarbera, Robert Knight, Tony Perkins - and NOM's Brian Brown. Jeremy Hooper has a piece at Good As You that documents that Brown has been sucking on the anti-gay money teet for over five years. In fact, five years ago Brown was heading up the Family Institute of Connecticut and peddling Truth Won Out's bogus reparative therapy program - a therapy condemned by the APA. Here are some highlights from Jeremy's comments:
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Nowadays, National Organization For Marriage president Brian Brown is way too politically savvy to encourage gays into scientifically discredited "ex-gay" change. But that wasn't always the case. Back when Brian was heading up the Family Institute of Connecticut and the national interest was much more lacking, a less public version of Brian was all about helping parents "prevent your child from embracing this destructive way of life"
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What do we hear from NOM all the time? False victimization. Charges that Brian and crew will be unfairly labeled "bigots." An attempt to flip the script to make the anti-LGBT crowd seem like the sympathetic figures. But here we have it, almost five years ago to the date: Brian ignoring a preponderance of credible science to say that gays can and should pray away the gay.
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Brown, like his compatriots of the far right Christianist set, is a con artist and charlatan. Sadly, the main stream media continues to lack the balls - and integrity - to expose these people for frauds and demagogues.

Exodus Co-Founder: I’m A Vocal Critic of Reparative Therapy and of Exodus International.

One of the most calculated and perverse lies disseminated by Christianists and the political enemies of full LGBT equality is that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that it can be "changed." This lie has caused so much emotional pain and so many failed marriages - my own being one of them - that it enrages me that our enemies continue to deliberately peddle the same falsehoods even as mental health experts have increasingly concluded that one's sexual orientation is immutable and not changeable. Worse yet, the purveyors of the "choice myth" and "change myth" as I call them truly care nothing about the damaged lives that they leave in their wake. No, instead, it's all about the money to be made from these false cure programs and/or the political weapon the known lies provide. Some have come to see the error of their ways and now speak out against reparative therapy and organizations that promote it, Exodus International being perhaps the largest. One such person is Michael Bussee, an original co-founder of Exodus International. Daniel Gonzales has a must read piece at Box Turtle Bulletin that looks at an interview with Bussee in which he describes his own ill-fated marriage and the damage "marriage to make one self straight" has as its legacy. Here are highlights:
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Some people in the ex-gay movement become so deeply involved they make the drastic step of getting married. Michael Bussee took that step and talks today about his inner conflict in doing so. Michael recognized he wasn’t a heterosexual when he got married but chose to anyway because he believed God would reward him with heterosexuality if he truly committed himself to God and took his vows as a leap of faith. Once married Michael found himself in an uncomfortable position as a role model at Exodus and privately tried to discourage his own clients from marrying.
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Michael talks about the damage caused by using marriage as proof of change and the collateral damage that occurs when mixed orientation (ex-gay) marriages come to an end.
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[W]e were encouraged by people at the church that perhaps getting married was that final step that maybe I was “holding back the change” by not giving myself whole heartedly to her, that if I made the vows and truly gave our lives together to God that that might be the breakthrough and I might finally receive the heterosexual gift.
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So we were actually given that advice that we should marry. I realize now that it was irresponsible advice and some people are still given that advice that they really need to settle down and that eventually God will reward their vows by creating heterosexuality within them.
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That does so much collateral damage, I’ve talked to so many spouses who felt like failures themselves because their husband or wife didn’t change, there was something wrong with their faith too.
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To hear Alan Chambers talk about his marriage yet admitting it took 9 months or so to even consummate the marriage that he has “to daily deny what comes naturally for him.”
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You really need to talk to the spouses of gay men . . . ex-gay men to realize the harm, the collateral damage. It devastated my life, it devastated Gary’s wife when we came out and admitted that we weren’t really ex-gay. It devastated my family, it devastated my daughter.
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That collateral damage is minimized, they like to paint this happily ever after picture but they don’t say what happens when those marriages fall apart, when the masquerade is over.
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I myself was never in an "ex-gay" program, but due to the brainwashing I received in my religious upbringing, being gay was just to horrible to contemplate and I - like so many, many others - deceived myself and engaged in the same types of self-denial and lies encouraged by Exodus International and similar organizations. I truly believe that God has a special place in Hell for James Dobson, Robert Knight, and the other false Christians who knowingly and deliberately preach the "ex-gay" and "choice myths."

Focus on the Family Condemns Uganda Bill

In a somewhat surprising move, Focus on the Family - until recently the parent organization for the fraudulent ex-gay ministry, Love Won Out" that "claims that gays can change their sexual orientation - released a press statement condemning the proposed "kill gays" bill pending in Uganda's Parliament. Few organizations have done more to demonize LGBT Americans than Focus on the Family which has toxic affiliates such as The Family Foundation in Virginia scattered across the USA. Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out has the text of the press release:
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"As a Christian organization, Focus on the Family Action encourages pro-family policies. As such, we respect the desire of the Ugandan people to shield their nation from the promotion of homosexuality as morally equivalent to one-man, one-woman marriage. That said, the purpose of laws is to make societies safer, and there is legitimate concern that the legislation being debated in Uganda will incite violence against homosexuals. That is morally unacceptable, as is enacting the death penalty for homosexuals, which some versions of this bill are reported to require."
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-- Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family
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It would seem that Focus on the Family cynically calculated that a failure to condemn the Uganda bill would be all too indicative of FOTF's real agenda against LGBT citizens. Would that a similar statement would be released admitting that Love Won Out's claims are untrue and were known to be untrue even as the lies were disseminated by James Dobson and his ex-gay for pay minions at FOTF.

Budget Woes Force Focus on the Family Layoffs

Apparently hate and intolerance are not as profitable as once was the case. In yet another round of layoffs, Focus on the Family will be leting go another 75 employees and not filling another 57 vacant positions. While I feel some empathy for those soon to be joining the ranks of the unemployed, I cannot help but wonder who would want to work for an organization that principally markets lies, bogus science, deliberate untruths and hate and intolerance. As for Daddy Dobson, I suspect that he has set aside a very nice nest egg for himself so that even if his Christianist empire were to fall, he would continue to live quite comfortably off of his ill gained monies - blood money if you will in light of the number of LGBT lives Dobson has likely ruined or negatively impacted. One can only hope that the financial woes of FOTF and similar organizations that denigrate other citizens continue to falter as older bigoted generations die off and are replaced by younger, more tolerant generations that believe in the concept of the separation of church and state. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Focus on the Family announced Wednesday it is laying off 8 percent of its work force, casualties of the latest budget shortfall at the influential conservative Christian group. Seventy-five employees will lose their jobs and an additional 57 vacant positions will remain unfilled, said Gary Schneeberger, spokesman for the evangelical ministry founded by child psychologist James Dobson. The cutbacks are necessary because projections show the group will fall 5 percent short of a $138 million budget for the fiscal year ending this month, Schneeberger said.

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The cutbacks include a staffer at "Love Won Out," a conference series about "overcoming" same-sex attractions that Focus on the Family announced last month would be ceded to another religious organization.

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An in-house ad agency also will be closed, Schneeberger said. The layoffs will leave Focus on the Family with about 860 employees, down from a peak 1,400. Last fall, budget problems prompted the group to eliminate more than 200 positions, the largest staff reduction in its history.

Focus on the Family Focuses on Homosexuals

The title of a Denver Post article says what most gays who are not unconscious already knew. Daddy Dobson's Focus on the Family is obsessed with homosexuality. As with the "conservative" Episcopalians, world hunger, genocide, homelessness are of far less concern. It's all about the "gay agenda" and maintaining the choice myth. In the article the number of attendees who have come to bogus "Love Won Out" conferences is noted but as is the norm, there is ZERO documentation as to the number of successful cures. One only hears from the tired "ex-gays for pay" like Melissa Fryrear. Truth be told, FOF likely has no documentation on purpose since it doesn't want to show how the program in reality doesn't work. They make wild claims but have no names of real people who have been "cured" to back any of it up. Even Daddy D himself can only cite 800 out of 50,000 some attendees who claim to have been cured. If true, that's a horrendously low success rate. In short, FOF peddles snake oil and makes the sleaziest used car salesman look like the height of integrity. Here are some story highlights:

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For a decade, Focus on the Family has delved into what it believes is the biblical truth about sexual behavior through its "Love Won Out" conferences. Focus says the conferences started a national conversation on the origins of homosexuality and have nurtured thousands of troubled families and helped hundreds of former gays and lesbians "escape the lifestyle."

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But pro-gay activists and many psychology experts denounce attempts to change people's sexual orientation through religious mediation or other so-called reparative therapies. They say it causes people great harm in an attempt to fix something that isn't broken.

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"These programs give us the tools and weapons to go to war against ourselves," said Peterson Toscano, founder of the support group Beyond Ex-Gay. Failed attempts to change sexual orientation take a tremendous toll on people's psychological, emotional, spiritual, financial and physical well-being, he said. "I've talked to more than 1,000 ex- gay survivors whose lives have been devastated — their close relationships destroyed," Toscano said. "Because of one of these conferences, my mother died feeling she had failed me."

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University of Minnesota researchers recently published a study in the Journal of Homosexuality showing that among homosexual men, the best predictor of poor mental and sexual health, including depression, drug use and sexually transmitted diseases, is a negative attitude toward homosexuality, not being a homosexual.

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Dobson said there are more than 800 known former gay and lesbian individuals who have found "wholeness in their newfound heterosexuality." As evidence mounts for biological underpinnings to human sexual behavior, Christian conservatives increasingly argue science doesn't matter.

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The bottom line is that for Daddy Dobson and FOF, the truth doesn't matter. It's all about shaking down folks for money and keeping the "choice myth" alive for political purposes. He/they make the Pharisees look like pretty upright folks in comparison.

Palin's Church Promotes "Curing" Gays

I previously did a post on Sarah Palin's belief - I can only assume it's her belief since she has yet to disavow her church's position - that gays can be "cured." Now the AP has done a story about her church's belief that gays can "pray away the gay." Hopefully, this will widely publicize Ms. Palin's ignorant, bigoted beliefs and put more pressure on her to directly state her views on LGBT citizens. Imagine the firestorm if Palin's church believed blacks were inferior based on a few Bible passages (if they are like most white fundamentalist churches, they in fact probably do hold this racist belief, they just don't say it publicly).

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Unfortunately, the story is another example of the lazy, incompetent reporting that too often passes for journalism nowadays since it totally fails to report that ALL legitimate medical and mental health organizations disagree with Ms. Palin and her church. Her belief in this regard should be another huge red flag that a McSenile/Palin administration would usher in more of the anti-knowledge and anti-science mentality that has been a hallmark of the Chimperator's misguided regime. With China and India rushing to modernize do we really need ignorance of this level a heart beat away from the White House? Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer. "You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

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Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples. Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.

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Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called "pray away the gay" movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin's church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.

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"I think gay Republicans are going to run away" if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she's a vice presidential nominee. "People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House," he said.

Soap Opera GOP Convention

I suffered through a part of the GOP Convention coverage last night under my "know your enemy theory" and like many other viewers was struck by the fact that, other than trying to defend the selection of Sarah Plain as the VP candidate, the convention seemed out of touch with reality and seemed plagued by empty seats. Meanwhile, today the Sarah Palin thread is dominating the news and to me demonstrating to me that John McCain "shot from the hip" in selecting her without first doing his homework. The claims of sexism and such are merely a smoke screen to try to distract attention from the fact that McCain acted recklessly in making his selection with the result that he's now doing non-stop damage control.

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Other than statements emanating from the RNC, McCain campaign and Christianist organizations, just about all of the coverage raises questions about Palin and/or her religious extremism (such as her church's belief that gays can be "cured" ). More and more it looks like the Christianists may have forced McCain's hand in making the selection based on the orgasms they are having over her selection. One can only imagine the General Hospital quality of the convention given that young Bristol Palin and her beau, Levi Johnson, will be in attendance. Here are some highlights from Maureen Dowd's take on the Palin selection:

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For many years, reality was out of vogue with Republicans. They ignored the reality of Iraq and Katrina, of Pakistan and Osama bin Laden. . . . Now reality, in all its messy, crazy, funky glory, has flooded the party, in the comely, crackling form of Sarah Palin. Unable to stop the onslaught of wild soap opera storylines erupting from the Palin family and the Alaska wilderness, McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt offered caterwauling reporters a new mantra: “Life happens.”

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Indeed, it does. Only four days into her reign as John McCain’s “soul mate,” or “Trophy Vice,” as some bloggers are calling her, on the ticket known as “Maverick Squared,” Palin, the governor of Alaska, has already accrued two gates (Troopergate and Broken-watergate), a lawyer (for Troopergate), a future son-in-law named Levi (a high school ice hockey player, described by New York magazine as “sex on skates”), and a National Enquirer headline about the “Teen Prego Crisis” with 17-year-old daughter Bristol.

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Since John McCain played craps first and sent the vetters to Alaska afterward, Republicans have been defending Governor Palin by saying that, while she has no foreign policy experience — except, as Cindy McCain pointed out, that “Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia” — she has a lot of domestic policy experience as a supercharged P.T.A. and hockey mom.

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When McCain gets in trouble, he pulls out the P.O.W. card. Now Republicans are pulling out the sexist card. Hillary cried sexism to cover up her incompetent management of her campaign, and now Republicans have picked up that trick. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question, you only hurt women. And that’s just another splash of reality.

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As for Palin's desire to censor libraries and the embrace of ex-gay ministries by Palin's church, Time magazine has the following highlight (I recommend reading the whole article since it underscores the recklessness of McCain's selection of Palin:

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[A]s mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

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"We like to call this the Bible Belt of Alaska," says Cheryl Metiva, head of the local chamber of commerce. Churches proliferate in Wasilla today, and among the largest and most influential is the Wasilla Bible Church, where the Palins worship.

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At the 11:15 a.m. Sunday service, hundreds sit in folding chairs, listening to a 20-minute sermon about the Book of Malachi and singing along to alt-rock praise songs. The only sign of culture warring in the whole production is an insert in the day's program advertising an upcoming Focus on the Family conference on homosexuality in Anchorage called Love Won Out. The group promises to teach attendees how to "respond to misinformation in our culture" and help them "overcome" homosexuality.

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Here's what ex-gay critic, Wayne Besen, has to say about Daddy Dobson's disingenuous Love Won Out program run by ex-gays for pay:

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NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out expressed deep concern today after learning that Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s church appears to support so-called “ex-gay” ministries. These programs that aim to “pray away the gay” are ineffective and have harmed thousands of gay and lesbian people. TWO urged the media to ask Palin if she supports such programs and what her views are on this topic.

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“We are deeply concerned that Sarah Palin may share the extreme and medically unsound view that gay and lesbian people can and should be cured,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “We call on Palin to express her views on this issue so we have a clear idea of where she stands. We hope this is an area where she disagrees with her church.”

STOP The Radio Hall of Fame from Honoring Anti-Gay Bigot James Dobson

Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out has a post that needs to be acted upon ASAP. The Museum of Broadcast Communications has nominated James Dobson, the Christianist, homophobic founder of Focus on the Family pictured at left, to its Radio Hall of Fame. The size of one's listening pool alone should not automatically qualify one for this type of honor. Dobson knowingly and deliberately puts out false and dishonest information on virtually a daily basis that causes untold harm to gays and other citizens who are the targets of his hatred and bigotry. I encourage you to go to the Truth Wins Out website and sign the letter to be submitted to the Museum of Broadcast Communications protesting Dobson's nomination. To sign the letter, go here. Dobson needs to be exposed for the vicious, dishonest individual he has proven himself to be through his anti-gay, anti-immigrant, and other anti-minority lies and disingenuousness. The man is a hate merchant plan and simple. In my opinion, nominating someone like Dobson is like nominating Adolph Hitler for a broadcasting award. The opening of the letter to the Museum of Broadcast Communications reads in part as follows:
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I believe that character counts, and that nominees should have a career based on honesty and integrity. Dobson fails to meet this test and it is baffling that you would nominate Dobson, given his long and unique record as a singular leader in the realm of deep intolerance. Dobson has found the notoriety in which you propose to honor by endorsing discrimination, distorting research and outright lying.

Daddy Dobson Wears Prada

This post from Ex-Gay Watch (http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/09/open-forum-if-james-dobson-were-in-the-devil-wears-prada/)is too funny - I guess probably because I just watched The Devil Wears Prada yet again last night. While Mike Airhart has done a great job of satire on Dobson, I suspect that much of the premise is true. Everything Daddy Dobson does in the ex-gay field is calculated and with political PR in mind. Without maintaining the "choice" myth, the Christianists are faced with sexual orientation being an immutable characteristic which makes non-discrimination and hate crimes protection all too appropriate. Here are a few highlight, but you should read the entire post:

If James Dobson ruled the ex-gay movement with an iron fist, and if the opening scene of The Devil Wears Prada were to peek inside a political empire instead of a fashion magazine, then what might Dobson’s morning arrival at Focus on the Family look like?

Elevator doors open onto the executive floor. James Dobson dons his glasses, steps from the elevator, and barks orders at his female personal assistant, who takes notes.]

Tell Alan I’m not going to approve that young man that he sent me for the youth layout. I asked for sexy, serious, and ripped; he sent me chaste, smiling and bleached. And RSVP yes to Peter LaBarbera’s party, I want the driver to drop me off at 9:30 and pick me up at 9:45, sharp.

[Dobson rounds a corner of the corridor to his office, his assistant stumbling behind in high heels and a long skirt.]

Then call Warren at Grove City and tell him no, for the 40th time, no, I don’t want “sexual identity guidelines,” I want “the road to godly masculinity through baseball.” Then call Newt’s ex-wife and remind her to stay out of the limelight. Then call Newt’s ex-ex-wife. Ask her to please be “out of the country” before Thompson’s next gig with that show that Russert hosts.