Ex-Gay Watch

-Support for marriage equality in France reaches 63%.

-Maggie Gallagher endorses Rick Santorum for president.

-A group of parents in Minnesota demand an anti-gay school curriculum.

-Comedian Todd Glass comes out of the closet.

-A gathering of anti-gay activists protests their inclusion on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups.

-Survivor casts a gay Republican for its upcoming season.

-The New Hampshire House defers a vote on its marriage repeal bill until February.

-Cuba to consider civil unions this year.

-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks noncommittally about his state’s marriage equality bill.

-Tennessee lawmakers seek to add a religious exemption to anti-bullying laws.

-More than 80 US mayors have signed the Freedom to Marry statement to date.

A conference taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, today offers ways for conservative Christian churches to minister to “the lepers among us” — namely, gays and lesbians, or those who “struggle with same-sex sins.”

Astonishingly, Core Issues, which organized it and an identical conference taking place in London, England, tomorrow, failed to foresee the offence the “leper” label would cause.

A press release issued yesterday said:

The conference organisers recognise that the event’s title “The Lepers Among Us” has caused some misunderstanding, being taken as a call for the church to treat LGBT people in the way that lepers were treated by society in biblical times – shunned and regarded as untouchable. In fact the intention is the opposite. This conference criticises the church for behaving in this very way – treating LGBT people as “outcasts” – and calls upon it to help end prejudice wherever it is found, especially within the church.

So what can we expect of a conference organized by Core Issues? Their dubious choice of speakers in the past, including Lesley Pilkington, David Pickup and Arthur “Abba” Goldberg, of JONAH, shows a strong identification with the type of anti-gay, ex-gay conservatism promoted by NARTH in the US.

Core Issues Trust’s claim that it does not offer conversion therapy is somewhat disingenuous, for while it doesn’t directly offer therapy at all, it clearly stands for the NARTH approach. The homepage currently links directly to an article by David Pickup promoting “authentic reparative therapy” and decrying Exodus International for rejecting it. To support its claim that gay orientation is unnatural, the Core Issues website links approvingly to a PFOX article labelling homosexuality a “public health crisis” and citing the discredited “gays die at 41″ claim. The science section of its websites offers links to articles by Neil Whitehead and Jeffrey Satinover, both of NARTH. The latter is a Core Issues board member.

Core Issues promotes a “compassionate” approach to the “same-sex attracted,” but ultimately its message to gay Christians is that they need healing, and it is clear that by “healing,” they mean healing NARTH-style:

There is a growing body of research evidence indicating that sexual preference is neither immutable, innate nor chosen. As a consequence of our basic sinfulness we all have desires that we do not choose to have but we do have choices with respect to what we do about them. As a consequence our sexual identity can be reinforced or altered by either gender-affirming or gay-affirming lifestyles or therapies. CORE works with people who voluntarily seek to change from a “gay” lifestyle to a gender-affirming one. This is sometimes referred to as a “sexual re-orientation” process.

Merely abstaining from homosexual activity, although admirable, cannot be regarded as healing. Heterosexual preference is the goal of gender-affirming therapy and this may lead to marriage. However there will always be those who choose to remain celibate and single. Such singleness should be valued and respected.

-New Jersey Democrats fast track a marriage equality bill.

-An evangelical mother speaks in support of her gay daughter.

-The National Organization for Marriage spends $140,000 campaigning against Congressman Ron Paul.

-A Washington state Republican joins the push for marriage equality.

-Wendy Gritter and Kathy Baldock reflect on Alan Chambers’ appearance at the GCN conference.

-Jimmy Kimmel shows how gay marriage could destroy the world.

-The Canadian government issues reassurances that it will recognize all marriage licenses after a previous statement that they would only be valid if recognized in the couple’s home state or country.

-Another gay teenager commits suicide.

-A coalition of conservative religious leaders issues a new anti-gay manifesto.

Justin Lee, the director of the Gay Christian Network, has published an official statement concerning the unscheduled appearance of Exodus President Alan Chambers’s at the GCN conference in Orlando, FL, last week. Read this initial post and the ensuing comments thread, as well as this follow-up thread, for the backstory. Justin has given Ex-Gay Watch permission to reproduce his apology here in full:

Official Statement from Justin Lee

By now, many of you have heard about a public meeting I had last weekend with Alan Chambers, the president of the world’s largest ex-gay ministry.

The meeting generated a lot of controversy for a lot of different reasons. That controversy, in turn, spawned a lot of rumors.

Among the rumors I’ve heard:

• That I invited Alan Chambers to be a surprise speaker at the GCN conference.
• That GCN has softened our stance against ex-gay ministries in the name of “bridge building” or “reconciliation.”
• That the GCN conference team and I planned an ex-gay event with no regard for the safety of ex-gay survivors.

None of these are true.

There are, however, reasonable and fair concerns being expressed about what happened, and I believe it’s important for me to acknowledge and apologize for the mistakes I made throughout this process. But it’s also important for you to know that I would never do some of the things I’ve been accused of.

So before I explain the mistakes I made, I want to put the rumors to rest by explaining exactly what happened and why. Then I want to talk about where I screwed up, and what I’m going to do to make it right. Read more…

Exodus International President Alan Chambers is happy to affirm LGBT Christians as his brothers and sisters in Christ, at least according to his opening gambit at the GCN conference last week:

I honestly trust [GCN leader Justin Lee], and I honestly like him, and I honestly believe that he loves Jesus and that we are brothers in Christ and that we will spend eternity together … and because of that, the thing that brought me here first and foremost is: We’re Christians, all of us. We may have diverging viewpoints … but the thing that brings us together, the thing that causes us to even want to have this dialogue, or need to have this dialogue, is the fact that we all love Jesus. We all serve him. We serve the very same God and believe very different things.

He received applause for the comments. Yet in an interview with Christian radio host Janet Mefferd only the day before, Chambers failed to challenge a series of remarks that characterized gays and lesbians as people in darkness, who don’t know God and belong to a community at emnity with the community of God.

First, Mefferd said:

One of the things the LGBT world does not understand, simply because they don’t know the Lord, is, as you said, we all struggle with sin, we all struggle with temptations to varying degrees, but when you know Christ, and when you are a new creation in Christ, what changes in you is the “want to.” All of a sudden you go from loving sin, embracing sin of all kinds, to not loving it. … This is, I think, a hard thing to communicate to the people who are just still in darkness. [Emphasis mine]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

While a little over 24 hours later Chambers told the GCN conference he believed they did know the Lord, he allowed Mefferd’s offensive statements to go unchallenged. She later said:

You’ve been on both sides. You’ve been a part of the homosexual community, and then you’ve been delivered over to the kingdom of God as a Christian and now have left that lifestyle behind.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Again, Chambers failed to challenge the assumption that “gays” and “Christians” are two opposed, mutually exclusive communities and that you must be “delivered” from one to join the other. On the contrary, he played into the assumption by recounting how, six years after he “left the homosexual lifestyle,” he looked at a group of gay men and realized, “I’m not one of them any more.”

Playing to both sides on this issue of gay Christians is not new for Exodus International. In March last year, Chambers enthusiastically affirmed the existence of gay Christians in an interview with the Oprah network’s Lisa Ling, only to water down his statements when challenged by his conservative evangelical constituents. What is new is that some gay Christians are now taking him at his word.

The audio clips above contain Mefferd’s remarks with Chambers’s responses, to give some context, but you can listen to the entire interview here (starting at about 20 minutes in).

There has been a lot of discussion lately over the attendance of Exodus President Alan Chambers at a recent Gay Christian Network conference (GCN).  Chambers participated in a panel discussion with former Love In Action director John Smid, Courage UK founder Jeremy Marks, and  Wendy Gritter, Executive Director of New Direction ministry in Canada (a former Exodus affiliate, now gay affirming).  This was Friday evening, January 6, 2012.

Controversy exists over a number of issues.  Among other things, GCN serves as a refuge of sorts for gay Christians who had bad experiences with ex-gay ministries or who have simply reconciled their faith and their sexuality and seek a place to fellowship with others in similar circumstances.  This is a simplistic and incomplete description but more detail will come with subsequent posts.

The purpose of this post is to provide a copy of the email which was sent out to conference attendees on December 29, 2011.  You may have heard this discussed as you read over accounts of the event.  It has been claimed by some that this email was sufficient to warn those attendees who might be traumatized, hurt or made uncomfortable by the presence of any of those mentioned above and therefore give them a chance to avoid the conference.  The email was sent after registration was over and travel arrangements had been completed.

We provide this for those wishing to evaluate the facts surrounding this incident to judge for yourselves if this email constitutes sufficient warning.  Since we have not seen it posted in any other convenient locations, we are doing so at XGW.  Please feel free to discussion your opinions.  Keep in mind that it was certain long before this email went out that at least some if not all of the panelists would be in attendance.  Also, we were told that no one contacted GCN as a result of this email.

The entire email is available in PDF format here..  Or you may read the germane section below:

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

The vast majority of the attendees of the GCN conference are typically in agreement with GCN’s mission, purpose, and values. However, GCN’s conference has always had an open-door policy, so you may encounter people at the conference whose beliefs, values, and views differ markedly from your own and/or from GCN’s.

Because Orlando is also home to the world’s largest “ex-gay” organization, there may be people affiliated with the ex-gay movement who decide to register and attend part or all of the conference this year.

Our policy remains unchanged: Anyone is welcome to attend the conference, even if they don’t agree with GCN’s mission, but we do ask them to respect the conference’s purpose and behave accordingly. As always, we reserve the right to remove anyone whose behavior, in the sole discretion of GCN’s conference team, is distracting from or working against the stated purpose of the event.

What should you do if you encounter someone whose views are different from GCN’s? Whether that person is a concerned Christian parent, a curious non-Christian, or a member of the ex-gay movement, we encourage you to welcome them with generosity and compassion. The GCN conference is a life-changing experience for many, and it just might change that person’s perspective.

However, in the unlikely event that you encounter someone who is making you uncomfortable or engaging in inappropriate behavior (seeking sexual contacts, advocating a message contrary to GCN’s, etc.), please notify a member of the conference team immediately.

We are also aware that some members of our community have strong emotional reactions to the topic of ex-gay ministry, due to their own painful experiences. If you are concerned about the possibility of encountering someone who might trigger something painful for you, please contact our office in advance of the conference, and we will work with you to address your specific needs and ensure that you are able to attend the conference safely and happily.

In all of our interactions at this year’s conference, let us continually strive to embody our theme, “Ambassadors of Reconciliation,” seeking out ways to build bridges and change lives without compromising our faith or our integrity, as we share Christ’s light and love for all.

-Civil unions begin in Delaware and Hawaii.

-The British government honors gay war hero and inventor Alan Turing with a new stamp.

-The wife of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor voices her support for marriage equality.

-The North Carolina Psychological Association voices its opposition to the state’s proposed marriage amendment.

-A Colorado Republican group pushes for civil unions.

-The Concord Monitor argues against overturning New Hampshire’s marriage equality law.

-Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire announces plans to introduce a marriage equality bill.

-Another researcher’s work is twisted by an anti-gay writer.

-A New Hampshire Republican speaks out in defense of marriage equality.

-Former child actress Kristy McNichol comes out of the closet.

We have learned that Exodus president Alan Chambers will be attending the Gay Christian Network conference this evening in Orlando, Fl.  He will be participating in a panel discussion with Jeremy Marks, John Smid, and Wendy Gritter at 8:30 EST.  This is all the information available at the moment.

From the GCN website:

The Gay Christian Network (GCN) is a nonprofit ministry supporting Christians worldwide who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Our mission, “sharing Christ’s light and love for all,” is carried out in 5 primary directions, to impact individuals, families, communities, churches, and the world.

GCN has acted as a refuge of sorts for some gay Christians who have become disillusioned with ex-gay ideology and seek a community that shares their faith and experience.  There are two major groups in GCN, called Side A and Side B.  From Wikipedia:

Members of the Gay Christian Network have expressed a wide variety of opinions concerning gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender life and how it should be lived from a Christian perspective. For instance, the site is committed to being a safe haven both for members who believe it is okay for gay Christians to enter into healthy, committed relationships (including sex) and for those who believe that the Bible prohibits such behavior and requires chastity. On the site, these two positions have been nicknamed Side A, i.e., those members who believe that homosexual activity is not sinful, and Side B, i.e., those who believe that God does love gay people but does not accept homosexual activity.

It is not clear what motivates this or what can be accomplished, but certainly it must be difficult for some who have been deeply hurt by Alan’s ministries to know he has been invited.  We have certainly heard from many who are upset so far this morning.  Apparently he will only appear on the panel and that is an optional event.  No doubt more is to come.

Could this be a venue for Alan to effect some of his promised “re-branding“?  He was impressed by the positive press John Smid received from his recent pronouncements.  Good or bad, watch this one closely.

“It Gets Better” is a realistic message for gay and lesbian people living in the western world, where society is increasingly accepting of sexual diversity. But in some non-western parts of the globe, survival as an LGBT person is all but impossible.

Wendy Gritter of New Direction, Canada, has filmed a message for those gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people for whom the message of the It Gets Better campaign isn’t realistic or helpful. That’s not to denigrate the campaign, which Wendy has supported. It is to say this:

We want to say to those who are coming to [freetobeme.com] from areas which are not gay-positive — in fact, that are in very anti-gay contexts, where this is not a conversation, where there is much discrimination and prejudice, and perhaps violence, and perhaps danger — what we want to say to you is: Be wise, be careful, but know inside your own self who you really are, and that you are cherished, you are valuable and you are loved. And know that your voice matters. There are LGBT advocates all through the world, who are working very hard for the human rights of all people, including those who are sexual minorities. Maybe someday you can add your voice to that community saying, “If we diminish anyone’s rights, we are all diminished.”

Watch the video below:

The message comes via New Direction’s Free to Be Me website, which Wendy says has experienced increased traffic from non-western countries.

-Buzzfeed reveals the sordid details of what gay people do on Christmas.

-Just Out, Portland’s LGBT newspaper, shuts its doors.

-Congressman Ron Paul’s views on gays come under scrutiny.

-CNNMoney finds that same-sex couples pay up to $6,000 per year more in income taxes than straight couples.

-Several Jamaican political candidates use anti-gay statements to try to rally supporters.

-Barnes & Noble pulls an anti-gay calendar from its online store.

-A Florida appeals court restores parental rights to a lesbian mother.

-Marriage equality comes to Quintana Roo, Mexico.