Ex-Gay Watch

Subtitle: A Biblical and Compassionate Response to Same-Sex Attraction

“Wouldn’t it be great if this book could be a one-stop resource?” So we selected the main topics associated with homosexuality —theological, clinical, social, political, and familial—then solicited contributions from a variety of authors with specific expertise. The result is a comprehensive guide providing biblically based insights into the many issues the subject raises. [p16-emph in original]

There is much ground to cover here. The book is nearly 500 pages long and most of the information contained is an organized conglomeration of things we’ve been hearing for years and rebutted ad-nauseum. However, there are many studies, statistics and sources I am unfamiliar with that are in need of investigation by the “militant homosexual activist” slueuths among us.

In regard to that, and to their credit, they’ve not only put the footnotes at the end of each chapter, but also (in addition to website urls) list the page numbers of the books they cite from.

Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche are listed as the general editors. Though most of the book is written by Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche, contributing authors are listed as: Alan Chambers, Paul Copan, Melisa Fryrear, Mike Haley, Bill Maier and Randy Thomas.

All of whom, with the exception of Paul Copan (to my knowledge), are or were speakers at Love Won Out conferences:

Love Won Out: Christian experts will address everything from why some people struggle with homosexuality to practical ways the church can respond with the truth and grace of Christ. Whether you are a parent or friend of a gay loved one, a pastor or therapist looking for help to assist those struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions…

Given the number of contributing authors, this book is riddled with contradictions. Some small, some galaxical.

IMNSHO, the willingness of the authors to participate in the construction of this manifesto makes them party to everything that is said by everyone else. I say this because there is some serious ugliness contained within these pages. (Note: If any of them publicly denounce their involvement with this book I will eat my sock.)
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-Ann Coulter’s firefight with religious right activists angry at her for agreeing to speak at a GOProud event escalates.

-LGBT demonstrators face off against supporters of anti-gay Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez in Guadalajara, Mexico.

-Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America tries to correlate the low rate of high school graduation among black males with acceptance of same-sex marriage.

-A gay couple files a lawsuit challenging Wyoming’s marriage laws.

-Focus on the Family once again changes its tune to suit its agenda.

-Alyssa Eisenstein captures the opinions of Ugandans on the issue of homosexuality in their own words.

-A gay political candidate in Kansas receives a death threat.

-Former Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman officially comes out of the closet.

-Gay actor and former Power Ranger David Yost shares his story.

-Rob Tisinai spells out full implications of the “love” Molotov Mitchell claims to have for his gay friends.

-Roger Ebert voices his support for marriage equality.

-Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary send a cease-and-desist letter to the National Organization for Marriage.

-Conservative British MP Crispin Blunt comes out of the closet.

The California Senate approved a bill to end a law passed in 1950 that classifies gays as sexual deviants and potential child molesters. The 60-year-old piece of legislation requires the Department of Mental Health to research the causes and potential cures for homosexuality. The bill, AB2199, was carried by Sen. Roy Ashburn, a Republican from Bakersfield. Ashburn came out as gay earlier this year after he was cited for driving drunk while leaving a gay bar.

The measure passed 36-0 without debate.

PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays) objected to the bill, and reportedly called the repeal effort “offensive.”

Minutes ago, Exodus President Alan Chambers announced the following on the organizations Facebook page:

Dear friends, please pray for us at Exodus. We have experienced an unexpectedly low giving season this summer coupled with much higher expenses (insurance, utilities, etc). Sadly, we have had to let several staff go. Your prayers are appreciated. For those who are also having to endure this unfriendly economy, our prayers are with you!

On his own page, Chambers adds that they have cut benefits as well.  Exodus left a modest set of leased offices in the Spring of 2008 in favor of their own building, complete with million dollar mortgage.  Servicing that debt can’t be helping now that funds are scarce and the demand for ex-gay referrals appears in decline.  The first indication of financial difficulties came with the layoffs of two staff members late that same year.

Where does one go with such a resume?

—
Edited 8/23/2010 to include archived image of Facebook entry which was blocked from general view after post.

A study that was published in 2008 blows away the belief that monozygotic twins, also called identical twins, have the same DNA. Geneticist Carl Bruder of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his colleagues studied the genomes of 19 pairs of adult identical twins and found sites of genetic divergence in each pair. Such divergences occur when there are a different number of copies of the same gene, a genetic state called “copy number variants.” For example, one twin in Bruder’s study had a genetic marker for leukemia – specific genes on particular chromosomes were missing. While this twin did indeed suffer from leukemia, the other twin did not.

This complicates the numerous twin studies that take place in the scientific world, including ones that explore the root of sexual orientation. While it doesn’t necessarily nullify conclusions reached during said studies, it does contradict the belief that any difference found in identical twins could only be attributed to factors that were epigenetic (having to do with the way genes are expressed during development) or otherwise environmental (the “nuture” factor).

Organizations like NARTH who claim to have science on their side will eagerly point to studies that show up to a 50% twin concordance for homosexuality, claiming that anything less than 100% “proves” that a “gay gene” doesn’t exist. And even Exodus International, a Christian organization that focuses on spiritual healing of homosexuality is an affiliate of NARTH and has this blurb on their site:

Current scientific research simply does not support the “gay gene” theory.

…
Researchers from all points of view have not found a 100% correlation among identical twin studies in their study groups. If homosexuality is solely a genetically based trait, there should be no variance among identical twins that share the same genetic history.

A search for the term “gay gene” on Exodus’ site yields 20 results, all in articles ranging from outright denial of genetic influence to defensive posturing that genes might determine some aspects of our lives, but not our morality.

The term “gay gene” is of course an archaic and scientifically inaccurate one, not used by anybody trying to propose a serious argument for the biological origin of non-heterosexual orientations. There is no gay gene just as there is no “left-handed gene,” though the latter trait is accepted unquestionably as biologically originated. Additionally, no serious scientific claim has been made that sexual orientation is “solely a genetic trait.” close attention has been paid to factors that influence gene expression, exposure to hormones in the womb, and physiological traits found to be common among those of a particular sexual orientation.

But now thanks to this research, scientists in all fields have a better understanding of why identical twins are so rarely completely the same – and a better understanding of why, despite genetic factors influencing to a point, one twin may be gay while the other is not.

-NOM’s sparsely attended “Summer For Marriage” tour concludes in Washington, DC.

-Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach reaches an agreement in federal court over his discharge under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Mexico’s Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples in Mexico City have a right to adopt.

-The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals grants a stay on Judge Walker’s ruling against Proposition 8.

-Radio Host Penna Dexter recasts Brandon McInerny, murderer of gay teen Larry King, as King’s victim.

-Germany’s Constitutional Court grants equal inheritance rights to same-sex couples.

-BuzzFeed chronicles “The 10 Dumbest Maggie Gallagher Quotes.”

-A religious right group creatively edits a poll on its website.

-Conservative TV personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck declares her support for marriage equality.

-The Department of Defense receives a 25% response rate to its survey on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Wisconsin Family Action files a lawsuit challenging the state’s new domestic partner registry.

-The boycott against Target continues.

-The Alliance Defense Fund reveals that its previously declared neutrality on civil unions is purely circumstantial.

-A federal judge rules that NOM must disclose its donor list in accordance with Maine election laws.

A right-wing Christian group in Hong Kong has published a 52-page booklet condemning homosexuals and promoting reparative therapy to change sexual orientation.

The Society for Truth and Light has drawn heavily from the anti-gay National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality to produce Acceptance–Caring for Homosexuality.

To support the notion that gays can be turned straight through therapy, the booklet cites the usual flawed studies with their neglible results, including Spitzer (2001), Jones and Yarhouse (2007), and the infamous non-study by James Phelan, Neil Whitehead and Philip Sutton (2009)–a literature review falsely touted by NARTH as a groundbreaking new study.

One of STL’s political goals is to block LGBT equality legislation; the booklet contains two appendixes opposing same-sex marriage and laws to prevent sexual orientation discrimination. This is a reminder that the flawed and often-malicious information disseminated by ex-gay and anti-gay groups such as NARTH not only blocks justice in the West. As we have seen with Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the myths are now being exported to hinder justice in other parts of the world, too.

Read a translation of the full document here (pdf).

-Attorney David Boies takes on Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins on Face the Nation.

-Stephen Colbert weighs in on the Prop 8 ruling.

-Mexico’s Supreme Court rules that Mexico City’s marriage equality law is constitutional.

-The anti-gay “Truth Academy” flops.

-Fox News commentator Margaret Hoover advises conservatives to rethink their opposition to marriage equality.

-Another researcher accuses religious right activists of distorting his work.

-Ms. Magazine columnist David Dismore reminds readers what “traditional marriage” really entailed.

-The American Bar Association announces its support for marriage equality.

-Pam Spaulding reports from NOM’s Raleigh stop.

-An evangelical Christian rethinks her support for Proposition 8.

-Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court strikes down a proposed ballot measure that would have barred all recognition of same-sex couples.

-The American Psychological Association reaffirms its support for marriage equality.

-Judge Walker sets August 18 for the resumption of same-sex marriages in California, barring a successful appeal.

-New polls show a jump in support for marriage equality.

-Religious right activists target another gay Obama appointee.

A recent case involving the dismissal of a graduate student studying counseling at the Augusta State University in Georgia has Religious Right media outlets in a spin. The student is Jennifer Keeton, who was enrolled in the Counselor Education Program at the school. She identifies as a Christian and believes that homosexuality is a choice. Since every major medical and educational organization in the United States declares otherwise, this put her at odds with the University curriculum. She was offered a remediation plan to increase her “ability to be a multiculturally competent counselor, particularly with regard to working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (GLBTQ) populations.” The plan noted the following:

Jen has voiced disagreement in several class discussions and in written assignments with the gay and lesbian ‘lifestyle.’ She stated in one paper that she believes GLBTQ ‘lifestyles’ to be identity confusion. This was during her enrollment in the Diversity Sensitivity course and after the presentation on GLBTQ populations.

…

Faculty have also received unsolicited reports from another student that [Keeton] has relayed her interest in conversion therapy for GLBTQ populations and she has tried to convince other students to support and believe her views.

She was instructed to attend at least three diversity workshops centered on the LGBTQ community and increase her exposure and interaction with gay populations. Failure to complete the plan would result in dismissal from the program. This prompted her lawsuit against the school.

In an Exodus blog post, Randy Thomas warns,

Professional organizations are finding that activist driven agendas cannot be proved as beneficial to all who struggle with same sex attraction.  They are finding that a client’s right to self-determination cannot be trumped by gay activist ideology and morality. It should be obvious that further study on those of us who have benefitted from this type of counseling is needed, not disenfranchisement of conservative/Christian counselors.

Some gay affirming counselors and professors are finding it next to impossible to remove what is already in place.  Now it would appear they wish to attack future potential counselors who don’t adhere to a liberal gay ideology before they ever get into practice.

This woman’s religious freedom isn’t at all being squelched. She has every right to study reparative therapy techniques from socially conservative point of view at the conservative Christian college of her choice. This is America. But she does not have the right to alter the curricula of academic institutions she attends just because they might not share her specific personal beliefs, especially if those beliefs directly oppose the foundation of her chosen degree, which was laid by professional medical organizations.

Rather than acknowledge this, Randy instead politicizes sexuality and blames the school’s counseling program for espousing “a liberal gay ideology.” Apparently recognizing the existence of gay people without placing moral baggage upon them is the same as espousing an “ideology.” The university is doing no such thing. They are concurring with medical science and the professional organizations based upon it.

In an excellent comment posted by “Tommy T.“, a valid question is posed:

Let’s reverse this: let’s say an Atheist intentionally attends a Christian university, and insists on replacing the approved course material with opposing secular-based sources. Would any of us support him/her suing the school for standing by its right to adhere to the pre-approved lesson plan? I doubt it.

Exactly.

Edited 8/9/2010 to correct school name.

-Focus on the Family lays off another 110 employees.

-Chilean Senator Fulvio Rossi announces plans to introduce a same-sex marriage bill.

-NOM’s summer tour meets with more tepid responses in Des Moines and Sioux City, IA.

-Bishop Harry Jackson claims that opposition to marriage equality is akin to fighting for civil rights.

-The Family Research Council sinks to new lows to smear a gay soldier.

-A human rights commission finds that an Illinois school superintendent was fired for being gay.

-The Prop 8 Report sheds new light on what did and didn’t work in the 2008 campaign against the amendment.