Overlawyered.com is a blog that tracks the high cost and the threat to liberty posed by Americans’ habit of suing one another instead of discussing disagreements and respecting differences of opinion.
According to Overlawyered, XGW is just one of many blogs threatened in recent months with litigation from individuals objecting to public criticism.
Performer Peterson Toscano takes his one-man show, “Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House — How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement!”, to Washington, D.C., this week. The show is being hosted locally by Westminster Presbyterian Church.
The Washington Blade reviewed Toscano’s show, consisting of comedy and Biblical inspiration, on Jan. 23.
Religion also still plays a major role in Toscano’s life, though he graduated from the Love in Action program in 1999 — but remained gay. He is now a Quaker and says he harbors no ill will toward church members.
“I am not angry at the conservative church for the ex-gay work they do. They are not evil; they are misguided,” he says. “They do not realize the damage they do to others … and to themselves.”
XGW reviewed Toscano’s October performance of “Homo No Mo” in Hartford, Conn.
In an op-ed column for The Tallahassee Democrat, anti-ex-gay activist Wayne Besen warns that Florida’s plan for a faith-based prison may lead to favoritism for fundamentalists.
Gay activists such as myself will be watching closely to make sure our tax dollars are not illegally used to teach a right-wing view of religion or homosexuality. We consider such extreme religious views dangerous and bad for society.
True freedom of religion requires Bush to fully embrace the value of all faiths represented in the prison system. This includes equal treatment and a full array of services for Eastern religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as unorthodox faiths such as Wicca.
Besen questions whether a gay, Jewish or atheist inmate would have the courage (or suicidal instinct) to object to religious persecution when such minority prisoners would face the wrath of fundamentalist convicts.
Stephen Bennett Ministries says it merely wanted to post an ex-gay billboard in Albany, the capital of New York state:
The Stephen Bennett Ministries billboard
Bennett had little difficulty finding a privately owned ad firm to reject the ad (for reasons unknown). His response was not exactly discreet or diplomatic. He named the agency, provided links to pressure groups, and complained to WorldNetDaily:
“It never ceases to amaze me how biased and unfair the media really is,” he said. “Sharing my story has given thousands of people hope – homosexual men and women who are unhappy with their same-sex attractions.”
Bennett does not express an awareness of distinctions between corporate news media, corporate entertainment media, public broadcasting, and advertising venues. He shows little respect for the right of a company, liberal or conservative, to select its clients. He does not indicate the price he was willing to pay for ad space. He does not explain the poor technical quality of the ad graphic. Nor does he mention attempts to contact conservative regional advertising companies, of which there are several.
Blogger Jayelle Wiggins attended Love Won Out in Orlando in November 2001, then wrote up her experience.
Recently, Focus on the Family surveyed her on the long-term impact of LWO in her life — and enclosed a tract advising how to treat gay loved ones.
Of the tract, she says, “Some of the advice is actually pretty good. But a lot of it, especially the stuff that relates to kids, shocked me! I shouldn’t be shocked, but I was anyhow. They ask people to treat their kid’s coming out practically like the kid is dead!”
Jayelle didn’t answer the survey, but she did write a public line by line commentary about the tract.
The following media outlets cover an uproar over Focus on the Family ex-gay activists’ appearance at a Congressional hearing on funding of faith-based initiatives:
The Advocate
The Denver Post
Rocky Mountain News
PlanetOut
365gay.com
The following activists issued press releases in response:
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anything But Straight
PFLAG
Another Rocky Mountain News article notes that some faith-based organizations are opposed to President Bush’s handout plan, while others like Focus on the Family support the plan but say they will refuse funding that requires them not to proselytize.
The Colorado Springs Gazette, located in Focus’ home city, only quotes Focus on the Family representatives — no other viewpoints.
The boxes are unpacked in D.C., and two very helpful Comcast representatives finally connected us to the ‘Net today, after the company bureaucracy had spent three weeks stalling.
Special thanks go to Jason for swiftly reporting recent attacks on XGW by a hacker-pornographer — one of those sleaze merchants who posts a comment that causes your browser to redirect to ghastly nekkid photographs when all you wanted to see was the undersexed and artless pages of XGW.
I asked Six Apart (maker of MovableType and host of TypePad blogs, including XGW) if we could ban the range of Internet addresses used by the hacker’s Russian ISP. S.A. responded that work is underway on something to help block comment-spammers, but — nyet — for the time being, we cannot lock out sexually overdeveloped nations run by unregulated capitalist oligarchs.
Porn redirects notwithstanding, I will resume posting this weekend. I’ll be gradually refocusing on the ex-gay studies of Shidlo, Spitzer, and other science analysts. I have also invited two additional people to begin writing for XGW, and I will be bringing them up to speed shortly. My invitation to pro-reform ex-gays still stands — if you are interested in writing about political and ethical reform in the ex-gay movement, the door here is open.
Since I’ll be focusing a bit more on the experts, less on the potential scam artists, readers should feel free to pick up the slack with civilly expressed thoughts about the weekly activities of Exodus officials or other ex-gay activists. If you have something to say, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail. I’ll be happy to start a discussion for you.
– Mike
– (that’s Mikhail to you Russian spammers)
… with an author who praises profit motive and self-interest as Christian motives to advance society.
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