Ex-Gay Watch

Earlier this month, Exodus exgay leader Alan Chambers joined Concerned Women for America in offering support for antigay protest group Repent America — specifically, for its disruption of a gay entertainment festival in Philadelphia.

A few other evangelicals, however, are a bit more reserved in their moral reflections.

Take, for example, evangelical blogger Bad Christian, who states the obvious: Repent America failed in its stated goal — and, he says, betrayed Christian values in a quest for fame.

Other news about Repent America:

Judge: Anti-gay activists permitted to demonstrate at gay events (Jan. 22, AP)

Gay Protest Ban Lifted For Homophobic Demonstrators (Jan. 22, 365gay.com)

In-your-face evangelist challenges hate-crime law’s limits (Jan. 22, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Letters: Christian ‘correctness’ (Jan. 20, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Editorial: Repent America Protesters: A case gone too far (Jan. 15, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Repent America: Haven’t we learned? (Jan. 14 opinion, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Leader of conservative protest group cites ‘spiritual battle’ (Jan. 13, AP)

Nation’s eyes on Christian protesters (Jan. 12, Philadelphia Inquirer)

The Radical Right’s Latest Courtroom Drama (Jan. 5, blogger Sarah Posner)

Philly Pride’s side of the story (PhillyPride.org story and pictures). Clarification: Philly Pride links to two videos, the second of which appears to be from OutFest.

"Unmasking the lies of Wayne Beeson [sic]" — that’s what more-or-less-anonymous exgay blogger Ben aspires to do.

But then he doesn’t do it. He and other commenters complain that Besen’s anti-exgay expose, Anything But Straight, is at times rude, sarcastic, snarky. All true, though the book has many strong points as well. Among them: Depth, factual detail, and compassion for ex-ex-gays.

Neither Ben nor his commenters disputes the actual facts raised by the book.

Update: The American Counseling Association confirms that Richard Cohen’s expulsion occurred in May 2002.

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Jan.  25, 2005

website: www.WayneBesen.com

ANTI-GAY P-FOX PRESIDENT RICHARD COHEN EXPELLED FOR LIFE FROM THE AMERICAN COUNSELING ASSOCIATION

Revealing, Never-Before Seen Document Is a Devastating Blow For Outdated Pseudo-Science That Tries To Turn Gay People Straight, Says Besen   

NEW YORK – Author Wayne Besen today released an explosive, never-before seen letter he uncovered from the American Counseling Association that "permanently expelled" reparative therapist Richard Cohen in 2003 for serious ethics violations. The ACA document can be viewed at www.rawprint.com/besen/012504_aca_letter.php.

As the outspoken president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s ex-gay advisor, Cohen’s expulsion casts a dark shadow over the disreputable practice of trying to change sexual orientation.

"The Right wing should be ashamed for promoting the work of a therapist who has been officially rebuked for egregious ethical lapses," said Wayne Besen, author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. "That Cohen is the best the far right can find in support of their position that gay people can change underscores the quack-like pseudo-science that they rely on. It is time they end the charade and admit that reparative therapy is harmful and ineffective."

According to the ACA’s letter:  "Mr. Cohen was found in violation of the following code sections A.1.a; A.1.b; A.5.a; A.6.a; C.3.b, C.3.f, and has not elected to appeal the decision taken by the ACA Ethics Committee within allotted timelines." (Please see below for full explanation of violations)

The letter referred to Cohen’s violations which included inappropriate behavior such as fostering dependent counseling relationships, not promoting the welfare of clients, engaging in actions that sought to meet his personal needs at the expense of clients, exploiting the trust and dependency of clients, unethically soliciting testimonials from clients and promoting products to clients in a manner that is deceptive.

"It is no surprise that Richard Cohen violated the ACA ethics because reparative therapy itself lacks integrity and attempts to meet their agenda’s need, not the needs of client’s," said Joe Kort, psychotherapist and author of 10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do To Improve Their Lives. "Of particular note is that Cohen’s violations are self-serving as he is accused of violating standard ethics of protecting his client from dual relationships, marketing purposes, and testimonials."

Richard Cohen is the president of P-FOX, a group that recently placed an ex-gay billboard in Virginia (www.pfox.org) and sponsored a controversial ad campaign in Washington DC’s subway system. His website is www.gaytostraight.org and he is a conference instructor for the National Association for the Research and Therapy for Homosexuality (NARTH). Cohen is also the author of "Coming Out Straight", a book in which Dr. Laura Schlessinger wrote the forward.

"With intellect and care, he [Cohen] offers invaluable insight into the reason for same-sex attractions and, for those willing to brave it, he illuminates a challenging journey from isolation," wrote Dr. Laura in Cohen’s book.

Cohen has also been prominently featured on Larry King Live, The Ricki Lake Show, The Salley Jessy Raphael Show and 20/20. The sound bite he often uses on these shows is, "Born gay? No Way!" Reparative therapy is rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization in America.

The Rules Violated By Cohen
http://www.counseling.org/Content/NavigationMenu/RESOURCES/ETHICS/ACA_Code_of_Ethics.htm

Section A: The Counseling Relationship
A.1. Client Welfare
a. Primary Responsibility. The primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare of clients.

b. Positive Growth and Development. Counselors encourage client growth and development in ways that foster the clients’ interest and welfare; counselors avoid fostering dependent counseling relationships.

A.5. Personal Needs and Values
a. Personal Needs. In the counseling relationship, counselors are aware of the intimacy and responsibilities inherent in the counseling relationship, maintain respect for clients, and avoid actions that seek to meet their personal needs at the expense of clients.

A.6. Dual Relationships
a. Avoid When Possible. Counselors are aware of their influential positions with respect to clients, and they avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of clients. Counselors make every effort to avoid dual relationships with clients that could impair professional judgment or increase the risk of harm to clients. (Examples of such relationships include, but are not limited to, familial, social, financial, business, or close personal relationships with clients.) When a dual relationship cannot be avoided, counselors take appropriate professional precautions such as informed consent, consultation, supervision, and documentation to ensure that judgment is not impaired and no exploitation occurs. (See F.1.b.)

C.3. Advertising and Soliciting Clients
b. Testimonials. Counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from clients or other persons who, because of their particular circumstances, may be vulnerable to undue influence.

f.    Promoting to Those Served. Counselors do not use counseling, teaching, training, or supervisory relationships to promote their products or training events in a manner that is deceptive or would exert undue influence on individuals who may be vulnerable. Counselors may adopt textbooks they have authored for instruction purposes.

G-d is not homophobic by The Rev. J. Alton Cressman, 1995

The following article originally appeared in the Port Huron, Michigan Times Herald as a "Guest Opinion" column in 1995

The Rev. J. Alton Cressman has been a member of the Port Huron clergy since 1949.

As a pastor and counselor of more than 40 years in Port Huron, I have followed with interest TalkBack and letters, which have since appeared, on your editorial page. Some were positive and supportive, some negative and judgmental. A number of the anti-gay replies used the Bible to try to make a point. These arguments are usually based on three main passages. I feel we have an obligation to approach the Scriptures with literary and historical understanding.

The Genesis 19 passage about Sodom refers to gang rape, but says nothing about homosexuality. As other references to Sodom in the Bible indicate, the sin of Sodom was inhospitality (Luke 10:10). There is no word in the original Hebrew Old Testament text for homosexuality.

Another passage often used is from the book of Leviticus, which spells out laws for the nomadic tribe of Levi thousands of years ago. If we follow those rules, we are forbidden to eat bacon, shrimp or cheeseburgers, or to wash and wear shirts or plant a garden with more then one kind of seed.

The third text commonly quoted is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 1. Here Paul is warning the 1st Century Christians against the contamination of idolatrous pagan temple worship, which included both male and female prostitution, common in Greek and Roman cultures. Nowhere in any of these passages is there reference to same-gender love as experienced today. There is no word for homosexuality in New Testament Greek. Paul had no more understanding of homosexuality as we know it today than that the world is round. To take Biblical references out of context and use them as proof is easy. It was done years ago to prove the right for Christians to own slaves, to persecute Jews and to keep women in inferior positions. In the backwoods of the Kentucky hills, mountain preachers use rattlesnakes to prove their faith (see Mark 16:18).

In recent years, the state of Kentucky had to pass a law forbidding this practice. There are tests in the Epistles, which forbid a woman from speaking in church, cutting her hair or wearing gold. Except for some cult groups, we do not take this literally today. Jesus said nothing about homosexuality, but he said a lot about divorce. Studies have shown that one to 10% of the population is born homosexual, as some of us are born left-handed. It is not a choice. It is time for us to take a look at the main message of the Bible, which in the words of Jesus was; “By this shall everyone know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” “Judge not that you be not judged.”

The final message of the Old Testament from Micah 6:8 is “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Since the early 1950’s I have known outstanding persons in the community who because they were gay were fired from jobs in the industry, business and the professions. Some were unwelcome in churches, a few of them pastors and priests. Worst of all, I have known young people contemplating suicide after being turned out by their families and having nowhere to turn for support.

This is 1995. Let’s not have any more graceless condemnation of minority groups in our community. It is a matter of civil rights. The local Pride Group has my support.

Think of the ironic statement made by Sgt. Len Matlovich a few years ago when he said, “I can receive a medal for killing a man in Vietnam, and get kicked out of the Air Force for loving one.”

The Rev. J. Alton Cressman has been a member of the Port Huron clergy since 1949.

I’m grateful to folks like Dan Gonzales and averyfineline, who send me factoids and tips via e-mail — or who post them directly to the site. I regret that I frequently lack time to follow through with these worthwhile suggestions.

I’m also thankful that some antigay folks (Trevize, Prof. Throckmorton) are willing to communicate periodically at this site.

At the same time, I’m feeling frustrated by anonymous hit-and-run commenters, who mindlessly parrot talk-radio and religious-right bigotry having little or no foundation in the gospels. Before they can be held accountable for their accusations — poof, they’re gone.

I also remain concerned that the quality of information and writing on the site becomes unsustainable when only one person is doing most of the work.

Regular readers of XGW (and I appreciate all your interest, by the way) no doubt have observed that posts here are far less frequent than they could or should be. I have a number of demands on my time:

• big career issues
• relationship-building
• a redesign at IGF
• concern for exgays who aren’t political, who are being wounded by the culture warriors

With my own limited time and a concern for disruptive comments in mind, I’m inclined to implement TypeKey-style comment registration at XGW. The purpose: to ensure that commenters are real people, and not likely to do a fly-by.

I welcome feedback about that.

And, as always, I welcome a diverse range of volunteer authors to make this site more active and dynamic. Ideal authors are those who, regardless of gay, exgay, or heterosexual "identity," might be interested in periodically writing a thoughtful, critical review of the factual ups and downs of various exgay activists, pundits and counseling groups.

It is often reported that two cofounders of Exodus, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, became lovers and left the organization. Bussee and Cooper appear together in the documentary One Nation Under God.

In his Amazon.com review of the ex-ex-gay video, pro-exgay pundit Warren Throckmorton tells a partial truth, even as he accuses the documentary of a partial truth:

[T]he movie begins with a half truth. The film introduces Gary Cooper and
Michael Bussee as the co-founders of Exodus. This is not true. Cooper
was a volunteer and never on the board of Exodus. Bussee was among
those who were involved in the initial conference and on the first
board but he was not the only member of that board. Three of the five
ex-gay board members are still ex-gay. The movie never mentions this.

Throckmorton asserts that because Cooper was never an Exodus board member, he was not a co-founder of Exodus.

But the question of Gary Cooper’s role is subjective: What qualifies as a co-founder? You decide:

In Wayne Besen’s book, Anything But Straight, pages 81-89 quote Bussee at length from an interview dated April 20, 2002, discussing Cooper’s role in the formation of Exodus. Here’s a quick summary of Bussee’s recollections.

In 1974, Bussee became a volunteer hotline counselor for Melodyland Christian Center of
Anaheim, Calif. Two more struggling homosexuals, one of them Cooper, became volunteers on the hotline, and the three created a monthly workshop to address the hotline counselors’ prejudices about gays being child molesters and other monstrosities. The trio also started a support group and prayer line, which Bussee dubbed "Ex-Gay Intervention Team" (EXIT). Exit became a model for other nascent exgay groups.

Bussee tells Besen that he and Cooper decided in 1976 to host a conference of exgay groups at Melodyland; at this conference, the groups chose to form Exodus.

Besen subsequently describes Bussee and Cooper as "the two Exodus cofounders": Either Bussee or Besen seem to overlook some of the other conference attendees. Besen describes the pair as becoming very busy working together on exgay speaking engagements around the nation, until they acknowledged their love for one another, divorced their wives and left the exgay movement.

As a result of the length and depth of the Bussee-Cooper exgay collaboration, some say Cooper was a co-organizer of the conference.

But veteran exgay activists Bob Davies and Frank Worthen minimize Cooper’s role: Davies quotes Worthen asking, "Gary who?" about Cooper. Davies does not indicate whether Worthen’s tone was one of non-recollection or sarcasm. Davies then paraphrases and abbreviates a long-ago, undated conversation with Bussee, lacking any context, claiming that Bussee told him that Cooper was a conference volunteer, driving people to the airport.

Cooper died of AIDS in 1991, so unfortunately he is not around to defend his level of involvement. Nevertheless, Bussee made clear to Besen in the 2002 interview that he felt Cooper’s role was significantly greater than that of limo driver.

One Nation Under God looks back at the Bussee-Cooper collaboration, and XGW will review the video in March. (If you have seen the video, I invite your comments.)

In the meantime, we are left with Prof. Throckmorton’s review.

Based solely on his distaste for the opinion that Cooper was a co-founder of Exodus, Prof. Throckmorton tells Amazon.com shoppers that he declines to review the rest of the video:

It is difficult to know what else is true or false about the
remainder of the film since this is such a blatant distortion at the
beginning.

When you live in a glass house….

Board of Directors

Mike Haley

Tom Cole
Living Hope Ministries in Arlington, Texas

Rev. John J. Smid, Treasurer
Executive director, Love In Action, Memphis, Tenn. Divorced and remarried. Licensed Southern Baptist minister.

Patti Keator, Secretary

Alan Chambers, Exodus President

Roy Blankenship
One Way Addiction Ministry
Minister of Communications & Counseling, First Baptist Church Woodstock

Phil and Vickie Burress
Phil: President, Citizens for Community Values, Cincinnati
Vickie: founded American Family Association of Indiana
Campaign coordinator, CCV

Dan Puumala
Executive Director, Outpost Ministries, Minneapolis

Don and Diana Schmierer
His Servants. Have helped operate several Christian addiction recovery programs

Tal Thompson
Director of Missions, Holston Baptist Association (a region of the Southern Baptist Convention)

Regional Representatives

PROFESSIONALS NETWORK REPRESENTATIVE
Warren Throckmorton

SAFE CHURCH AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVE
Melissa Fryrear
Focus on the Family

REGION: NORTHWEST PACIFIC
Jason Thompson
Portland Fellowship

REGION: MIDDLE PACIFIC
Carl Conli
HIS Ministry, Sunrise Community Church, Fair Oaks, Calif.

REGION: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Ronald Rapp
Senior Litigation Paralegal; discipleship group leader and prayer minister at Inland Vineyard of Corona, Calif.

REGION: NORTH-CENTRAL TIER
Bob Van Domelen
Executive director of Broken Yoke Ministries in Wisconsin. Former spokesperson for Morality in Media Wisconsin and Transforming Congregations.

REGION: CENTRAL ROCKIES
Terry Vratny
Co-director of New Heart Ministry, First Presbyterian Church, Boulder

REGION: MID-CENTRAL
Michael Babb
Director of Freedom At Last in Wichita

REGION: TEXAS
Michael R. Newman
Licensed and ordained Southern Baptist minister. Director of Christian Coalition for Reconciliation, Houston

REGION: GREAT LAKES BASIN
Jerry Armelli
Director and Founder of Prodigal Ministries Inc. in Cincinnati

REGION: SOUTHERN GULF
Terri Brown
Co-founder and Executive Director of Master’s Design ministry in West Monroe, La. Active in Southern Baptist Convention’s "Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals" exhibit.

REGION: NORTH ATLANTIC
Bill Taylor
Executive Director of Day Seven, Lancaster, Pa.

REGION: MID-ATLANTIC
McKrae Game
Founder and Executive Director of Truth Ministry, Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. Ordained Southern Baptist minister.

REGION: FLORIDA
Myra Noyes
Serves with David Kyle Foster’s Mastering Life ministry, Jacksonville, Fla. She is involved with a support group for parents of children with same-sex attractions.

Finances (2002)

Revenues: $677,125
Expenses: $795,580

Assets: $82,017
Liabilities: $72,163

To be continued…

Family Research Council, a religious-right organization  launched and still guided behind the scenes by James Dobson, founded PFOX in 1996.

Press release, 1996
Profile at ReligiousTolerance.org

FRC founded PFOX under the auspices of exgay activist Anthony Falzarano, who was well-known among gay people for his angry public vitriol. Falzarano was also viewed with apprehension among exgays for his demands that exgay ministries improve their lousy rate of success in converting celibate same-sex-attracted exgays to full-blown heterosexual marriage.

Falzarano was ousted from PFOX in 1999 after he accused the religious right of exploiting the exgay movement for political purposes. He was replaced by Regina Griggs.

This article contains many of Falzarano’s surprising accusations about the exgay movement’s growing exploitation by the religious right, but here’s one quote in particular:

He [Falzarano] was asked to appear on Dr. James Dobson’s TV show two years ago, and had to have Robert Knight [employed by FRC at the time] ‘go to bat’ for him in order to have his travel expenses paid, even though he claims Dobson was operating from a $115 million budget compared with $100,000 for PFOX.

Falzarano subsequently alienated Knight, according to gay activist John Aravosis. His ouster, if not already under way, was then assured.

By 2003, PFOX’s annual budget had declined to $32,000.

Since then, PFOX has launched billboards featuring exgay Christopher Delaney in several cities. It has not disclosed who is financing the billboards.

PFOX Board of Directors

Regina Griggs, Executive Director
Richard Cohen, exgay activist and discredited counselor, President
Estella Salvatierra, Vice President
Scott Strachen, Secretary
Thomas Fahey, Treasurer
Paul Fitzpatrick
Robert Knight (Concerned Women for America, formerly of FRC)

Finances

2003 revenue: $37,000
2003 expenses: $26,000
No full-time/part-time employees

To be continued…

Mike Haley of Focus on the Family occupies the chairmanship of the Exodus board of directors. His predecessor as Exodus chairman, John Paulk, was also Haley’s predecessor as head of Focus’ antigay political programs.

Exodus’ new spokesperson, Julie Neils, was for five years the media manager for the Public Policy division of Focus on the Family before quitting in 2003 to be a stay-at-home mom. While Exodus is based in Orlando, Neils will be working from her home in Colorado Springs, near Focus on the Family headquarters, according to Randy Thomas in Exodus’ "Impact" newsletter for December 2004.

Exodus’ regional representatives include Melissa Fryrear, also of Focus on the Family.

According to the Exodus web site, Fryrear is coordinating the "Safe Churches" affiliate network. In Exodus’ December newsletter, membership director Randy Thomas says the Safe Churches network and an exgay therapists’ network are being developed to "help us bridge the gap between someone walking out of homosexuality and the hope found in the Body of Christ." (I think it’s reasonable to suspect that these churches and therapists will eventually be mobilized to fight antiviolence/safe-schools programs.)

Other Exodus religious-right board members include Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values and Vickie Burress of the American Family Association of Indiana.

Exodus doesn’t report where it gets its money from, but the annual dues of its referral network of 120 exgay activists are far too low to support Exodus’ $700,000+ annual budget. I think it’s reasonable to suspect that a lot of money comes from Focus on the Family or James Dobson personally, but I’m not sure how to document that. I welcome suggestions.

The Star, a major newspaper in Malaysia, published a package of stories about exgays on Jan. 12:

Helping homosexual persons resolve long-standing issues 

Circumstances may lead to homosexuality

Homosexuality more about politics than biology

Changing sexual orientation through reparative therapy

The series relies almost entirely upon anecdotes from anonymous exgays affiliated with Real Love Ministry, an exgay organization in Malacca that is headed by singer-composer Edmund Lawrence Smith. RLM’s web site says it is an offshoot of Choices Ministry (exgay) of Singapore.

The RLM exgay counseling program consists of a four-step process — re-education, celibacy, dating, and opposite-gender marriage.

While XGW respects the struggles of the individuals (should they, in fact, be real people), the anecdotes in the Star articles and on the RLM web site sadly consist of tired cliches and stereotypes about gender and sexual orientation that most gay people will find trite, unconvincing, and unappealing.

Based upon those stereotypes, the articles then proceed to promote exgay cures. Only one exgay advocate in the articles — Grahame Hazell, founder of Lifeline Ministries in France — is quoted acknowledging that a turn away from homosexuality does not mean a turn to heterosexuality. Where XGW perceives this as a change to asexuality, Hazell insults gay readers by asserting that, in leaving homosexuality, "one achieves wholeness as a person."

The articles neglect to obtain any direct input from reputable medical authorities; instead, they rely heavily upon RLM’s oversimplifications and distortions of the scientific work of Kinsey, Spitzer and others.

The articles also neglect to offer any perspectives from Malaysians who were not helped, or who were harmed, by their participation in exgay programs.