Pro-gay groups have been mostly silent on Throckmorton’s reappointment to Magellan Healthcare’s board. [correct me if I'm wrong, I can only read so many sites] One group has finally spoken up, The Mautner Project, a national lesbian health organization. Coverage here at 365gay.com.
Some of you might be interested in seeing this 30-year timeline of the anti-gay movement compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I consider myself pretty informed about the Religious Right’s war on gay people (and on civil liberties in general); even so, it’s jarring to see the details laid out like this. It also reminds me that those of us who live in safe urban conclaves can’t afford to be too complacent.
There are people out there whose goal is to undermine the principles of Liberty and relgious freedom this country was founded on–and we’re their main target. It is a war, waged by them, against us. They never forget that, and neither should we.
Reminder, Soulforce‘s two-day rally at Focus On The Family’s Colorado Springs headquarters begins Sunday. (Previous XGW coverage)
Soulforce makes little mention of Focus in connection with ex-gays; Nonetheless Focus can’t simply expect people to push happy and healthy gays back in the closet, ergo Focus points to their token alternative "Love Won Out". Wayne Besen makes the case in Anything But Straight that religious right groups such as Focus disingenuously support ex-gay organizations to justify their own attacks on all gays. Groundwork laid, Soulforce’s upcoming confrontation of Focus is unquestionably an ex-gay issue. This post is meant as a change for XGW which tends too often towards reactionary content, typically dwelling on events ex post facto rather than offering more proactive analysis.
On Sunday April 1st Soulforce has a rally, church service, concert and a press conference to attract attention to their cause and fire up their supporters. (Schedule) Realistically any mainstream media coverage they receive will be from events on Sunday since as I shall argue, Monday’s planned "direct action" at Focus headquarters is poorly thought out and will prove anti-climactic.
“On Monday, May 1, [sic] James Dobson has to make a moral decision," explains the Rev. Dr. Mel White, Executive Director of Soulforce. "Does he welcome this delegation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people with supportive clergy and other people of faith? Or does he lock us out and force us to risk nonviolent civil disobedience and arrest? We can’t just go away and ignore the terrible consequences of Dobson’s ignorance and bigotry." (Soulforce press release)
Soulforce makes it pretty clear they anticipate some great confrontation with Dobson on Monday. However, as far as Soulforce’s own schedule indicates, the only time they plan on even setting foot on Focus property is taking one of many public tours on and maybe eating lunch in the cafeteria. Focus had proposed a panel discussion for April 25th titled "Biblical Text and Homosexuality" which Soulforce boycotted. So yes, it appears their best chance to confront Dobson will be on the public tour if they happen to stumble across him.
Fat chance.
In the words of Soulforce is Dobson going to “lock us out and force us to risk nonviolent civil disobedience and arrest?”
Please, give me a break.
And Dobson is probably smart enough to steer clear of the lunch room that day. [joke]
Soulforce and Mel White have the tone of defiant children daring a parent to punish them. It’s my opinion that Dobson is going to let them take the tour just like everyone else who comes to visit Focus. Maybe if he’s getting some bad press Dobson will call up Hannity & Colmes and say something to the effect of “Why would I ever turn away God’s children? Who am I to single them out? Everyone is welcome to take the tour here at Focus.”
So what should Soulforce do? In my opinion their best shot is to bring attention to all the horrible things Dobson has actually said about gay people. Soulforce has diligently documented and published this on their website. If Soulforce paired this documentation with persistent media savvy instead of childish stunts they would succeed in bringing much more attention to their cause.
Christmas is eight months away — and so is Joe Kort’s new book,
10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do to Find Real Love.
But you can pre-order it now through Amazon.com — or read about Joe’s other books and workshops here.
In his April 26 column, activist/author Wayne Besen says U.S. gays have a choice:
Sequester themselves in their closets, or don boxing gloves.
Besen sees corporate America, gays and Jews losing power and facing harassment from a minority of theocrats, while a majority of Americans stands by and allows “our legal rights and our basic humanity” to be stripped away.
According to PrideSource.com, Chambers spoke April 6 — Pride Week — at Central Michigan University.
Taking a strategy from the playbook of [garble] Bar’s fundraiser/protest of Rev. Fred Phelps when he came to Ann Arbor in 2001, CMU’s Gay-Straight Alliance sent out emails asking LGBT community members and allies to make a monetary pledge for each minute that Chambers spoke.
The total raised so far? “Well over $1,200,” for Chambers’ ninety-four minute talk, according to the GSA’s Vice President Phil Reese.
Volunteers distributed HRC ex-exgay literature outside the chapel.
“We did it in a very respectful, non-confrontational manner,” said Reese. “There were conversations going on outside the door until late into the night, and they were very friendly – there was no screaming. We got a lot of people a lot of very useful, tangible information.” …
“We support the right of the Lutheran Student Fellowship and Exodus to their own beliefs and expression,” he said. “However, we felt it was kind of mean-spirited to bring this to Pride Week.”
Unfortunately, according to the Rev. Eric A. Stone, exgay or antigay thieves stole a banner that the gay-tolerance groups had posted (with permission) to welcome Chambers.
Van Gower of Southern Voice reviews the new novel “Sex Camp” by Brian McNaught.
Of the many compelling characters, the writer struggled most to fairly flesh out the character of Peter O’Shea, a self-identified ex-gay Lutheran Church worker.
:I didn’t want him to be a caricature of what an ex-gay person is,” McNaught says. “It would have been easy to have him constantly spouting Biblical quotes, but I wanted him to be a sympathetic character who is on a journey. There are people out there who are really struggling and claim to be ex-gay because it may be the only way out of the pain they’re feeling.”
Nicely put.
Amazon.com has nice things to say about the book.
Guided by two unnamed exgay activists, Minnesota state senator Michele Bachmann vowed Apr. 8 to win a constitutional ban against gay unions.
Bachmann told them (opponents of a ban), as she has said before, that they can get married just like anyone else — but they have to marry someone of the opposite sex.
Evidently, some exgays and their politicians take it for granted that marriages can or should be sexless.
The Journal, at Webster University near St. Louis, profiled exgay Dan Colombo on April 7 following his campus visit.
Dan Colombo used to be gay, but after choosing a Christian life, he decided to put all aspects of his life, including his sexuality, in the hands of God.
So do gay-tolerant Christians.
Colombo, who said he was sexually abused by his male neighbor as a child, is now married to a woman and has a daughter. He said his life began to change when he became friends with a Christian while in the Army.
Colombo is only 24 now, and the article does not explain how Colombo defines “gay” or why, exactly, he considered himself gay.
“God gave me the courage to overcome my sin and brokenness,” said Colombo, who was invited to the university by the Baptist Student Union.
Gay-tolerant Christians might say the same thing — but they do not necessarily equate same-sex attraction with sexual abuse and sin.
His attraction toward women came naturally and when it happened it was exciting, he said.
I congratulate Colombo, but still question the nature and extent of his same-sex attraction, given his apparent association between that and sexual abuse.
Colombo said that true Christians do not make judgments about someone’s sexuality. He also apologized for the way some groups are treated by Christians.
“Gays are persecuted and wrongly treated,” he said. “Jesus was treated much in the same way. As a Christian I’m sorry for the way many groups are treated.”
I applaud Colombo’s tolerant gestures. Some of Exodus’ leaders once spoke similar words. But they were later found to support antigay censorship, discrimination and imprisonment. I’d have welcomed Colombo’s views on equality, free speech, and nondiscrimination.
In any case, I’m glad (but not surprised) to see that advocates for gay tolerance were (for the most part) civil in response to Colombo:
“He made it very clear that he was relying on a personal revelation,” said Steve Houldsworth, the faculty adviser of Webster Pride. “I feel like he’s being sincere, and I totally respect that, but that doesn’t mean that anyone else is obligated to the revelation. God may have revealed to others that He is gay.”
In an op-ed published April 14, Houldsworth recalls antigay stereotypes that he says Colombo voiced:
For example, Colombo said “there is no such thing as a healthy gay relationship,” “same-gender desires are a weakness” and “gays & lesbians cannot be good parents.”
Imagine a talk sponsored by a non-Christian group called “The Christianity Box” where an ex-Christian said that there was no such thing as a healthy Christian relationship, that Christian belief is a weakness, and that Christians can not be good parents. I doubt a room full of devout Christians would sit politely through such a talk as did all but one of the 60 or so lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals who attended BSU’s event.
Families were told that they were not real, according to Houldsworth; longtime committed gay couples were told they could not possibly be healthy.
So it seems that Colombo spoiled a promising opportunity for exgays to advance their own concerns without insulting and threatening their listeners.
Nevertheless, Houldsworth says he is pleased that Webster Pride had begun a dialogue on gay/exgay issues.
This is an oldie, but worth bringing up, I think.
The December 2004 issue of Christianity Today published this exgay smear against Christians.
Hiding behind the name “Anonymous,” and safe from analysis and accountability to those whom he judges, the writer refers to all gay-tolerant churches as a single entity and says they all “cheated” him and “lied” to him.
According to Anonymous:
Anonymous says, “I admit my responsibility for believing them (the lies)” — but in fact he does not. He lies about the causes of STDs; lies about the differing positions of tolerant Christian churches toward marriage and divorce; blames affirming churches for his wife’s antigay embarrassment about his struggle; and his idea of a “Christian” pastor is someone who dismisses gay children of God as though they were cancerous.
Anonymous concludes:
we can respond like Jesus would, with grace and truth: “Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Very true, Jesus would respond like that — but what Anonymous describes in his antigay church is neither grace nor rest — but rather:
Anonymous’s I-am-a-victim mantra is an embarrassment, all right — to true Christians.
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