I see from PFOX’s April 22 press release that Prof. Throckmorton and PFOX are using their self-generated Magellan Health news story to sell copies of Throckmorton’s video, I Do Exist.
Smart move.
Soulforce organized a visit by 60 gay-tolerant students to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University on April 25.
Inside Higher Ed quotes Jake Reitan, an organizer of Soulforce’s Equality Ride project:
“If a professor here wanted to say that God really loves gay students, he would get in trouble,” Reitan said about Liberty. “If a student told a professor he was gay, he would be reported and urged to attend ex-gay programs,” where people are told that they can change their sexual orientation.
Reitan’s predictions are based on reports that Soulforce has received from gay graduates and other former students of Liberty University — and on comments by current antigay students reported in the Lynchburg News & Advance:
Lacon Burns, an LU sophomore, said she personally doesn’t care if someone is gay or not, but added that the Bible says it’s a sin.
She said any student who admitted being gay would get counseling.
Nathan Tyler Simmons, an LU student from Roanoke, said he is an ex-gay who would like to help people change their sexual orientation.
“I truly believe change is possible,” he said.
That, Reitan said, is why LU needs to develop a safe haven program where students can talk about their sexual orientation without fear of retribution or attempts to “convert” them to heterosexuality.
If organizations such as Exodus and PFOX support “choice,” then what, one may wonder, are they doing to encourage free choice at Liberty University?
And where is the Liberty in sexual coercion?
Evidently it’s a slow news day over at AFA’s AgapePress, which decided to reprint a fluffy little interview from last month with Stephen Bennett whom, and here’s the big shocker, has absolutely nothing new to say.
(Actually I lied, he’s got a new CD for sale on his website and something that huge clearly deserves this 1,300-word AFA lovefest article.)
“But these are men and women who unfortunately have been rejected from day one — by their own families, by friends, by their peers.”
“There’s no doubt about the fact that the Bible calls homosexuality an abomination.”
“One of my favorite analogies is that the thing a smoker hates the most is an ex-smoker. It’s the same situation with homosexuals.”
*Yawn*
Bennett closes by stating that since Lawrence V. Texas and the advent of marriage equality in Massachusetts his phone has been ringing. This once again alludes to how ex-gays are utilized to deny civil rights to happy, healthy, and self-affirmed gay Americans.
“But when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas, that really jolted many pastors. And then when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage, churches really got nervous, and then our phone started ringing. It’s been nonstop ever since. Last year we ministered at over 50 churches and events.”
I’m sure many of you have already seen this article from the Galveston Daily News, highlighting efforts by local Christian groups to counter the anti-gay message fostered by South Houston’s recent "Love Won Out" conference. Still, I wanted to link to it because it’s great to see moderate Christians responding to the tactics of the extreme right with a more genuine, Christ-like message of love. It’s also important to remember that the Christian Family is a more complex place than the leaders of the Religious Right would have us believe.
Along those same lines, Christian author Jack Hitt has an op-ed in today’s LA Times calling Americans on the carpet for "politicizing Jesus." I question blaming the media for this (surely Christian leaders bear some responsiblity for conflating their cause with the GOP’s?), but regardless, the point needs airing. The fact is, no one group can claim to speak for Jesus, and we ought to be suspicious of people who speak as if there is only "one true" Christian stance on a given political issue.
Although the article doesn’t mention gay rights, this is especially true when it comes to gay issues. Ex-gays and their supporters love to pretend that there is only one Christian stance on gay rights, and they openly question the faith of people who disagree with their agenda. But the fact is, there are many, many Christians on our side. Often, they are afraid to speak out and risk having their faith called into question.
If gay rights are ever to advance in this country, we will need our moderate Christian friends to stand firmly with us. It’s wonderful to see some of them stepping up.
“We’re convinced that if we have children, we’re going to do everything in our power to make them gay. [emphasis added] Like maybe drinking a lot of extra soy milk while she’s pregnant, or anything that would work to make that happen. I’d just rather have a really sharp, interesting, smart gay son than some big dumb hetero meathead.”
That quote from electronic music artist Moby in a recent (but undated) interview on PlanetOut.com appears to have caught the attention of that paragon of journalistic excellence, WorldNetDaily (view article).
I’m not going to try and defend Moby other than to say his statement was obviously partially in jest but also meant to express his honest feelings on stereotypical masculinity.
For the record, WorldNetDaily once reported that “40 percent of drivers [are] illuminating their headlights in daylight hours” in tribute to recently deceased Ronald Reagan, ignoring the fact most(*) new cars, mine included, have automatic daytime running lamps while other people simply make a good safety habit of driving with their lights on. This puts their journalistic ethos in the approximate range of talking parrots and the Weekly World News.
Magellan Health Services has invited Warren Throckmorton back to it’s advisory board. (Previous coverage at XGW)
Quoting this AP article at Advocate.com:
Magellan spokeswoman Erin Somers said Thursday the company was preparing a written statement. She confirmed that the company had offered to allow Throckmorton to return to the advisory board. She would not say why the company decided to allow him to return.
Throckmorton had his own theory. “My understanding of the reason for bringing me back is they felt by dismissing me, they created an impression they were not an inclusive company, and in bringing me back they wanted to correct that misperception,” Throckmorton said. “I think it’s a good move. I think it does help to correct the viewpoint that Magellan had out there that they were intolerant. I think it’s the right move for them to make.”
I didn’t notice this story till almost midnight Pacific Time so it’ll be a news cycle till all sides of the story are out and much analysis can be done.
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If you wish to comment but are encountering obstacles with TypePad, please let me know.
For the time being, I have made registration optional, but I still wish to make registration a requirement eventually.
This old copy of the About XGW page needs a bit of a rewrite. Feedback is welcome from everyone — but especially from exgay readers who may disagree with religious-right politics.
This web blog is a personal project by its writers. It is not associated with any organization. An expressed viewpoint is solely the opinion of the person who wrote it, and not the viewpoint of other XGW writers.
The writers encourage readers to judge for themselves the credibility of linked sources. A best effort is made to quote sources accurately.
Feedback and commentary from blog readers are welcome in the comments following each post. XGW reserves the right to delete comments that are disruptive or inflammatory. Preferring a free and open exchange of ideas, that privilege will be exercised sparingly. XGW takes no responsibility for words posted by others.
Corrections and clarifications are welcome in the comments sections as well. Direct any questions to editor@exgaywatch.com.
Ex-gay ministries and therapists have been active for about 30 years and say that thousands of folks have changed because of them. Their views, based in conservative religious faith, dominated the mental health fields in the early 20th century.
However, when researcher Dr. Robert Spitzer went looking for well-established ex-gays to study in 2000-2001, he only found 200 people eligible to participate in his study — even though he publicized his study through ex-gay ministries and reparative therapists for 16 months.
Most ex-gay leaders say that it’s possible to change from gay to straight, and a few sincerely believe they have changed their orientation. Most ex-gays, however, report they have only modified their behavior, not their sexual attractions.
Few leaders in the ex-gay movement claim a success rate any higher than 20 to 30 percent — and they do not clearly define what constitutes success.
In any event, they do not discuss what happened to the other 70 to 80 percent. Many of those who did not “succeed” have organized an “ex-ex-gay” movement with its own ministries to encourage tolerance, sexual moderation, and spiritual healing from wounds they say were caused by intolerant fundamentalism and prejudice.
Some ex-gay ministries and political outfits generalize about “homosexuality” or the gay “lifestyle,” asserting that all or most gay people are promiscuous, drug-addicted, depressed, emotionally unstable, incapable of long-term romantic relationships, and effeminate or tomboyish.
Of course, those generalizations are inaccurate, but some ex-gay groups believe in the stereotypes because their recruitment techniques happen to appeal disproportionately to people who suffer from untreated addictions, depression, or a desire for religious absolutism.
Groups like NARTH (the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) say they are putting science to work in studying homosexuality and evaluating “treatments” for it. In fact, NARTH releases few detailed study results, none for peer review, and its public statements are frequently tainted by political and religious biases. For these reasons, NARTH has little credibility among mainstream therapists.
Exodus International is a conservative Christian network of ex-gay groups. Exodus says that faith is the problem and the answer — homosexuality happens when people walk away from God and the solution is to adopt conservative Christian faith and politics, and be either celibate or married. Exodus speaks for more than 100 local ex-gay ministries, many of which are relatively informal, unfunded support groups, a few of which have paid staffs. These ministries are more often led by laypeople who are ex-gay themselves than by professional therapists; open hostility toward the professions of psychology, psychiatry, social work, as well as Christians who affirm gays, is not unusual.
Local Exodus member ministries often do not take positions on political issues such as nondiscrimination legislation, or antiharassment policies in public schools. However, their membership and referral dues support national Exodus leaders who lobby for antigay discrimination; support antisex laws; support efforts to remove gay Christians from active participation in churches;
oppose antiharassment policies; and seek to reverse the custody rights of biological and adoptive parents who happen to be gay.
Ex-gay ministries often operate like small businesses. They receive financial and marketing support from client fees, honoraria, individual Christian donors, and political organizations such as Focus on the Family.
One common tactic, derived from the political organizations, is to selectively cite undated statistics from discredited researchers, while ignoring more current data that has passed scientific peer review. In the genre of discredited researchers, Dr. Paul Cameron stands out. Due to his rigging of data, and alleged plagiarism, Cameron has lost his professional standing among his peers and his research is not considered credible. Regrettably, the Exodus International web site continues to cite Cameron’s claims as fact.
Another common tactic is to disseminate unsubstantiated allegations about the beliefs, values, and behaviors of unnamed but all-powerful gay activists or organizations. When repeated often enough, these strawman arguments take on a life of their own — even though none of these statements seems to be traceable to a real gay individual or organization.
Ex-Gay Watch believes that celibacy is a valid choice, but not the only valid one, for people who are attracted to the same gender.
The site affirms efforts to reduce the incidence of sexual addiction, depression, divorce, and domestic violence across all of society.
The site opposes laws that may infringe on freedom of speech, especially in regard to religion or sexual orientation.
We oppose laws that compel government, businesses, churches, or individuals to discriminate against people on the basis of religion or sexual orientation.
We believe private individuals, businesses and organizations have a right to discriminate, just as they have a right to commit other wrongs, but we believe the actual choice to discriminate is unethical and worthy of opposition.
We view with concern the weak science, religious biases, binge behaviors, and partisan politics that are, unfortunately, common among ex-gay political activist leaders and spokespersons.
We believe that the manipulation of human sexuality and personality to serve religious or political agendas is harmful to gays and ex-gays — and a threat to the health and diversity of religious communities.
Since the ex-gay movement currently abides by no published standard of accountability, we encourage the formation of uniform standards by which the beliefs, practices, and performance (success and failure rates) of individual ex-gay programs can be independently measured and rated.
If there were a pill you could take that would make you straight, would you take it?
Yeah, we’ve all heard this question. Tonight on The Simpsons there was a brief reference to it when Smithers appeared on-screen with a woman by his side. Bart exclaimed he thought Smithers was [gay] to which Smithers replied:
“I’m straight as long as I keep taking these shots every ten minutes”[Smithers pulls out syringe, injects]
[Smithers throws his arms in the air and screams out] “I love boobies!!!”
Remember, it’s humor people.
Ex-Gay Watch has been located at exgaywatch.com for two years, but some web sites still link to an old address, exgay.blogs.com.
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