Ex-Gay Watch

The Memphis, Tenn.-based Queer Action Coalition reported Sept. 22 that the exgay live-in “ministry” Love In Action had recruited unnamed antigay lawmakers to assist in its battle to stay open and, if possible, to use its religious affiliation to bypass accountability under laws ensuring the quality and safety of programs for the mentally ill.

But the QAC based its report about the lawmakers on a message from an unidentified individual. The report remains unsubstantiated.

Today, AP (via the Southern Voice) reports that Love In Action has been granted until Sept. 30 to obtain a license for its mental health programs. The Washington Blade and 365gay.com offer similar reports.

The Washington Blade quotes one expert who suggests that Love In Action’s claim for an exemption may hold merit.

Jeffrey Schaler is professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University and editor of Current Psychology. According to the Blade,

[Schaler] he believes that, generally, religious providers of mental health supportive living environments should be exempt from state regulation.

Schaler said courts have ruled that therapeutic activities such as 12-step programs and psychotherapy, “look like religions” in that they occupy a central role in a person’s life, offer tenets to guide one’s daily life, and offer discipline where certain rituals are present.

Efforts to reclassify 12-step and psychotherapeutic programs as religions may complicate, if not obfuscate, the issue.

Peterson Toscano, former live-in participant in Love In Action, refocuses attention on LIA’s marketing and counseling, which emphasize clinical language and pseudo-clinical exercises, not mere religious prayer.

In his article Religious Hubris of LIA, Toscano recounts episodes in which LIA staffers’ reckless or negligent therapeutic behaviors endangered clients’ lives. Commenters formerly affiliated with Love In Action substantiate Toscano’s assertions.

In What’s Next for LIA? Not So Simple, Toscano conjectures that LIA will push hard for loopholes — and political friends — to remain in business. Whether LIA’s leadership learns to conduct its therapeutic programs in a more accountable and reputable fashion remains to be seen.

What Others Say:
Earlier reaction from PFLAG

Focus and the American Family Association are repeatedly claiming that adding sexual orientation to Federal hate crime protections will be used to persecute speech from the pulpit. (ie in today’s broadcast of FNIF) Hate crimes laws protecting gay people have been in place at the state level for years now. Does anyone know of any cases where those existing laws have been used to persecute churches?

PFOX President Richard Cohen appears to have suffered a meltdown following a televised debate with Wayne Besen. Wayne is author of Anything But Straight which devotes an entire chapter to Cohen’s bizarre antics. Following the debate Cohen sent out “prayer request” via email which is excerpted here:

MY SOS CALL RIGHT NOW IS THIS: WOULD YOU PLEASE PRAY FOR MY FAMILY AND MYSELF. I FEEL OVERWHELMED BY THE PRESENCE OF EVIL WITHIN AND AROUND ME. It’s hard to ask you for this, I feel a bit selfish, but it’s imperative, and this is war!…

…Right now, it feels like I can’t breath. THEREFORE, WOULD YOU PLEASE PRAY FOR PROTECTION. There is great spiritual warfare happening, and I really need your loving prayers to surround myself and my family. I’m not saying this to be selfish. I’m asking this so I might continue to battle, stand up and crack this puppy wide open.

Coming back home on the train, I cried as I prayed and I promised God that I will not rest until I figure out how to deck this immoral, paper tiger. That is my commitment.

To view Cohen’s entire email please see Besen’s post.

There is a nice article in the Columbia Missourian about how churches are increasingly divided about how gay people fit in. The article focuses on a group of Methodist women – mothers of gay men – that decided to change their church.

One segment of the article discusses the efforts of the ex-gay movement. Although much of it is the standard general info about Exodus and its 400,000 phone calls, one paragraph caught my attention:

Living Waters, an intense 9-month program designed for those who are “sexually broken,” has steadily increased in enrollment. Donna Thornhill, a licensed professional counselor who works with the program, says Living Waters has a 90 percent success rate — success being measured by a person’s ability to live a normal heterosexual lifestyle.

Is Thornhill actually claiming that they turn 90% of their client into heterosexuals? Really?

Or is Thornhill saying that 90% of their clients could pretend to be heterosexual and live a “lifestyle” of pretending to not be gay and hoping that some day they may have some feelings of attraction to the opposite sex?

If anyone knows anything about Living Waters (which seems affiliated with Pure Heart Ministries in St. Louis) or Donna Thornhill, it would be interesting to see what she’s actually claiming.

Fox News reports on the splitting of famous gay penguins Silo and Roy at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Apparently, Silo left Roy for Scrappy, an exotic SeaWorld girl who’s never had chicks. Fox references an article [not free] from the New York Post.

What does it mean for the greater cause of gay rights that animals can apparently become ex-gay? Absolutely nothing. This is one case, which certainly hasn’t been studied long-term. But let’s see if the ex-gay echo chambers pick it up that way.

Update: Warren Throckmorton obviously wants to bite, but tries to hide it.

Today’s broadcast (Real Audio) of Focus On The Family is entitled Biblical Perspective on Homosexuality, Pt 1 (of 2). It consisted of a prerecorded sermon by Tommy Nelson overviewing scriptural passages in the Bible. Nelson has two foci: 1)Countering gay-friendly interpretations of passages. 2)Making a variety of Adam and Steve type arguments clearly irrelevant because of what philosophers call the naturalistic fallacy.

Furthermore, this broadcast only served to remind us of Timothy’s point last week the Bible makes a stronger argument condemning homosexuality. Timothy reminded us the Bible also makes a stronger case FOR slavery than against it.

The broadcast was concluded with an endorsement of Focus’ upcoming Love Won Out event in Boston.

The Boston Globe has an article explaining the Pope’s latest stance on why homosexuals should not be allowed to become priests, even if they are celibate. Why? Because people with same-sex attractions are pedophiles.

The church is looking into the question of homosexuality because some church officials believe there is a link between a high number of gay men in the priesthood and a high incidence of sexual abuse. But specialists say there is no evidence for such a link.

”There is no evidence that a male homosexual is any more risk to a boy than a male heterosexual is to a girl, and one of the problems within the church is that they are confusing the issue of homosexuality with the issues of child abuse and pedophilia,” said Dr. Fred S. Berlin, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The Pope has launched this investigation as a belated response to the child abuse scandals the church suffered, but has conveniently decided to blame the whole affair on homosexuals rather than fix the cover-ups and manipulations of the clergy. Since the Roman Catholic church does not advocate reparative therapy, but relies entirely on celibacy, this new development constitutes nothing less than educational and employment discrimination. The investigation also has the tantalizing possibility of becoming the new witch hunts, since individual clergy will be looking for “evidence of homosexuality” at seminaries rather than relying on personal testimony.

It seems to me that Pope Benedict is really hoping to capitalize on condemning homosexuality in much the way John Paul II did, except he plans to go further with it than his predecessor. Introducing reorientation therapy as a Catholic doctrine seems to be a logical next step, as being outwardly celibate is no longer enough.

In the AFA’s Agapepress last week:

[Linda Harvey of Mission America] warns that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is disseminating information in an effort that is creating confrontational pro-homosexual student activists. A website for the organization’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project offers students a “Know Your Rights” card and refers to laws that purportedly protect homosexual behavior…

…The pro-family spokeswoman believes the ACLU, in its effort to educate homosexual students of these so-called “rights,” is setting up a situation in which the civil liberties organization can sue a school on behalf of a student who does not get what he or she wants at school…

…Harvey says since the ACLU has a myriad of resources for homosexual students yet offers none for Christian students, the group is clearly demonstrating that its commitment to diversity is phony.(*)

In the AFA’s Agapepress today:

The [See You At The Pole] national organization, which provides promotional material and guidance for groups planning a SYATP event, also provides information on students’ rights to gather on school grounds for the sole purpose of praying for their nation, their campuses, and their families. The group encourages SYATP participants to be prepared for possible opposition from school officials, and to know their rights, [and] plan their response(*)

So… Last week the AFA espoused the viewpoint students SHOULD NOT utilize their established right of equal access and then decided this week maybe students SHOULD embrace that right after all.

*cough* pick and choose absolutism *cough*

Mission America? Where does the AFA find these backwood-yahoo groups to say outrageous things we at XGW can use against them? I sure don’t see any resources for gay students from the AFA or Mission America… These groups are clearly demonstrating that their commitment to diversity is phony. [This is a JOKE people, exgays have no sense of humor.] The hypocrisy has reached comic proportions. Feel free to contact Mission America here.

The campy 1999 movie about a cheerleader who is sent off to ex-gay camp because she’s showing signs of lesbianism (she’s a vegetarian, doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend, and likes listening to Melissa Etheridge) has been made into a musical.

Until the musical shows up at a venue near you, rent the movie. It’s cute and pokes fun at the sillier attempts of places like LIA/R to make gay kids straight, while also showing the serious reasons that minors allow themselves to go through those experiences.

From the Associated Press via 365gay.com:

The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has ordered the closing of what it calls two unlicensed personal care facilities run by a Christian group that claims to counsel gays to give up homosexuality.

The state inspected two facilities in Memphis on Aug. 19 and determined Love In Action International Inc. was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license, according to a subsequent letter to the organization from the Department of Mental Health.

The department gave Love In Action until Sept. 23 to cease operation of the facilities and apply for a state license.

The Love In Action facilities were still in operation as of Sept. 19, according to state spokeswoman Lola Potter.

As the deadline to close approaches, a Fox News affiliate in Memphis was planning to air a report on LIA tonight, according to the local Queer Action Coalition. The affiliate interviewed former LIA client Jeff Harwood.

Another former client, Peterson Toscano, commented Sept. 19 about the “false image” created by LIA about its own leadership. “False Image,” or “F.I.,” has been used as a form of denigration by some exgay counselors against the gender identity of clients who decline to conform their dress, gestures and interests to strict religious-right gender stereotypes.

Gay activist and author Wayne Besen is also tracking this story.