Ex-Gay Watch

[Editor's Note: The content of this entry has been incorprorated into a more recent post.]

In case there are still any doubts X-Men 3 is about exgays:

[Ian McKellen] has been openly gay since the 1980s, and he takes exception to the common assumption that homosexuals can be ‘cured.’ So he channeled his fury into the role of Magneto.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday McKellen vented, “As a gay man, some people think that it ought to be cured and made normal again and I find it as offensive as someone saying that they have a cure for the color of their skin.

Read the full story. (Hat tip Scott)

There are no true “liberals” or “conservatives,” no simple “leftists” or “rightists.”

As The Political Compass indicates, these labels are only somewhat accurate in describing a person’s position on a single subject such as economics, or social freedoms. The labels are useless for the purpose of accurately describing a person’s overall philosophy or “worldview.”

For a more accurate description of someone’s philosophy, a label encompassing three or more dimensions worthy of Star Trek would be ideal, but a two-dimensional graph covering both economic and social views can serve as a helpful starting point.

The Political Compass offers a brief test to determine where participants are situated on a graph combining collectivism vs. neo-liberalism (free-market libertarian), and fascism (authoritarianism) vs. anarchy (social libertarianism).

An analysis of the graph reveals that one could easily be both communist and fascist in one corner of the political world, and in another corner it is possible to be progressive or “leftist” while still favoring small government. Some people aspire to authoritarian free markets (a current U.S. president comes to mind), while others work for the Cato Institute.

Take the test for yourself and find out where you stand. Feel free to share the news here. Here’s how I scored.

Please let us know if you know of other online tests that intelligently assess or graph a person’s worldview.

From A Tenable Belief:

I wish that anyone struggling with sexual orientation and religious issues could get a clear message from ex-gay ministries and gay-affirming folks alike: We want you to survive, first and foremost, take care of yourself, and be healthy. With that, you’ll have the chance (time, energy, intellect) to work through whatever else you need to do.

I know what it’s like to live in dark places. Not related to orientation or religion in many years, but the kind of difficult places that make it hard to believe that some sort of light or peace is going to break through the cloud tomorrow, or next week.

“Better dead than gay,” and less severe variations on that message, contributed to the death of ATB author Steve’s deeply religious partner Dale several years ago. And it is a message allegedly uttered and later denied by Exodus board member John Smid.

The message exemplifies, for me, one of the dangers of projecting one’s own personal quirks, animosities and fears onto spiritual faith, and then — deliberately or incidentally — cherry-picking the Bible verses that conform to one’s pre-existing mindset.

The unconditional desire for people who are “different” to excel requires a good dose of good will and charity. Good will and true charity, in turn, require ministers and counselors to grow outside of their own personal boundaries — their own egos, insecurities, and assumptions.

Willful Grace asked last week:

Here’s a question. Please comment. Let me know what you think about this. What if…..we are born not really sexually attracted to any certain gender in particular. What if…..we are born with certain personality traits and temperament… and… according to the way we are raised (or, “yanked up” as I’ve humorously heard it put), we develop our sexuality. There’s such a myriad of sexual preferences out there. Really. That would explain genetics and biology playing a factor and dispell the issue of there actually being a “choice”, wouldn’t it? Maybe not. I’m just, again, thinking out loud (in type) here.

The question made A Tenable Belief a bit uncomfortable, and so ATB began to respond to Grace’s question with another question:

What if… we are born not really inclined to any religious beliefs. What if… we are born with certain personality traits and temperament… and… according to the way we are raised … we develop our beliefs?

Read more at A Tenable Belief.

It appears the Paula Zahn show will air a segment on Richard Cohen this week, possibly Monday night unless it gets bumped by something constituting real news. Other people interviewed for the story include Jash Drescher, Robert Spitzer, Shawn O’Donnell, and a client who’s been seeing Cohen for three years.

Update: It looks like the segment won’t be airing tonight but probably later in the week.

Exodus board member Phil Burress wants drugstore condoms locked away to discourage their purchase.

Focus on the Family disapproves of condoms as a fallback when abstinence fails.

Exgay activist Stephen Bennett opposes both condoms and potential prophylactic drugs to prevent HIV infection.

Antigay activist Peter LaBarbera and the antigay Constitution Party of Illinois dictate that clinics that make condoms available should be forcibly closed — and their workers jailed.

The American Family Association’s AgapePress and the AFA’s Michigan affiliate oppose fund-raising for medical treatments and potential cures for HIV/AIDS.

All these folks have something in common with a New York sex party that, according to The Washington Blade, is scheduled for this weekend:

They oppose making sex safer and they oppose disease prevention.

While no one on the political religious right seems willing to promote responsible behavior, thankfully there are gay activists such as Tokes Osubu, Keith Boykin and Phill Wilson who have been outspoken in condemning the sex party’s no-condom policy.

Peterson Toscano wrote some amusing ex-gay themed captions for this animation taken from Battle Cry‘s website. Peterson describes Battle Cry as “a conservative Christian youth organization with fascist leanings created by a straight white man from the Bush administration.” The first caption in the sequence reads:

Luke: Damn, I can’t believe Travis and I got caught in the locker room last night. We were only kissing, but they warned me, “One moment on the lips then you’re all over his hips, and then some.”

See the rest of the fun over at Peterson’s site.

Last night on NPR’s Talk of The Nation the guest was gay Christian activist and author E. Lynn Harris. The full program is available on online.

Talk of the Nation, May 18, 2006 · Author E. Lynn Harris began writing about the “invisible life” of black male bisexuals years before the “down low” phenomena went high profile. Now he sets his sights on a new target: homophobia in the black church. He talks about faith, sex and sexual identity.

Just prior to the last Day of Silence, two teachers at Port Washington High School (Wisconsin) distributed a questionnaire meant to give students an inkling of what a gay person might go through in life. The questionnaire, developed by the late Martin Rochlin was distributed to some 400 students (out of 930) and was used in a class discussion period.  The 10 questions were some common things a gay person might be asked, but with the roles reversed, such as “What do you think caused your heterosexuality” and “Could it be that your heterosexuality is just a phase”.  They weren’t meant to be literally answered as in a survey, but to spur discussion within the assembled classes.

Predictably, some of the parents were not amused and are pushing for disciplinary action against the two teachers involved.  The principal of the school claimed he had no knowledge of the questionnaire and therefore had not given his approval (though the assistant principal was reportedly aware of the content).  One teacher has been put on paid administrative leave while the other is still teaching classes.

When I first heard about this on the news this morning, it was presented much differently (print example).  The most often quoted question was “If you have never slept with someone of you own gender, then how do you know you wouldn’t prefer it?”  Nothing was said about the pretense of the exercise and so of course one was left thinking this was some twisted version of “don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it”.  While if anything I am conservative about presenting sexual content to young children via curricula, when put in context this seemed to me a reasonable, clever way to open up the discussion to high school age youth.  The Day of Silence and Day of Truth are already bringing the subject to the forefront, why not use the opportunity wisely?

No matter what one’s opinion of the wisdom of all this may be, the distorted way it is being represented is not a good lesson to be teaching.