In what appears to be a parody reference to one of the videos recently added to the website of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), someone using the nickname “planetnarth” has posted the video linked above to Youtube. We received an email, presumably from the same person, notifying us of it and so we are sharing it with you.
The parody, which appears to share some audio from this video, effectively illustrates the vague and unscientific nature of Nicolosi’s theories. As we have noted before, many such theories are based on little more than opinion and anecdotal claims while contradictory information is ignored – the antithesis of the scientific method.
Hat Tip: planetnarth
BGay News reports that Victor Jorquera, founder of GayChile.com, has renounced his “shameful” orientation and aligned himself with the fundamentalist Biblical Missionary Church of Paraguay.
Reminiscent of Charlene Cothran’s decision to turn Venus Magazine into an ex-gay propaganda piece, GayChile.com now features an evangelistic message stating that “God loves you and wants to forgive you although [you] have committed the more “horrible” of the aberrations” (text translated to English via FreeTranslation.com).
VivirLatino wonders “if Jorquera is still making money off the traffic of his “shameful” readers who don’t know he’s turned the site into a trap where he hopes to “convert” people from their “lifestyle”.”
As of yet Jorquera has provided no confirmation of his new direction outside of GayChile.com. More details to follow as this story unfolds.
Beyond Ex-Gay and the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center will be hosting an art exhibition in February, and are calling for ex-gay survivors, and their friends and families to submit their artwork.
All types of visual art are welcome, including “drawings, painting, collage, mixed media, photography, or multimedia.”
The deadline is Wednesday February 13, and the exhibition will be held in Memphis from February 22 to 24. For more information, including how to submit your artwork, see Peterson Toscano’s blog, here.
The worldwide leader and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints passed away earlier this week at the age of 97. Gordon B Hinckley had been the 15th President of the Church, popularly known as the Mormons, since 1995.
In 1999, Hinckley said the following at the General Conference of the Church:
Our opposition to attempts to legalize same-sex marriage should never be interpreted as justification for hatred, intolerance or abuse of those who profess homosexual tendencies, either individually or as a group. We love and honor them as sons and daughters of God. They are welcome in the church. It is expected, however, that they follow the same God-given rules of conduct that apply to everyone else, whether single or married.
While clearly falling short of affirming homosexuality, it was welcomed by gay- and lesbian-oriented Saints as a long-overdue acknowledgement of their existence.
Interestingly, while the Church’s official position appears to favor celibacy for gays and lesbians, remaining non-committal on the effectiveness of reparative therapy, unofficial LDS ex-gay ministry Evergreen International seems more at home with the hardline positions of NARTH and Paul Cameron.
We would like to introduce Yuki Choe, a commenter turned writer at XGW. Some may know her already from her thoughtful comments, but for those who don’t she has written an introduction which follows. Please join us in welcoming her to the site!
Introduction
Greetings everyone! I am YukiChoe, and I am an Asian transsexual female with strong interests in ex-gay related issues. I will be living in Australia soon with my newly wedded husband. I became involved with Real Love Ministry in Malaysia back in mid 2006, and was quickly disillusioned with their camouflaged, anti-gay, anti-transgender rhetoric. I was also appalled with the way lesbians, gays and transgenders were represented by other ex-gays and felt their misinformation of LGTs needed a strong counter voice. That is when I started advocating against ex-gay efforts toward those who have no problem with their orientation.
So why is a transsexual female like me contributing to a site like XGW? I believe there is an ex-gay or ex-transsexual experience in everyone of us. Be it a gay, having to be closeted by pretending to be completely heterosexual in public due to the pressures of society, a lesbian that may be comfortable in pants being forced to wear clothes that are totally femme against her will by her family, or a transsexual female being coerced into confining herself by pretending to be a boy before the church authorities. Our differences have been exploited by people who wish to cause discrimination and marginalization among those of differing sexual orientations.
We are all stereotyped into convenient boxes that are labeled, and then forcibly applied according to who holds the majority keys, be it the elders of the church or the laymen. I don’t believe we can change the world completely, but we can still make it a better place. This is why it gives me great pleasure to be able to contribute to this site. On a personal front, you can get to know me as I am at www.yuki-thejourney.blogspot.com. I’m glad to be of service to the lesbian, gay and transgender community. I thank Ex-Gay Watch for the opportunity to do so.
- Yuki Choe -
Tough-talking Pentecostal Dr Michael Brown is the latest Christian leader to be added to Love Won Out’s roster of conference speakers. In this article, we profile Dr Brown, and ask whether the ex-gay movement’s newest friend might only drag it deeper into “culture wars”.
Who is Brown?
Brown is an Old Testament scholar, a revivalist, a Pentecostal apologist, an evangelist to Jews and an unabashed moral crusader.
He is President of the FIRE School of Ministry, a non-denominational Charismatic Christian training college that grew out of the controversial “Brownsville Revival” (also known as the “Pensacola Outpouring”) of the 1990s. After a split between Brown and John Kilpatrick, then Pastor of the Brownsville Assembly of God, FIRE eventually relocated to Concord, North Carolina.
Since then, Brown has founded the Coalition of Conscience, a Charlotte-based network of conservative Christians working together for “moral and cultural change through the gospel,” and who want to “make an impact for righteousness” in the city. Chief among their activities has been opposing the Charlotte Gay Pride Parade.
Brown is a noted apologist for charismatic revival, particularly that which came out of Toronto in the early 1990s – a revival that divided evangelicals and became known for the exotic behaviour of its participants, including hysterical laughter, fainting (being “slain in the Spirit”), “spiritual drunkenness,” shaking and animal noises. He is also a Messianic Jew, and has an apologetic and evangelistic ministry dedicated to persuading Jews of “the Messianic credentials of Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth.” Read more…
Gays are too wealthy and successful to be discriminated against, according to Randy Thomas’ January 14th blog post.
I think everyone deserves the same basic set of civil rights across the board. However, many gay activists proclaim that they deserve special civil rights protections for just about any legislative battle that they pitch. The Civil Rights act of 1964 lays out three criteria for protected class status: [emphasis mine]
1. Immutable Characteristics
2. Proven widespread pattern of discrimination
3. Economic Disenfranchisement
Homosexuality is far from proven immutable. There isn’t a proven widespread pattern of discrimination for those who identify as gay either. But the point of this post and [the statistics presented in the post] are proof that not only do those who identify as gay compete for good salaries very well… they get them. The gay identified community is the most prosperous, median salary wise, community in the country.
Believe what you will about what the gay identified community deserves or needs but the truth is that using “civil rights” language is disingenuous in that they do not meet the criteria set forth in The Civil Rights Act. It is not I saying this but the act itself. [emphasis mine]
Another XGW writer and I read through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and could find no such explicit criteria spelled out. However, we wanted to be absolutely certain so we decided to consult a professional concerning Randy’s conclusions on the fine points of Constitutional law. We asked Robert Crook, an attorney based in California (and Senior Associate at his law firm), to provide his opinion as to the legal conclusions set forth in the post. Here is what we were told: Read more…
Exodus International has begun advertising for its 2008 conference. Its new video, posted above, is slickly produced, but as one might expect from a two-minute ad it contains little of substance.
Like most of Exodus’ advertising, the video makes use of buzzwords like “change” and “freedom” without making any effort to define them. Alan Chambers does explain in one clip that change doesn’t come without struggle, but viewers unfamiliar with Exodus’ word games would be excused for concluding that they (or their gay friend or family member) need merely to persevere through a little hardship to achieve heterosexuality.
In terms of substance the video does reveal the names of several speakers lined up for the 2008 “Freedom Conference”:
-Dale Evrist, pastor of New Song Christian Fellowship in Tennessee;
-Michelle McKinney Hammond, who speaks and writes on women’s issues;
-Pastor Jimmy Evans, who co-hosts a televised marriage ministry with his wife;
-and Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham.
With a roster of popular evangelical speakers and advertising that looks like it came straight from Madison Avenue, Exodus may succeed in increasing interest for its conference among its evangelical base. Whether those that seek Exodus’ help remain enthusiastic once the hype is over and reality sets in remains to be seen.
Hat tip: Good As You
Apparently still concerned about their media image, the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is resorting to threats concerning the use of their actual images. Consider the following introduction to video clips of their latest conference:
Video on this web site cannot be copied, reproduced, downloaded or used in any way other than for viewing on the NARTH web site. Any violation thereof will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The warning also appears at the beginning of each video. Apparently the concept of fair use does not agree with NARTH’s need for control. One can sympathize to some extent, considering the rather sad impression an unvarnished look at their main personality, Joseph Nicolosi, can make.
Among the videos (we assume NARTH hasn’t yet figured out a way to keep others from discussing them) there is Dr. Stanton Jones, co-author of the ex-gay study for Exodus, accepting some sort of award. He talks so fast that one can only wonder if even he wanted to escape the conference as quickly as possible. We also assume the rather anemic applause reflected the less than 50 people in attendance, and not any disdain for Dr. Jones.
It’s hard not to find some humor in a character like Nicolosi, but this truly is a silly thing to do. Like the process by which reparative therapists form their claims, hording information and discussion like this is really the antithesis of what scientific thought is all about. If they truly believe their claims will hold up under scrutiny, well then let others scrutinize freely.
What might they do next, ban the use of written transcripts? Insist that viewers purge their web cache upon leaving their site? How much control are they willing to exercise to prop up a flawed concept, not to mention Nicolosi’s considerable ego?
The Bay Area Reporter reviews Abomination, Alicia Salzer’s recent documentary examining the claims of the ex-gay movement.
Dr Salzer, a New York psychiatrist, was the subject of controversy last year over remarks she made on The Montel Williams Show.
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