Ex-Gay Watch

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Peter Jensen, is a central figure in the opposition to same-sex marriages and homosexuals serving in the church. As such, he is also firmly against the appointment of openly gay Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire. Earlier this year he attempted to rally support against homosexuality in a rift that threatens to split the church.

Curiously, Dr. Jensen is also consistent in rejecting the appointment of female bishops.

Archbishop Jensen has also argued strongly against the possibility of women bishops for the Anglican Church of Australia.

Holder of the Licentiate in Theology and Bachelor of Divinity, Dr. Jensen failed to answer direct questions regarding several passages of scripture that (most would agree) no longer apply in today’s culture and compare those to similar passages about homosexuality.  The interview, conducted by CNNNN, demonstrates at what point Dr. Jensen becomes rather less consistent.

He should, however, be credited for not quite entering the Nicolosi “Grey Zone” with his response.

• Peter LaBarbera declares a Boycott of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency and Palmer House Hilton hotels after attending International Mr. Leather there.
• Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the AFA opposes hate crimes legislation because they claim it will negate your right to call homosexuality a sin. However, bill H.R. 1592 only covers “cases where a victim was physically attacked or the subject of an attempted attack.” “Sharing your faith” by calling homosexuality a sin would still be perfectly legal.
• Joe Brummer calculates that Focus on the Family could put the $30 million they use on anti-gay forces to good use in more charitable areas, such as preventing malaria in Africa or sponsoring children in need.
• Tivo and Focus on the Family collaborated in a contest inviting participants to write an essay on why their dad is a “superdad.” In response, BTB has sent out the same request to readers – especially inviting those who have dads who are gay, or are supportive of their gay children. They will award the author of the best essay a free BTB T-Shirt.
• BTB’s Timothy Kincaid critiques the Liberty Council’s apparent lack of legal knowledge.

UPDATE: “Good As You” tried to submit an entry to FOTF’s contest praising a dad who accepts and loves his gay son. Focus has refused to print it.

In recent years the ex-gay movement has toned down its message of “change.”  With occasional exceptions, gone are the days when one could hear Exodus spokespeople make direct and unambiguous claims that gay people who went through an ex-gay program could become straight.

It’s unsurprising, then, that Love Won Out has taken steps to tone down some of its own proclamations.  In April, CitizenLink made an effort to clarify LWO’s position:

Love Won Out says it does not attempt to “fix” gays and lesbians, a charge heard often from its critics in the APA.

“Such glib characterizations ignore the complex series of factors that can lead to same-sex attractions,” according to the Web site. “They also mischaracterize our mission. We exist to help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome. It is not easy, but it is possible, as evidenced by the thousands of men and women who have walked this difficult road successfully.”

As little as that statement actually says, it nonetheless would have been news to anyone who attended a LWO conference before Joseph Nicolosi disappeared from the roster.  LWO may never have specifically used the world “fix,” but their website did at one time openly state that homosexuality was “preventable and treatable” – a message that hardly needs clarification.

Even given the current version of LWO’s official statement, it seems unlikely that the average layperson who reads it will see much if any distinction between “same-sex attractions can be overcome” and “if you’re gay, you can become straight.”  And recent public statements by LWO spokespersons only reinforce such impressions.

Speaking in advance of its Orlando conference (which just happened to have been scheduled for the same week as Gay Days at Disney World), Love Won Out spokesman Jeff Johnson stated, “attendees will hear stories about people who had chosen a gay identity or struggled with same-sex attractions, but came out of it.”

Had Johnson merely spoken about those “who had chosen a gay identity,” it could be reasonably argued that the “former homosexuals” he was talking about had simply changed their behavior and how they viewed themselves.  By adding in those who “struggled with same-sex attractions” and “came out of it,” however, the message explicitly becomes one of a change in orientation.

Further reinforcing that point, the Orlando Sentinel adds this quote:

“Same-sex attraction is the result of a number of influential factors, but, no, we don’t believe people are born gay,” said Melissa Fryrear, director of gender issues for Focus on the Family. “We believe homosexuals can be converted and same-sex attractions can change.”

If Love Won Out was merely employing the Christianese doublespeak we’ve come to expect from Exodus, it could perhaps be excused for wanting to correct the general public’s alleged misunderstanding of what it advocates.  Under the circumstances, however, any effort LWO wants to make to correct “glib characterizations” of its message would need to start with its own spokespersons.

The Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop has married his long-term partner.

Vicki Gene Robinson, whose ordination as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 hailed a still-continuing worldwide division in the Anglican Church, entered into a civil union with Mark Andrew on Saturday. “I always wanted to be a June bride,” the Bishop once remarked.

Congratulations and best wishes from XGW to Gene and Mark.

Ex-gay counselor David Pickup, whose “Increasing Manhood” video was met with speculation as to whether or not it was a joke, was recently profiled in an XGW article that showed his obsession with hyper-masculinity. His ex-gay program, “The WorkOUT,” seems to play on both this obsession and the stereotype that gay men are themselves obsessed with going to the gym.

We pointed out Pickup’s association with Jayson Graves, a Christian ex-gay counselor on the Exodus Board. Pickup is a member of Graves’s Healing for the Soul “Therapeutic Team.” His “WorkOUT” website contains links to Christian groups Exodus International, Love Won Out, and Focus on the Family in its “references” section – yet the site also contains a section that criticizes the Christian ex-gay movement.

Most, if not all, ex-gay groups warn the public about “what the gay community isn’t telling you.” Pickup works double duty, also warning you about what the Christian community isn’t telling you. In what is hailed as a “must-read article” on his website, Pickup declares that “spiritual healing does not necessarily heal homosexuality:”

To help a man find a relationship with God is certainly the eternal priority. However, to tell him he will heal himself from homosexual temptation and tendencies only through faith, prayer and service, (as some ex-gay programs espouse), then is it any wonder the homosexual struggler will continue to struggle year after year while the underlying issues are not resolved? Is it any wonder that these men experience a constant cycle of the build-up of homosexual feelings until they act out, then continue to feel horrible when asking for forgiveness, only to let the feelings build up again?

Pickup touts connections to the Christian community all the while claiming that they’re not being completely honest with you. At the same time he ironically touches on a very important point: that the shame induced by ex-gay ministries will ultimately manifest itself in the form of unhealthy sexual activity – resulting in even more shame. This he dubs “Toxic Shame.” He derides the year-in-year-out struggles experienced by Christian ex-gays who don’t resolve their “underlying “issues” – yet Exodus President Alan Chambers, who has admitted he faces this struggle, declares that it is a normal part of living the life of an ex-gay:

…And so every single morning — this is a ritual for me — I wake up and I say, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without You. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me. I choose to submit my will to the Lordship of your Son, Jesus Christ. And I choose better. I choose to follow You, I choose to allow Your Holy Spirit to walk before me, to guide me, to speak for me.”

I have a simple solution to prevent Toxic Shame and yearly struggles that requires no therapy and is free of charge: Teach gays – indeed, ALL people – from the beginning not to be ashamed of their sexual attractions, so they can then express their sexuality in healthy “normal” ways, such as courting another person of the same sex and going on dates.

Declaring that Christian ex-gay groups manufacture shame may create a conflict of interest for Pickup. It must be noted that Christian groups like Exodus and Love Won Out agree that you can’t just “pray away the gay.” LWO even labels this a “glib characterization” owned by the gay rights movement. According to them, “change” is a complex process and the causation of homosexuality is equally complex. But Pickup is nonetheless implying that attending a Christian ex-gay ministry is not enough. His therapy is the real therapy – and he’s the only person you can turn to for the whole story.

People who visit Pickup’s website won’t receive a true “cure” for homosexuality, but they will take in a healthy dose of contradictions. They are told to avoid so-called Toxic Shame by avoiding Christian ex-gay ministries – yet The WorkOUT reinforces its own kind of shame that is no less toxic among vulnerable gays: a man who is gay can never truly be a “real” man. Pickup points out the cycle of repression and the years of struggle that ultimately befall Christian ex-gays, yet fails to point out that ex-gays of ALL stripes will continue to struggle with same-sex attractions no matter what program they go through. In addition, he links to the ManKind Project, which actually opposes ex-gay therapy and encourages men to embrace their sexual orientation rather than repress it.

Looks like The WorkOUT needs to work out a clearer message.

[Updated 06/07/08] Northern Ireland politician Iris Robinson, a Democratic Unionist Member of UK Parliament, has provoked criticism by recommending ex-gay therapy, claiming that she has met people who have “turned around and become heterosexual.”

The Spokesman [sic] for Health, Youth and Women in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and wife of First Minister Peter Robinson, told the BBC she knew a Christian psychiatrist who had helped gays to “turn away from what they are engaged in,” adding that she would be “happy to put any homosexual in touch with this gentleman.”

Her comments came on Radio Ulster today, two days after a man was left for dead following a violent homophobic attack in the Northern Irish town of Newtownabbey. She condemned the attackers, but insisted that her faith teaches her to “love the sinner but hate the sin.”

Mrs Robinson’s opposition to homosexuality is not new. Last month she decried gay parenting during a parliamentary debate:

Can you envisage down the road a child going to primary school and being collected by two females or two males and the bullying and the abuse that these children will be exposed to?

Or going into the parents’ bedroom and finding two women making love or two men making love? And that’s natural for a child to see?

There has also been controversy over unconfirmed reports that Mrs Robinson, who attends an Elim Pentecostal church in Belfast, referred to homosexuality as an “abomination,” describing it as “disgusting, nauseous, loathsome, shamefully wicked and vile,” and saying it is “an offence to God, an offensive act and something that God abhors.”

Sinn Féin’s Education Minister Catríona Ruane responded by reminding the MP of her duty to respect equality:

There are equality laws in the north of Ireland … I think it is really important that politicians play a leadership role and that leadership role should be not to say anything that could possibly inflame the situation or cause further distress.

H/T: Queerty

(Extra H/T: Jimbo)

• The Bloomington, IL Pantagraph examines the spectrum of opinion within Christianity on the issue of homosexuality.
• At the blog “The Unseen Disciple,” Christian ex-gay ministries are examined to see not only if they could be called Christian, but if they could even be called “ministries.” Hat tip: TWO
• Anna Quindlen talks about gay marriage.
• The Christian Post continues to call it gay “marriage,” but admits that a recent study shows that the California ruling “could provide a $370 million boost to the economy over the next three years.”
• Peterson Toscano’s Homo No Mo stage show is now available on DVD.
• Exodus VP Randy Thomas watches Florida and California grapple with marriage equality “with a sad and contemplative heart” and declares that “we definitely need to be praying.”
• PFLAG to greet Love Won Out attendees in Orlando with coffee, donuts and information on how to love their gay and lesbian family members.

Ex-gay survivor Peterson Toscano will be taking his one-man show to the Lambeth Conference, the 10-yearly international gathering of Anglican bishops. The announcement has provoked a near-hysterical response from some “traditional” Anglicans.

At Times correspondent Ruth Gledhill’s blog, one reader predicts that the conference “will simply be a circus.” Another laments that “there will be clowns for entertainment.”

But over at Stand Firm in Faith, where Greg Griffith has “no doubt … just how gay Peterson Toscano really is,” the reaction borders on self-parody. Indeed, I thought initially that this comment was a spoof, although on further reading it appears not. The incisive commentator first speculates that Peterson is using a form of hypnosis:

I am not an expert but I do know a bit about some of techniques used in mind control. I call attention to the subject’s use of snapping his fingers as he moves from personality to personality.

Clearly, the subject could be using the snapping as a method of drawing the viewer’s attention to the fact that he is changing his presentation or it could be an auditory cue to a twisted mind to shift from one character to another.

Then he incredulously adds:

I do not think anyone would argue against the observation that something really awful has happened to this young man.

Read the rest for yourself. He helpfully offers an informal diagnosis of schizophrenia. On the plus side, Peterson twice in the thread is referred to as a “young man” (I told you it was incredulous!), so surely there is reason for hope.

Peterson’s own understated response is buried somewhere in here. Event details are here.

• Peter Lane, director of Exodus Asia-Pacific, states that criticism from former ex-gays “has hurt his organization,” but declares that it “doesn’t minimize the message” of Exodus.
• PFOX claims attacks against ex-gays are “rising,” even though most of the events they cite are old news, and some of those claims have since been disputed.
• On June 1st, Israel’s city of Tel Aviv opened the first LGBT center in the world to be financed and run by local government. There is a special focus on youth, says the Tel Aviv Mayor’s advisor Itai Pinkas, because of the high suicide rate of gay teens.
• Despite the host’s persistent inquiry on the topic, O’Reilly Factor guest Don Schweitzer can’t come up with a sound reason to oppose same-sex marriage. Bill O’Reilly doesn’t offer any, either.
• The American Family Association has adopted an interesting tactic to keep watchdog organization Right Wing Watch from reporting on them. But RWW is wilier than the AFA thinks.
• Peter Labarbera once again attends International Mr. Leather to document “homosexual perversion.” He then attempts to blame the gay community at large for acts committed by heterosexuals. (hat tip BTB)
• BTB reports that UCLA will study mixed-orientation identical twins (where one twin is gay and the other is straight) in order to learn more about how genes control sexual orientation. Anti-gay activists often stress the lacking of evidence of a single “gay gene,” using past identical twin studies to bolster their argument. the researchers participating in this coming study aim to learn more about how DNA causes the same genes to act in different ways, rather than trying to find what genes control which attributes – which may explain why identical twins can end up being different orientations.