Ex-Gay Watch

Vision America, an organization formed by Baptist minister Rick Scarborough, has issued a press release concerning their involvement with the newly announced “Freedom Federation.”  In it we find a little more about this organization which is “not an organization.”

Scarborough commented: “These organizations represent some of the nation’s largest constituencies of youth, Hispanics, African-Americans, women, pastors and churches, who are uniting to defend a tradition increasingly under attack.”

The Freedom Federation is committed to defending and extending core values expressed in the Declaration of American Values, the organization’s founding document. These include the right to life, the institution of marriage, parental rights, religious liberty, an environment free of pornography and indecency, the right to property, freedom from excessive taxation, and national sovereignty. The statement is posted on the Vision America website at www.visionamerica.us.

The Declaration of American Values was apparently written by Liberty Counsel‘s Mat Staver ( playing the part of Thomas Jefferson).  Staver also wrote the Florida amendment denying marriage (or anything like it) to same-sex couples (which passed).  This new declaration contains a list of ultra-conservative activist top hits, including:

To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

Reading through it was a bit eerie for reasons I can’t yet describe fully.  Partly, at least, must be the melodrama of using the Declaration of Independence as a template for something like this.  It has more than just a bit of Constitution Party to it.

Scarborough apparently made his bones in the early 90s by “exposing” a local AIDS awareness curriculum that dared to claim that sex was “safe with condoms.”  While this was not an uncommon statement to make in 1992, it seems the frank discussion of sex in general, transcribed for his congregation, was enough to create a new conservative activist out of Scarborough.

In 1992, Dr. Scarborough gained national recognition when he exposed the contents of a disturbing assembly program at the local high school. Under the auspices of an “AIDS Presentation,” a young lady, sponsored by the AIDS Foundation of Houston, candidly discussed every sex act imaginable expressing the opinion (presented as fact) that “safe sex” was attainable by using condoms. Dr. Scarborough recorded the assembly and then made transcripts available to his congregation the following Sunday morning. The resulting furor that erupted caught the eye of the national media.

Scarborough has also written a few books including In Defense of Mixing Church and State, and Liberalism Kills Kids.  As we said, definitely something to watch.

According to Reuters, a press conference in Washington D.C. today at 1:30 pm EDT will announce the formation of the Freedom Federation.

The Freedom Federation is a new and unique federation of some of the largest multi-ethnic and transgenerational faith-based organizations in the country committed to plan, strategize, and work together on common interests within the Judeo-Christian tradition to mobilize their grassroots constituencies and to communicate faith and values to the Religious, social, cultural, and policymaking institutions.

The organizations list some of the usual suspects in such an effort, including some of the most shrill in the anti-gay realm, along with a few with which we are not familiar.

American Association of Christian Counselors
American Family Association
Americans for Prosperity
Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND)
Campaign for Working Families
Catholic Online
Concerned Women for America
Conservative Action Project
Eagle Forum
Exodus International
Faith and Action
Family Research Council
High Impact Leadership
Liberty Alliance Action
Liberty Counsel
Liberty University
Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN)
Marc Nuttle
Morning Star Ministries
National Clergy Council
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Renewing American Leadership
Strang Communications
Teen Mania
The Call to Action
Traditional Values Coalition
Vision America

The inclusion of Exodus in this list caused us concern as another breach of president Alan Chambers pledge to veer away from policy matters.  Even with these few details, it is obvious that this group is going to be heavy on policy.

So we asked Chambers for an explanation and he gave us the following statement for the record.

I am attending a meeting today for the formation of a new conservative coalition made up of a wide variety of groups on a wide variety of topics. Because there will be focus on gay and lesbian issues I was invited to join the coalition and to speak. My stated purpose for being there is not to rejoin the policy debates or to engage Exodus in them. We have made great efforts over the last two years to be a ministry focused on spiritual renewal and not political renewal. We know that nations change when the hearts of people change. Today when I address this group, some of whom are friends that I deeply respect, I will do so, ironically, on behalf of the gay community. My overwhelming message will be that God is deeply in love with the most adversarial of gay activists and that as these groups do battle over policy they must never forget that fact.

I was asked to speak at the follow up press event, which is the notice you received, and decided instead to serve only as a testimony to my conservative colleagues in a meeting prior, which I believe will serve as a reminder that it is God’s kindness that leads to repentance. I imagine there will those who shout amen when I speak today and those who will write me off because I am no longer activist material. Either way, I hope at the end of the day what I share encourages my fellow Christians to treat others as they would like to be treated and when they find someone who is struggling with unwanted homosexuality that they will think of Exodus.

It is not entirely clear from this whether Exodus has joined or will join this group officially, but this reader doubts that — even with good intentions — anyone could substantially alter the mindset of this brood of vipers.

We should have more details after the press conference, but this may be one to watch.

A couple of generations have passed since Stonewall, and more and more people are acting upon Harvey Milk’s declaration that the closet is the biggest enemy to the queer community. This not only includes those who are gay and lesbian, but those who are children of gay and lesbian couples.

A recent article interviews several of these children, now adults, and how their family structure affected their childhood and well-being.

Opponents claim that raising a child in a home lacking in a parent of either gender will cause the child to become psychologically damaged, experiment more with their sexuality, and grow up “missing” the parent of the gender not present in their lives. They even go so far as claiming that gays and lesbians who adopt children are engaging in a selfish act; treating their child as a “trophy.” The members of the LGBTQ community have long spoken out against such claims, and indeed no mainstream medical organization in America can point to definitive proof that such negative consequences occur with same-sex parenting. But it isn’t just members of the gay community that are fed up with such questions: the children themselves are tired of it.

While many grew up hiding the families they dearly loved from bullies at school, they are now writing memoirs and speaking out about their experiences. It turns out that the children of gay parents are as varied as the children of straight parents. Jesse Levey, a heterosexual republican who believes in “family values,” is fighting for his lesbian moms’ right to marry. Growing up he did not feel sexually confused; nor did he miss having a dad in his life. He was never lacking in male role models, and his mothers were able to provide all the typically “male” activities their son loved, such as hiking or having a catch.

As acceptance grows for gay couples and more and more people personally know someone who is gay, so too is acceptance growing for the children of those couples. Waning are the stereotypes of the damaged, confused child of gays.

Some children of same-sex couples say their upbringing actually makes them psychologically stronger.

Abigail Garner, author of “Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It is,” calls her upbringing a “fabulous gift.” She is the daughter of two gay dads and a straight mom.

She says her interviews with other children of gay or lesbian parents showed that those who shared her upbringing tend to be more empathetic and unafraid to take unpopular stands.

In fact, the ones making children sexually confused are those seeking to spread misinformation and stereotypes about gays:

Some of the same children, though, face more difficulties dealing with questions about their sexual orientation. Garner, 37, who identifies as heterosexual, says some repress their sexuality because they don’t want to give ammunition to their parents’ critics.

“I know story after story of children who started to question their sexuality but stayed quiet about it out of fear that the truth would reflect poorly on their parents,” Garner says.

So those seeking to “protect the children” are in fact harming them with their rhetoric. Such children bare the brunt of sexual confusion because they are trying to protect the parents they deeply care for.

The only negative voice in the article is that of Dale O’Leary, a Catholic who believes children can only be raised healthfully in a one-man-one-woman marriage. Not surprisingly, she admits that she does not personally know any same-sex couples or their children. O’Leary spouts off the same tired stereotypes about the children of gay couples, but tides are turning for the side of the LGBTQ community.

…according to COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere). At least 10 million people have one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parent.

And more and more people are getting to know those couples and children.

Source: Dallas Voice

On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, it appears local and state police have recreated history in Fort Worth, Texas. It happened at the newly-opened Rainbow Lounge, described as “the only cool gay bar in town,” by Q Cinema founder and former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Todd Camp.

From someone present at the time of the raid:

The not awesome thing was the paddy wagon of homophobic police that showed up … looking for trouble. My group and I were sitting on the back patio at a picnic table. Nobody was being wild out there. [The police] came through with flashlights, being loud asking what was going on out here, then asked why everyone was all the sudden being quiet. When one group started up their conversations again, they took one guy away. I left shortly after and as I walked through the front bar there were numerous cops with plastic handcuffs all ready to go. I [left] the bar and they [had] a big van in the parking lot and numerous cars on the street. And just so you know, it wasn’t fire hazard crowded or seedy wild in there. … The worst part is [friends later told me] that [the police] had numerous people face down on the ground outside. I just moved to Fort Worth from Dallas, so this is such a shock to me. I know Dallas would not put up with this.  … I am still so shocked it is 2009 and this just happened.

Information is sketchy at best right now, but commenters on the Dallas Voice blog have said that police are saying now they had received a call alleging a sexual assault at the bar’s address.  Arrests were made for “public drunkenness” which is a bit confusing (inside a bar?).

I frequented some gay bars in my early days of coming to grips with my sexuality (around 1990) and remember police occasionally dropping by en masse with flashlights and an ominous attitude.  I don’t recall them ever finding a problem or arresting anyone, but it contributed heavily to my own feeling that I was somehow “bad.”

We hope this incident receives the scrutiny, public and legal, that it deserves.

Update: 6/29

Chad Gibson, one of the patrons of the Rainbow Lounge at the time of the raid, reportedly had his head slammed into the concrete while being arrested.  While initial CAT scans looked good, follow-ups show increase bleeding in his brain.  He is in the hospital and is said to have no memory of the events at the bar, and only spotty memories of earlier in the day.

Some new bits of information indicate the local police, along with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, conducted a bar check.  We again caution that this information is spotty and some details may not in fact be accurate, though obviously something along these lines has happened.  It could be that some mistook the TABC agents for state police.

KDAF-TV Dallas / Fort Worth  is reporting all this as a “simple code inspection.”

More coverage:

KTVT Dallas / Fort Worth

Obscanity.com

Google

-Gay couples can now use their married names on their passports.

-A Catholic priest speaks out against the Vatican’s anti-gay teachings.

-Anti-gay marriage petitioners in Maine may be collecting signatures under false pretenses.

-Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively cites and defends anti-gay ‘researcher’ Paul Cameron.

-Delaware adds sexual orientation to its list of protected classes.

-Ireland establishes civil partnership rights.

The pastor of a Connecticut Pentecostal church in the news for performing an exorcism on a gay teen told CNN that her church is not against homosexuality.

“We do not hate [homosexuals]. We do not come up against them. We just do not believe in their lifestyle,” said Pastor Patricia McKinney of Manifested Glory Church, Bridgeport. Asked whether a gay person could be a member of the church, she said they could not live the lifestyle, but “when you come in, you can get delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

She later added that homosexuals are “all welcome in our church, but when they come in, they have to get delivered.” Pastor McKinney said that the 16-year-old boy seen in a video convulsing as he underwent a demonic deliverance was “a very religious young man” who was “very spiritual and very powerful,” and consented to prayer because he “did not want to live this way.”

Expounding on the beliefs behind the deliverance, McKinney said, “Everyone carries a spirit. You have the alcohol spirit. You have the crack cocaine spirit. You have the adulterous spirit.”

Watch the original video – in which McKinney and others are heard shouting commands such as “Loose your grip, Lucifer, you sex demon!” at the gay teen -  and decide for yourself whether the 25-strong church is “against homosexuality.”

Actress and 70s sensation Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer today. She was 62.

R.I.P. Farrah

According to TMZ, Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack at his home and could not be revived by paramedics on scene. He was 50 years old.  Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

R.I.P. Michael.

Dr Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has defended a church that performed a gruelling exorcism on a 16-year-old boy.

Manifested Glory Church in Bridgeport, CT, has been widely condemned after a video was released showing the boy writhing around on the floor as a preacher attempted to rid him of the demon supposedly behind his homosexuality. As others held the teenager in place, occasionally propping him up, the preacher shouted, “You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now. You have no power. … Loose your grip, Lucifer, you sex demon,” among other commands to the Devil.

Now Dr Cass has decried critics, accusing them of intolerance:

Where is the tolerance for a church who tried to help a young man who freely asked for help to overcome homosexual temptations? … No church deserves to be maligned for trying to help a troubled teen who asked for prayer.

He insinuates (helped by Christian Newswire’s headline, which unnecessarily identifies Manifested Glory as a black church) that racism is behind the criticisms:

White homosexual activists who demand tolerance for their sexual sin have no right to defame black Christians for practicing their Constitutional religious liberty. … As far as we know, this young man went to church on his own prerogative and left the church physically unharmed.

This kind of demonic deliverance is in fact found in Pentecostal and charismatic churches regardless of ethnicity, which leaves Dr Cass’s accusation baseless.

The real concern here is that a 16-year-old – white, black or anywhere in-between – was subjected to such an intense ordeal. And if he did consent to being treated in this way, to what kind of abusive teaching must he have been exposed to get to the point where he was convinced his sexual orientation was the result of possession by Satan?

Watch the video below:

Like many, I accepted the invitation to participate in a blogging experiment started by Wendy Gritter and New Direction, a ministry in Canada and a former member of the Exodus network.  The idea, as I understand it, is to elevate the conversation concerning bridge-building between those who are accepting of GLBT people and those who are not, the latter particularly for religious reasons.

I fought to think of what I would say that could help.  After just having finished some exhaustive work on yet another one of the reasons that XGW exists (Matthew C. Manning), I’m not in a very good mood.

Then I noticed that Exodus VP Randy Thomas had also participated in this experiment.  Randy is another reason this blog exists, so I read his post with some trepidation.  The vast majority of it is a copy/paste from material he contributed to Exodus president Alan Chamber’s last book, God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door.

Reading this, a flood of hurt and yes, anger, came back from the first time I read those words.  I realized that there was no way I could write and follow Wendy’s rules of staying upbeat, positive, etc.

Since I did agree to write, I feel I owe some explanation, and I have decided to put that here for whatever it may add to the discussion, positive or negative — it is at least sincere.  I apologize to Wendy for not being able to offer something more constructive and understand if she does not wish to link to this.

The entire post by Randy was painful for me to read, but near the beginning is an example which might serve as a microcosm of most everything he says publicly concerning GLBTs.  He starts by offering up the idea that the classic phrase “hate the sin but love the sinner” is not helpful.  In explaining why, however, he turns what one might think is a welcome  moment of understanding into a hammer of condescension.

The biggest example of this is the “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Among our Christian brethren, we all know what this means because we know that God does not view people by their actions but for who they are as a soul. We do not see homosexuality as the inherent identity of someone struggling with homosexuality and so it is easy for us to “hate the sin but love the sinner.” But let’s take this to a personal level what if your gay identified neighbor said “hate the Christ but love the Christian?

Now that I have your attention, remember, you are dealing with another sub culture who identifies as “gay.” … To say that you hate homosexuality but love homosexuals does not make sense to those whose primary identity lies within their sexuality. At the very least you sound out of touch and speaking a completely different language.

This does what I believe is the primary, fundamental, absolutely most arrogant thing one can do if one cares about GLBTs, especially for those of faith.  He makes the assumption that, if one is gay (he never says gay, he injects his own belief that one only “identifies” as gay), one is not a Christian.  This is clearly not the case. Read more…