Ex-Gay Watch

The parents of Bryce Faulkner have spoken to Fox News to deny allegations that their 23-year-old son is being coerced into attending an ex-gay program.

Friends of Bryce, a 23-year-old medical student who graduated this year, say he was happily gay and ready to move from Arkansas to Wisconsin to be with his boyfriend, Travis Swanson, 24. They believe he was browbeaten into therapy by his Baptist parents after they found out about his homosexuality.

But mother Debra Faulkner told Fox today that the stories were untrue. She confirmed that Bryce was undergoing “Christian counselling,” but said that he just wanted to “take some time and figure out what he wants to do with his life,” after he got “caught up with friends who were pulling him that way.”

A statement allegedly from Bryce was released through a representative of the family, saying:

Every decision that I’ve made has been based solely upon my beliefs and I have not been manipulated or coerced by anyone to do anything.

Swanson maintains that his boyfriend was manipulated under threat of being disowned by his family, both emotionally and financially. A campaign by Reverend Brett A Harris to help Bryce has been the subject of a website and two Facebook pages, both of which have now been removed, presumably due to legal threats.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, Inc (PFOX) is no longer affiliated with Exodus International, according to Exodus President Alan Chambers, via Warren Throckmorton’s blog.

Within the last couple of weeks, PFOX gave up affiliation with Exodus. While Chambers declined to give reasons for the PFOX move, he indicated that Exodus would not seek any future relationship. He noted that PFOX is a public policy organization and their activities do not fit in with the mission and direction of Exodus.

Chambers says that PFOX, a long time Exodus affiliate, decided not to renew their membership.  However, he also says that their “public policy” activities do not fit in with Exodus.  This raises the question, why would Exodus wait for PFOX to decide to leave if their purpose isn’t appropriate for an Exodus affiliate?

Of all the bizarre incidents and claims that are associated with PFOX, it seems rather strange as well that Chambers focuses on only this one (public policy) especially since this is an activity with which Exodus is quite familiar.  Still, Exodus has been desperately trying to change their image in this area, and mentioning it here could simply be an opportunity to use the PFOX news for that purpose.

Years ago, PFOX added the “and Gays” to the end of their name, though the official records do not reflect that.  One explanation for the change could be that it was somewhat confusing and allowed them entrée to areas that might not be as accepting to a severely anti-gay group.  As Throckmorton mentions, PFOX’s use of civil rights language, claiming that “ex-gay” is a complete and distinct sexual-orientation, is disturbing to say the least.  There is certainly nothing at all to suggest that PFOX is a “friend of gays.”

We are checking on the details of this division, and will report if more comes to light.  For now, PFOX has lost what little “credibility” they might have been able to claim in that world.  While we are glad to see Exodus separated from them, we are not entirely convinced that it was PFOX’s choice.

Friends of a gay medical student from Arkansas are anxious amid claims that he has been forced into a Florida ex-gay program.

Bryce Faulkner, 23, has not been in touch with boyfriend Travis Swanson since 15 July. Swanson says their last phone call was an emotional exchange in which Faulkner tearfully related how he had been told “hateful” things about his homosexuality.

According to friends, Faulkner had planned to come out to his parents before moving to Wisconsin to be closer to Swanson. He is now believed to be in a 14-month [edit: earliest reports say 14 weeks] Exodus program in Florida, possibly Pensacola.

Friend and sympathizers have set up a website and a Facebook group to draw attention to the story, which is now gaining the ear of media far beyond the blogosphere. Bryce’s parents are furious with the allegations, however, and have threatened legal action if the website and its claims are not removed.

Although the situation invites comparison with the story of Zach Stark, the Memphis teenager forced into Love in Action in 2005, Bryce Faulkner is of course an adult. His parents deny he was forced into therapy, saying he “begged” them to help him. Friends claim that he was effectively given an ultimatum, however, under threat of being disowned by his family, on whom he relies both emotionally and financially.

It seems there is at least enough concern to warrant authorities to investigate the situation.

Update: As this article was being written, the Facebook page was removed. Another group exists here.

Video link courtesy of DocumentingReality.com

This seventy-second clip from from the movie Bruno catches discredited “researcher” Paul Cameron dispensing advice to the main character, played by Sacha Cohen.  As is the shtick in these movies, Cameron does not know this is a fake situation.  His comments about women and sex go a long way toward explaining a few things, to be sure.

And I wonder what those conservatives who still accept Cameron, even fund him, will think about his recommendation to an unmarried man that he allow women to “seduce him.”  Heaven help his wife with attitudes like this.

Lately I have begun to better understand the role that heterosexist attitudes play in the formation of homophobia. Early on women were property, then slaves and then just insignificant. Not until the last century did they gain any level of equality but the old feelings run deep. People have found ways to justify their second class status through scripture as well.

I am fully convinced that hatred of homosexuality came first, and was then provided for through the efforts of those who massaged the verses to accommodate it. If none suitable for the task existed, another theme would be extracted for the purpose. Hatred of homosexuality is an imperative for many, and like racism and sexism, will not be erased from our culture fully for a long time to come.

-The Maine Family Policy Council blames gays for urban blight.

-Focus on the Family increases its focus on opposing gay marriage.

-The Episcopal Church in the USA rules that gays can be ordained as bishops.

-Former president Bill Clinton speaks in favor of gay marriage.

-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voices support for overturning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief apologizes (sort of) for the Rainbow Lounge raid.

-NYU Law School students challenge the anti-gay views of a visiting professor.

-The Gay Christian Network (GCN) wins a 2009 Pride Choice Award.

-The Supreme Court of Pakistan extends equal rights to transgender individuals.

-The US Senate passes the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, but attaches it to a defense bill that President Obama has threatened to veto.

-Peterson Toscano calls attention to two ex-gay-related studies currently searching for participants.

Subtitle: A Practical Guide for Men and Women Looking For a Way Out.

Alan Chambers: “On the conservative side we hear the claim that homosexuality is a choice. One can choose to be a homosexual or a heterosexual. On the other, more liberal side, we hear that there is no choice at all when it comes to homosexual behavior. It’s an inborn trait.” [p13]

In the first part of that paragraph, Chambers defines homosexuality as a state of being: “to be a homosexual.” Then switches gears, defines homosexuality as a behavior, and voilà, the pro-gay movement now considers sexual behavior to be as uncontrollable as an epileptic attack.

Doublespeak: evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse.

Not much new in this book. It’s mostly a stylish retelling of the ”freedom” from same-sex attraction consists of celibacy through Jesus Christ” story.

Though I don’t get into it in any depth here, we do get a little insight into Chambers’ “dysfunctional” past, and of course, his torturous traverse down “leaving homosexuality” lane.

From the preface; “Another Option”:

Alan Chambers: …My prayer is that either now or in the near future you’ll want to join those of us who have decided against building a life based on sexual attraction and, instead, decided to follow… …Jesus Christ…

“and, instead”, or in official Exodus terms, “the opposite of.”

Mentioned throughout, verbatim and in many other combinations, their favorite dodge:

The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, it’s holiness

Intended or not, the promotional message is the same: same-sex attraction is unholy.

Unholy: base, blameful, corrupt, culpable, depraved, dishonest, evil, godless, guilty, heinous, immoral, impious, iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, irreverential, profane, sinful, ungodly, unhallowed, unsanctified, vile, wicked

In regard to Chambers’ prayer (“no matter where you are in the continuum of homosexuality”) to “instead” follow Jesus Christ, I would say that to judge someone else’s relationship with God, is to judge God’s relationship with them.

Chambers often refers to his own… … …as “the gay life.”

Though he does acknowledge the existence of our long term relationships…sort of…

Alan Chambers: There’s no doubt that acting out sexually is an easy—but extremely fleeting—fix for the pain caused by no intimacy. But the speed that such acting out becomes first a habit and then a lifestyle makes it dangerous. Have you realized that a life of brief sexual encounters or even extended same-sex relationships doesn’t ultimately make for a life of relational satisfaction? [emphasis added, p58]

Read more…

Two ex-gay ministries from mainline US denominations announced this week that they will be merging with Exodus International.

One by One, representing Presbyterian and Reformed Christians, and Transforming Congregations, from the United Methodist Church, will join together to “break the polarizing debate over homosexuality through an approach that is both biblically orthodox and truly compassionate,” according to Exodus.

The two ministries will continue to have their own identity as “departments” within Exodus.

It appears the main reason for the merger is the isolation of conservatives in mainline churches, increasingly accepting of LGBT Christians. Exodus Vice-President Randy Thomas says the intention is to “reduce the culture-war dichotomy” by “speaking into it redemptively. … [We're] saying we can hold on to truth but at the same time have compassion, have grace, have mercy.”

Alas, the claim to be forging a middle way beyond the culture war rings rather hollow. The “non-politically involved” Exodus has continuously brushed aside gay rights, denying marriage equality and diminishing the victims of hate crime, in its attempts to protect prejudice and discrimination. Forgive me if this looks like suspiciously like preparation for just another salvo in the culture war.

-The anti-gay witch hunt in Uganda continues to expand.

-Straight film critic filmmaker Ken Russell celebrates gay cinema.

-The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide takes a look at the ex-gay survivors movement.

-Britain’s Conservative Party woos gay voters.

-Congressman (and Iraq War vet) Patrick Murphy launches a new effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Peterson Toscano reports on a college student forced into ex-gay therapy by his parents.

-Christian singer Derek Webb releases a song challenging the way evangelical Christians treat gays.

-Richard Rosendall criticizes the ultimatums issued by the Dallas Principles.

-El Paso police harass a group of gay men at a local restaurant.

-The state of Massachusetts files a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

-Same-sex marriage legislation remains stalled in the New York State Senate.

-Massachusetts State Senator Stan Rosenberg comes out of the closet.

-The Supreme Court of India to hear a challenge filed by an astrologer to the Delhi High Court’s ruling decriminalizing gay relationships.

NARTH’s new peer-reviewed study is not new, is not peer-reviewed and is not a study – flaws even one of its authors admitted to Ex-Gay Watch.

CitizenLink, the news arm of Focus on the Family, made much of the paper’s appearance earlier this week, faithfully reproducing the immodest claims of NARTH’s press release:

A new report in this month’s edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Sexuality finds that sexual orientation is not immutable and that psychological care for individuals with unwanted homosexual attractions is beneficial and poses no significant risk of harm.

This study is … a significant milestone when it comes to the scientific debate over the issue of homosexuality.

The report itself is even bolder, announcing that its results prove the following “singular conclusion”:

Homosexuality is not innate, immutable or without significant risk to medical, psychological, and relational health.

Exodus Vice President Randy Thomas was quick to champion the claims. Other conservatives, such as the ex-gay supportive Dr Warren Throckmorton, were not convinced. UK “post-gay” Peter Ould found it positively embarrassing.

And they are right to be embarrassed, for this supposedly new, peer-reviewed study is nothing of the sort.

First, it is far from new. By NARTH’s own admission, it is merely a survey of 100 years of literature.

That it is a survey means that, second, it is not a study. Jones-Yarhouse, for all its flaws, was a scientific study. NARTH’s paper, written by James Phelan, Neil Whitehead, and Philip Sutton, simply collates a century’s worth of material that (they think) supports the pro-reparative therapy position. It contains no new or original research whatsoever.

Jim Phelan confirmed both of these things directly when XGW spoke to him last year. Phelan said clearly the report was “a literature review – no new science [italics ours].  The data is presented more comprehensively than before.”

Third, that it is peer-reviewed is a sadly risible claim. It appears in Volume I of the Journal of Human Sexuality, a publication produced by NARTH. In other words, NARTH has reviewed its own paper for inclusion in a volume that appears to have been created specifically as a vehicle for NARTH’s views. The “peer review” therefore means next to nothing. In theory, I could rehash a few bits of other people’s work, get my XGW chums to look it over, and then publish it in a new magazine I’ve called the Journal of Ex-Gay Studies and claim it as a peer-reviewed milestone study. The problem is glaring.

Again, on this point, Phelan told XGW that the paper was “to be reviewed by members,” confirming that the peer review was nothing more than an internal review by like-minded NARTH members.

These are three massive obstacles even before we reach the content of the paper itself – of which we at XGW look forward to hearing more in Dr Throckmorton’s promised analysis.

The publication, titled What Research Shows: NARTH’s Response to the American Psychological Associations Claims on Homosexuality, is a clear sign (again, an impression we also gained from Phelan) that NARTH is getting nervous as the APA prepares to revise its position on reparative therapy. This dishonest regurgitation of old material in the guise of new research is a grasping at straws that tells us less about human sexuality and more about the desperation of NARTH and its allies in the ex-gay movement.

Anti-gay “researcher” Dr. Paul Cameron, infamous for his severely skewed statistics and his support of Nazi concentration camp tactics for dealing with homosexuals, has yet again been made a fool. This time it’s in Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming movie “Brüno,” in which he plays a flamboyant, gay Austrian man of that name.

Victim: Dr. Paul Cameron, chairman of the Family Research Institute, Colorado

Scene: Bruno comes to him for advice on going straight.

“I did a German thing a year ago. Is that this? I wondered what had happened to that. I’m in this bloody film? Well, I’ll be jiggered. I guess you never can believe when people are in distress.

“I had to go to Kansas City. I was told that this chap was a homosexual in Germany, had a popular TV program in Germany, was perhaps suicidal and wanted to [become straight]. And I was supposed to see if I could help him in some way.

His producer was telling people what to do. He’d say, ‘Here’s the setting. This will be your office. He’ll come in, give him the kinds of advice that will be useful for him.’ It took about two and a half, three hours. To put it mildly, a few of his questions seemed strange. When he tried to sit by me and he wanted to give me a b – - w job, that kind of stuff pushed it.

“If it’s a gag, it was pretty well staged. I’ll be another laughing stock. Oh, well.”

In an ironic twist against the Nazi-admirer, Baron Cohen is Jewish and often places Judaism-related gags into his comedy.