Ex-Gay Watch

The Belfast News Letter reports that the World Health Organization has “affirmed the view of controversial groups which say it is medically orthodox to seek treatment for unwanted homosexuality.”

In an article published yesterday, the site said the affirmation followed this month’s Core Issues conference, featuring reparative therapists David Pickup and Lesley Pilkington.

The News Letter continues:

A WHO spokesman said Ego Dystonic Sexuality is a disorder where “the gender identity or sexual preference (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or prepubertal) is not in doubt, but the individual wishes it were different because of associated psychological and behavioural disorders, and may seek treatment in order to change it.”

WHO was also clear that it does not consider homosexuality per se a disorder.

The suggestion that WHO has recently affirmed reparative therapy in light of the Core Issues conference is puzzling. The above is, in fact, simply a direct quote from the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. It is taken from F.66 of ICD-10 (2006), the most recent version of the index:

F66 Psychological and behavioural disorders associated with sexual development and orientation
Note: Sexual orientation by itself is not to be regarded as a disorder.

Egodystonic sexual orientation
The gender identity or sexual preference (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or prepubertal) is not in doubt, but the individual wishes it were different because of associated psychological and behavioural disorders, and may seek treatment in order to change it.

I can find no evidence outside the article that WHO has made any recent announcement. At best, what may have happened is someone queried WHO about this, and a WHO staffer simply sent them the relevant excerpt from ICD-10.

This makes the story rather misleading. It is true that WHO in the past has affirmed the right to seek treatment to change sexual orientation — without endorsing a particular reparative therapy — and it’s true that WHO denies homosexuality in itself is a mental disorder. What is questionable is whether WHO has made a new statement on the subject in direct response to Core Issues, which is certainly the impression the report gives.

Incidentally, the American Pyschiatric Association (APA) removed ego-dystonic homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1987, having removed homosexuality in 1973.

New Yorkers Celebrate Marriage Equality - Voice of America

In a major victory for gay rights, the New York Sate Senate voted 33 to 29 to approve same-sex marriage in the state, becoming the sixth state to do so.  The debate lasted for days and followed a previous attempt in 2009 which fell through at the last moment.  Governor Cuomo, who had promised to pass this legislation during his election campaign, signed the bill before midnight.  Same-sex marriages can begin in 30 days.

The deciding vote was cast by Republican Stephen Saland who had voted no last time.  He credits this change to a “change of heart” and a desire “to do the right thing.”  Bravo, Mr. Saland.  Anti-gay forces will most certainly be brought to bare in order to defeat his re-election.

It was certainly a wonderful surprise to wake up to this news rather than the gut punch of Prop 8.  And we understand that New York has no residency requirement, so they should expect a great boost in tourism dollars in the months and years to come as gay couples travel to the Empire State to tie the knot and experience the wonders of that great city.

We at XGW would like to send congratulations and our appreciation to those who worked tirelessly against some truly vile opposition to make this happen.  Well done!

Read more at the Voice of America.

-Actor LeVar Burton signs on as spokesperson for the AIDS Research Alliance.

-The people of Liechtenstein vote to institute civil partnerships.

-A Michigan court of appeals rejects the “gay panic” defense.

-A Wisconsin judge upholds the state’s domestic partnership registry.

-Christian author John Shore asks gay Christians to tell their stories for an upcoming book project.

-A Methodist pastor is found guilty of marrying a gay couple.

-A new Williams Institute study finds over 25,000 gay couples raising children in California.

-President Obama speaks at an LGBT Democratic fundraiser.

-Bank of America donates $130,000 to San Francisco LGBT organizations.

-The New York state senate votes in favor of marriage equality.

Jeff Buchanan - Exodus

With Jeff Buchanan laterally promoted to VP and former Exodus blogger Randy Thomas out of the organization, there has already been an immediate shift in tone on their website. Three posts have gone up since the personnel-change announcement – two of them targeted at vulnerable gay youth – and all are denigrating to gays and lesbians.

Gays pursue “counterfeit relationships,” writes Exodus President Alan Chambers. Gay Christians “serve two masters” while claiming to serve God alone.

“Study Shows Gay, Bisexual Teens More Prone to Risky Behavior” reads the headline of Buchanan’s latest post. The final line states “[t]he CDC report seeks to link the tendency among gay and bisexual teens to engage in risk behaviors to their sense of societal rejection,” as if this is a simple hypothesis rather than established reality.  Buchanan turns data which reinforces the need for more support of LGBT youth into ammunition to further stigmatize and pressure them.

“My heart breaks a little more each day as false hope is communicated to susceptible youth with slogans like ‘It gets better’,” writes ex-gay Matthew Walker, blasting a campaign started in reaction to the suicides of several gay youth last year. Walker makes clear that his struggles with suicide were not caused by the condemnation of the Church, “as the liberal media would have you believe,” but rather caused by a “very real spiritual enemy” whose “whispers and lies twisted the Bible into a condemnation of [him] rather than the sin that was overtaking [him].”

In other words, Queer and questioning kids, we at Exodus don’t hate you, just your “sin” that’s overtaking you. The boy you fell for from afar in History class, the girl you go out of your way to pass by in the hallway before 3rd period – those things are caused by an evil force controlling you. If these things involved people of the opposite sex, it would be considered perfectly normal and even the stuff of high school movies. But it involves people of the same sex. Because of this detail, your feelings are of the Devil.

“Today we desperately need courageous Christians who are willing to stand up against the gay agenda and say enough is enough,” concludes Walker. Exodus is taking the gloves off. With finances, membership, and staff dwindling, Buchanan’s hardline blog posting may represent their last viable method of action.

(Scroll down for 06/24/11 update) Canada’s official party of opposition has voted unanimously to oppose tax-exempt charity status for ex-gay groups such as Exodus Global Alliance.

The federal New Democratic Party, better known simply as the NDP, adopted the resolution at its convention in Vancouver, BC, last weekend. Delegate Michael McLaughlin introduced it thus:

Delegates, an investigation published in September 2010 by [the] LGBT news blog Slap Upside The Head revealed that Exodus Global Alliance, an ex-gay organisation, enjoys registered charity status with the Canada Revenue Agency. Ex-gay organisations claim that gay, lesbian, and bisexual people can be made straight. They take advantage of LGB people, often in vulnerable family situations or at grips with depression and self-hatred, and browbeat them—saying that LGB people never live happy lives, that we are unhealthy and unwhole, and that we never experience love and that the only hope lies in their therapies. [...] We see that they are selling snake oil with benefits given to them by the Canada Revenue Agency at present.

Exodus Global Alliance is based in Toronto, ON, and proclaims that “change is possible for the homosexual through the transforming power of Jesus Christ.” It is partnered with but organizationally separate from the US-based Exodus International, whose president, Alan Chambers, sits on the board of both.

The current government of Canada is Conservative and enjoys widespread religious support. In May this year, the NDP all but wiped out the more centrist Liberal Party to become the official opposition for the first time in its 50-year history.

Update: Here is the full text of the NDP resolution to deny ex-gay organizations charity status:

6-12-11 Resolution on Ex-Gay Associations
Submitted by the NDP Federal LGBT Committee, Quebec Section

Be it resolved that the New Democratic Party call on the Government to immediately remove any charitable status currently enjoyed by “ex-gay” organizations and to see to it that according to this status to such organizations in future be prohibited.

Another major US based ministry has cut ties with Exodus International, the largest organization which claims to help people “leave homosexuality.”  An event earlier this year caused us to check the Exodus affiliate listing to see if mega-church Willow Creek of Barrington Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, was still listed there.  They had been an Exodus affiliate for years but were indeed no longer listed.

Willow Creek Church

A question to Alan Chambers concerning their affiliation with Willow Creek received no response, so we contacted Susan DeLay, Media Relations Manager for Willow Creek.  The following concise response came through Scott Vaudrey of their Elder Response Team:

After a recent review of our affiliations we determined that, moving into the future, we no longer intend to be affiliated with Exodus International.

Willow Creek is an interdenominational, Evangelical Christian mega-church with satellite campuses throughout the country.  With a 24,000 member congregation, it is the third largest church in the US and has been called the “most influential church in America” according to a poll of pastors over the past few years.

A church with such success and respect tends to be a bellwether for the Christian Church in general, certainly in this country.  The trend of major ministries disassociating themselves from Exodus may indeed be on the increase.  Combined with what appear to be dismal economic times for them, Exodus may have an increasingly rough road ahead.

This certainly is a contrast to the heady predictions of just a few years ago.  In 2008, Exodus predicted they would have 10,000 churches in their network by 2010 — ambitious to say the least.  Their current enrollment of approximately 135 falls somewhat short of that goal.

Taken with the odd departure of Exodus Vice President Randy Thomas and the lateral promotion of Jeff Buchanan to fill his position, one could say the Exodus message is ringing untrue with an increasing number of the faithful.  Of course, Exodus will likely see this as “straying from the Biblical truth” or an attempt to “tickle the ears of the sinful” but then that’s always the case, isn’t it?

In May, we learned that Randy Thomas was stepping down as Vice President of Exodus International and taking on a part-time role. Yesterday, he announced he was stepping down altogether from the ex-gay organization. Today, Exodus has announced Jeff Buchanan as its new Executive Vice President.

This is a promotion for Buchanan, previously Senior Director of Church Equipping and Student Ministries. But it’s also a money-saving move for Exodus, as is apparent from its June newsletter, Exodus Impact:

[Jeff] will continue to oversee Church Equipping and Student Ministries until the recession lifts and we are able to hire others to help in one or both of those areas.

Before coming to Exodus in 2008, Jeff was an Associate Pastor in Nashville, TN and was the director of Journey, a sexual wholeness ministry in his local church.  He is an ordained minister and has a Masters of Theological Studies from Liberty University.

Two months after he announced he was no longer Vice President of Exodus International, Randy Thomas says he is stepping down completely as a staff member at the ex-gay organization.

Randy became Exodus’s part-time Director of Digital Media and Development in April. Now he has bowed to the “increasing conviction” that his “season” as an Exodus staffer is “drawing to a close.”

In a letter addressed to “Exodus Friends and Family” (which Randy posted publicly to his blog), Exodus President Alan Chambers wrote:

I wanted you all to be the first to know that Randy Thomas will be leaving Exodus at the end of July. You all know that God has been stirring up Randy’s desire to use his gifts, talents, creativity, experience and randomness in new ways. So far God has really blessed Randy with some outlets for those expressions. Randy believes that it is time to step out in faith completely! I agree. I have been talking and praying with Randy for a few months regarding his time at Exodus coming to an end and about the new things God has for him. I am really excited for Randy all the while feeling like my left arm is being amputated. It’s seems unfathomable that Randy won’t be working here, but, again, I know this is a part of God’s good and perfect plan for Exodus and him personally.

July 28 will be Randy’s final day with Exodus, after nine years. Before that, he was Executive Director of Arlington, Texas-based ex-gay ministry Living Hope.

Where to begin dissecting the manipulation and abuse on display in this video of Pentecostal preacher Damon Thompson casting demons out of young gay and lesbian women? Thompson, who heads up fiery youth ministry The Ramp in Hamilton, Alabama, employs every trick in the spiritual abuse playbook to coax his young congregation into outing themselves as gay and then stepping forward to be exorcised of their demons:

Ashton Elijah, who was at the meeting in the video, describes his experience:

Damon called upon those who were struggling with homosexual demons to come to the front and be “set free from sin.” He and members of The Ramp began to work the crowd into a frenzy as they labored to draw people out of the closet and onto the altar. At first, only a few guys and girls came forth. But, aided by music, the ministry leaders continued to pluck at the heartstrings of every struggling gay kid in the audience, promising that if they would only make themselves known, God would grant them the deliverance they so longed for.

Over a period of forty minutes, kids approached the altar one-by-one — some admitting to same-sex attraction for the first time in their lives. Some fell to their knees in brokenness, rocking back and forth as they prayed for absolution; others stood with their arms spread out as tears spilled from their eyes. By the end of the morning, dozens had approached the altar hoping to lay their burden down.

Thompson’s display is like a tutorial in spiritual abuse. I experienced a similar religious atmosphere time and again during my days in the charismatic movement (which you can read about in my essay “Fantastic Voyage: Surviving Charismatic Fundamentalism“). Thompson hardly tries to hide his manipulation, audibly encouraging the worship band to “pick it up” in order to heighten the atmosphere and get more troubled gay teens to come forward.

The first time I came out was at a similar Christian event — loud music, concert atmosphere, persuasive pleadings and emotional appeals from the preacher. Thankfully, for this extremely fearful 15-year-old, the ministry I received once I went to the front was more low-key. I was taken to one side and, after sobbing my confession, I received a relatively short prayer from a band member. Since homosexuality was just one of the “problems” and “sins” named by the preacher, it wasn’t evident to any of my friends why I was there.

So I wasn’t exposed quite like these young people, many of whom appear never to have admitted their sexual orientation until they were manipulated into coming out in front of video cameras and a live audience of hundreds. As Arni Zachariassen observes, it’s “a terrible way to come out of the closet.”

Not only terrible but disgusting, shameful and abusive.

H/T: Reader Jeremy

-A US Bankruptcy Court rules that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

-Croatia’s first gay pride event is disrupted by violence.

-Support for marriage equality grows in the New York State Senate.

-Two men are kicked out of a public pool in Kentucky for being gay.

-A federal judge rejects an attempt to invalidate Judge Walker’s ruling on Prop 8.

-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo forwards a marriage equality bill to the state legislature.

-The city of El Paso, TX restores domestic partner benefits.

-Southern Baptist Convention president Bryant Wright agrees to meet with a group of gay rights advocates.

-The UN Human Rights Council passes a resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity.