Ex-Gay Watch

Almost two years after beginning my work at XGW I’m now leaving in my official capacity. In those two years my work has changed from being a dutiful author to today where I find the majority of my work is spent behind the scenes; collaborating with gay activists, making films, and talking to the media. To be free to do my best work XGW and I agree I need a degree of autonomy not possible if I remained on staff.

But don’t fear, I shall continue my film making, continue my public speaking, and I will continue to collaborate with the XGW authors behind the scenes on a regular basis, so who knows, you might even see the occasional guest post on here. I’m not going anywhere…

Ok, but I do have a new email addy so update your books:

ExGaySurvivorDan@gmail.com

And feel free to continue sending me leads, I’ll make sure they’re utilized to their full potential, it just might be by Peterson, or Wayne, or Pam, or Jim, or Jeremy, or of course XGW.

Just a reminder today’s episode of the Montel Williams Show deals entirely with ex-gays and features Alan Chambers, Peterson Toscano, Lance Carroll, Richard Cohen and others.  Evidently the taping was a real circus but I’ve been reserving comment until I see how the show is actually edited.

The anti-gay website WeAreThinking.com has posted a number of “future television spots” including the one seen above. These same spots appear on YouTube with “PFOX” in the title of every video. One of those videos features Dr. Robert Spitzer which recently appeared on PFOX’s newly designed homepage.

Consistent with pretty everything done by WeAreThinking, we have absolutely no idea who is behind this or who the people in the videos are (with the exception of Spitzer). See previous coverage of WeAreThinking for an examination of how bizarre of an “organization” it is.

I encourage readers to post comments PFOX’s YouTube videos asking:

Why does the person in this commercial remain unidentified?
How is this person affiliated with WeAreThinking and PFOX?
What is PFOX’s affiliation with WeAreThinking?

Link to PFOX’s videos

XGW reader Noa brought my attention to (and translated) Swedish gay news/entertainment site homOnline.se:

Evangelical group in Denmark loses governmental funding while allegations of conversion counseling are being investigated. The Danish Evangelical group Agape has received governmental funding to preform sex education and crisis counseling, but after reports that a lesbian woman that had contact with the organization was advised to pursue a change in sexual orientation, funds have been frozen.

“There is some uncertainty as to whether the nature of the counseling with regards to homosexual people and their religious beliefs” states the Danish Secretary of Health and Human Services, Eva Kjer Hansen. She has demanded an exhaustive report on how the organization has used its funding and until the matter has been investigated the funding has been shut down.

Translator Noa notes “The language of the quote [from the Danish Secretary of Health] is seriously strange in it’s original form also.”

I just had a long conversation with Christopher Eberz from the Queer Student Union at the University of California at Santa Barbara where ex-gay Chad Thompson spoke in February. I know it’s a bit late to be posting on this but Chris sent me to his blog where he wrote a very perceptive first person reaction to Chad’s speech. I like to think it’s because Chris reads XGW that he was able to see below the surface of what Chad was and wasn’t saying.

From the New York Blade:

What Cothran isn’t telling us is that not only is she getting financial support from black churches, but they have also helped her land ads from big pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott Laboratories that pay for half the cost of the magazine, with the other half paid for by the black churches promoting “ex-gay” ads targeted to the African-American LGBTQ community.

On Thursday the 2007 Soulforce Equality Rides will arrive at their first destinations. Yes, you heard me right, there are two buses this year, one headed east, one headed west.

On last year’s Equality Ride participants found themselves unprepared when the dialogues they engaged in turned to the subject of exgays. Ex-gay survivor Peterson Toscano was brought in to help train this year’s riders and discovered at least half of the Equality Riders had ex-gay experiences through church, Christian counseling, on their own and/or through an ex-gay therapist or ministry.

Each rider has a bio but in a quick search the only profile I found that mentions their own exgay experience is Vince Pancucci.

Below is a video of the Equality Ride reception and sendoff service:

Just a quick reminder, if this video gets enough votes it’ll air on Current.tv’s actual TV station. A while back Mike Ensley of Exodus had an interview posted to Current.tv.

From Peterson Toscano:

In speaking with some ex-gay leaders recently, I see the desperate need they have to hear some of our stories. Never once has an ex-gay program I attended ever done any sort of follow-up. I mean I can’t buy a soy latte these days without having to fill out a survey about my coffee experience. Yet folks can spend tens of thousands of dollars on reparative therapy and nothing–no aftercare, no reflections on what worked and what didn’t work.

I think ex-gay leaders can be like folks with lots of credit card debt. The debt exists and it keeps growing, but as long as we keep all the statements separate and never add up all that we really owe, we can ignore reality. We may even be sucked into getting yet another credit card.

Peterson Toscano and Jack Drescher will be guests on Thursday’s broadcast of “To The Point” which comes from my local NPR station KCRW. Catch it streaming live on KCRW’s website from noon to 1 PM pacific time. If you miss the live broadcast you can click here to podcast it and full archived episodes can be found here for free. This is why I love public radio, and especially our local station here in LA.