Ex-Gay Watch

PFOX stands for ‘Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays’–despite the fact that the organization is not run by ex-gays, and repeatedly and openly expresses a vituperative disdain for all things gay.

One of their more outlandish claims is that there are twice as many “ex-gays” as there are gays. In census terms, that’s about 18 million ex-gays.

You can read about their latest escapade below (For recent coverage, see Google):

Shareholders ask Walt Disney to Include Ex-Gays in Company’s Non-Discrimination Policies:

“It is about time Disney treated ex-gays with the respect they deserve,” said Bobbie Strobhar, the stockholder who submitted the shareholder resolution. “Former homosexuals are true models of courage who have been vilified by gay activists.”

Dr. Michael Brown weighs in on the matter via Focus on the Family’s Citizenlink, to assert that ex-gays are some of the most discriminated against in America:

Disney Stockholders Mull Resolution to Protect Ex-Gays
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“If you’re going to have these discrimination laws in policies, then by all means include these as a special class of people,” Brown said.

I think it’s worth noting that Brown refers to those who identify as formerly-gay as “these.”

That succinct little bit of bluster is in light of an email in which he steers readers to an article—written by NARTH’s Prof. Robert Gagnon—that Brown describes as “exposing the very real dangers of the [then] proposed “Employment Non-Discrimination Act””–>

Gagnon’s article on the evils of ENDA is dated Oct. 23, 2007.

<–Brown’s Coalition of Conscience email (no longer in service), is dated 10-25-07, two days later.

The screen cap of the cached email above would seem to concur with those dates.

Here’s a snippet of Gagnon’s article that Brown links to:

Don’t ENDAnger Your Liberties in the Workplace

The bill will virtually codify you as a bigot so far as the federal government is concerned if you oppose homosexual practice on moral grounds.
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If you are not convinced that this will be the outcome, try including “pedosexuality” (i.e. pedophilia), a sexual orientation toward children, under the rubric “sexual orientation” [emp mine]

Given that Mr. Brown is still a fan of Robert “pedosexuality” Gagnon, yet supports the inclusion of “ex-homosexuals” in anti-discrimination policies, are we then to assume he also supports ex-pedophiles being included in anti-discrimination policy?
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Further, and on a much lighter note, if Disney’s “ex-gay” employees are afforded non-discrimination protections, will they then hold ex-gay days?

The celebration of Gay days at Disney is traditionally marked by the wearing of red.

So what’s the color of ex-red?

In a piece called “Ministry to Gay Students,” Shawn Harrison of Exodus Youth goes the extra mile to portray condescension and religious supremacism as compassion. He also believes that the Bible is inerrant.

First we get the compassion part:

There is no question that high schools and middle schools across this nation are ground zero for students who face peer pressure, bullying, low self-esteem, depression, and the like. One of the most disturbing of these is bullying… …and occasionally ends with students getting beat up, receiving death threats, missing school, changing schools, and in some cases, even attempting suicide.

On his 611 ministries website/blog, he even shares that he attempted suicide:

I hated my high school years… …walking through the halls and enduring my new lifestyle was enough to bring me to suicide – which was attempted a few times.

Back to the EY article:

This article is not calling to accept behavior that clashes with Biblical beliefs, rather it’s calling for Christians (especially those who are youth workers) to take a stand against bullying, and start teaching the truth about sharing God’s unconditional love with those who think they are undeserving of such love.

The way that sentence is written, it seems unclear as to whether he thinks it’s the bullies who don’t feel they are worthy of God’s love, or gay students, or both. But as evidenced throughout the article, it becomes clear that it’s gay students who supposedly think they are ”undeserving” of God’s unconditional love.

Mr. Harrison then lifts two quotes—without giving credit or link—from of all places, GLSEN’S 2007 National School Climate Survey (PDF):

Read more…

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…

Dr. Michael Brown has a radio show called “In the Line of Fire.” On June 12th, 2009, the first hour (40 min.) of that program was entitled “Building a Bridge of dialog with the Homosexual Community.” (Transcript is here.)

This was mostly in response to Wayne Besen’s speech at Grand Valley University, and the panel discussion on the harm caused by the “ex-gay” industry—which was in response to the (then) forthcoming Love Won Out conference.

Wayne clarifies in a post called “‘Love Won Out’, What’s the Point?“:

Wayne Besen: I’m on my way to Grand Rapids, Michigan to give a presentation at Grand Valley State University on the harm caused by the “ex-gay” industry. My speech, followed by a panel discussion, is in response to Focus on the Family’s traveling road show, Love Won Out, which will be in town on Saturday. Having countered several of these conferences, I must confess, I still don’t understand what point they are trying to make…

Dr. Brown seemed to take the exclusion personally, and complained vociferously about his *unfair* treatment by those who claim to be “tolerant” and “inclusive,” and points out on quite a number of occasions that the university received more than “TEN THOUSAND” emails in support of his being included on the panel. No mention of the fact that Focus on the Family — The sponsor of the Love Won Out conference that he was speaking at — put out the call to have said emails sent to the university in a CitizenLink Action Alert.

(For the sake of reference, Dr Brown takes quite a fancy to the challenge of defending himself against what he considers to be unfair characterizations of him or his positions, as evidenced here at Ex-Gay Watch, 1, and 2, and also on Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s blog, 3.)

In this radio program, he vacillates between claiming persecution by the LGBT community, and pursuing the notion of dialogue with the LGBT community.

In the attempt to demonstrate the fundamentally corrupt nature of the event, he quotes from Besen’s book, Anything But Straight:

[5:08-5:50] Michael Brown: here’s one from Wayne in his book “Anything But Straight,” “Reparative therapists” — so these are people who help—psychologists, psychiatrists, or ministries who help people dealing with unwanted same-sex attractions. [Which now includes Dr. Brown]

“Reparative therapists are detestable, money hungry con-artists who lure and bamboozle susceptible people with misleading promises and false hope. One reason these quacks practice this chicanery is to cash in on this lucrative industry, but one cannot dismiss raw hatred as the primary motive that drives these charlatans to extreme lengths to denigrate lesbians and gay men.”

Delightful. That was the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that was put forward by Wayne last night. Read more…