Ex-Gay Watch

Corrected to reflect Nick Cavnar’s biographical details.

Truth Wins Out launched today with a press event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Here are Ex-Gay Watch photographs of the event, along with links to other web pages about each individual.

Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen later released a statement describing the event and profiling each speaker.

All photos by Ex-Gay Watch except for the photo of Lance Carroll, which is reprinted courtesy of Truth Wins Out.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7, 2006
Contact: Wayne Besen
e-mail: Wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org
Phone: 917-691-5118
www.TruthWinsOut.org

NEW ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES TO BATTLE RIGHT-WING LIES AND ‘EX-GAY’ MINISTRIES

Truth Wins Out Launch Features Teen Victim Of ‘Ex-Gay’ Boot Camp

WASHINGTON – A new group that will battle so-called “ex-gay” programs held a press conference today highlighting the stories of “ex-gay” victims the same week President Bush stood beside a leader of an ex-gay ministry inside the White House.

On Tuesday, Bush included Alan Chambers, the leader of Exodus International, in his press conference endorsing a the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would rewrite the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.

“With the president embracing the leader of the ex-gay ministries, there has never been a more crucial time to expose the faith-based folly of these harmful programs,” Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Been, said today at the National Press Club.

The event featured Lance Carroll, 18, forced to attend an “ex-gay” boot camp in Tennessee after he came out to his parents. Carroll relayed his negative experience in this program and stated that none of his fellow ex-gay attendees had actually changed.

“While I was there, it just seemed to make people more depressed and self-loathing than they already were,” explained Carroll. “I went through several of these depressive periods.”

Besen said that he felt it was the right time to launch TWO because ex-gays are already in the White House and are now trying to get into public schools.

“Ex-gay groups have teamed up with Rev. Jerry Falwell’s lawyers to sue schools that do not include so-called ‘ex-gays’ in Diversity Day seminars,” explained Besen. “We can’t sit by while these right wing extremists put children at great risk. TWO will be on the front lines ensuring that students will not be indoctrinated with false and damaging lies.”

Dr. Stuart Sotsky, MD, spoke at the press conference about how all respected mental health organizations call “conversion therapy” a dangerous practice. Sotsky is a clinical professor at George Washington University Medical School.

Nick Cavnar was married for 26 years, struggling with his sexuality in an ex-gay program in Michigan. He also was the editor of New Covenant, the official magazine for The Word of God religious community in Michigan, where his own ex-gay testimony appeared in 1981. At age 50, he came out of the closet and is now is in a three-year relationship with his partner.

Susan Stanskas discussed how she originally bought into right-wing promises when her son came out, nearly splitting apart her family. Having eventually seen through the right’s deceit, she now has a close relationship with her son and is an advocate for gay and lesbian rights.

Scott Melendez talked about his experience in Homosexuals Anonymous while living in Phoenix. He said he left the program after it was clear none of the leaders had been “healed” after many years of struggle. The leader of that group, Colin Cook, resigned for having sex with his clients.

Mark Perriello discussed his involvement with an Exodus ministry in Boston. “Nobody wanted to be straight more than I did and it just didn’t work,” he said at TWO’s press event. Perriello came out after he saw that the ex-gay ministries were ineffective and harmed a great many people.

TWO is an organization that combats right wing misinformation campaigns, exposes the ex-gay myth and educates America about GLBT life.

Previous XGW coverage:
Truth Wins Out announces launch
Exodus reacts to launch announcement
Truth Wins Out outlines strategic plan

Google searches for:
Wayne Besen
Dr. Stuart Sotsky, M.D.
Scott Melendez
Mark Perriello
Nick Cavnar
Susan Stanskas

Antifamily activists:


Robert Knight (right) of Concerned Women for America attended the TWO launch event with two associates.

(Sorry for the delay in posting this. Better late than never….)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 1, 2006

BROAD COALITION COUNTERS DAMAGING RHETORIC OF “CONVERSION THERAPY” CONFERENCE IN SILVER SPRING

Clergy, Mental Health Professionals, and Youth Advocates Declare Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out” Conference Dangerous and Spiritually Disenfranchising to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Youth
Read more…

A couple of hours ago I caught a portion of a TV commercial run by the Arlington Assembly of God. It’s not clear to me whether it was one of the same ads that the church ran last year.

In it, a woman identified herself by first (I think it was Kelly or Kelli) and last name, spoke of sexual abuse, living as a lesbian, and now finding healing and peace via faith in Jesus Christ.

This one ran on TBS on Comcast Cable’s Washington DC service. I’ve scanned commercials on a number of channels in the 2 hours since and haven’t yet seen the ad repeated.

I’m curious, though — are you seeing anything similar in your area?

August has been evangelism season for Stephen Bennett Ministries:

• In 2003, he took a group to Provincetown and met with resistance from gays, some of whom were former ex-gays.
• 2004, the year Stephen named gay relationships a putrid stench in [God's] nostrils, brought scaled-up goals — a $50K campaign to bring hundreds into P-Town, later scaled back to a $25K goal. That campaign coincided with Family Week, so the ministry brought bible gift bags for the kids. They were met by peaceable gay Christians and thoughtful gay parents, and kid-focused activities already in progress.

After taking a break in 2005, it’s time to rev the Bennett evangelism engine back up in 2006 to go to WorldPride in Jerusalem.

My first impression, on reading this, was Huh? A Christ-centric Jews-for-Jesus outreach… to Israel??? I had to re-skim it and grab hold of the concept of a WorldPride event, and that the Bennett ministry has portrayed itself as an International Ministry, without yet speaking of Stephen travelling beyond Canada, until now.
Read more…

Warren Throckmorton has just published a preliminary document developed by himself and Mark Yarhouse. Titled Sexual identity therapy: Practice guidelines for managing sexual identity conflicts (100K pdf) Its intended audience is mental health professionals, and at this point the authors are going public with it in order to invite review from their peers.

Before going any further, let’s acknowledge the context in which this document is being presented. Much of the ex-gay movement has shied away from establishing standards of care, resisted external oversight, made vague and/or unverifiable claims, insisting that their role was limited to ministry or peer-to-peer support. Those that have made a case for ethical care have tended to be those who also cited Paul Cameron extensively. This document, at first glance, seems to move beyond those constraints.

And I need to make my personal limitations clear. I’m not a therapist of any flavor, and I won’t be trying to digest all of the references in the Guidelines and their historical and academic context. I’m going to post about my personal (very positive) experience with therapy and how it relates at A Tenable Belief, hopefully this weekend.

But, my initial impression is that the Guidelines offer some promise and some concerns.
Read more…

I watched the video of Stephen’s September, 2004 sermon (a link is posted towards the bottom of the SBMinistries home page) and it struck me that he frequently describes himself as a victim of circumstances.

Samples which stuck with me:

Read more…

A post at ex-gay pastor D.L. Foster’s blog, apparently by Nigerian Pastor Kingsley Nwafor (the attribution is implied by a double quote preceding and following 600-some words of the piece) decries gay civil rights in South Africa. He credits gays with “diverting and destroying the purposes and destinies of men and nations.”

He takes comfort in his Nigerian homeland, though:

Thank God for the law in Nigeria prohibiting same-sex marriage or any related same-sex relationships. Thank God for the five years jail sentence. But there was a time in the whole of America, that homosexual strugglers were being arrested, beaten up,and even ostracised in some cases. Is that the case now in the whole of America? Why? The church and the Nigerian society have a vital role to play in order to offer the kind of solution needed.

Related discussion: NakedWriting.com

Andrew Seely ministers to youth at a Presbyterian church in California. His review of Brokeback Mountain was published at RelevantMagazine.com, a Christian publication by and for young adults.

Titled “Finding God on Brokeback Mountain,” Seely opens with:

Please do not boil this movie down to homosexuality. Please do not pass judgment without even seeing it. See the fact that there are great performances. See the gift of storytelling. View the beauty of God’s creation. Relate to people who have lives that are complicated. Remember that God’s love is far greater than any of us deserve.

Read more…

The National Public Radio program On Point will discuss Love In Action and “conversion therapy” for a full hour tonight — 7 p.m. Eastern time.

On Point’s schedule lists local NPR stations that carry the program, as well as local air times.

For those who miss the show: The On Point web site also archives its programs — or portions of them.

Bose (in collaboration with Mike) here…

The Washington Blade has begun a series “examining similarities and differences between the African-American civil rights movement and the gay rights movement.” The first installment is titled Pro-gay blacks a ‘disgrace’ to civil rights movement? Comparing two movements draws ire of some.
Read more…