Ex-Gay Watch is making a belated entry into the social media revolution and now has a Facebook Page. Click “Like” to keep up with the latest developments, and feel free to comment on posts there, post to our Wall and get to know other XGW readers.
We’ve already been on Twitter a while, under the username @ExGayWatch.
See you there?
After an absence of six years, I have returned to my native land. Your European correspondent is now officially Ex-Gay Watch’s man in Canada.
When I’m not out hunting polar bears and eating poutine, I’ll be reporting on ex-gay news north of the border.
Back in 2006, I offered some modest observations about the differences between the ex-gay movement in the US and in the UK. If anyone has observations to share about Canadian-US differences, feel free to share in the comments thread.
I founded the Ex-Gay Watch web site in 2002 to promote new voices in the social dialogue regarding so-called ex-gays.
After two years of writing 20 hours per week (or more) about ex-gay political activists, I began to run out of energy and time.
XGW could have ended right there, but two excellent writer/researchers — Daniel Gonzales and Timothy Kincaid — stepped in, rescued Ex-Gay Watch, and took the project to the next level. At a time before “Make it work!” became a popular catchphrase, that’s what Daniel and Timothy did — spectacularly.
XGW further evolved with the issues and changing times in 2007 when David Roberts took over as editor and recruited additional writers who were diverse in perspective and geography.
With the web site in capable hands, I’m ready to move on and pursue a more activist approach against efforts by ex-gay political activists to undermine equality, freedom of speech, religious freedom, and sexual honesty.
The specifics of that different approach will be announced in the near future. Meantime, Ex-Gay Watch has exciting plans of its own.
Best wishes to the writers and commenters of Ex-Gay Watch. As a certain hero of mine would say: “Carry on!”
We would like to introduce Yuki Choe, a commenter turned writer at XGW. Some may know her already from her thoughtful comments, but for those who don’t she has written an introduction which follows. Please join us in welcoming her to the site!
Introduction
Greetings everyone! I am YukiChoe, and I am an Asian transsexual female with strong interests in ex-gay related issues. I will be living in Australia soon with my newly wedded husband. I became involved with Real Love Ministry in Malaysia back in mid 2006, and was quickly disillusioned with their camouflaged, anti-gay, anti-transgender rhetoric. I was also appalled with the way lesbians, gays and transgenders were represented by other ex-gays and felt their misinformation of LGTs needed a strong counter voice. That is when I started advocating against ex-gay efforts toward those who have no problem with their orientation.
So why is a transsexual female like me contributing to a site like XGW? I believe there is an ex-gay or ex-transsexual experience in everyone of us. Be it a gay, having to be closeted by pretending to be completely heterosexual in public due to the pressures of society, a lesbian that may be comfortable in pants being forced to wear clothes that are totally femme against her will by her family, or a transsexual female being coerced into confining herself by pretending to be a boy before the church authorities. Our differences have been exploited by people who wish to cause discrimination and marginalization among those of differing sexual orientations.
We are all stereotyped into convenient boxes that are labeled, and then forcibly applied according to who holds the majority keys, be it the elders of the church or the laymen. I don’t believe we can change the world completely, but we can still make it a better place. This is why it gives me great pleasure to be able to contribute to this site. On a personal front, you can get to know me as I am at www.yuki-thejourney.blogspot.com. I’m glad to be of service to the lesbian, gay and transgender community. I thank Ex-Gay Watch for the opportunity to do so.
- Yuki Choe -
At the suggestion of XGW commenter cowboy, here is an open forum to discuss any loose ends from 2007, or hopes and dreams for 2008. We can start with cowboy’s:
I’m not going to make some transitory quest to fit back into my college-days jeans or resolve to get my taxes done early this year. I want happiness. Okay…I’ll settle for some contentment on some level with being single. But celibacy is not a long-term option for me.
Would a lodge-styled mansion in Wilson, Wyoming and a partner like the Jake Gyllenhaal’s character in Brokeback Mountain be asking for too much happiness?
In any case, to everyone here at XGW: may you find happiness in this new year!
And let me just add my personal thanks to everyone who has read and/or commented here. It has been a year of changes, hopefully improvements, but more is in store. Our request for next year is more interaction, information from you about things we should be covering. You will see better ways to share those kinds of tips shortly. In the mean time, we hope 2007 has been good to you.
And a special thanks to Mike Airhart, for starting this whole thing, and our writers, past and present, who give of their time and energy to help others possibly avoid some painful mistakes – very special people all.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and whatever else makes this time of year special to you.
PS: And cowboy’s wish ain’t bad either 
Ex-Gay Watch often points out how specific ex-gay programs worsen sexual struggle and emotional and spiritual trauma rather than curing it. It also documents how some ex-gay programs exploit strugglers for selfish political or financial gain.
But it’s less often that we clearly spell out appropriate, constructive steps that strugglers and their supporters can take.
What can XGW and other gay-tolerant groups do to support people whose values require them to remain celibate outside of heterosexual marriage, or who need assistance to reduce unhealthy compulsions or depression?
Between this evening and tomorrow, you may experience some issues with our site. You may not be able to browse to us, or the content may not be updated correctly. This is due to a server move/upgrade and shouldn’t cause much trouble, but we wanted you to know.
If you experience any unusual site-related problems after Sunday, please tell us.
Thank you.
You may have noticed that our Atom/RSS syndication feeds have been interrupted recently. We’ve had problems before which seem to trace to Feedburner, so we have stopped using Feedburner. Because Feedburner no longer is pointed to Ex-Gay Watch, you may need to reset your subscription to Ex-Gay Watch in your news reader.
You can use autodiscover from http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/. Or you can choose one of the following feeds:
RSS 2.0 http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/feed/ (use this if you don’t know)
Atom http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/feed/atom/
If you have any problems that do not resolve by doing this, please post them here. We apologize for the trouble.
We are trying a new look (yes again!) and there are some minor features missing (author listings on posts for one). This will be corrected in the next few days if we decide to stick with this one. In the mean time, register your likes/dislikes here. Thanks!
Update: We’ve gone back to our original look. Thanks for your comments. If you saw the new one and still want to comment here, that’s fine.
Former ex-homosexual Peterson Toscano says the birth of the “ex-gay survivors’ movement” raises some questions.
Why did I pursue change?
What was I looking for?
What did I do to myself and let others do to me?
What good came of the experiences I had?
What harm came of it?
How can I recover from these experiences and move on?
For those offering or considering ex-gay therapy:
Why is change so highly desired and what are the costs in pursuing it?
What happens once people leave your care? Do you know? Do you care?
Toscano says the ex-ex-gay movement is “a movement without a manifesto or agreed upon goals. Instead we have created a venue for people, who desperately sought to change and suppress their sexuality, an opportunity to unpack their experiences and to ask the essential questions.”
Recent Comments