Ex-Gay Watch

(Note: The relevant texts to this episode can be found here (adb/pdf)), and/or you can view the whole thing here.)

With that, we begin.

Dr. David Kyle Foster is the producer and co-host of a show called “Pure Passion.”:

David founded Mastering Life Ministries in 1987 and has been its director ever since. He is also the producer and host of “Pure Passion” – a televised outreach designed to equip the church to redemptively minister to those who are trapped in sexual sin and brokenness. … The goal of the program is to tell the world of God’s grace and love through Jesus Christ and His power to set anyone free from any sin or bondage.

Foster has a series of articles on homosexuality, rife with all the stale yet vicious antigay talking points:

Kyle Foster, 2008: The reality [of homosexuality] is a dramatically reduced life expectancy and the likelihood of contracting hepatitis, AIDS, or one of a host of diseases and infections, as a result of the unnatural perversity of homosexual activity.

Suicide among homosexuals is epidemic, not because society disapproves, as many would have you believe, but because these dear people feel trapped and condemned into a lifestyle and orientation that they know is out of whack.
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And the faithfully monogamous gay couple myth – not even close. Such relationships are statistically nonexistent in the gay community.

On December 21st, 2009, the host of the show was Jayson Graves, a board member of Exodus International:

Welcome to Pure Passion. I’m Jayson Graves, and I’m your host for today’s program.

Today we have a man who has lived with the HIV virus for almost 30 years. His name is Jonathan Hunter, and since 1985 he’s been the director of a ministry to those with the AIDS virus, called “Embracing Life.”

After overdosing on drugs, he also had an after-death experience which utterly changed his life.

In my opinion, this episode exploited Jonathan Hunter’s near-death experience (NDE) in an attempt to convince their audience that there is now eye-witness testimony—proving once and for all—that Jesus Christ Himself is anti-gay.
Read more…

Gay bloggers recently had a field day with ex-gay counsellor David Pickup’s “Increasing Manhood” video, one even speculating whether it was a spoof, in the vein of Donnie Davies.

Unfortunately, Pickup (right) and his campaign to undermine the masculinity of gays — while supposedly helping them to discover their true manhood — are very much for real. Pickup is a member of the “therapeutic team” at Healing for the Soul, the ex-gay ministry of Jayson Graves (left). And who is Jayson Graves? Well, he is a lot of things but what surprises us most is that he is also a board member of Exodus International.

It is not hard to discern the ex-gay genre into which Pickup fits. He is Training Coordinator for an LA chapter of the controversial Mankind Project (New Warriors in Training), and his own Workout program is similarly testosterone-fuelled, leaning heavily on the work of NARTH’s Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.

To get a sense of Pickup’s philosophy of homosexuality and masculinity, one need look no further than this personal ad he placed on Bodybuilding.com in 2000. These things have a tendency to disappear off the Web, so I reprint it here in full, with comments:

My name is David. Let’s get the stats out of the way. I’m 6’2′, 240, 49c, 34w, 18a, all-around big muscular man. I’m 44, and look about 35. Yep, I’m in great shape.

As we’ll see, this kind of detail is apparently key to Pickup’s perception of masculinity. He denies there’s anything homoerotic about this. It’s just something gay men (and, frankly, most straight men) can’t understand without turning it into something sexual — in his opinion. Read more…

The Canadian Television Network (CTV) has pulled a commercial after activists on Facebook claimed it was a violation of the channel’s own ethical policy.

The 30-second advertisement, from Ontario-based Life Productions, contained the following message:

You hear a lot about gay rights, gay marriage and the gay lifestyle being taught in our public schools for children, but what many people don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that many homosexuals don’t want to be homosexual. What many who are struggling with homosexuality don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that they can change. I should know – for 13 years, I used to be one.

No clue is given where homosexuals might find this help, or what form this help might take. Life Productions appears to be independently producing and promoting evangelical Christian resources, and there is no indication on the website of an affiliation with a specific ex-gay ministry.

In familiar fashion, the commercial capitalizes on the ambiguity of the word “change,” rightly offending those who know that no substantial scientific evidence has ever been produced to show that ex-gay therapy or ministry can actually change a person’s sexual orientation. The most reliable research to date is capable of yielding only negligible conclusions at best. Read more…

Exodus International has begun advertising for its 2008 conference. Its new video, posted above, is slickly produced, but as one might expect from a two-minute ad it contains little of substance.

Like most of Exodus’ advertising, the video makes use of buzzwords like “change” and “freedom” without making any effort to define them. Alan Chambers does explain in one clip that change doesn’t come without struggle, but viewers unfamiliar with Exodus’ word games would be excused for concluding that they (or their gay friend or family member) need merely to persevere through a little hardship to achieve heterosexuality.

In terms of substance the video does reveal the names of several speakers lined up for the 2008 “Freedom Conference”:

-Dale Evrist, pastor of New Song Christian Fellowship in Tennessee;
-Michelle McKinney Hammond, who speaks and writes on women’s issues;
-Pastor Jimmy Evans, who co-hosts a televised marriage ministry with his wife;
-and Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham.

With a roster of popular evangelical speakers and advertising that looks like it came straight from Madison Avenue, Exodus may succeed in increasing interest for its conference among its evangelical base. Whether those that seek Exodus’ help remain enthusiastic once the hype is over and reality sets in remains to be seen.

Hat tip: Good As You

A few days ago, we reported on radio spots released by Exodus to promote their upcoming Freedom Conference in Irvine, California. These spots implied that one could expect “sudden, radical, compete change” in same-gender attraction. In response, a statement has been placed on the webpage associated with the spots:

Exodus International exists to mobilize the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality. As such, we are calling upon the evangelical church to undergo a sudden, radical and complete change in the way it has dealt with the issue of homosexuality in the past.

As former homosexuals, we know that the process of transformation is often a long, difficult journey towards healing and holiness. If the body of Christ will embrace and demonstrate the compassionate truth and grace of Jesus Christ—then we will witness a true revolution in our generation.

Also, Exodus president Alan Chambers has issued this exclusive statement for release through XGW:

Having grown up in church I understand and fluently speak Christianese. The culture at large doesn’t always understand the way we speak. This is something that we are aware of at Exodus and are making a more concerted effort to change. I struggle to find words that explain “healing” and “change” and “transformation”. Those are applicable to my life and story. However, I do recognize that they can and do unintentionally mislead people.

Our public service announcement highlighting our annual conference is being played on one Christian radio station in California. This PSA references our conference theme, Revolution, and its definition: sudden, complete and radical. We want to emphasize that we are calling for such change within the
evangelical church and the way it has typically dealt with the issue of homosexuality. By no means is it our belief that change from the complexity of issues surrounding homosexuality is often sudden or complete.

In an effort to clarify our message, we have produced a statement that appears on our website and has been sent to the station running the ads.

Messaging is important as is honesty. Our intention with this ad was simply to call the church to sudden, radical and complete change regarding how we have traditionally dealt with the issue of homosexuality.

I am truly sorry for any confusion this caused.

We at XGW appreciate what we believe is a sincere statement of remorse from Mr. Chambers, but we must also reiterate our concerns that these audio clips are clearly deceptive, even if the message they convey was unintended. At the very least, we must question why there is not more accountability in an organization such as Exodus. These should never have made it out of their offices.

Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization and increasingly active anti-gay rights lobby, is now making a rather bold claim. Without any explanation, support or fanfare, they have released two radio spots as part of a media campaign to promote their upcoming Freedom Conference in Irvine, California.

Revolution – a sudden, radical, complete change – through Christ – freedom is possible for those who struggle with same-gender attraction…”

Both audio clips use the same script with different background music to fit the various radio programming formats. The page contains no information or support concerning the claim, and as far as one can tell it would only be heard by someone listening to the radio or happening across that particular page. A web search would not find it.

In the past, Exodus president Alan Chambers has denied this kind of immediate transformation, and certainly no proof exists to support it. When confronted by Anderson Cooper about Ted Haggard’s claim to have become heterosexual after three weeks of therapy, Chambers said:

Well, the truth is that’s not my story, and it’s not the story of anyone I’ve ever met. I don’t know Ted Haggard’s journey over the last three weeks, but like Mark, I would say that it’s something that — it doesn’t seem like something that is really the case.

Others, such as Melissa Fryrear of Focus on the Family, have made the claim, again without any substantiation, that it is possible for one to be instantaneously changed from homosexual to heterosexual:

I know some people that God and it’s their testimony that god did an instantaneous work and they never have had homosexual thought or temptation or idea again in their lives and moved on to heterosexuality, that identity, marriage, children and it was an instantaneous moment for them.

These conferences attract not only parents, but a large youth contingent as well. Gay youth are obviously particularly targeted. It is disturbing that Exodus has placed this dubious message, one that does not even match Exodus’ own past official stance, on the radio with no explanation whatsoever. At the very least this will confuse many, and at worst – well we deal daily with what the worst can be.

Before every Love Won Out conference, Focus on the Family leases billboard space in the area where it will be held. Before the last conference, one company refused to lease space to them citing the contents did not “meet their community’s standards for appropriateness or the copy is deemed offensive towards any business, group or individual.” FOTF then announced that they would contact their lawyers even though the billboard company, Clear Channel, did not appear to be under any legal obligation to accept their business.

Last Wednesday, FOTF issued a press release that claimed another company had denied their business for billboard space ahead of the latest conference in Omaha. This time the company, Waitt Outdoor, gave no reason but simply declined to do business with them via email. That didn’t stop Melissa Fryrear, director of gender issues at Focus on the Family, from speaking as a victim on behalf of the group while making up her own reasons:

Apparently the idea of embracing a diversity of opinion is not extended to groups like ours, which offer the message that same-sex attractions can be overcome by those who are dissatisfied living homosexually.

Another company, Lamar, took the order so they got the opportunity to use the refusal for PR and have their billboards, too. I guess no one involved thought about the possibility that Waitt Outdoor was simply following advice given to Walmart and Ford by the AFA, by just “staying neutral” on this issue of the culture wars.

Prior to the recent Love Won Out conference in Phoenix, Focus on the Family tried to purchase space on billboards owned by media communications company Clear Channel. The billboards were to bear the organization’s familiar drumbeat “I questioned homosexuality: Change is Possible, Discover How.” Clear Channel declined.

Speaking on behalf of Focus on the Family, Melissa Fryrear said “the advertising company had turned down the business, but as of Monday, its lawyers had not received an explanation for the decision.” Clear Channel is a publicly traded company, and while they do own TV and radio stations, the Focus ad request was for billboard space. Billboards do not involve publicly owned airwaves, nevertheless Focus has apparently involved their attorneys in the matter.

Read more…

Repent America, as we’ve noted many, many times, is a Philadelphia-area group that illegally commandeers town council meetings, storms gay-friendly entertainment festivals, shouts down authorized speakers with megaphones in order to incite chaos, and gives a favorable nod to a federal death penalty for homosexuals.

The exgay network Exodus thinks so highly of the group that it offered Repent America free publicity in exgay ads last year.

Now Repent America has demanded that the city of Philadelphia commemorate the group’s illegal acts against civil rights with a plaque, since a 1965 gay protest for civil rights was granted its own historical marker.

(Hat tip: Good As You, American Family Association)

If one group can be honored for benefiting American liberty, Repent America seems to argue, then for the sake of “balance,” other groups should be honored for threatening that liberty.

Philadelphia won’t comply with this request, but perhaps Repent America’s friends at Exodus would be willing to create a historical marker in its rented Orlando-area office park, or even a commemorative gold box on Love Won Out registration forms.

According to USA Today, Exodus has dropped its complaint against blogger Justin Watt, after Watt removed the Exodus logo watermark from his parody of Exodus’ antigay billboard that was titled, “Gay? Unhappy?”:

I think Exodus’ decision is sensible; even its claim of infringement against its logo was legally weak.

Exodus had lodged a related complaint against Ex-Gay Watch for republishing Watt’s parody. This web site was courteous enough to remove the parody during the dispute; I would have appreciated the courtesy of a direct notification from Mr. Chambers that the case had been dropped.

I don’t care much for gay.com, and so I was happy to see bloggers respond so creatively with alternatives. The following parody by Zortnac remains my favorite because it focuses squarely upon exgay activists who seem determined to impose their unhappiness and unanswered questions upon other people.

Meanwhile, Watt — the unwitting cause of all this controversy — seems to be enjoying the Bay Area media spotlight. He’s welcome to it!