Ex-Gay Watch

Ex-gay Giuseppe Povia, who hails from Milan, wrote and performed the song “Luca Was Gay” that is currently in the running for the best song award at the yearly Sanremo Music Festival to be held next month in Italy. He claims that two of his friends also converted to heterosexuality and got married after he convinced them to change.

Aurelio Mancuso, president of the gay rights group Arcigay of Italy, promised a “strong, noisy and organized” protest unless the song is removed from the festival. Povia is no stranger to speaking up against gays as mentioned by Mancuso, as he had appeared in the magazine “Panorama” back in 2005, making statements such as:

“people aren’t gay, they become gay on the basis of who they spend time with”

“ had a gay phase, it lasted seven months and then I got over it.”

If this is true, then these statements can hardly relate to most within the community that are comfortable with their sexuality since young. Povia can hardly be considered a gay man (let alone an ex-gay) since he had no prior life or experiences relating to his supposed “homosexual” orientation except for a probable experimentation which lasted barely a year.

In an article published on “Repubblica” (translated), the song Luca Was Gay was highlighted, and seemed to contain strong statements that is deeply rooted to the reparative therapy framework by NARTH that blames the parents for homosexuality, and reconciliation with parents as the ex-gay cure.

However, Arcigay’s protest may not be a solution; it will not go down well with ex-gay groups, who can easily use this example to claim that gays are intolerant of ex-gays, as do groups like PFOX in the United States. In fact, Italian politican Luca Volonte from The Union of Christian and Centre Democrats was quoted as saying the move to force the song’s exclusion is “a clear attempt at discrimination and censorship”. Will this protest be used as a fodder for ex-gay ministries in the future? Time will tell.

Check out this ex-gay musical from the Gay Christian Network (GCN) 2007 conference. It opens with a hilarious parody of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan number The Major-General’s Song:

I am the very model of an ex-gay individual,
I’ve no more gay attractions (okay, maybe a residual)

My favorite line has to be this one:

I think of God, not Gaynor, when I hear someone say “Gloria,”
I always stay a block away from local gay emporia

Hat-tip: Andrew Sullivan.

Late last week, Democratic hopeful Barack Obama was under fire for inviting ex-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to perform on this weekend’s South Carolina tour. Now McClurkin himself is facing accusations that he is still practicing the homosexuality he condemns.

In an attempt to woo black evangelical voters, Obama announced last week that McClurkin would be among several gospel artists joining him on the tour, which starts in Charleston this weekend. McClurkin’s inclusion drew immediate criticism, with dissenters angry about the singer’s history of anti-gay remarks. He denies being on a “crusade” against homosexuality, and maintains he only offers help to “those who come to me and ask for change.” However, he hasn’t always been so temperate, as his comments about the “homosexual agenda” from 2003 demonstrate:

The gloves are off … And if there’s going to be a war, there’s going to be a war. But it will be a war with a purpose. … I’m not in the mood to play with those who are trying to kill our children.

Obama has resisted removing the singer from the campaign, but now says he will balance the program by inviting local gay minister Reverend Andy Sidden to deliver an invocation.

But the furore is far from over. Now allegations are rife that McClurkin is still involved in the gay “lifestyle” he has virulently rallied against. In an interview with New York journalist Clay Cane, an unidentified man claimed to have been Donnie McClurkin’s lover during the peak of his vocal opposition to gays. It was during this era that the singer wrote that the “abnormal use of my sexuality continued until I came to realize that I was broken and that homosexuality was not God’s intention,” and claimed, “I’ve … experienced God’s power to change my lifestyle. I am delivered and I know God can deliver others, too.

Nevertheless, McClurkin’s accuser, named only as “Rob,” yesterday disclosed extraordinary details about the alleged sexual encounters, which he says took place mostly in hotels, between 2001 and 2004.

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out has already publicly invited McClurkin to put things right, saying:

If the allegations are true, McClurkin should cancel his appearance at the Obama rally and learn to be true to himself. … We offer a helping hand to assist him in the coming out process. Truth Wins Out understands that the notion of ‘ex-gay’ is a myth and McClurkin will be conflicted until he lives honestly and openly.

Alan Chambers of Exodus International responded here to calls for Barack Obama to remove McClurkin from his tour, saying that “No individual should be excluded from participating in a political process that belongs to all Americans.” Exodus has yet to comment on the most recent allegations about McClurkin’s conduct.

I noticed this posted at Box Turtle Bulletin and thought Jim wouldn’t mind if I shared it as an open forum post.

During an appearance at G-A-Y, a famous gay nightclub in London, Enrique Iglesias serenaded a gay male fan during the performance of his popular song Hero. This is a customary thing for Enrique to do, though the fan is usually a young girl. As you can see in the video above, this young man went home beaming. What a sweet thing to do.

Levi Kreis is an emerging gay musician. He’s appeared on an episode of The Apprentice, done a few indie films, and has had his music played on television shows. In connection with the release of his new album The Gospel According to Levi, Kreis artist sat for an interview with Between the Lines.

The songwriting process became therapeutic as he reflected on his personal struggle to accept himself while serving God. As a Tennessee teen he stopped attending his parent’s Southern Baptist congregation, where he sang and preached, and enrolled in an ex-gay program at a nearby church. No one knew. Not his parents. Not his friends.

“I felt like it was my duty personally as a very sincere boy to rid myself of what (Apostle) Paul calls ‘this thorn in my side.’”

With workbooks and tapes supplied by Exodus International, a religious group focused on converting gay people back to heterosexuality, Kreis committed to the program for six years. As he considered their tactics and noticed “ex-gays” practicing suppression he realized their explanation of the development of homosexuality was ludicrous.

His decision to come out was not without cost. He was expelled from his conservative Christian college and dropped by his record label. In the lyrics of his song Bittersweet Salvation we hear the anquish of that period in his life in which he struggled to be what he thought God and the church demanded him to be.

I coveted the sorrow and death of every martyr made
Took this thorn into my side as Yaweh’s name
Twenty years of faith and fear and still you say I falter
I’m laying all this dogma dead upon the alter

On New Years Eve, 1879, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan presented their comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. Although a social satire of English sensibilities, the production’s launch was in New York to (ironically) deter pirating of their work. Those old enough may recall Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline in the 1983 movie or the rather dreadful campy adaptation, The Pirate Movie, from the year before with Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins.

Perhaps the best known piece of G&S music is the Major-General’s song from Pirates. It’s mockery of English priorities for military leadership – an extensive education in matters social but highly irrelevant – stands as a tower of Victorian wit.

It is in this spirit that Justin Lee of the Gay Christian Network reworked the song into the parody song The Very Model of an Ex-Gay Individual as part of a parady musical performed at the GCN conference. While Sullivan, the composer of Onward Christian Soldiers might be scandalized (and you might also), Gilbert would probably find the whole notion of an ex-gay movement to be bursting with comic opportunity.

For the entire song link here.

I am the very model of an ex-gay individual
I’ve no more gay attractions (okay, maybe a residual)
I go to ex-gay conferences, where folks hold me accountable
They say with Jesus, sga is never insurmountable

I think of God, not Gaynor, when I hear someone say Gloria
I always stay a block away from local gay emporia
I’ve read 8 books on how to please my wife while I’m caressing her
And probably a dozen more by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

[Chorus:
And probably a dozen more by Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
And probably a dozen more by Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
And probably a dozen more by Dr. Laura Schlessing-Schlessinger!]

A New England theater describes The Big Voice, an award-winning musical, like this:
Read more…

Corrected to indicate that the former boyfriend was erroneously described as “ex-gay lover.”

From Gay Celebrity News, a story about former celebrity Pete Burns:

The cross dressing former front man of 1980s band Dead or Alive appeared in court yesterday accused of threatening to kill his ex-gay lover.

The Celebrity Big Brother contestant was accused of waging a month-long harassment campaign against his former boyfriend Jason Peters.

Commenter Norm points out below, and a Google search (mostly) confirms, that Jason Peters is not ex-gay.

Self-appointed youth “minister” G. Craige Lewis has found the cause of homosexuality: Hip-hop music.

Lewis operates a profitable livelihood under the alias EX Ministries. His web site claims that Lewis is one of God’s authorized spokesmen, and Lewis accuses those who disagree with him of being inspired by the devil.

The devil is trying to convince you to change your moral values and push your boundaries back by causing you to see the “popular” ministers, singers, etc. do it. When you see them doing it, it makes it look like EVERYONE is doing it because TV and radio has such a powerful voice. But God has assured me that it’s all deception.

Lewis suffers from a mix of envy and self-martyrdom: “Singers and movie stars that are homosexual” achieve celebrity because of Satan, Lewis says. Meanwhile, Lewis wallows in the obscurity that comes from being one of the very few people on the planet who is right about everything.

UPI notes that other ministers object to Lewis’ egotism and bigotry.

Haman Cross, senior pastor at Rosedale Park Baptist Church in Detroit, thinks Lewis’ message is far off.
He acknowledges that some hip-hop gives a negative message, but says there is no biblical proof that it is the work of the devil.
Cross challenged Lewis to a debate on the topic but Lewis refused.

Hat tip: UPI via Daily Dose of Queer)

The August issue of GQ still is not at my local newsstand, so I turn over the mike to southern gospel music blogger averyfineline.com for analysis of the magazine’s story about Kirk Talley:

Some of AVFL’s key points:

• Talley seems uncertain whether he is a victim of a backward religious culture or whether he is a spiritual masochist. Talley chooses neither to affirm same-gender relationships, nor to condemn “homosexuality.”
• The article title is misguided and false. Within the context Talley has chosen, there is no spiritual closet, nor has he come out of anything.
• Talley confuses temptation with the full scope of sexuality.
• Talley may prefer the known — the meanness and rejection he faces from evangelical and southern culture, which are familiar and predictable — over the unknown of starting over at age 47.

If you appreciate southern gospel music — or insightful analysis of the culture — go read AVFL.