Ex-Gay Watch

Aaaaaaand it turns out to be more of the same. Literally.

2011 = Simplify, Amplify and Intensify — Letter from Alan Chambers for November 2011
Nov 17, 2010

First, we are reminded of the mission of Exodus:

Mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality.

Implication: Homosexuality is a negative impact.
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The agenda…

He [God] has impressed on our entire team the need to do 3 things with what we already have: simplify, amplify and intensify.

~Simplify:

We want to be clear about what we do and don’t do at Exodus. [emphasis added]

Clear:
definition: understandable, apparent
antonyms: ambiguous, indistinct, mysterious, obscure, unintelligible, vague

To use it in a sentence: Clearly, “change” is possible, “temptation” may last a lifetime and “the opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality, it’s holiness.”

Everybody clear on the meaning of clear now?

~Amplify:

[T]he greatest area of need in our culture is outreach to young people. We will be changing the name of Exodus Youth to Exodus Student Ministries in order to encompass middle school thru [sic] college age students. [em orig]

As the article says, that means a messaging that’s more internet savvy, as well as “short to the point booklets.”

We also want to amplify the specialties that our member ministries provide

["We now have a variety of ways that parents can help their homosexual children decide which indoctrination service ministry is best."]

~Intensify:

We also want to strengthen our communication about the true point of this ministry … Staggering numbers of young people are abandoning their faith because they cannot reconcile their homosexuality with their Christianity.

And who better to intensify that increasing faithlessness than an organization that promises — by calculated implication — heterosexuality.
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This is a scene from a movie called Disgrace. I watched it months ago and didn’t really care for it, but I had to rent it again so I could write this part down. It nails it.

Dad: When you were small, our next door neighbor had a dog. A golden retriever, remember?

Daughter: Jimby.

Dad: It was a male, and whenever a bitch went passed, it got excited, unmanageable, and with Pavlovian regularity, its owner would beat it so that at the mere smell of a bitch the dog would run around the garden with it’s ears flat and it’s tail between it’s legs, whining and trying to hide.

Daughter: I don’t see the point.

Dad: Well, you can punish a dog for chewing the slipper. The dog can accept that, but it’s desires are another thing.

Daughter: Is that the moral, that males should be allowed to follow their instincts unchecked?

Dad: No, that’s not the moral. What was ignoble about the spectacle was that the poor dog had begun to hate it’s own nature. It no longer needed to be beaten, it punished itself. At that point it would have been better to shoot it.

Fortunately the dog didn’t have a gun, or fingers to tie a noose. So the dog’s mother didn’t have to experience the HORROR of walking in on the sight of her son’s dangling or beheaded body.
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So, it would seem that Exodus’ 2011 agenda is, in effect, a finessing of the message that one’s nature is something to be rejected — for life — in order to escape the eternal clutches of God’s loving wrath.

Sammy Davis Jr. “I Gotta Be Me”

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patrick.fitzgerald@exgaywatch.com

Re: “New Jersey State Senator and NAACP’s Bond Support Genderless Marriage While Rejecting Ex-Gay Rights” [12-9-09]

“…major scientific studies and mental health associations have stated homosexuality is not innate,” said Regina Griggs, director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). “No scientific evidence has found a ‘gay gene.’ No DNA or medical test can determine if a person is homosexual. Sexual orientation is a matter of self-affirmation and public declaration…”

“Sexual orientation is a matter of self-affirmation and public declaration.”

Try it like this:

Human sexuality is a matter of self-affirmation and public declaration.
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Apparently you’re not human until you say so in public.

Building on David Robert’s post on the Richard Cohen portion of The Rachel Maddow Show, Randy Thomas, Vice President of Exodus International, had some things to say about the exchange.

Randy Thomas: I am going to share a review of the actual interview and then move into how I believe she, and some other militant gay activists, are missing the point with regard to Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill.

Transcript, edited for brevity, emphases mine:

MADDOW: But you have told them, particularly in your book, “Coming Out Straight,” which I understand you donated multiple copies of to this organization that‘s promoting this bill. You‘re telling them exactly what they need to hear in order to justify the kill-the-gays bill. I mean, your book portrays gay people as predators who must be stopped to protect the innocent.

COHEN: Oh, no, no, no.

MADDOW: Let me ask – I‘ll just read from your book, OK? Page 49, “Homosexuals are at least 12 times more likely to molest children than heterosexuals. Homosexual teachers are at least seven times more likely to molest a pupil. Homosexual teachers are estimated to have committed at least 25 percent of pupil molestation; 40 percent of molestation assaults were made by those who engage in homosexuality.”

This is the claim that you make in your book that exactly feeds these folks who want to execute people for being gay, what they need in order to justify that. Do you stand by what you said in your book?

COHEN: Actually, you know, that one particular quote, when I do republish it, reprint it, we will extract that from it, because we don‘t want such things to be used against homosexual persons.

MADDOW: That quote is cited – you cite somebody named Paul Cameron as the source of that book.

COHEN: I see that they‘re using it, but you took that one little quote out of a 300-page book.

“you took that one little quote out of a 300-page book”

That “one little quote” may be edited out of Cohen’s next revision, but it’s a paltry excision in light of the other “little” quotes in his book.
Read more…

Randy Thomas, Vice President of Exodus International:

Freedom of speech which expresses a difference of opinion on morality and spirituality is not a crime.

The following is a case of one of the hackneyed headless monsters that the anti-gay industry loves to trot out, especially in regard to hate crime legislation that includes protections for minorities on the basis of sexual-orientation and gender identity.

In an article on the EI blog called “Canadian Decision Protects Freedom of Speech For Religious Views,” Mr. Thomas links to another article titling “Alberta judge rules anti-gay letter not hate speech, overturns ruling”:

A Court of Queen’s Bench judge has ruled an anti-gay letter written by a former Alberta pastor in 2002 was not a hate crime and is allowed under freedom of speech.

Justice E.C. Wilson overturned a 2008 ruling by the Alberta [Canada] Human Rights Commission that the letter by Stephen Boissoin that was published in the Red Deer Advocate broke provincial law.

Mr. Thomas then had this to say:

The step backwards came when freedom of speech was taken away by the oppressive will of the government through the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

Alberta Human Rights Commission:

Discrimination re: publications, notices
3 (1) No person shall publish, issue or display or cause to be published, issued or displayed before the public any statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that:

(a) indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate against a person or a class of persons, or

(b) is likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt…

The reasoning goes; since it happened in Canada, it will can happen here. Except for the fact that Canada does not have the First Amendment which protects religious hate-speech from interference by the U.S. government. (Westboro Baptist Church, anyone?)

Despite the absence of this protection in Canada, their judicial system sided in favor of Mr. Boissoin. Ergo, even their system worked in favor of free-speech.

One of the things Mr. Thomas, et al, neglects to mention, is that Egale Canada (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) refused to take up the case against Reverend Boissoin:

We believe that sunshine is the best disinfectant.

I concur. The suppression of hate-speech does not solve the root of the problem—the climate that allows for hate-speech to flourish.

But let’s take a look at the example Mr. Thomas chooses to defend free-speech with on a moral level.

Here is the full text of Stephen Boissoin’s letter to the Red Deer Advocate that Mr. Thomas describes as  ”provocative”:
Read more…

YouTuber “Planet Narth” gives us a light-hearted vocabulary lesson with the help of Joseph Nicolosi. XGW covered the incident featured in the video, for those who are curious about it.

Last month, the Associated Press reported that a church which Vice Presidential hopeful Gov. Sarah Palin currently attends was promoting the recent Love Won Out conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Truth Wins Out called on her to speak out about this, but she never did. TWO’s Wayne Besen was present along with many supportive organizations and individuals to counter LWO with peaceful demonstrations that encouraged the truth to be told about the LGBTQ community.Gov. Palin did not at first address homosexuality by calling it a “choice.” She gave one of her first interviews to Charlie Gibson and said the following:

In her first interview with Charlie Gibson last month, Gov. Palin indicated that she is aware of the nature vs. nurture debate on the cause of homosexuality, and that she seems to consider the answer based on belief, rather than science.

Oh, I don’t know, but I’m not one to judge and, you know, I’m from a family and from a community with many, many members of many diverse backgrounds and I’m not going to judge someone on whether they believe that homosexuality is a choice or genetic. I’m not going to judge them. [emphasis added]

Later, a clip of Gov. Palin speaking to journalist Katie Couric was posted to the Internet where Palin had this to say:

And you know, I don’t know what prayers are worthy of being prayed and I don’t know what prayers are going to be answered or not answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay, and I love her dearly, and she is not my “gay friend,” she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made. But I’m not going to judge people. [emphasis added]

In response to the comments made in the second interview, former ex-gay Daniel Gonzales released a video telling Palin how he tried to go straight by praying and participating in years of therapy costing thousands of dollars but was still unsuccessful. Wayne Besen has also sent her a gratis copy of his ex-gay expose book, Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.

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XGW does not officially endorse any particular party or ticket as doing so would be contrary to our mission.  This article involving Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin is not a tacit endorsement of another politician – rather, the term “ex-gay” has come up numerous times in conjunction with her name.  Please limit the discussion to that scope and avoid political or ad-hominem attacks.  Thank you.

In his celebration of having “left the gay identity” sixteen years ago, Exodus International Vice President Randy Thomas attempts to define on his blog what that even means. In the comments section, he was challenged by a commenter known as “College Jay” to define what he called the “gay ideology,” which supposedly held him back from achieving a relationship with the Christian God. Here are his comments, uncut:

When I refer to gay ideology… I am not talking about bar culture (even though that is a part of it.) In fact your seeming need to make sure the non-sensational are represented is a non-verbalized expectation of gay ideology to “balance” what is assumed as negative.

I don’t mean gay ideology in purely a negative manner even though I found it to be legalistic and limiting as a whole. I mean I believe it is an ideology that comes with a general worldview of what it means to be “gay.”

There are many lifestyles represented within gay ideology. I do believe there are core beliefs and worldviews associated with the modern context of being “gay.” That would be the basis and reason I use the phrase “gay ideology.”

Upon being challenged further, he provides Webster’s definition:

1. the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group

And then proceeds to make this claim, negating any positive steps he might have made toward true understanding of the gay community:

If there wasn’t a gay ideology, “coming out” would have no meaning as being a shared experience. That’s just one example. There also wouldn’t be any national organizations to represent those who identify as gay. You would have millions of gay individuals and no gay community if there wasn’t an underlying gay ideology at some level.

Randy’s claim that the “need to make sure the non-sensational are represented is a non-verbalized expectation of gay ideology to ‘balance’ what is assumed as negative” ignores the fact that any concerned individual of any background would protest someone who paints their “lifestyle” with a single broad, negative stroke. Many Jews might be rich financiers, but I’m a poor artist. Many Mexican residents in this country are illegal, but there are also many Mexican citizens. Prisons are loaded with African Americans, but one of their own is also running for President, endorsed by another who earned a substantial sum and huge public influence in part thanks to millions of adoring fans. 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…

Hey JONAH, is anyone at the helm of your website home?

I have my doubts for a couple reasons. One is that it appears that the greeting on the main page has only been changed once.

The second and more important reason is because I found a strange menu option when I clicked on “FAQ.” The FAQ provides instant info on why male gays are gay and not straight. Obviously, this does not help lesbians. Not to worry! Simply click on the word “Lez” and you will find an explanation as to why Lesbians are gay and not straight.

Now, I have no problem seeing the word “Lez” or even being referred to as one. Honestly, I prefer the term “queer,” but that’s not the point. The point is that while gays can be referred to in many different terms and phrases – some more derogatory and controversial than others – it is very strange that an organization claiming at least a partially scientific standpoint on homosexuality would resort to using the word “lez” to refer to lesbians. Everywhere else, the site refers to lesbians as “homosexual” or “lesbian.” No other occurrence of the word can be found on their site.

I doubt that any serious pro gay rights blog would use the word “lez,” either – use of slang, derogatory or not, tends to cheapen the tone of an article, and would definitely work against their cause.

So is this a deliberate attempt to denigrate lesbians? I highly doubt it. I think it was just a slip-up, albeit a bigoted one. However, anyone coming across JONAH’s site for help might think, “would I want to seek help from an organization that refers to me as a ‘lez’ in a professional setting?” I recommend that JONAH do a once-over of their site to see if any other mistakes were made – and also to change their greeting more than once a year.

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.