Ex-Gay Watch

David Roberts recently wrote a short piece entitled Exodus President Alan Chambers is Clear About Coulter Comment. David praised and thanked Alan Chambers for making the unambiguous comment regarding Ann Coulter’s use of the pejorative faggot:

Used in any context, this hurtful word is used to demean an individual who is valuable to God. There is nothing to be gained by denigrating others with crude slurs. In doing so, we disgrace ourselves and discredit the truths we seek to publicly elevate.

Wow: “[N]othing to be gained by denigrating others with crude slurs.” That’s a powerful statement.

I wish Alan Chambers’ idea of loving the LGBT neighbor next door by treating them with respect would be embraced by other conservative Christian/ex-gay affirming organizations, especially when it comes to transgender people like me.

An example of not taking Chambers’ and Exodus International’s cautions against verbal slurs to heart include a recent piece in The Record, the online publication of the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCLM). The piece by Mike Hein  — All My Tranny Children — begins by using tranny as a slur in the article’s header. He then goes on in the article to state:

Maine Teacher Makes Queer Television History

Maine’s most famous transgendered man, Jennifer Finney Boylan, is set to make daytime network television history this week, and the radical homosexual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) organization praises ABC Television for making “the unfamiliar [transgendered men and women] familiar.”

Starring as himself in ABC’s daytime soap opera, All My Children, Boylan (formerly James Boylan) and five other transgendered adults play a transgendered support group. The group coach ‘Zoe,’ a young female character played by a Jeffrey Carlson. The now-female ‘Zoe’ character is involved in a lesbian relationship with ‘Bianca,’ another female character on the show. Boylan is the transgendered support group leader…

…Boylan remains married to his wife despite having taken on a female persona in 2001 while still in his early 30s and despite having young sons. He mentions his experiences while taping the All My Children episode recently in his March 4 Kennebec Journal column “There from Here.” “I asked my boys and my spouse if they had any interest in coming down to the set the next day to watch me film my scenes,” writes Boylan. “My son Zach wrinkled his nose.”

As one can see, Mike Hein not only uses tranny as a slur, he sedulously points out Boylan’s former male name. And even though Boylan has had sex reassignment surgery, Hein makes a point of frequently and only using male pronouns to refer to Boylan.

Read more…

Both NARTH and the Tradititional Values Coalition have published summaries/reactions to a story in The Advocate titled “Life in the T Zone – With the aid of testosterone, biological women are expanding the old ideas of male and female. But being gender-queer can involve health risks.”

Before XGW reader Autumn brought this to my attention I’d heard the term gender-queer before. I learned gender-queer is an identity for people who have no desire to get sexual reassignment surgery but don’t wish to present themselves as either of the two binary genders our society presents them with. Oftentimes that involves prescribed hormones such as testosterone. To be clear, The Advocate article is stricly about the gender-queer identity and makes no mention of shemales, transvestites or drag queens.

In the NARTH article, after summarizing and quoting The Advocate, the following is tacked on as though it were quoted from The Advocate as well:

Many individuals who consider themselves transgendered, undergo only partial surgeries or hormone treatments and identify as She/Males. Numbers of these individuals become part of the online pornography industry. Sexually explicit She/Male sites number in the hundreds online.

In the TVC article (cahed version), after summarizing and quoting The Advocate, we encounter this little turd:

They [transgender activists] seek to gain special rights for cross-dressers, transvestites, drag queens, and She/Males (individuals who undergo only half of a sex change operation and live as half man/half woman. These seriously disturbed individuals typically get involved in obscene and graphic pornography online.)

Both NARTH and the TVC appear to be trying to create a link between upstanding transgendered people and some of the most outrageous pornography available online. For a “Christian” organization and a professional mental health organization to use the term “shemales” in connection with transgendered people is shameful. Lou Sheldon I expect this from, Nicolosi should be better than this (to be fair no author is listed for the NARTH article). Then again, in one of my therapy sessions when I remarked I was having trouble maintaining a masculine demeanor Nicolosi replied:

“we all know when we’re acting a little bit faggy”

Perhaps Joe should begin choosing his words more carefully. Wikipedia has an excellent explanation of why the term “shemale” is so offensive:

The term “shemale” (along with tranny and “chick with dick”) is commonly, but not exclusively, used in pornography and the sex industry; videos and magazines involving such people are a common sub-genre of pornography. It is often seen by transsexual people as a powerful term of abuse.

This is why NARTH and the TVC’s equating of gender-queer people with “shemales” is shameful. Google “shemale” (I’ll spare you a link) and all you’re going to find is hard-core pornography. Such a thing has no place in a serious discussion of gender roles and conformity.

AlterNet on July 7 reprinted Top 10 Power Brokers of the Religious Right, published in June by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

James Dobson ranks No. 2. (Blame Pat Robertson.)

The top power brokers are indexed, along with much longer versions of the following profiles for each:
Read more…

GLAAD has joined with CBS to prepare a public service announcement (PSA) which will air during the As the World Turns soap opera on May 9. The PSA features an actor who’s character on the soap is struggling to tell his parents that he his gay, along with the actress who plays his mother.
Read more…

Lou Sheldon proves that ‘preachers do lie’
By Alvin McEwen. Reprinted with permission.

April 8, 2006 — Recently, Traditional Values Coalition head Lou Sheldon gave a speech to Kingdom Builders Christian Center , a predominantly African-American church in Norcross, Georgia. During this speech, he remarked that “preachers don’t lie.” He also accused the gay community of exploiting the civil rights movement for its own purposes, claiming that they have “highjacked the freedom train to Selma.”

Lastly, Sheldon encouraged members of the congregation to buy his book, The Agenda, which speaks of a supposed gay conspiracy.

However, there are questions, not only about some of sources in The Agenda but also about whether or not the Traditional Values Coalition has been citing work it acknowledged as incorrect.

In various parts in The Agenda, Sheldon cites work from Paul Cameron. Cameron is a researcher who was dismissed from the American Psychological Association in 1984 after it was discovered that he was misrepresenting the work of his colleagues to demonize the gay community.

Last year, when confronted by the Boston Globe about TVC’s usage of Cameron’s work, the Traditional Values Coalition removed his work from its webpage. According to the Boston Globe, Traditional Values Coalition spokesperson Daniella Lopez said Cameron’s work was mistakenly placed on the organization’s webpage.

However, Sheldon has made no effort in removing Cameron’s work from The Agenda. In one chapter, Sheldon cites Cameron’s discredited studies on four occasions even mentioning Cameron by name. Copies of The Agenda, complete with Cameron’s citations are continuing to be sold even now.

Also, a quick look on the Traditional Values Coalition webpage brings up even more questions. Comparisons between passages in the TVC report Exposed: Homosexual Child Molesters and Cameron’s piece, Child Molestation and Homosexuality, show that they are oddly similar:

“In 1987, Dr. Stephen Rubin of Whitman College conducted a ten-state study of sex abuse cases involving school teachers. He studied 199 cases. Of those, 122 male teachers had molested girls, while 14 female teachers had molested boys. He also discovered that 59 homosexual male teachers had molested boys and female homosexual teachers had molested girls. In other words, 32 percent of those child molestation cases involved homosexuals. Nearly a third of these cases come from 1-2 percent of the population.” — TVC, Exposed: Homosexual Child Molesters

“In 1987, Dr. Stephen Rubin, associate professor of psychology at Whitman College, conducted a 10 state survey and found 199 sexual abuse cases involving teachers. 122 male teachers had abused female pupils and 14 female teachers had abused male students. In 59 cases, however, male teachers had abused male pupils and in 4 cases, female teachers had abused female students (overall 32% were homosexual).” — Paul Cameron, Child Molestation and Homosexuality

“Drs. Freund and Heasman of the Clark Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto reviewed two studies on child molesters and calculated that 34% and 32% of sex offenders were homosexual. In cases these doctors handled, 36% of the molesters were homosexual.” — TVC, Exposed: Homosexual Child Molesters

“Drs. Freund and Heasman of the Clark Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto reviewed two sizeable studies and calculated that 34% and 32% of the offenders against children were homosexual. In cases they had personally handled, homosexuals accounted for 36% of their 457 pedophiles — Paul Cameron, Child Molestation and Homosexuality

Readers of the study, Exposed: Homosexual Child Molesters are in fact encouraged at the end of the study to buy a copy of Sheldon’s The Agenda.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheldon and his organization does continue to use Cameron’s work,” said researcher Alvin McEwen. “ It would be par for the course for them.”

For over a year, McEwen has analyzed studies and reports published by religious conservative organizations. He said that these organizations, such as Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition, often engage in patterns of distortions designed to exploit the beliefs of people of faith.

“To knowingly repeat distortions isn’t very Christian,” said McEwen.” But what can you expect groups that think ‘gay bowel syndrome’ is an actual medical condition? Someone should tell Sheldon that the freedom train to Selma is not paved with lies.

Anyone wishing to see copies questions regarding this press release can reach Alvin McEwen at CharleKenghis@aol.com or antigone756@yahoo.com.

–Alvin McEwen

Google News has rejected a request to carry Alains Newsletter because they consider it hate speech. (Big surprise, I know.) Alains Newsletter tends not to accept traffic from XGW so you may have to copy and paste the link into a new window.

Today I noticed the Exodus Live Out Loud blogroll links to the site Writing Right, the personal blog of Stacy L. Harp, a contributor to Alains Newsletter. Harp proudly displays the banner on the right on her site. Click on the image for a full size pop-up.

Alains Newsletter is a publication supported by the Traditional Values Coalition which publishes vile, deliberately inflammatory anti-Islamic content and supports the allegedly racist Constitution Party.

Update: Joe Brummer has taken the time to detail the more outrageous claims Alain’s Newsletter makes about gay people:

1. Hitler was gay
2. Gays live 30 years less than straights
3. Homosexuality is a choice
4. Homosexuality is a malignancy eating away at the vital organs of sane, responsible, moral society.
5. Homosexuality is a vile, depraved, dangerous, and eternally damning behavior – a deadly curse on this nation founded, and greatly blessed by Almighty God.
6. Hate crimes" legislation is a top priority of homosexuals in their desire to gain federal protection as a minority group under federal law. Hate crime bills will be used to force Christian business owners to accommodate homosexual and transgender workers while punishing individuals who may be critical of homosexual sodomy.

Visit Joe’s blog to see his full post.

Update: Most of the TVC associated sites in this post have now been substantially altered or no longer accept referral traffic from Ex-Gay Watch. In response I have posted google cache backups of all links cited.

I’m sorry to post this graphic which is definitely NOT one of mine. If you don’t wish to view the image I’ll just tell you it’s a banner ad created by an ugly and hateful site called AlainsNewsletter.com which encourages its readers to place the image on their personal homepages. It features an image of the Prophet Muhammad superimposed onto toilet paper.

I find it ugly, degrading, offensive, and I’m not even Muslim. The only reason I’m showing it to you is because the Traditional Values Coalition admits sending out emails on behalf of AlainsNewsletter.com. In fact, AlainsNewsletter.com is edited by the founder of the TVC’s internet consultant. This same consultant also handles mass email distribution systems for NARTH.

On my personal yahoo email I subscribe to only two religious-right mailing lists, the TVC and AFA. Recently I started receiving this ultra-whackjob email publications from AlainsNewsletter.com so I assumed this was some new offshoot of the TVC which is known to do that sort of thing. Then of course I saw the offensive graphic and recognized stylistic similarities between it and some stuff I’ve seen on the TVC website and suspected a connection. There’s a whole page of offensive graphics here. (Google Cache backup.) It was worth asking up front so I shot off an email to the TVC:

Hey somehow I ended up on the email list for this thing called Alains Newsletter that seems to be related to the TVC. Is this a new side ministry you’ve got going or did you sell my email to them? I rather enjoy reading it, I’m just trying to figure out how I started receiving it.

Yours in Christ,
Dan

This is of course the only time in my life I have ever signed an email that way. Evidently somebody at the TVC was working on the sabbath because I got this reply a couple minutes later:

Alain works for TVC, but this is an independant [sic] project.

WE [emphasis theirs] sent out the email on his behalf.

TVC

Of course I took a screen capture of the email which includes the header.

“Contributors” listed on AlainsNewsletter.com include Rev. Louis P. Sheldon (Google Cache) and Stephen Bennett’s past guest J. Matt Barber. (Google Cache)

Read more…

“Alain’s Newsletter” receives logistical support from the Traditional Values Coalition — specifically, the TVC sends the newsletter to its e-mail subscribers, whether they asked for it or not. The newsletter endorses a political party platform that happens to match that of the Constitution Party.

Original article:
It’s Time for A New Conservative Party

(Recent XGW articles noted that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, several Constitution Party leaders are avowed white supremacists. The party also supports the imprisonment and execution of homosexuals.)

Sometimes it’s nice to know we queers aren’t the only ones who find Lou Sheldon creepy; Tucker Carlson does too.

My editor had just assigned me a story about religious revival in the inner city. The idea was, black churches might be better equipped to help the urban poor than government aid agencies. Someone suggested I talk to the Reverend Lou Sheldon, the head of a group called the Traditional Values Coalition. Apparently he was an expert on the subject. So I called him.

Sheldon came to my office for the interview. We sat across from each other in my cubicle and I threw a series of questions at him. He answered each one impatiently, then stopped me. “You want to know what the single biggest problem facing inner-city black neighborhoods is?” Yes, I nodded, readying my pen and pad. Sheldon paused. “Homosexuality,” he said.

As a general matter, I try to give people like Lou Sheldon the benefit of the doubt. Just because you oppose the practice of homosexuality (and most of the world’s six billion people still do oppose to it) doesn’t mean you’re a bigot. Some people have principled religious objections. I wanted to keep an open mind.

But I couldn’t. Homosexuality was the biggest problem in the inner cities? Bigger than crime? And unemployment? And poverty? And broken families? And AIDS? And for that matter, graffiti? Nope, there was no way around it. What the Reverend Lou had said was bizarre. And creepy too.

‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Capote’ constitute a sinister homosexual “assault” on Christmas, according to the “Traditional Values” Coalition.

Need proof of the assault? TVC’s Andrea Lafferty (who hasn’t seen the film) suggests one look no further than weeks-old quotes by exgay activists Stephen Bennett and Alan Chambers — who also hadn’t seen the film.

On Dec. 8, Chambers appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and blamed liberal acceptance of homosexuality for the “unbridled obsession and painful oppression” and “hopeless desperation” that — according to Chambers — gay people experience. Chambers claimed to speak from experience — but according to his own exgay testimony, Chambers only lived a so-called gay “lifestyle” for eighteen months — as a self-hating teen-ager dwelling in bars from 1990 to 1991, even as he was already undergoing exgay counseling.

In a holiday gesture to real-life men who identify with the movie’s tragic characters, Lafferty extends the following merry Christmas gifts: Spite, banishment from the entertainment media, and partisan politicking.