Ex-Gay Watch

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has announced that it is going to begin a reprint and synopsis series. Included in the Reprint/Synopsis Series:

- Reprints from the NARTH Conference Reports

- Archived articles from the NARTH site

- Articles from previous issues of the NARTH Bulletin

- Synopses of older articles from other published resources

- And additional published resources as deemed necessary.

If NARTH, in its default disclaimer, indicates…

Opinions expressed on [the NARTH website] are the views and sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of NARTH…

Then can we assume the articles published in this reprint and synopsis series are being posted because NARTH wants to expound on, and/or elucidate its position statements?

Apparently, we still won’t be able to tell if the articles are the official opinions of NARTH because the articles in this new series aren’t marked as being or as not being the official opinions of NARTH. (Examples of recently republished material with no OFFICIAL or NOT OFFICIAL markings are found here and here.) Maybe it’s just me, but it seems the whole point of NARTH publishing a reprint and synopsis series would be it clarifying its official viewpoints.

I’m at a real loss trying to understand why NARTH — an organization with a track record and position statements — maintains an official website full of viewpoints that no one is apparently supposed to rely on as NARTH viewpoints.

“Its statements routinely outrage gay-rights activists. But two commentaries posted online in recent months by members of NARTH’s scientific advisory committee have raised concerns among its closest allies as well.”
–Stephanie Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, October 15, 2006

It took a while, but what was first documented at XGW made it to the mainstream press. On XGW, Daniel Gonzales covered Joseph Berger comments about gender variant children here, and then frequent reader of XGW Boo uncovered Gerald Schoenewolf’s comments on slavery here — Timothy Kincaid writing it up as a full post here .

These stories on gender variant children and slavery have snowballed in the LGBT press (here and here), civil-rights organizations (here and here), and the blogosphere (here and here).

Mainstream press publication The Los Angeles Times has now published a piece about what NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee members have had published on the NARTH website, and what Dr. Warren Throckmorton, Wayne Besen (director, Truth Wins Out), and Alan Chambers (director, Exodus International) said in response.

Article excerpts from the LA Times’ ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Draws Fire From Allies:

Berger’s advice that children with differences be ridiculed “wouldn’t be something we would tolerate from someone who was part of our board,” said Chambers, who recalls being teased for acting effeminate as a boy. “We have to be very careful about what we say and how we say it. Peoples’ emotions, hearts and even lives are at stake.”

And…

Schoenewolf’s essay on political correctness not only seemed to justify slavery, it also denounced the gay-rights movement as “mob rule.” Using explicit language, Schoenewolf asserted that “the entire planet has now been forced to agree that [homosexuality] is normal.”
“This puts a real spotlight on what we’re dealing with…. This organization is incredibly reckless and irresponsible,” said Wayne Besen, a gay-rights activist who founded a nonprofit, Truth Wins Out, to keep tabs on the ex-gay movement.

The slow snowballing of the coverage on the original Berger and Schoenewolf articles speaks to how these incidents are impacting NARTH’s credibility. Thank you Los Angeles Times for bringing these stories about NARTH and its Scientific Advisory Committee members to the general public’s attention.

The Times Online and PinkNews are reporting that UK students nationwide have joined an online protest (on Facebook) against a campus based Christian course — a course which encourages gay students to suppress their homosexuality. The course, entitled Pure, is being sponsored by the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) — self-identified as a UK student Evangelical organization.
Read more…

Sexual Identity Therapist Dr. Warren Throckmorton, who recently pulled out of the NARTH conference program over their handling of Dr. Gerald Schoenewolf’s justification of slavery, has created this poignant video reminder of the historical facts surrounding this issue.  The civil rights movement is not about political correctness, it is about moral decency.  Please be advised, this is a powerful look at a gruesome part of our history.  Some of it may be, and in fact should be, disturbing.

Source: wthrockmorton.blogspot.com

Pro-exgay blogger Disputed Mutability calls the Exodus leaders’ new book, God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door, “profoundly alienating.”

DM is especially dismayed at Exodus leaders Alan Chambers and Mike Goeke for their assertion that celibacy is sinful and for their sloppy repudiation of official Roman Catholic policy on both celibacy and the unlikelihood of so-called “change.”

Says Alan Chambers:

This is why I believe that it is so important to clarify that just living a celibate gay life is just as sinful as living a sexually promiscuous one. The sin is in identifying with anything that is contrary to Christ, which homosexuality clearly is. (218)

Says Mike Goeke:

Many who leave homosexuality behind are unwilling to accept that their only option is to live a life of celibacy, simply managing unwanted attractions. What they really want is a change in identity. They no longer want the gay label attached to them. (69-70)

The Exodus authors seem to be consumed by ideology and labeling, and this preoccupation with labels separates them from the shared day-to-day reality that gay and exgay individuals experience. When the authors advocate “true change,” aren’t they really trivializing true sexual change and turning it into a switch in political and religious afiliation?

In the comments on DM’s article, celibate same-sex-attracted Catholic Ron Belgau, who over the years has been affiliated with the pro-exgay Catholic group Courage, shares his own concern about Goeke’s statements.

Wayne Besen will be speaking at Glory Tabernacle Christian Center in Long Beach, Calif., this Saturday, Oct. 14, at 11 a.m.

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Last week, the Southern Policy Law Center posted an article about the controversial paper (pdf) written by Dr. Gerald Schoenewolf, a member of the NARTH Board of Scientific Advisors (narth.com).  Today a response to that article has appeared on the NARTH website titled “Political Correctness Gone Amok: The Latest Controversy.”  It is an anonymous interview of Schoenewolf, who appears to continue his justification while complaining that liberals are making it hard for people like him to speak their mind.

These so-called “liberal” groups are driving social conservatives and libertarians out of the debate with their misuse of their comments, said Schoenewolf.

Dr. Warren Throckmorton was quick to post his comments about this interview on his blog.

While we are on that point, I do not see why one would imply that a moral evil is of necessity associated with an eventual benefit. This assumes that the only way the current good (African-Americans are here and not in famine and war-torn Africa) could have happened is via the moral evil (slavery).

Throckmorton sums up the tone of the interview well:

Bottom line message I get from this new article: If you express disagreement with Dr. Schoenewolf, you must be a “so-called liberal” who is intent on stiffling dialogue.

Review a time line of the entire controversy.

From Focus on the Family’s ‘Love Won Out’ Conference Comes to Woodstock; Message That ‘Change is Possible’” to Be Shared in Georgia on Nov. 4:

“The issues surrounding homosexuality have become so politicized in recent years, that it is easy for people to forget how deeply personal these matters are. We hope to change that,” said Melissa Fryrear, director of Focus’ gender issues department and a conference speaker. “Love Won Out is a conference that reaches out to those who are hurting and offers them a message of understanding and of hope.”

An brief examination of Melissa Fryrear’s media release statement for Focus on the Family (FOTF) :
Read more…

Pure Passion is a new weekly television series endorsed and promoted by Exodus International and co-hosted by Exodus President Alan Chambers. David Kyle Foster produced Pure Passion as a function of Mastering Life Ministries, a member of the Exodus network. Myra Noyes, the Exodus Florida Regional Representative, also works with David Kyle Foster and Mastering Life Ministries. Exodus is deeply involved with this production and endorses it’s message.

During the third episode, David Kyle Foster took a few minutes to “clarify” homosexuality for the viewers. He started off this way.

You know, a great place to start when talking about homosexuality is to define the word. What is homosexuality? Well the first thing that should be said is that homosexuals do not exist.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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