Ex-Gay Watch

In May 18, 2010, 15-year-old Dominic Crouch of Cheltenham, England, committed suicide after being subjected to homophobic taunts at school. In the video below, his father, Roger Crouch, shares his story and talks about the impact anti-gay bullying and the death of his son has had on his life.

Second, a short film from Ireland, titled “Stand Up!” The advertisement, part of a campaign against homophobic bullying in schools, was created by Crossing the Line Films for BeLonG To Youth Services.

Finally, via Evan at Truth Wins Out, here’s a video testimony from Aaron Barton, a member of InFocus Church, Evans, GA. Aaron describes how he grew up experiencing “same-sex attractions” and, as a teenager, “gave the enemy power over that area of my life” by accepting the label “gay.” He was openly gay until finishing college, when he returned to his evangelical faith and discovered, he says, the Lord was “a restorer, a healer and a deliverer.” Aaron became “ex-gay.”

Why the connection to bullying? Because Aaron’s story reveals another kind of bullying. He was taught from an early age to be ashamed of his sexuality. Even when he openly identified as gay, he was never comfortable with his orientation. Is it any surprise that a young gay person loaded down with such shame and self-doubt because of his church’s teaching would find himself unable to express his sexuality in a healthy way and instead end up in relationships that are “destructive and painful”?

This is what happens when you’re only ever presented with two possibilities: Live a shameful, destructive life as a gay person or be fulfilled and whole as an ex-gay Christian. The middle way —  live healthily, contentedly and without coercion as the person you are — goes unmentioned. It may not always — at least in modern western religion — involve sticks and stones, but it remains shame-based bullying.

Gay teens share their stories this week in the New York Times. The interactive series, which touches on issues of oppression, anti-gay bullying and the challenges of coming out in school, began this morning with 19-year-old John Albuquerque of the Bronx, and Thomas Miller, 17, of Mandeville, Louisiana.

We’ve met Dr Michael L Brown before. In The Fighting Words of Michael Brown, I analyzed the revolution- and battle-based rhetoric he uses to call evangelical Christians to rise up against gays and lesbians, and their rights. In Pedophilia, Hedonism & Impending Confusion, I revisited Brown’s anti-gay rhetoric and demonstrated how he misrepresented LGBT people with a classic “slippery slope” argument.

Now Brown is in the spotlight again with a book that claims to chronicle the rise of gay rights and, with the support of “massive research and extensive interaction with the GLBT community,” debunk the so-called homosexual agenda. A Queer Thing Happened to America: And What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been is, according to its author, a 700-page representation and demolition of the gay agenda, of which 100 pages are supporting footnotes.

Brown couldn’t find anyone to publish his book, a fact he puts down to fear. Read it and “find out why the publishing world was afraid to touch it,” he says. “Family values” apologist Bill Muehlenberg props up Brown’s theory in his enthusiastic review: Read more…

Exodus International President Alan Chambers is upset at a TV commercial aimed at encouraging gay teen victims of homophobic bullying.

The ex-gay leader told the Christian Post he found it “disappointing” that the commercial used the character of Woody, the cowboy from the Disney/Pixar movie Toy Story:

Children all over the world, including my two children are fans of Toy Story and to see a character like that endorsing something that at this point children have no need to know about, it’s disappointing.

The ad, a promo for Google Chrome and part of the It Gets Better campaign, aired during an episode of Glee last week. Why would Alan’s five- and six-year-old would be watching a show like Glee anyway? Alan worries that if his kids “happen to see that and ask questions and if they get the full understanding of what the commercial is actually about, we will have to have the conversation. It’s not something I plan to talk to my kids … about.” One wonders why this concern about children having “the conversation” was never a problem with Exodus’s own highly public billboard campaigns.

But, while “it gets better” for targets of anti-gay bullying, Chambers’s message only gets worse:

“For organizations like Exodus International, which has thousands of men and women like me who have lived a gay life, it obviously didn’t get better living a gay life for them. I would say that today it has become radically better,” he said.

“I think that we have to promote the stories of people who have found an alternative to homosexuality but I think that at the same time the church has to do a better job at addressing issues related to bullying and violence and how kids have been treated at public schools.”

Chambers encourages the church and celebrities alike to stand up and be “supportive of our Christian values and to stand up and proclaim that.”

Let’s think about what Chambers is really saying here: He doesn’t want this positive message going out to gays because his ministry depends on homosexuals being unhappy. He pays lip service to “addressing” anti-gay bullying and violence, but his ultimate concern is that if gays are too happy, Exodus International is out of business.

Here’s the nasty, brutal reality of Exodus and “gay cure” organizations like it: They have a vested interest in keeping gays oppressed.

We’ve heard this before. When Chambers addressed his fellow Christians at last year’s Lausanne Conference, he said as much. Exodus accepts gays as long as they know their place. Exodus’s acceptance is for gays and lesbians who are helpless victims, willing to be pitied and then fixed. The more gays become well-adjusted and content, the less there is for Exodus to do — and that’s Alan’s biggest problem.

Watch the commercial for yourself, and see just how inoffensive it really is:

Subtitle: A Biblical and compassionate response to same-sex attraction.
Main authors and editors: Joe Dallas, Nancy Heche.

Part 1, Part 2

This book is an anti-gay training manual. A veritable bible on how to be the best anti-gay Christian you can be. There are a list of key points at the end of each chapter, some of which include mock debates.
____________________________________

SUICIDE, BULLYING AND VIOLENCE

Nancy Heche on gay teen suicide:

Nancy Heche: A number of studies over the past decade have indicated that rates of suicide attempts, depression, and unhealthy behaviors are higher among gay teens than among their heterosexual counterparts … So the question we face is not “Where’s the blame?” Instead, it’s “Where’s the church?” [p353]

A’hem, Dr. Heche, what say you if the church is to blame?

She also writes the chapter on hate crime legislation. I realize the federal hate crimes law has already been enacted, but I think their defensive posturing on the matter deserves another healthy dose of attention.

Nancy Heche: So when we’re told that additional state and federal laws are statues are now needed, we should request the facts and documentation proving the point. [p439]

“facts and documentation?”

To quote Cecil Terwilliger of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob’s younger brother):
Read more…