Ex-Gay Watch

Ex-Gay activist Christopher Yuan will speak to an audience of Yale students at the Af-Am House this Friday at 7:00, at the invitation of campus Christian organizations. Yuan’s claim to fame is his “deliverance” from some rather bad habits which, as is a common practice among ex-gays, he associates with being gay.  He attributes his behavior change to God, and his mother’s prayers.

What many would consider their worst nightmare has become a reality for Christopher Yuan. While attending dental school, he began living promiscuously as a homosexual and experimenting with illicit drugs. Within a few years, he was expelled from dental school, imprisoned for drug dealing and discovered that he was HIV positive.

Yuan espouses the tired if convenient Exodus line “the opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality, it’s holiness.”  Yale seems like a rather enlightened place for this type of thinking, so this news surprised us.  Yuan’s website reflects his movement toward making his ex-gay narrative a source of income, complete with speaking engagements and a book or two.  His ideology tracks closely with Exodus and he defends them when questioned.

Anybody from Yale out there?

Alan Chambers just doesn’t get it. The Exodus International President expects gays and lesbians to be moved by his words of compassion, but any gay or lesbian who knows their worth will hear only patronizing and insulting condescension in his words.

Here is Chambers speaking at the Third International Congress on World Evangelization (the Lausanne Conference), held in Cape Town, South Africa, last month:

Here is Chambers castigating Christians for what he believes is their greatest sin towards homosexuals:

We, as the Church, have not viewed homosexual people, gay and lesbian men and women, as starving, hurting, broken, lost people in need of compassion.

An article from the UK’s Daily Mail bears this title: How I went from committed lesbian to a happily married mother of four. It describes British comedienne Jackie Clune’s winding testimonial as a woman who, once “committed” to her lesbian identity, decided to “try men again” after growing tired of lousy relationships and rigid, self-imposed stereotypes. In a 2005 article from The Times entitled Love, etc. Clune called lesbian culture “dictatorial and intimidating” and “the opposite of the sapphic fluffy nirvana [she] expected.” She married a man and finally had a family, something she “never thought possible” as a lesbian.

The title of the article has the first red flag. Clune describes her girlfriends and her former self as being “committed lesbians.” As if being attracted to the same sex makes one a member of a club they then must commit to. This is as absurd as thinking that when one comes out they are given a copy of the mysterious “Gay Agenda™” or that if they “convert” others into members they’ll be rewarded with new toasters. More stereotypes and generalizations follow. At first attracted to men as a young woman, at age 22 Clune made a very important conscious decision.

I had studied feminist literature at university and it opened my eyes to the possibility of sexuality as a life choice.

She then “threw [her]self into the fullblown lesbian lifestyle – gay clubs, bars and pubs:”

From 1988 until 2000 I lived in lesbian households, drank in lesbian pubs, went on gay rights marches and viewed my long-term future as being exclusively with women.

During those 12 years she entered into several long-term committed relationships with women. Usually, if it’s a male ex-gay telling the story, they’ll say they entered into multiple short-term sex-centric trysts with men, because this is what is stereotypical. But among female gays, it is the long-term relationship that is the stereotype, and it comes with its own set of constricting features. This is just the beginning of Clune’s stereotypes and sweeping generalizations. Read more…

Exodus International President Alan Chambers jubilantly noted on Facebook this morning that a lesbian couple of 22 years had finally broken up in response to prayers:

Heard from a couple this morning who have been praying for their daughter and her partner to come to Christ for 22 years. Both accepted Jesus, broke off their relationship and are pursuing a life in Christ. God is faithful and answers prayers. Be encouraged no matter your circumstances!

This rejoicing should tell you all you need to know about Exodus’s family values, and those of the Christian Right. They proclaim the importance of monogamy, faithfulness, commitment and love, but those values end when families fail to fit their narrow mold.

Alan’s fans are equally happy with the news, describing it as “amazing,” “awesome,” and testimony to Exodus’s ex-gay mantra that “change is possible.”