Right Wing Leaders To Spread Lies In The Guise Of Love, Says TWO

TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen Will Be In Macon on Saturday And Is Available For Interviews

WHAT: Leaders from Focus on the Family are appearing at a so-called “ex-gay” symposium in Macon called “Love Matters Most,” which falsely leads people to believe that they can “pray away the gay.” Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, will be available for interviews in Macon on Saturday, September 30, in his organization’s effort to counter Focus on the Family’s disinformation campaign.

“This event will spread lies in the guise of love and substitute scientific facts with faith-based fiction,” said Besen. “What these ex-gay groups are not telling people is that their programs shatter lives, create divorces and can even lead to suicide.”

TWO’s Besen will also be attending the conference to get a first-hand account of the program. Love Matters Most promises to “Love homosexuals as Jesus would do” and to offer a “fresh Christian approach.” While skeptical, Besen says he will keep an open mind and would welcome a change of heart and rhetoric from Focus on the Family.

“This conference promises a ‘fresh Christian approach,’ but it is featuring the same stale anti-gay speakers who for years have twisted research, demeaned homosexuals and used the gay community as political pawns,” said Besen. “I’d like to be pleasantly surprised by the tone of this conference and hope the speakers acknowledge that God loves gay people just as they are.”

WHERE: Christ Chapel at Sportstowne –170 Starcadia Circle

TIME: (8am – 5pm)

BACKGROUND: The ex-gay ministries have a history of embarrassing scandals. Two of the ex-gay group Exodus International’s co-founders, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, left the group to marry each other. In 2000, Focus on the Family’s ex gay leader, John Paulk, was photographed by TWO’s Besen in a gay bar in Washington. So-called “conversion therapy” is rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization. At the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans, the APA released the following statement:

“For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA’s concern about the position’s espoused by the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.”

TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people. Besen, the group’s founder and Executive Director, is the author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking The Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”

- 30 -

By Wayne Besen

As luck would have it, Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement couldn’t have come at a better time for embattled Senator George Allen (R-Va.). Having just learned of his Jewish lineage, he has an unexpected chance to wash away his impressive array of sins.

Overnight, Allen went from a rising star in the Grand Old Party, to a man who looked like he was running for Grand Wizard. First, he referred to a young Indian-American as “macaca” a few weeks ago. Now, he is accused by two acquaintances of using the N-word in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Allen strenuously denies the allegations and has trotted out character witnesses to say he is the second coming of Malcolm X. But, his defense might seem more plausible if he had spent his adolescence collecting baseball cards, instead of confederate flags and nooses. He was also nicknamed “neck” during college - as in “redneck,” which certainly isn’t going to earn him any “trust me” points from the NAACP. (Read More)

In Letter, National Black Justice Coalition Urges Dr. Joseph Nicolosi To Apologize For His Organization’s Divisive Article

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Truth Wins Out called on Focus on the Family today to cancel a Saturday keynote speaking appearance by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, the Executive Director of The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), after a column was discovered on the group’s website that appeared to justify slavery.

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) also wrote a letter to Dr. Nicolosi this afternoon, calling on his organization to apologize for posting the article. NBJC is a national civil rights organization of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people that fosters equality by fighting racism and homophobia.

“In the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professional integrity, the National Black Justice Coalition strongly urges NARTH to issue a public apology on the front page of its website for publishing such an outrageous and offensive article,” wrote H. Alexander Robinson CEO/Executive Director in the group’s letter. “We also hope that you reevaluate your relationship with Dr. Schoenewolf whose peculiar views have no place in civilized discourse.” (Read More)

By Wayne Besen

In the pastoral foothills of North Carolina, nearly 2000 conservative Christians anxiously gathered this past Sunday in a school auditorium converted into a makeshift revival meeting. The make-up was as thick as the anticipation and the hairdos higher than the choir’s soaring notes. The standing room only crowd was whiter than a convention of ghosts and overflowed into an adjacent room with a big screen television. As the music played people held up massive Bibles and hollered and hooted as if they were in a heated competition for the Lord’s ear.

The clean cut and wholesome-looking families were not waiting on evangelical titans such as Billy Graham or Rev. Jerry Falwell, but on the somewhat obscure ex-gay leader Tim Wilkins, who directs Wake Forest-based Cross Ministries.

The revival was a deliberate response to a provocative new ad campaign by the organization Faith In America, which challenges what it refers to as “Religion-based bigotry.” Faith in America is directed by Rev. Jimmy Creech, who was dismissed by the United Methodist Church for performing a commitment ceremony for a same-sex couple, and was founded by North Carolina furniture mogul Mitchell Gold, who had invited me to attend this event. (Read More)

TWO Calls On Palm Springs Mayor To Hold Focus on the Family and NARTH Accountable At Saturday’s Love Won Out Conference

Miami Beach, Fla. - Truth Wins Out expressed extreme disgust with the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality today (NARTH) after a racist column was discovered on the group’s website that defends slavery. The comments come only days before the openly gay, African American mayor of Palm Springs, Ron Oden, will appear at Focus on the Family’s Sept. 23 anti-gay “Love Won Out” conference, which is headlined by NARTH’s Executive Director Joseph Nicolosi.

The shocking opinion piece was penned by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D., a member of NARTH’s “Scientific Advisory Committee,” in 2005 and re-posted last week by Timothy Kincaid on the website Ex-Gay Watch. According to Schoenwolf: “With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America,” wrote Schoenwolf. (Read More)

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
c/o Investigations and Resolutions Department, investigations&resolutions@cpso.on.ca
c/o Dr. Dale Mercer, President, mercerd@kgh.kari.net
80 College Street
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2E2

Dear Dr. Mercer:

Truth Wins OUT (TWO) is a non-profit organization that counters right wing disinformation campaigns, debunks so-called “ex-gay” theories, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people.

By means of this letter, I am filing a formal complaint against Dr. Joseph Berger, M.D., a member of your organization. Specifically, this action is being taken because of objectionable comments made by Dr. Berger that border on the promotion of child abuse.

Dr. Berger currently serves on the “Scientific Advisory Committee” for the controversial group, The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), which purports to turn gay people straight. Recently, on NARTH’s website, Dr. Berger posted a response to a San Francisco Chronicle article that explored gender issues in schools. According to Dr. Berger: (Read More)

On September 9-11, 2006, Christian leaders whose organizations touch the lives of 98 million Americans gathered in Dallas, Texas, for the Bishops and Elders Council to end the homophobia and heterosexism in churches and to reaffirm Jesus’ message of love, welcome, and acceptance of all people.

STATEMENT BY BISHOPS AND ELDERS COUNCIL

On September 11, 2001, some leading Christian extremists portrayed the tragedy of 9/11 as God’s judgment on America for the presence of gays and lesbians. The intervening years have witnessed an alarming escalation of religion-based, anti-gay attacks by both political leaders and religious groups.

Today, on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we, as leaders representing organizations that touch the lives of 98 million Americans, are united in our rejection of all forms of fear-based religion, all political manipulation in the name of Jesus, and governmental hostility toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons, especially that hostility that uses Christianity as an excuse to divide society and demonize minorities. (Read More)

‘Pure Passion’ Will Pollute Minds With Pure Nonsense, Says TWO

Miami Beach – Truth Wins Out today condemned the upcoming launch of “Pure Passion,” an “ex-gay” television show that will air on two Christian television networks. Beginning Sept. 18, The Sky Angel Satellite Network will run the program on Tuesday evenings at 11 PM (ET) on channel 9702, according to an ex-gay newsletter. “Pure Passion” will also broadcast on local affiliates with the Christian Television Network.

“The last thing people of faith need is more pure propaganda and pure nonsense that is rejected by every mainstream mental health organization in the nation,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We are deeply concerned that innocent young people dealing with their sexual orientation will be led to self-destructive behavior, including suicide, by a show designed to confuse fact with fiction.” (Read More)

In Extending The Welcome Mat, Mayor Oden is In Danger of Becoming A Doormat For Focus on the Family’s Slick Public Relations Campaign, Says TWO

Miami Beach - Truth Wins Out questioned the wisdom today of Palm Springs mayor Ron Oden’s enthusiastic greeting of hate group Focus on the Family to his city. While the openly-gay mayor is well-intentioned, he may be giving an undeserved platform to an extremist group that claims he and others like him are mentally ill and morally inferior. TWO is concerned that in cheerily extending the welcome mat, Oden may end up as a doormat in Focus’ media savvy enterprise.

Upon finding out that Focus was bringing its ex-gay road show Love Won Out to town on Sept 23., Oden wrote the group an amiable letter saying he was “so proud” to have the conference in town even though it preaches “the truth that homosexuality is preventable and treatable.”

“The mayor made a mistake in helping legitimize one of the most virulently anti-gay and offensive organizations in the country,” said TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “The Atlanta Braves baseball team barred Focus on the Family from ‘Faith Day’ last month because of its divisive message and we had hoped that Oden would also have stood firm in condemning this intolerant group.” (Read More)