Parents of 23-year-old Bryce Faulkner have gone public on Fox News to declare that Faulkner is doing “fine” and voluntarily submitting to “Christian counseling.” Fox News failed to obtain a statement directly from Faulkner and failed to disclose Faulkner’s location.
(Faulkner is pictured at top center with friend Travis Swanson, far left, and other friends.)
Debra Faulkner, of El Dorado, Ark., falsely characterizes Faulkner’s concerned friends as people who were “pulling him” toward homosexuality. “He just wants to take some time and figure out what he wants to do with his life.”
The parents claim that Faulkner has released the following statement from seclusion: “Every decision that I’ve made has been based solely upon my beliefs and I have not been manipulated or coerced by anyone to do anything.”
Bryce’s friend Travis Swanson, 24, disagrees. (See previous TWO story.) He said the pair had been pursuing a happy relationship, mostly via Skype with occasional personal visits, until Debra gained access to her son’s e-mail account and discovered Bryce’s secret.
According to Fox News:
The next time they spoke, Swanson said, Bryce was inconsolable.
“He was crying really, really bad, I mean, like uncontrollably crying,” he said. “He said [Bryce's parents] made him read quotes aloud from the Bible and said that he’s going to hell.”
The following day, Swanson said he received a text from Faulkner indicating that his parents wanted to take him to a “place in Pensacola” to address his sexuality. Swanson would later call the Union County Sheriff’s Department to say that Faulkner was being taken against his will by his “fundamental Baptist” parents.
The Fox News story greatly exaggerates the number of ex-gay affiliates of Exodus International to “roughly 250 local ministries.” Fox also misleadingly tells readers that president Alan Chambers has two children — concealing their adoption. Exodus International refuses to issue an official policy opposing coerced or involuntary participation in its programs; Fox News did not inquire about this.
Hat tip: XGW
Thanks so much for keeping us up-to-date on this. It’s heart-breaking. I would ask you to reconsider this accusation, though:
“Fox also misleadingly tells readers that president Alan Chambers has two children ‚Äî concealing their adoption.”
The last thing the gay community needs is to be telling people that it’s misleading to call adopted children your own. I understand what you’re getting at (i.e., children are not proof of heterosexuality) but the Right tells enough lies that we don’t need to minimize the adoptive-parent relationship in order to accuse them of dishonesty.
Thanks for the feedback, Rob. I’ve been uncomfortable how to *concisely* make the point that Chambers’ exploits adoption to imply heterosexual relations, and I will try to express that concern with greater respect for legitimate adoption.
And I understand what you’re getting at, too—that parents are parents, whether their kids are adopted or not, and we should not imply otherwise. But he glosses over the adoptions fact in his own book, in a potentially if not definitively misleading way:
To his credit, he makes it very clear throughout the book that heterosexuality is not the goal, and he’ very open about the sexual issues he and Leslie had. But if one didn’t know better, they might think (among other things) that his dad, in some way, helped them to become fertile, and that they had the children.
Now, if he’ already established that heterosexuality is not the goal, then he’ also established that children are not the goal. So why be surreptitious about the adoptions?
To be clear, this is not about the adoptions, it’ about the character of Alan Chambers. He unnecessarily draws suspicion (i.e., implies children are proof of heterosexuality) whenever he omits this important fact, and this Fox News story just adds fuel to that fire.
For the sake of your own credibility, Alan, either insist that their mention include the fact that they are adopted, or insist that they’re not mentioned at all. Anything less, inflates the notion that opposite-sex attraction can be learned and should be expected.
I would love to see Alan Chambers on the Maury Povich show: “And as for Son A and Son B, Alan…………………….you are NOT the father!!!”