Exodus International’s former Vice President, Randy Thomas, has always been rather truth challenged — much like his old boss Alan Chambers. Yesterday, he took me to task for criticizing Chambers for “queening out” in a video — which clearly shows that he is still GAY — not the “ex-gay” he purports and gets paid to be.
Highlighting this bizarre video is important — not simply for a chance “mock” the utter ridiculousness and unprofessional demeanor or Chambers — but to point out his rancid hypocrisy. Exodus does two things:
1) It is a place where clients pay big bucks to “pray away the gay”
2) It enforces strict gender roles and traffics in outdated stereotypes.
Before we go any further, I will remind you that Thomas was Exodus’ political hack and worked hard to take away our equal rights. A report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center in November 2010, analyzing FBI data from 1995 to 2008, found that LGBT people are 2.6 times more likely to be attacked than blacks; 4.4 times more likely than Muslims; 13.8 times more likely than Latinos; and 41.5 times more likely than whites. Still Thomas (pictured on far right) felt obliged to insult the victims of hate crimes by posing in this disgusting ad:
He also worked the political system to try to help pass the Federal Marriage Amendment that would have written LGBT couples out of the US Constitution. Here he is chilling with Karl Rove:
Anyway — Thomas accuses me of “mocking” Chambers — which is true because he deserves it. There is spectacular hypocrisy and serious cognitive dissonance when a man runs an “ex-gay” program obsessed with rigid gender roles, then turns around and prances in a video. Here is the video in question:
Grace Church Announcements for January 29th 2012 from Randy Thomas on Vimeo.
Alan Chambers bitterly complained and said he was being “bullied.” He then essentially claimed I was distorting the truth by using old material to represent Exodus:
“And, for the record, Exodus doesn’t help people become masculine or feminine. Those types of things haven’t been around in decades. Your information is outdated an [sic] you know it.”
First, Chambers never apologized for the many lives his organization trashed and destroyed by the methods and techniques he now breezily claims are no longer part of his program. Shouldn’t the people who were harmed by the lipstick seminars and masculinity exercises, at the very least, be given their money back?
Second, the stereotypes peddled by Exodus are not a relic of the past, but a very real part of the modern Exodus literature and programs. Chambers is simply lying when he claims Exodus has changed its tune. For example, the Love Won Out in Atlanta this past weekend sold Janet Boynes book, Called Out. Here is a passage from that book.
“In the years since those early first steps of faith, I have gradually gained confidence as a woman. I know that I have made a fool of myself trying to learn how to walk in heels and there are definitely days when I feel more comfortable in a sweatshirt and blue jeans, but I have been learning little by little. I have grown my hair out and regularly get my nails done.” (p. 67)
Um, sounds like Exodus minister Janet Boynes is doing exactly what Chambers says is outdated. Chambers should explain why Exodus is selling this book promoting gender stereotypes?
If this wasn’t bad enough, Exodus current workbook and DVD set, Hope for Wholeness is a cesspool of gender stereotypes and distortions on masculinity and femininity. Examining this “ex-gay”curriculum reveals an organization fixated on placing men and women in 1950′s gender boxes. The women, in particular, are browbeaten into conforming and portrayed as transforming from “Ugly Dykeling” to “Straight Swan.” Take a look at Exodus current rhetoric that it is selling to its clients for $330:
If masculinity is an achievement — than Alan Chambers obviously has not lived up to the program goals he is peddling to desperate and vulnerable people.
I’d love to know which part of women’s rights Exodus believes had a negative impact. Was it voting or working outside the home? Was it allowing women to control their lives with birth control? Was it allowing women to leave unsatisfying or abusive marriages?
In the above figure, Exodus is selling the lie about gay men being passive and how they can be more assertive. Say, like Alan Chambers, who is so assertive that he can skip on a video and not see how odd it looks for an “ex-gay” activist.
Yes, let’s browbeat girls into becoming Stepford Wives and bully boys until they know not to prance in pubic videos…oh, wait.
Check out the junk pseudoscience and bogus cause and effect relationships that Exodus still uses to this day. it is unbelievable that they want to be taken seriously when they rely on these anachronistic ideas that no credible expert has believed since before Richard Nixon was president.
And here is my favorite — Janet Boynes great “fakeover” — showing that Exodus is nothing, if not a series of “before and after” pictures designed to bilk clients into believing that they can act stereotypically straight if they just place their trust and cash in Exodus.
I’ve vividly shown that Exodus is untruthful when they claim their emphasis on gender boxes is a thing of the past. Chambers “outrage” was nothing more than a cynical tactic to elicit sympathy by playing the victim. As the above evidence show, Chambers and his enablers, such as Thomas, are actually the victimizers.
I’m going to end by expressing my disdain for Thomas, who leveled a gossip-laden passive aggressive smear job on me on his vanity blog.
Commenting on TWO’s PFOX lawsuit he wrote:
My guess is … not that it really matters but I have had run-in’s with both Greg and Wayne … Greg probably said what he said to generate sympathy and support through negative attention seeking. Wayne is doing the same thing to try and raise money from his own activist base of support.
To draw a moral equivalence between Quinlan’s outrageous claim and our trying to raise money to support our lawsuit is unseemly. Perhaps if Exodus had raised more money, Thomas would still have his old job.
Here’s where Thomas’ lack of decency and morality shines through:
But truly, who knows the whole story? What if Greg is repeating something he was told by someone he trusted who was lying or … not? I’ve had people tell me all kinds of horrible things that Wayne has allegedly done and said but I saw it for the gossip it was. I wouldn’t repeat it publicly because I don’t know that it is really true even though I have reason to trust the folks who told me.
First, Thomas is deliberately spewing innuendo and engaging in gossip when he claims, “I’ve had people tell me all kinds of horrible things that Wayne has allegedly done.” Only a sleaze merchant would make such an allegation without backing it up. Please, Randy, name the people and the specific allegations — and if you can’t you shouldn’t be printing such trash. And, if you elect to publish these allegations, please be advised that if they are not true, you and the people involved will be also be facing lawsuits.
The difference between you, Quinlan — and myself — is that I am willing to take both a polygraph and NoLie MRI to prove my innocence. I’m guessing that neither Quinlan, nor yourself, and your alleged friends who made alleged charges would fare so well in such truth-telling tests.
Finally, what really bothers me about Thomas’ rant is that he is not fully disclosing the facts. He writes that he has heard rumors and allegations from unnamed sources that likely only exist in his vivid imagination. Why would he rely on such alleged tales when he has met me in person several times? I believe the last time I had contact with Thomas we dined together at the One-by-One “ex-gay” conference in Orlando, Florida. At lunch, we had a rather civil and pleasant conversation about politics.
Prior to this, Thomas was assigned to monitor me at an Exodus conference in Asheville, NC while I was writing my book, Anything But Straight. Again, the interaction was rather innocuous and we engaged in small talk as he shadowed me. Given this personal interaction, I would think that Thomas would have the dignity and class to clearly state that my in-person behavior at “ex-gay” events and with “ex-gay” activists is non-confrontational and completely respectful. He knows this from experience, yet elected to conceal this fact, and instead spread gossip — which I believe the Bible has something to say about.
Come to think of it, given our pleasant in-person history, I’m considering putting Thomas under oath to testify as a character witness for our side in the PFOX case.
Damn, you go Wayne. I give you my word to donate as soon as I’m working again!
Thanks, Tony — if there is one thing that I won’t put up with is Alan Chambers coming on our site and lying to our readers. Other organizations might believe him — but TWO’s policy is to verify every last syllable that comes out of that guy’s mouth.
TWO assumes everything Chambers and Thomas say are lies until proven otherwise.
That was amusing, Chambers saying ex-gay quackery isn’t about gender conformity anymore. This is no different from scientologist reps claiming ‘Oh, we don’t teach our members about Xenu anymore, who would believe in crap like that?’ and continuing to teach it because LRH wrote it. In fact, Exodus reminds me a lot of that bogus church.
This brand of Christian culture is about conformity and heteronormativity and always has been. There is a huge underlying fear of human variety at work here. It’s laughable for someone to try to deny that.
What are the chances that Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche’s recent Exodus book tells ex-lesbians to go right ahead and be tomboys?
As a matter of fact, I think I’ll go check right now….
Notice that their real problems are always caused by religion. They know they are gay, but they are told that their imaginary god disapproves. Which is the main reason they seek to change themselves. If not for the superstitious god babble there would be far less issues
Gay men are not “assertive”? Hahahaha! We’re taking on the entire political culture of the most powerful nation on earth and telling it to accept us as the gay men we are, or else. And we’re winning.
And heterosexual men are all assertive, and none passive, and none have any problems making decisions by themselves? Hahahahaha! He’s never seen a Woody Allen movie, eh? Or never heard of a milquetoast man? Or met a librarian? Yikes, Charles Bronson’s and Chuck Norris’s all, right? And man, are so many hetero men afraid of us, um, sissies.
And this guys is so “re-heteroized” that he has to still tell himself every day “I’m not gay, I’m not gay.” Egad, what a putz.
And he makes a living off of donations, since he’s selling a product no one is buying. There’s no way Exodus or any of these groups can fund themselves from what they are selling. He’s got no customers. Hell, he’s got no advertising program to even reach potential customers. He’s reduced to begging for pennies. What a dumb business plan.
It is amazing how they portray the LGBT activists as aggressive and militant when it suits their sleazy political purposes and then turn around and say we are not assertive when it fits their “ex-gay” junk science programs.
These people will do or say anything. They lack a conscience and a soul.
I can never ceased to be amazed at the duplicity of so-called followers of Jesus to exaggerate, gossip, defame, self-promote and outright lie in defense of their theology. Randy Thomas and Allan Chambers I am talking to you! And you are the people who claim you are living their lives in imitation of Jesus?
This is why christianity, especially the fundagelical kind will eventually die among educated circles in America as it has in Europe. There is too much disconnect between the followers and reality.
Great job holding Exodus to account recently.
And you pretty much nailed Randy’s passive aggression.
Ooooh no, it’s not just Joe Dallas, but it’s June Hunt of Hope For the Heart too! It’s a gay nightmare! Do you know much about her? She is a spinster from Texas (daughter of a millionaire)who claims that gays have a ‘mistaken identity’ because our identity should be ‘in Christ’ therefore we can’t be gay. She is a crazy old bat who thinks she knows everything about teh gayz & holds seminars to spread her crap. She has a radio show on xtian radio called Hope for the Heart & has a second show at midnight called Hope in the Night where she spends two hours counseling ‘broken people’ i.e. anyone who isn’t her type of Southern Baptist, especially gays.
I have never insulted agnostics or atheists on this website and a significant number of my friends consider themselves as such. It is a position that I can respect, however, I feel personally insulted when people here imply that those of us who believe in some type of a Transcendent/Divine Reality (God) are stupid, uneducated, superstitious and/or gullible. I have an above average IQ and have a masters degree. Many of the greatest minds in history as well as today have been and are ‘theists’. The Episcopal Church that I attend in Philadelphia is in the vicinity of some of the best teaching hospitals in the world and many of the people who attend my Church are physicians, nurses and medical research scientists. One elderly woman member, who is now retired, is a renowned specialist in pediatric oncology. We also have university professors in philosophy and various other subjects. None of us are *uneducated*, gullible or superstitious. You can criticize fundamentalist/literalistic religion (I agree with you) without demeaning and insulting all of us.
“without demeaning and insulting all of us”
well the religious of all types have demeaned, abused, oppressed, hated, marginalized, etc. gay people and other minorities for centuries, so now it’s payback time regardless of how liberal or conservative you are. BTW your post reads like a list of cliches from all over the web about this topic. “I have friends that are atheists/gay,” “Brilliant people throughout history were religious,” etc etc ad nauseum. Can’t you think of a better angle?
DaveTheWave
I take a small issue with that only slightly in many Asian religions there is no opinion specifically on us set in stone. The ancient Norse beliefs weren’t homophobic for the most parts in fact according to their beliefs only women or men who were the receptive partner in sex had mystical power and revered. The ancient druids were said to of engaged in ritual homosexuality and were so revered that they could stop any war in their region. Virtually all religions except modern religions (see scientology) and the various branches that worship the god of abraham (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) were either opinionated on or revered gay men.
That’s why many gay men I know become pagan or Buddhist since those beliefs don’t have anything set in stone against us. Also why I’m Anti-Christian.
Alan Chambers and Randy Thomas, other than their tired old rhetoric about gender, really don’t understand what VARIANCE and DIVERSITY actually means. It appears that certain hets don’t have the ability to engage complexity or understand it. Things have to be very simple for them, or else it’s threatening and has to disappear.
The way boogiemen have to for two year olds.
As a HET woman, it’s the man that TRUE to his characteristics and individual aspects that makes a horse race. What normal woman can only accept men that are all the same, think the same and have the same attitudes and interests?
Alan and Randy, het men don’t have to TRAIN so hard at being het men. And therefore, no gay man could possibly FAKE it enough for a well adjusted het woman to accept it.
At least in ways she’ll admit when there’s no profit in it.
And I have news for Ms. Boynes: no amount of SUPERFICIAL affect, is going to make you a het woman.
A SECURE het woman, actually DOESN’T go for such trappings. That IS a weave you’ve got on your head, after all.
This is a matter of the grass seeming to be greener on the other side. It’s easier to be a het man, than a woman of either sexual orientation. It’s easier to be white than black.
It’s even harder to be a free thinking, intelligent and self assured woman among insecure control freak men.
It’s hard to avoid the abuses, and disrespect that apparently some men associate with masculinity. Which can sometimes bring about resentment of being female for some girls.
But there ARE ways of combating that resentment with OTHER forms of accomplishment that doesn’t involve bashing men, or gays and lesbians.
In doing such socio/political action, it shows another level of weakness and insecurity, NOT accomplishment if it’s at the EXPENSE of what gay people are and can accomplish.
And one’s orientation certainly is NOT an accomplishment at all. It’s a state of being that’s not achieved by personal effort.
And applause for having an orientation whichever one, is inappropriate and patently STUPID for ex gays to believe is to be rewarded.
Because being a het person means nothing and IS nothing in comparison to being a trustworthy and talented person.
Which is why I think this whole business of expecting or thinking accolades should be forthcoming for presenting LESS butch, in the case of Ms. Boynes
Or less, in the case of RT and AC.
I’m a not so girly woman myself. I’m tall, with a very athletic build. I shave my head and my usual wear is jeans, t’s and cowboy boots.
I hardly EVER wear makeup and when I do, it’s a little bit.
I will cop to wearing big silver hoop or other forms of arty looking earrings. That’s the ONLY jewelry.
My fingernails are very short, and well cared for. No polish.
And most of my professional life has been in, and continues to be, part time, in one of the most lookist industries in the world: that of entertainment.
So, I’d tell Ms. Boyne’s she’s DOING IT WRONG.
You’re either het, or gay…or in between. But you can’t be vinyl, trying to say you’re genuine leather.
A woman with breast implants can’t go around saying God gave her those DD’s.
What would Ms. Boyne’s or AC think of someone who does that?
Well, that’s exactly the kind of people they are.
A FAKE hetero is just as annoying when they aren’t even convincing themselves too well just what sexual orientation they really are.
Gary,
I have always enjoyed your input and insights to this website and I am sorry you are offended. I personally was a progressive christian for almost 40 years before my deconversion. I couldn’t have stayed in christianity at all if it had not been for the contemplative side of christianity. I still have respect for people from that background though I have personally concluded that there is absolutely no non-anecdotal, verifiable evidence to support any of my former christian beliefs.
The only time I personally launch into an attack on the beliefs of christians is when they are the topic of the blog or come as trolls onto this site pushing their misogynistic, homophobic, cherry-picked, buybull thumping b******t. As far as I am concerned, they are absolutely fair game. I apologize that you and others are collateral damage, so to speak. It is nothing personal. However, I am unable to intellectually differentiate between the arguments of “good” religious people and the “bad” ones, though I clearly know the ones I would prefer to hang out with! Is that helpful?
@Regan DuCasse
Boyne flat out admits in her own damn book that she is bisexual. She has had relationships with men and women.
Aside from religious pushback by her parents, her problem was that she was in an abusive relationship with a woman and also took heavy drugs. That’s what really screwed her up. In her efforts to get over her addiction and personal problems she then fell in with religious extremists who brainwashed her further and instilled those hangups about her sexuality
Thanks so much Steve.
In other words, that’s a seriously messed up woman who finds it easier to blame gay orientation than any other shortcomings.
It’s not like hets get to do that.
[...] certainly didn’t mean to gossip or be passive aggressive. Apparently, in Wayne’s World, I am Gladys Kravitz reincarnated as a white male social [...]
@Regan
Wow that was so well put!
It’s unfortunate these clowns are so deceived. I would put their organization as AntiChrist in Action.
Jesus was a rebel who fought against damaging tradition I.e. suffering via high taxation and serious “god” confusion of the day which still prevails, and he died for it. These loons want to be like him but do the exact opposite, they promote judgment of others to a tee, hence AntiChrist.
Do they actually think irresponsible behavior that promotes suicide in the marketplace is what Jesus would be rooting for? Do they actually think Jesus would lay down laws that would support breaking up loving gay families? I think they do. But Jesus would turn over their money tables in a rage of anger, as he did 2k years ago for making money through greed and bargaining within a house of worship, the church.
And then they think it brings them “closer to God”. What tripe! One can get closer to God by supporting bullying and suicide. Very very sick spiritual manna.
And Randy wonders why his glaring migranes are increasing in intensity. He may soon explode from this compulsive affectionate form of denial he so lavishly fawns over. He is a very very pour listener to Jesus based logic. You don’t love your neighbor by slipping them spiritually venomous poison.
Best he and Chambers take the Smid approach, quickly, or they may both find themselves in ruts they can no longer navigate.
I have the worst Gaydar in the world, the worst! BUT, in this video Alan Chambers sure does seem gay to me. If he was not doing what he is doing I think I would like him, like him personally. He seems real nice.
To be honest he seems like a perfect fit at Gay Christain Network. I bet if they would pay him his same $90,000 a year salary he would jump ship.
It is to bad he has chosen the dark side.
“Blazing saddles?”
I never use this word, but in this case I gotta say, “Girrrrllllllll!”