Despite its admission this year that almost no one affiliated with Exodus International has ever successfully changed their sexual orientation, the ex-gay umbrella network continues its Love Won Out roadshow.
Increasingly targeted at antigay relatives instead of exgay-wannabes, LWO still promises to tell parents and siblings the “truth” that honesty about one’s orientation is sinful, and that same-sex-attracted persons should refrain from identifying their homosexual or bisexual orientation. LWO also promises relatives that their gay loved ones can — like the on-stage role models — marry the opposite gender, have kids, and masquerade as heterosexual couples the way God intended.
Or, we are told, people who “struggle” with homosexuality can wait patiently, singly, to be “transformed by God’s amazing grace” — no, change is not possible, but yes, it is possible!
As in the past, Exodus LWO speakers appear to be opposed to certain Christian gospel values: They instead emphasize values of shame, denial, legalism, and conditional love.
- Grace, non-judgment, and acknowledgment of bigotry as a sin are absent from the theology of Exodus board member and author Joe Dallas, who with Nancy Heche writes books blaming parents, liberal Christians, and non-existent childhood abusers for the supposed development of homosexuality in childhood.
- High school mentor coordinator Julie Rodgers teaches families that their gay loved ones are broken, inadequate, and incomplete.
- Moody Bible Institute teacher Christopher Yuan equates his homosexuality with his past drug-dealing. His parents blame their son’s homosexuality, not their own bigotry or the son’s past drug-dealing, for family heartache.
The conference Q&A claims not to “cure” gays, but rather to “transform” them so that they “overcome” same-sex attractions. Instead of explaining what sexual orientation really is, the conference postulates “the many factors that can lead to someone adopting a homosexual identity” — implying that orientation is merely a label rather than an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to one or both genders. The conference misquotes the American Psychiatric Association, whose definition of orientation and opposition to ex-gay mythology are clear. And regarding whether the Christian God loves homosexuals, Exodus sidesteps critics who have condemned the organization for teaching that sexual honesty is one of the worst ways to disappoint God.
For an offering of just $65, you or a family member may observe 10 hours of stereotypes, disappointment, shame, butchered Bible verses, conformity, and mangled mental-health advice. Interested? Register here for the Sept. 22, 2012, roadshow in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where a House bill earlier this year would have amended the state constitution to not only ban marriage equality, but also nullify cities’ existing and future domestic partnership laws.
Or, for a better use of your time, support Equality Pennsylvania‘s efforts to affirm religious freedom by countering antigay prejudice, violence, and discrimination.
Why do we expect honesty, introspection and a disappearance of the profit motive from christianist leaders any more than your average Joe? The fact is, their claims of “transformation” are a self-deluded chimera that have nothing to do with meeting some unverifiable sky savior and everything to do with personal self-loathing and dissatisfaction with how they have lived their lives so far. The circumstances that lead them to their despair may not all be their fault, but their choice of a cure for their unhappiness is their responsibility. Unfortunately the rest of us get sucked along for the ride in all of the political ramifications of their religious delusions.
It is amazing – people who buy into this trash seem to honestly believe that such organizations do this out of compassion, love, sincerity, honesty, truth, etc. When their “truth” becomes known as a lie, they simply reword and repackage the crap into another confusing form. It is all about the money and the foolish, dumb, hardheaded believers continue to empty their wallets. The leaders of such groups must laugh themselves to sleep every night.
So much for Exodus’s and Alan Chamber’s transformation or whatever the hell it was. Its basically the same old crap dressed up in different language.
I have to disagree with you on one point, Gianni. I really don’t think that it’s all about the money. “Ex-gay” ministry isn’t a big money-spinner. Yes, it is no doubt possible to make a modestly comfortable income from it, but no more than that, and only those at the top manage even that. I think that it’s a pity, in a way, that money isn’t the principal motive: if it were, “ex-gay” ministries would have passed into history by now. The driving force behind this fraud is something more irrational but even more compelling than a commonplace pecuniary motive: it is a deeply ingrained and superstitious hatred of gay sexuality and a fanatical desire to punish both oneself and others for it. Yes, they want to make money – their “ministry” couldn’t survive otherwise – but not just to line their pockets; they want to make money so that they can do more of it.
I noticed that this LWO conference location is the Harrisburg, PA area in the center of the state. There’s an old description of Pennsylvania that’s still pretty much true: You have Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, and Alabama in the middle.
I’ve said it before, but it’s funny how people who call out to Christ the loudest follow his teachings the least.
I’d like to start a program..and YES I WILL accept money.. I’d like to transform closeted gay Republicans into OUT gay people…. Then..I will donate ALL of that money to the Ali Forni Center in NYC. It is a homeless shelter for gay kids that have been kicked out to the streets by their good “Christian” families because they are gay…
Last month, I infiltrated Exodus’ equipping event in Mechanicsburg, PA, a workshop intended to teach service providers about people with “unwanted same-sex attraction.” While the event didn’t say outright that LGBTQ people could be cured, it still depicted homosexuality as something pathological, sinful, and at odds with Christian faith. The speakers talked about “transformation” through Christ, but never really specified what that transformation entails. In short, the whole event was profoundly homophobic, and I expect more of the same from Love Won Out.
What broke my heart were all the people (80+) at the equipping event. Many of them were counselors, youth leaders, and other service providers who will now inflict Exodus’ message on their LGBTQ charges. Equally heartbreaking were the people at the event who set off my gaydar — I remember thinking, “What are you doing here? Why are you at war with part of who you are? Embrace who you are and leave these people far behind!”
Ahab,
Its very hard to “embrace who you are and leave these people far behind” when one’s lifelong social milieu and raison d’ětre are so interwoven with & enmeshed in fundagelical religion. Once people come out of the closet it is unfathomable to think of going back in, but from the other side it is almost equally unimaginable to leave. This is why I believe we must be patient and continually living our lives as open, public and healthy LGBT people: for the younger generation and for those still caught up in the religious closet.