TWO Demands That Bachmann Stops Petty and Vindictive Threats Over $150 Fraudulent ‘Therapy’ Bill
Burlington, Vt – Truth Wins Out expressed surprise today that Marcus Bachmann personally called the organization demanding $150 for cancelled July sessions of “ex-gay” therapy with a counselor at his office. He threatened that if TWO did not pay him by Friday he would turn the phony bill over to a collection agency.
In July, Truth Wins Out went undercover and exposed Bachmann & Associates for practicing a form of discredited “pray away the gay” therapy. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign. After TWO’s John Becker, who went undercover, had enough videotape evidence to prove that “ex-gay” therapy occurred at Bachmann’s clinic, he called the clinic and cancelled his remaining appointments. Despite widespread circulation of TWO’s video footage, Marcus denied the therapy had taken place.
“I cancelled my remaining appointments in compliance with Bachmann & Associates’ stated procedure,” said John Becker, TWO’s Director of Communications and Development, “yet Marcus Bachmann himself called me and threatened to send the fraudulent $150 ‘bill’ to a collection agency by Friday. I find it odd that Bachmann handled this matter personally rather than through his billing department. This is certainly an unorthodox way of doing business, much like the unethical ‘ex-gay’ therapy offered at his clinic.”
“We call on Marcus Bachmann to immediately stop his petty and vindictive campaign of harassment and threats against our organization,” said TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Perhaps, now that Michele’s campaign is foundering, the Bachmanns are frustrated and looking for scapegoats to explain her failure. Truth Wins Out refuses to be intimidated or blackmailed by Bachmann. This bogus bill will not be paid.”
Becker was surprised when he received a voicemail from Bachmann on Monday demanding payment for cancelled sessions which never took place. On Tuesday, he returned Bachmann’s call and spoke with him for nearly seven minutes in the presence of a reporter from the local ABC/FOX affiliate in Burlington. The video of the tense exchange can be viewed at Truth Wins Out’s website.
“We saw firsthand that the ‘ex-gay’ therapy practiced by Bachmann & Associates is unethical and unhealthy for clients,” said Becker. “What goes on in that clinic is rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization in America.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO fights anti-LGBT religious extremism, monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications & Development
Phone: 920-265-6023
E-mail: john@truthwinsout.org
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
Email: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Truth Wins Out Condemns Advisor to U.S. Catholic Bishops for Saying Homosexuality Comes From Satan
BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out condemned Massachusetts attorney Daniel Avila today for calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” caused by Satan invading the wombs of mothers of LGBT children. Avila, who serves as Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, made the inflammatory remarks in an article for the Boston Pilot, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In the article, he discussed a theory that homosexuality is caused by “random imbalances in maternal hormone levels,” which he falsely labeled as “the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis.” Avila went on to say:
“…the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture’s account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God’s handiwork.
Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”
“Avila’s bizarre theories are unscientific and defamatory,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Telling Catholic mothers with LGBT children that Satan entered their womb and caused their child’s homosexuality is spiritual abuse of the highest order.”
“It is outrageous for an official advisor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to make such an appalling statement at all, much less in the approved newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston,” added John Becker, Truth Wins Out’s Director of Communications and Development. “The USCCB and the Boston Archdiocese must unequivocally condemn Avila’s bigoted remarks, or explain to LGBT Catholics and their parents why they refuse to do so.”
While the Catholic Church has increased its public anti-gay efforts in recent years, Avila’s words directly contradict those of the American Catholic Bishops in their 1997 pastoral letter entitled Always Our Children, which gave a far more nuanced view of the topic of homosexuality:
“…it seems appropriate to understand sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual) as a deep-seated dimension of one’s personality and to recognize its relative stability in a person. A homosexual orientation produces a stronger emotional and sexual attraction toward individuals of the same sex, rather than toward those of the opposite sex… There seems to be no single cause of a homosexual orientation. A common opinion of experts is that there are multiple factors—genetic, hormonal, psychological—that may give rise to it. Generally, homosexual orientation is experienced as a given, not as something freely chosen. By itself, therefore, a homosexual orientation cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose.”
The bishops’ letter also told parents of gay children not to reject them in a society full of violence and discrimination, that “God does not love someone any less simply because he or she is homosexual,” and that “the Christian community should offer its homosexual sisters and brothers understanding and pastoral care.”
“There is nothing remotely understanding or caring about Avila’s anti-gay smears,” said Becker. “His statements are in direct conflict with those of the bishops he counsels, and contribute to the continued marginalization of LGBT Catholics and their families within their church communities.”
Added Besen: “If America’s Catholic bishops are looking to Daniel Avila for advice about the LGBT community, it’s no wonder that so many fair-minded people are leaving the Catholic Church for other, more reasonable and rational denominations.”
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO fights anti-LGBT religious extremism, monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications and Development
Phone: 920-265-6023
Email: john@truthwinsout.org
Activist Who Exposed Marcus Bachmann’s Clinic for Practicing ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy Brings Truth Wins Out to Progressive Catholic Gathering
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Truth Wins Out, the national nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism and the “ex-gay” myth, announced today that it is sending activist John Becker to the Call to Action National Conference at Milwaukee’s Frontier Airlines Center from November 4-6. Becker conducted a recent hidden-camera sting operation that proved that the clinic run by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, practices so-called “ex-gay” therapy.
“I’m thrilled to travel to the Call to Action conference and meet with progressive Catholics from around the country who are fed up with the aggressive anti-LGBT agenda of their religious leaders,” said Becker, Director of Communications and Development for Truth Wins Out. “In the face of unrelenting bigotry from the Catholic hierarchy, right-wing Catholic laypeople, and the Knights of Columbus, it’s critical for equality-minded Catholics to stand up for inclusive values and speak out against religious extremism.”
The Catholic Church and its affiliates vociferously push an insidious anti-gay agenda. New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was the most outspoken opponent of that state’s marriage equality law. Minnesota’s Catholic bishops are currently leading the charge to add an anti-gay amendment to the state constitution, calling the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples a “top priority” in 2012 and using tax-exempt church resources for political purposes. The Knights of Columbus bankrolls the National Organization for Marriage, a group that fights against the civil rights of LGBT people across the country. And the Catholic Church even has its own “apostolate” for gay people, called Courage, that counsels members to abandon their natural sexuality for a lifetime of celibacy and endorses the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, a leading proponent of “ex-gay” conversion therapy.
“This extremism is totally out of step with the values of the vast majority of American Catholics,” said Becker. “I look forward to introducing attendees at the Call to Action conference to the important work of Truth Wins Out and encouraging them to continue standing up for LGBT equality in their churches and dioceses.”
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications and Development
Phone: 920-265-6023
Email: john@truthwinsout.org
Truth Wins Out Lauds Appointment of Beth Robinson to Vermont Supreme Court
BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out applauded Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin today for appointing Beth Robinson to the state Supreme Court. Robinson, who is openly lesbian, served as co-counsel for the landmark Baker v. Vermont case that resulted in the passage of the nation’s first civil union law in 2000, and also spearheaded the campaign to achieve full marriage equality for Vermont’s same-sex couples, a milestone reached in 2009. She has served as the governor’s chief legal counsel for the last ten months.
“We are thrilled that Governor Shumlin has appointed Beth Robinson, a tireless advocate for equality on behalf of Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, to the state’s highest court,” said John Becker, Director of Communications and Development for Truth Wins Out. “Robinson’s appointment underscores the commitment of the State of Vermont and the Shumlin administration to protecting and upholding the rights of LGBT people, and is yet another reason Truth Wins Out is proud to call this great state home.”
In an announcement yesterday, Gov. Shumlin praised Robinson’s background and qualifications:
“I am proud to appoint Beth Robinson to the Supreme Court,” the Governor said. “Beth’s strong legal background, experience with crafting legislation at the State House and commitment to the equal rights of all Vermonters will make her an exceptional justice on the Vermont Supreme Court. While I am thrilled to see Beth go to the Court and believe her to be the best qualified of an extraordinary pool of candidates, I am also sad to lose Beth as my legal counsel. In addition to depending on Beth’s sound legal advice, it is a pleasure to work with her every day.”
According to an interview with Vermont Public Radio, Robinson will wrap up work in the governor’s office in the coming weeks and go before the Senate next month, where confirmation of her appointment is virtually assured.
Truth Wins Out is a Burlington, Vermont-based national non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Southern Poverty Law Center and Truth Wins Out Launch Campaign Targeting Destructive Conversion Therapy
Community Meetings Planned in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Truth Wins Out (TWO) launched a national campaign today targeting conversion therapy, a thriving practice that claims to “convert” people from homosexuality to heterosexuality. The groups made the announcement in coordination with today’s National Coming Out Day.
The campaign will begin with a series of community meetings in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., for survivors of the practice, which has been discredited or highly criticized by virtually all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations. Survivors are also invited to share their own stories at www.splcenter.org/conversion-therapy. The campaign also will encourage community advocates and elected leaders to scrutinize local conversion therapy programs.
“Conversion therapy programs have devastated all too many lives and families by attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation,” said Christine Sun, deputy legal director, who leads the SPLC’s LGBT rights project. “This practice is based on nothing more than junk science and must stop.”
“There’s a serious concern that the damage inflicted by conversion therapy can reach far beyond the individual receiving the ‘therapy’ and into communities across the country,” said Wayne Besen, founder and executive director of Truth Wins Out.
Central to conversion therapy – sometimes known as reparative or “sexual reorientation” therapy – is the belief that being gay is a mental disorder – a position rejected by the American Psychiatric Association nearly four decades ago. People who have undergone conversion therapy have reported increased anxiety, depression, and in some cases, suicidal ideation.
Despite these findings, the conversion therapy movement continues to push its message and is increasingly targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, often recommending that parents commit their children to treatment against the child’s wishes.
The American Medical Association officially “opposes the use of ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy that is based on the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation.”
In 2006, the American Psychological Association declared: “There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.”
Yet the message that LGBTQ people can and should change their sexual orientation is echoed throughout the literature promoting conversion therapy:
“Anyone who experiences SSA [same-sex attraction] is not ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ ‘bisexual,’ or ‘transgender.’ They are all latent heterosexuals!”
“Self-deception about gender is at the heart of the homosexual condition. A child who imagines that he or she can be the opposite sex—or be both sexes—is holding on to a fantasy solution to his or her confusion. This is a revolt against reality and a rebellion against the limits built into our created human natures.”
Absurd theories and treatments also are promoted within the conversion therapy movement:
“The penis is the essential symbol of masculinity—the unmistakable difference between male and female. This undeniable anatomical difference should be emphasized to the boy in therapy.”
“The family model that produces a homosexual son has, in our view, typically failed to validate the boy’s masculine individuation during the formative phase of gender identification.”
There are other troubling aspects of this practice. The American Psychological Association expressed concern in 2006 that the positions espoused by some of the leading advocates of conversion therapy, such as the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), “create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.”
The potential for conversion therapy to foster an anti-LGBT atmosphere is another concern for the SPLC, which analyzed 14 years of federal hate crime data and found that homosexuals are far more likely to be victims of a violent hate crime than any other minority group in the United States. The SPLC also has worked to combat anti-gay bullying in schools.
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The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Alabama with offices in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. For more information, see www.splcenter.org.
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
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1. Richard Cohen, Straight Talk About Homosexuality: The Other Side of Tolerance, 2010, p. 112.
2. Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi, A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, 2002, p. 22.
3. Ibid., p. 24.
4. Joseph J. Nicolosi, Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy, 2009, p. 39.
Two things. First of all, bigots in North Carolina are trying to push through a constitutional amendment banning marriage or any other legal arrangements for gay couples. If you’ll remember from your geography classes, North Carolina is in the South. Guess what? A majority are opposed to said amendment:
According to a Public Policy Polling survey released on Wednesday, 55 percent of respondents would vote against the proposed amendment, 30 percent would vote for it, and 15 percent said they were not sure.
Oh crap. That’s gotta give some North Carolina wingnuts tremors.
Another recent poll shows how much ground the hate group set has lost among their own offspring:
The poll, released in late August by the Washington-based Public Religion Research Institute, found that nearly half (44 percent) of young evangelicals between the ages of 18 to 29 favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry.
By contrast, the white evangelical community as a whole (even counting those relatively liberal young adults) is solidly opposed to same-sex marriage, by slightly more than 80 percent.
More broadly, the poll found “at least a 20-point generation gap between millennials (age 18-29) and seniors (65 and over) on every public policy measure in the survey concerning rights for gay and lesbian people.”
The poll also found that a slight majority of all Catholics (52 percent) favor same-sex marriage, despite the energetic teaching of their church to the contrary.
Ouch. More pain for the wingnuts! A majority of Catholics support equality, which I’m sure chaps the behinds of the Catholic front group known as the National Organization for Marriage. But even more than that, this poll basically shows that among Evangelicals, the fight is lost as soon as the older generations hand the torch to the younger ones. Those younger Evangelicals are only going to get more liberal, and those who are not yet 18 will be more liberal than the current 18-29 set.
Wingnuts need to give it up and do something with the remainder of their lives, I think.
As Brian at Right Wing Watch points out, the idea that reparative therapy is a discredited and ineffective practice is nothing new. Mainstream researchers have been showing in their work for years that “praying away the gay” simply doesn’t work, and that you can’t change your orientation by marrying someone of the opposite sex [the "equality" that trolls like Bryan Fischer like to suggest that LGBT people already have]. But in a significant development, one of the Religious Right’s in-house studies seems to have just shown the same thing. A new study from Regent University [yes, Pat Robertson's outfit], looked at mixed-orientation marriages, where one partner is straight and the other one isn’t, to measure changes in their actual sexual orientation vis a vis their sexual behavior, over time. What they found will not be surprising to any readers here:
Unsurprisingly, they found on the Kinsey scale that measured sexual behavior that gay, bisexual or queer spouses had more heterosexual behavior when they were involved in a monogamous marriage to someone of the opposite sex. But they found that heterosexual behavior did not mean changes in sexual attraction, emotions or fantasies in the Kinsey scale (Kinsey Expanded) which measured sexual orientation. Essentially, while their sexual behavior changed, their sexual orientation remained the same.
In other words, not only can you not pray away the gay, but you also can’t expect to marry someone of the opposite sex and fake it until you make it. [Haha.]
The idea that people’s sexual behavior changed is unsurprising. People force themselves to do things that are unnatural for them all the time. But for the Religious Right, this argument has always been about sexual behavior, as they like to claim again and again that sexuality is really about behavior anyway, and that it’s a choice. It’s significant for a wingnut school to release a study refuting that notion and acknowledging that sexual orientation is a separate entity and that it can’t be changed simply by modifying one’s behavior.
File this under “Look, they just moved the goalposts closer to our position again.”
Those who follow the gay rights movement, especially as it pertains to Religious Right opposition, know all too well that anti-gay wingnuts will go completely Sarah Bernhardt at any perceived slight to the cultural supremacy they still believe they hold. Therefore, when a nondiscrimination law passes and suddenly a wedding photographer who happens to be a wingnut decides she doesn’t want to follow the law, the wingnut is held up as some sort of champion for tradishnul values/a trampled victim. Aside from the fact that it’s a completely disingenuous strategy, it’s sort of gross, as gay teens still attempt and complete suicide at far-too-alarming rates and even now, with a majority of Americans supporting marriage equality, anti-gay hate crimes are still on the rise. Meanwhile the incidences of Christian Fundamentalists being bullied, beaten, maimed or killed for being Christian Fundamentalists in this country are still pretty much zero. So the Religious Right touts these stories, bitching and moaning to the very moon about how we on the side of fairness and equality are the real haters and they’re the real victims.
A New York town clerk has decided to quit her job, rather than sign marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples:
Laura Fotusky submitted a letter of resignation to the town board in Barker, a small town north of Binghamton, on Monday, saying her religious beliefs prevented her from marrying gay couples.
Okay, fine. If she doesn’t like it, get a new job. Here’s part of her letter:
There was no protection provided in the legislation for Town Clerks who are unable to sign these marriage licenses due to personal religious convictions, even though our US Constitution supports freedom of religion.”
“I believe that there is a higher law than the law of the land. It is the law of God in the Bible. In Acts 5:29, it states, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’”
“The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures. Since I love and follow Him, I cannot put my signature on something that is against God. Deuteronomy 10:12 says, ‘…What does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.’”
“I would be compromising my moral conscience if I participated in the licensing procedure.
Unfortunately, Laura’s interpretation of the Bible isn’t a legal document in the state of New York. Also, freedom of religion doesn’t include the right to do inferior work in one’s state career due to one’s religious beliefs. I always say this, but it bears repeating again: discriminating against minorities in secular careers actually isn’t part of the free practice of anyone’s religion! Despite what the Religious Right says, we actually don’t care whether or not their churches are willing to perform same-sex marriage. Why? Because those churches are where they actually DO practice their religion. That is actually part of their Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, and as such, should be protected. But this is civil marriage we’re talking about. Duh…
Oh, but watch. The usual suspects will add this one to their litany of sob stories about how it’s just so gosh darn hard to be a Fundamentalist Christian in the United States.
ABC World News covered Truth Wins Out’s investigation of Marcus Bachmann’s therapy practice, where John Becker discovered that Bachmann indeed does utilize discredited, scientifically fraudulent “ex-gay” reparative therapy.
Also, if you value and appreciate the sort of work Truth Wins Out does, we need your help, as we are funded by donations. Please consider a tax deductible contribution to Truth Wins Out so that we may continue to expose the harmful “ex-gay” industry and continue the fight for LGBT people against religious extremism in all its forms. Thanks!
X affiliate in Burlington. The video of the tense exchange can be viewed at Truth Wins Out’s website.
BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out condemned Massachusetts attorney Daniel Avila today for calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” caused by Satan invading the wombs of mothers of LGBT children. Avila, who serves as Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, made the inflammatory remarks in an article for the Boston Pilot, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In the article, he discussed a theory that homosexuality is caused by “random imbalances in maternal hormone levels,” which he falsely labeled as “the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis.” Avila went on to say:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
