Exclusive Truth Wins Out interview with Thomas Maier

For decades, anti-gay organizations have gleefully pointed to Masters & Johnson’s 1979 book, “Homosexuality in Perspective”, that claimed to cure homosexuality. Indeed, Dr. William H. Masters and Virgina E. Johnson, the husband and wife sex research team, went on Meet the Press on Sunday, April 22, 1979, to discuss their finding that homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals. The book has since been used by the so-called “ex-gay” industry to “prove” gays could go straight, if they just tried hard enough.

In his groundbreaking new book, “Masters of Sex”, author Thomas Maier discovered through investigative reporting that the results of Masters & Johnson’s study were entirely fabricated. Virginia Johnson acknowledged that the results were fake. She had actually argued in 1978 that book should never have seen the light of day – but it was already to late in the publishing process to undo the damage.

One can not overstate the importance of Maier’s findings. They undo the very underpinnings of the so-called “ex-gay” therapy movement, further showing that there is no scientific evidence or data to support the outdated idea that gay people can become heterosexual through therapy. Indeed, many people who have undergone such “treatment” claim the experience was harmful and that they were psychologically damaged. The American Psychiatric Association says that attempts to change sexual orientation can lead to “anxiety, depression and self-destructive behavior.”

Another religious-right figure is on the hot seat for inappropriate behavior and hypcrisy: The Colorado Independent reports that Focus on the Family Spanish-language broadcasterJuan Alberto Ovalle, 42, faces felony charges after being caught using the Internet to try and lure a 15-year-old girl for sex.  If you don’t know Ovalle, he’s the voice on FOTF’s Spanish-language Bible CDs and markets Christian-themed tapes. Here, he shares admonitions against unlawful fornication from 1 Corinthians.

From the Independent:

Ovalle “came to know the Lord at the age of 14,” according to a Web site offering his Spanish Bible narration for sale, and founded Spanish Christian Audio in 2001 to “help Christian organizations with their audio needs.”

After first encountering the officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl in a chat room last week, Orvalle made “sexually graphic statements in a chat room to a person he believed to be an underage teen,” the district attorney’s office said. When the undercover officer said her mom wouldn’t be home the next day, Orvalle said he was “horny” and made arrangements to come to her house, according to an arrest affidavit cited by The Post.

Officials expect Ovalle to be charged formally Thursday with two felonies — criminal attempted sexual assault on a child and Internet luring of a child. The Independent reports that his bail was set at $25,000; at the time of this writing, he was still behind bars.

TIES THAT BIND
January 2009 | Episode 1804

This month IN THE LIFE looks at the power of religion to shape our lives, our worldview and our political convictions.  The Bible, the Koran, and the Torah are tools for spiritual guidance, comfort, and direction, but those same texts are often used to promote intolerance and hatred of LGBT people.  In this episode, we look at the intersection of religion and sexuality, to see how gays and lesbians reconcile their faith within their religious communities:  In God We Trusted explores the tragic consequences of the ex-gay ministries of fundamentalist Christianity; In A Conversation With….Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Bishop Gene Robinson discuss their spiritual journeys; and a Real to Reel encounter with Muslim director, Parvez Sharma’s ground-breaking film, A Jihad For Love, and the struggle of gay and lesbian Muslims to stay true to their Faith and themselves.

IN GOD WE TRUSTED
Believing that homosexuals have no place in the Christian church,  evangelical ex-gay ministries, such as EXODUS, have been established around the country to re-program LGBT people to make them heterosexuals…often with tragic consequences.

A Conversation With… Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Bishop Gene Robinson
Sharon Kleinbaum, rabbi of New York’s largest LGBT synagogue, leads Judaism’s national dialogue on the issues of gay rights and social justice.  Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church, has been at the center of the Church’s heated debate on homosexuality. The rabbi and the bishop discuss their spiritual journeys, faith, religion, and politics.

Real to Reel: “A JIHAD FOR LOVE”
In the world of Islam, “Jihad” translates as a “struggle in the way of God.” For gay Muslims, reconciling one’s homosexuality is a struggle against oppression, against tradition, and fear. In our final story, Director Parvez Sharma’s ground-breaking film, A JIHAD FOR LOVE, looks at gay and lesbian Muslims who strive to be true to their Faith and themselves.

eHarmony — a dating service founded by Neil Clark Warren to serve the pre-marital dating desires of conservative evangelicals — has settled an antidiscrimination complaint in New Jersey by setting up a separate-and-unequal dating site for sexual minorities.

Ex-gay industry pundits promptly sought to exploit the news.

Peter LaBarbera accused the gay man who filed the lawsuit of exploiting New Jersey’s “special rights law” — even though the state law equally protects residents regardless of their gender, race, or sexual orientation. LaBarbera further took the opportunity to distort Exodus International officials’ position that sexual attraction is an “identity” that can be changed as easily as one changes one’s political party label or denominational identity:

Evidence that homosexuality is a behavior — and not an “identity” — issue can be found in the many ex-gays and ex-lesbians who have found freedom from homosexuality through Christ — and true love and marriage with a member of the opposite sex.

No one at Exodus has corrected LaBarbera.

Meanwhile, Focus on the Family — whose supporters have, until now, used eHarmony to sanitize their pre-marital sexual desires — sought to project its allies’ questionable morals onto government:

“It’s basically the power of the government being used to force people across the country to accept beliefs that they know are not moral,” said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation and chief counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute. “It’s an attack on freedom, and people better get ready to fight.”

I have yet to find a gay activist that fully supports the settlement. Personally, I would prefer to know that a company is antigay before I do business with it. I don’t want to be diverted by the company to an afterthought website for second-class citizens — and while I don’t believe businesses should be permitted to harass or fire workers on the basis of a minority status, I’m not sure I really want government to force companies to pretend to be tolerant toward clients when they’re not.

Advocates of equality and freedom will continue to shame eHarmony (and Focus on the Family) for their ongoing opposition to equality and moral consistency. But perhaps gay dating services should begin to wonder whether they might soon be forced to cater to the desires of antigay fundamentalists.

The best course of action may be to support dating services that don’t discriminate in either direction: Services, such as Chemistry.com, that focus on relationship-building and not the gender — or genitals — of their clients.

Hat tips: Good As You, Republic of T

On Nov. 8, Truth Wins Out and the Gay Liberation Network joined a coalition of local, state and national groups to protest Focus on the Family’s James Dobson’s induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

A crowd of several hundred people came out to demonstrate on a frigid night in Chicago. They were also energized by Proposition 8 being passed in California, which prohibited same-sex couples from marrying.