In Aug. 2003, TruthWinsOut.org founder Wayne Besen received a call from Virginia attorney Michael Hamar. He had a client who believed he may have been infected with HIV from ‘ex-gay’ leader Michael Johnston.
Johnston was the founder of National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day. He was Rev. Jerry Falwell’s personal ex-gay leader. Johnston also starred in a video for the American Family Association, “It’s Not Gay, and an ad for Coral Ridge Ministries. Additionally, he partnered with anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera, who paraded Johnston around and hawked his tale of change.
In Aug. 2003, Besen took the train down to Norfolk, where Hamar introduced him to two men who claimed to have had unsafe sex with Johnston. Others have since been identified.
Atlanta’s GLBT newspaper Southern Voice broke the story. In the article, a spokesperson for the American Family Association admitted that Johnston had what he called, a “moral fall.” Johnston was shipped off to Pure Life Ministries, a sex addiction facility in rural Kentucky. He never left the facility and works there today.
Johnston was not prosecuted because the men involved were worried about losing their jobs. Both men, however, are grateful, that TruthWinsOut,org is telling the Michael Johnston story.
Sadly, the American Family Association still sells Johnston’s fraudulent video, “It’s Not Gay,”- without warning buyers about Johnston’s moral morass. The video is also shamelessly promoted by LaBarbera, who cares little for the truth and has yet to apologize for his role in giving Johnston a platform.
In this video, we interview Hamar and he discusses this case.
A mom, Susan Stanskas, discusses how ‘ex-gay’ organizations divide families - in the name of family values - and even cause some gay teenagers to commit suicide.
In this video, she urges parents to accept their gay and lesbian children and warns about the harm done by rejecting them.
If you are a parent who has learned your child is gay or lesbian, please visit www.PFLAG.org.
Dr. Jack Drescher is the foremost expert and scholar on GLBT therapy. He is a renowned scholar and author on issues of sexual orientation. In this video, Drescher answers questions regarding ‘reparative’ therapy.
Additionally, Drescher, MD, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City.
He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and presently serves as a Consultant to APA’s Committee on Public Affairs. He is a past Chair (2000-2006) of APA’s Committee on GLB Issues and a Past President of APA’s New York County Branch.
Dr. Drescher is an independent scholar. He is Author of Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man (The Analytic Press) and has edited twenty books. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy and Editor of the Bending Psychoanalysis Book Series (The Analytic Press). He has authored and co-authored numerous professional articles and book chapters, and is the senior author of “Homosexuality, Gay and Lesbian Identities, and Homosexual Behavior” in the 8th (2005) edition of Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry and the forthcoming 9th edition as well. He is also senior author of “Treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients in the 5th edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s APPI Textbook of Psychiatry.
Dr. Drescher is an expert spokesperson on issues related to gender and sexuality. His appearances include ABC: Good Morning America, 20/20, and Nightline; PBS: In The Life; CTV: AM Canada; CNN: Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn; Fox: The O’Reilly Factor, Fox News; MSNBC: The Most; Court TV: Bloom and Politan: Open Court; NPR: On Point, Here and Now, To the Point. Dr. Drescher’s expert views have been sought and quoted by The Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, People, Esquire, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, and numerous local media outlets, including the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, The Village Voice, and The Washington (and New York) Blade.
Clint Trout survived the “ex-gay” ministries. He attended several Exodus Internationals ministries - including a few that offered offered live exorcisms to rid clients of the “demon of homosexuality.” Other groups offered “laughing therapy” - which is demonstrated on this video.
The “ex-gay” trap was a drain that “ate Clint’s life for 13 years.” In fact, it stopped him from achieving his goals and dreams.
The following video offers a snapshot of the life-saving work performed by TruthWinsOut.org. We are having a $100,000 holiday fundraising drive and greatly need your generous assistance. Please consider becoming a supporter of TruthWinsOut.org today. We can only do our crucial work with your help.
Please join the fight against the ex-gay fraud by sending a tax-deductible gift to:
This video offers a snapshot of the work performed by TruthWinsOut.org.
Mission: TruthWinsOut.org is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life.
Creed: TruthWinsOut.org is resolute in its belief that ex-gay programs are a politically motivated fraud designed to exploit vulnerable clients for financial gain and pass anti-gay legislation. Attempts to change sexual orientation are patently offensive, discriminatory by definition, theologically shaky, uniformly unsuccessful and medically unsound. TruthWinsOut.org firmly believes that ex-gay programs can damage families, lower self-esteem, generate guilt and shame and sometimes lead to suicide. The organization holds as self-evident that the world would be a better place without ex-gay programs, which are an unnecessary and destructive hindrance to the natural coming out process.
TruthWinsOut.Org aims to end the dangerous practice of ex-gay therapy in all of its injurious forms. The organization will tirelessly advocate against such programs, vigorously disseminate educational material, and doggedly pursue actions that will help undermine the so-called ex-gay myth.
The world’s largest ex-gay organization, Exodus International tells clients to wear a rubber band on their wrist and snap it when they see someone attractive of the same sex. In this Truth Wins Out PSA, a survivor of rubber band “therapy,” Brian Nesbitt, discusses his experience.
Here is what Exodus instructs its clients to do:
“Every time you catch yourself watching someone erotically or engaging in fantasy, snap the band. This will cause a moderate stinging pain, which serves as a shocking reminder of what you are doing. This should help you interrupt the spell.”
This video traces the career of Wayne Besen, from 1993-2007. Video clips come from his first organization, Sons & Daughters of America, founded in 1993; show him as a news reporter in Maine; show his tenure at the Human Rights Campaign and end with his current job as founder of Truth Wins Out, a Brooklyn-based non-profit that counters the so-called ex-gay myth.
Several dozen people demonstrated outside the DFW Airport Marriott, where the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) held its annual conference. Members discussed the use of therapy to suppress someone’s homosexual desires. The message from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups protesting the events is that homosexuality needs no cure because it is not an illness and that attempts to convert gays is destructive and based on quack science.
With a gift of $35 to Truth Wins Out, you can receive an autographed copy of "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth."
