Truth Wins Out joined Resurrection MCC in Houston on Sunday to protest Exodus International’s “ex-gay” road show Love Won Out. The demonstration outside a Baptist megachurch in Sugar Land, Texas drew 70 protesters who imparted the message that LGBT people are fine the way they are.The protest was assisted by Dan Savage’s amazing “It Gets Better” project which had an airplane fly over downtown Houston, as well as the anti-gay conference with with a huge banner reading: You Can’t Pray Away the Gay: It Gets Better.
The event was covered by the media including The Houston Chronicle, which wrote:
The group holds the Love Won Out conferences four times a year throughout the country. And wherever Exodus International heads, critic Wayne Besen follows, gathering locals to protest the group.
Besen, the founder of Truth Wins Out and author of Anything but Straight, has been countering Exodus International’s image of homosexuality for several years. “They present it to be a miserable life that is either going to end in death or loneliness or unhappiness and that’s not true,” he said. “You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts.”
The event included an officer from the Sugar Land police force that deliberately harassed and ticketed me for allegedly jaywalking. It was clear that this was rogue cop with an attitude problem. The other officers on the scene had been easy to get along with. There were also a few fundamentalists who came into the protest to argue scripture, showing that they were both ignorant of the Bible and homosexuality.
While our protest was a success, Love Won Out continues its decline, with perhaps a record low attendance of 450 people in the nation’s fourth largest city. The failure of Exodus at home is one reason the hate group is increasingly pushing its destructive message overseas in nations where LGBT people are unable to defend themselves for fear of persecution and even violence.
The protest capped off a week of educational actions to counter the “ex-gay” myth. Special thanks to Mark Eggleston of Resurrection MCC and his partner Darrin Brindle for hosting a week of events and for their warm hospitality.
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Bravo, Wayne, for tailing and exposing these phonies wherever they go. There’s no question that more and more people are seeing them for what they are and that’s why their attendance is dropping.
Jerry
Excellent news. One more sign that the “ex-gay” cults are on the wane.
Thank you so much, Wayne, for all you do for our community. You are an inspiration to activists everywhere!
You’re such a liar Wayne. Exodus does not push a destructive message. Perhaps you should do a little research before you make ridiculous blank statements such as these. “Love Won Out continues its decline, with perhaps a record low attendance of 450 people in the nation’s fourth largest city. The failure of Exodus at home is one reason the hate group is increasingly pushing its destructive message overseas in nations where LGBT people are unable to defend themselves for fear of persecution and even violence.” Absolutely ludicrous. You seek respect, why don’t you respect a different view than your own. Does Exodus protest you? No. Do they blast you? No. Do they tout ridiculous claims about TWO like you do about them? No. Hmm…that says something about their character and maturity.
Tom York: we know very well how destructive the message of Exodus is, and no amount of lying and charlatanism by you will change that.
But what I am most concerned about is the ticket that Wayne received. Is there a way to fight the ticket and charge the rogue policeman with harassment?
T. York: Wayne has done more than a ‘little research’, it’s his life’s work and he wrote an entire book on his research–Anything But Straight (which I’m sure describes you to a T) T for Truth Wins Out! Exodus can’t ‘protest’ us, because they have nothing to base it on and would lose hands down. So stop hating yourself, God loves you just the way He/She made you—GAY!
Nobody likes being a pervert and I’m happy to be out of that way life because it’s disgusting, dirty and sick
Tom & Hannah–is Exodus paying you to post here? Did you get some prizes? A toaster oven? A crock pot? You obviously are ignorant of the issues this site covers.
And hannah, if you really are an ex-gay do you work for Exodus?
I agree Hannah! I am so glad to be out of that disgusting, lying, self hating lifestyle too! The best thing that ever happened to me was when I was able to accept myself for who I am and leave Exodus in the dust!
Tom York, does exodus blast us? That is all Exodus is about is deceit, fear, and scandalous.
While I many not agree with Wayne on some issues, I have nothing but the upmost repect for what Truth Wins Out does fighting the “ex-gay” myth!
Tom York, would you let YOUR daughter marry YOUR own president of Exodus, Alan Chambers, who still says he fights his attraction to men on a daily basis? Why can’t you find someone, ANYONE, who has been fully “cured” to lead Exodus? Don’t you think Exodus would have more credibility if its own leader wasn’t still attracted to the same sex? Now, who is making the ridiculous claims….doesn’t look like TWO to me.
Tom York, you–as well as that wretched organization you support–are one of the worst hypocrites I have ever had the displeasure of encountering here. I know you are not above lying about your opposition, so your pathetic accusation of dishonesty on Mr. Besen’s part does not faze me in the least. However, to accuse anyone, let alone this upstanding gentleman of trying to silence you when you have proven to have no qualms with dehumanizing an entire segment of humanity, destroying other people’s minds for something you alone see as a flaw, and attempting to destroy their lives if they don’t submit to it, is something only the most vile, unscrupulous, deranged creature would even dream of doing. Then again, I suppose that is all you can do, is it? No matter how many lies you all attempt to spread, no matter many lives you destroy, your blind hatred is fading into the dustbin of history, where it belongs, and there is nothing you can do. The truth is out, and the truth is, in fact, winning out. People finally see that being of a different orientation is just fine, and you lot just cannot stand that, can you? Is it because that is yet another sign of the undeniable fact that you’re losing the control over people that you crave? It’s showing in what you posted here.
@Tom York,
if the numerous commenter rebuttals aren’t enough, I don’t know HOW you can seriously claim that Exodus does no harm, when there have been PROVEN links to Exodus staff members to lobbying for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda.
Not to mention all the ex-gays entering every political arena to fight against gay rights, rights for the people who have the intelligence and intuition to realize that life is better lived as one’s true self.
“nobody likes a pervert, and im happy to be out of that life, because it’s disgusting, dirty and sick”
unfortunately, im still trapped in that sick lifestyle, why just yesterday, I wen’t to the store
and bought a jar of peanut butter…I feel so perverted…
The link for the banner over Houston appears to be dead. New link?
The banner ling just worked for me. Please try again.
Right Tom:
I guess spiritual warfare
http://www.truthwinsout.org/spiritual-warfare/
And mean-spirited quotes
http://www.truthwinsout.org/ex-gay-quotes/
And TV shows that call LGBT people sexually broken and perverse:
http://www.truthwinsout.org/videos/2007/06/196/
And political activity designed to persecute LGBT people, including board member Don Schmierer going to Uganda to spread hate and lies…
Exodus is a fountain of love and affection. Whatever you say, Tom.
My perverted lifestyle over the last week involved, going to an open-air mall to walk around, going to my anthropology class, playing with my dogs, playing with my gerbils, and playing 16-bit video games with my brother. I’m an abomination!
When fundagelical christians have to lie & dissemble about GLBT people to push their agenda, despite their founders’ directions in their holy book to tell the truth and treat others with respect, the writing is on the wall. I’m glad to say Tom & Hannah that your “religion” and its influence on the next generation at least, will significantly decline. Truth wins out eventually. Watch Tom! christianity will eventually accommodate itself to same gender people because it will have to do so to survive in the era of science. Just like it has reluctantly accommodated itself to racial integration, divorce, religious pluralism, the fact of Evolution if not the theory, rock music and the multitudinous other cultural and intellectual changes of the past 300 years, it will accommodate to this too. Just be patient. You can embrace it or go off kicking and screaming into some even more insular cult of true believers, but it will happen and likely in our lifetimes.
Either Truth Wins Out’s protest was very successful or Love Won Out was a complete flop–I’d guess both statements are true–based on the opposition racing to the TWO site and posting what a nasty man Wayne Besen is.
Nope , I live in Germany and I not even religious . I go to church on christmas. But I wanted a real life for me . One that was not dark, lonely and depressing . People are not meant to be like that . They are meant to be normal real families . An no two men or to women are not families , they are sick somethings but not loving families . I grew up without a father and every child deserves to have a mother and a father . And no matter how strong your delusion might tell you differently a man can’t be a mother and a woman can’t be a father
Hannah:
The fact you were lonely, and found life dark and depressing can only be a result of your internalized shame. I’m gay and life is wonderful. Don’t blame your empty life on your sexual orientation. It is not only inaccurate, but a little pathetic.
Finally, there are thousands of people who grew up to be healthy, happy, successful adults who grew up with gay parents. So, what you say is no more than an ignorant opinion devoid of facts or intellectual integrity. Shame on you.
My lifestyle is so perverted I’ve been known to go into a coffee house and purchase a cup of coffee with soy milk. Maybe a cake to go with it.
Oh, yes, and I buy books occasionally.
Goodness, how can those poor right-wing types put up with our perverted lifestyle?
Mr Besen, all the best to you for what you’ve done and what you are doing for LGBT people everywhere.
What can a woman give a child that a man can’t? What can a man give a child that a woman can’t? Self-loathing closet cases and child-murdering bigots just love to insult the people they claim are so important.
hannah, I find it hard to believe anything you write. I think your posts are basically lies. You may have grown up without a father–lots of people did gay and straight. You may live in Germany though I find it hard to believe. You may have been bisexual earlier in your life. I don’t believe you’re not religious and I don’t believe you know anything about gay and lesbian families.
Hannah, a real life for me is one with another man. I would be lonely and depressed if I were married to someone whom I’m not attracted to, namely a woman. I wish you well, though, on your own personal journey…
hannah, whether you go to church or not I think you are religious. You don’t have to show up at a building to believe the b.s.
If what you’re saying is true I really feel sorry for you.
“But I wanted a real life for me. One that was not dark, lonely and depressing…. I grew up without a father and every child deserves to have a mother and a father . And no matter how strong your delusion might tell you differently a man can’t be a mother and a woman can’t be a father”
If that was your life, maybe you should be taking some responsibilities for the choices you were making, instead of blaming gay people for your bad choices.
If every child deserves a mother and a father, maybe you should be talking to all of the heterosexuals who are parents of children who don’t seem to have a mother and a father, rather than coming on to a gay blog and saying all kinds of things about gay people that are just not true.
As for the last, there are a whole bunch of fathers who can’t be fathers. They are called men who ignore, beat, kill, molest, abuse, abandon, divorce, don’t support, don’t nurture, and so forth the children that they have created.
Exodus reminds my of the tobacco industry. When they saw the writing on the wall that more people in the US and Canada were quitting smoking because of education and for health reasons they quickly moved to third world countries to boost their product. Being closeted is similar to smoking. That closeted life will kill you just the same as smoking. I did not come out until age 30. I have been partnered now for 20 monogamous years to an AWESOME man! I feel so bad for people still struggling in that nasty old closet.
Every child deserves to be loved.
I had BOTH a mother and a father and oddly enough, DIDN’T feel loved.
If love, caring, nurturing, support, belief in, et al comes to a child from two mothers, two fathers, a single parent, straight parents, grandparents, or other family that’s had to assume the parental role, THAT’S the important thing.
I’m not stupid , I’m 30 years old and I lived that live for 8 years , that’s what almost killed me . I made a choice and afterwards I was able to breath for the first time in years , finally light at the end of the tunnel . People need hope and pretending like you can’t change is the opposite of hope.
Hannah:
When you say you “lived that life” you do sound extremely ignorant. There are millions of LGBT people and no two lives are remotely the same.
In truth, the only life you lived was your own. And if you fucked that up and almost killed yourself — well grow up and take personal responsibility for your own actions. The LGBT community is not responsible in any way for your poor choices and bad habits.
I’ve been out for more than 20 years. It’s never almost killed me. (Although had I been closeted all these year there is no doubt that would have killed me)
Finally, selling people a lie and pretending they can change is not offering hope at all. It’s deceiving people and ripping them off (spiritually, emotionally, and financially) in a cruel way that is quite destructive.
Hannah, it’s time to become an adult and stop blaming other people for your messy and irresponsible lifestyle. I’d love for you to explain just how LGBT “life” nearly killed you. How exactly did that happen and how exactly are your personal actions not to blame?
Hannah’s one of those religious liars who has gotten the message from the mothership that wingnuts appear more credible when they pretend they’re not religious. It’s a sad state of affairs, because contained in that message from the mothership is a tacit acknowledgement that fundamentalist religious beliefs are one of the very least respected things in the world. There is a reason for that, by the way.
People need hope Hannah? Then why are people like you attempting to snuff out that hope for everyone? The only reason anyone would even feel the need to attempt to change is because of people like you, who call anyone different from you ‘sick somethings’ and consider them subhuman. Who are you to call anyone else sick, for that matter? Seems that you lot, who destroy minds and bodies through your deceit and your vitriol, are a special kind of sickness–beyond sickness even. All for naught, however, as you can clearly see.
You were lonely when you were openly gay because you’re an a*****e Hannah, not because you’re gay.
hannah, what life did you live? I’ve been openly gay my entire adult life and have never come close to killing myself. What exactly did you do that almost killed you? Are you one of those people that blamed your drug use on being lesbian? Did you mess up and rather than just accept responsibility for your action blamed it on being gay? You know, most of us don’t almost kill ourselves. Most of us live happy lives as gay people. It’s not being gay that almost killed you it was your inability to accept the truth about yourself.
Those of us who did come close to killing ourselves did so when we were still in the closet, not after we decided to be honest with ourselves and the people around us.
I don’t do drugs and I never had a drink in my life and I don’t smoke ( and no I’m neither muslim nor mormon ) . Fail on that part. What happened? Oh nothing major , I was just tired of being abnormal. I had my first shrink when I was 3 because I have a “mother”, to use that term loosely, who is addicted to have me diagnosed with something . Next was some weird diet recommended by my elementary school time shrink which I did only because I was granted a wish (I wanted a Game Boy , never got it , promises are only there to be broken). Well , I made it out of elementary school without any further head examinations. What came afterwards were the best years of my life . Grades 5 and 6 . It all went down in 7th grade and to this day I have no idea what I did wrong . One day everything was fine and then I turned the class idiot . And of course instead of letting me handle it my mother had nothing better to do than to talk with my teacher which made everything worse and off I was to my stay at a psychiatric hospital at 14. I would have grown up to be a normal well adjusted person if it hadn’t been for all the people telling me what hip new syndrom I am . And during all that time I still had my best friend , we were friends since we were 4. She did everything with me , was there for me until that stupid sexuality talk . Coming out destroyed everything. I lost the one person I always thought would be around forever. My mother loved it thought , finally after all the years she had something to lable me with . Apparently she always wins .
hannah, your issues seem to be really heavy. I don’t know why you are posting on this board when you obviously need some real psychological help, not the derision of strangers on a chatsite. Coming out didn’t destroy everything–your inability to stand up to your mother and for yourself did. It’s too bad these things happened to you, but it didn’t happen because you were gay it happened because the adults around you were irrational and your friend probably had her own problems. Get off your computer and get some help.
We’re having trouble seeing what your homosexuality has to do with your mental health issues Hannah.
Hanna, Wow, I’m with Becky here. You really need help. You seem to be really angry (which is understandable considering what you’ve been through) but for some reason you’ve directed that anger at the GLBT community. The thing is, when you’re angry people aren’t going to want to be around you whether they’re gay or straight. You really need to work through that and deal with it. I’m sure there are mental health facilities where you are. It might help to get into a group where you can learn to socialize with other people.
Hannah, your history of difficulties goes back to long before your sexuality was important. I had a similar background and like you I still couldn’t accept my sexuality when I was in my 30′s. I fought who I was until into my late 30′s and then bit by bit came to accept that I wasn’t hurting anyone by having same sex attractions and that there was nothing wrong with that. In my late 40′s I had become completely comfortable with who I am and now at 50 I’ve never been happier in my whole life and I’m extremely happy.
You can become happy too, Hannah, but it won’t come from trying to suppress your feelings. Recognize that you aren’t hurting anyone by being same sex attracted and that because of that there is nothing wrong with being same sex attracted. Don’t waste any more of your life sacrificing your happiness to suppress feelings in the vain hope that that will mean other’s accept you.
The fact is people don’t want to be gay for very good reasons. And they don’t have to be. It’s despicable that groups like TWO essentially force them into being gay.
It’s despicable that people like tony and Exodus continue to mislead people and force them into a lie.
Wow, tony, you are really, really full of crap.
Better watch out Tony, If you keep spending so much time here posting, Wayne and Evan will force you into being gay too! yes, it’s true, we gays have that power…
Tony:
Sorry about all the things about you that make you uncomfortable in your own skin. I’m sure there are many, and indeed, if I were you, I’d probably hate myself so much and be so lonely that I would troll gay blogs on Friday nights (Jesus Christ, go out, dude, get a damn life) looking for attention. Indeed, if I were you, I’d probably be insanely jealous of all the people who were gifted with bigger minds, bank accounts, biceps and penises than I was given by the deity I was taught to worship.
But I’m not you, so *giggle* lolol going to bed now. N’nite, loser!
Tony said “The fact is people don’t want to be gay for very good reasons”.
Wanting to avoid the bigotry and oppression of people like you is not a good reason to not want to be gay. You’re the problem, Tony.