Exodus Should Immediately Shut Down Scandalized ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Desert Stream, Says TWO

Truth Wins Out today called on Exodus International to shut down Desert Stream Ministries (DSM) following new revelations of sexual abuse with at least one minor. The admissions were made last week on the blog of DSM’s leader, Andy Comiskey (pictured), who is also the creator of the ex-gay program Living Waters.

“Exodus should swiftly move to shutter Desert Stream Ministries to protect young people from the sordid and tawdry atmosphere revealed by Andy Comiskey,” said Truth Wins Out’s  Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Exodus has a history of turning the other cheek when confronted with inappropriate behavior in its affiliates.”

On March 8, Comiskey wrote a blog post entitled “Falling Mercies” where he says DSM had been, “cast out of our home church”, Vineyard Anaheim, as a result of “a darker strain of sin in our own ranks.” He goes onto reveal that this sin was, “a longstanding staff person from Desert Stream had sexually abused at least one teenager who had sought help from us.”

Comiskey alleges that he was a victim of seven-figure blackmail from the relative of one of the abused boys. This led to, “a scourging of our entire ministry through police interrogations, the naked bulb of insurance agents and their lawyers, and Vineyard elders who for good reason wanted to know what was really going on in Desert Stream Ministries.”

As a result of the investigation, Comiskey says DSM was “torn in two” and that “we the righteous became the scum of the earth–not only the defender of victims, but the predators.”

In his post, Comiskey seemed to care little for those harmed by DSM and tried to come across as a victim saying, “News of our tragedy, now official on police and court records, attracted our accusers like vultures: ‘Do they change homosexuals or create them?’”

Comiskey claims that, “At the end of 3 years, the case was settled. Our insurance covered most of the costs.” He rightfully thanks the media for not covering the story and allowing his ministry to continue. “Not one story was printed about the tragedy,” writes Comiskey. “God spared us. His mercy leveled and sustained DSM.”

“Comiskey is mocking the mainstream media for not serving as the public’s trusted watchdog,” said Besen. “I hope news outlets understand that inaction has allowed this ministry to continue its operations. Given these revelations, it would be an optimum time for the media to investigate this story.”

For reasons possibly related to this scandal, Comiskey moved Desert Stream from Anaheim to Kansas City, Mo., several years ago, where it currently remains in operation.

This is not the first time Desert Stream has been in trouble. In 1998, The Los Angeles Times reported that one family sued Desert Stream alleging that a minister had sexually abused a teenager while the youth was undergoing therapy to turn him heterosexual. Besen’s book, “Anything But Straight”, discusses a newsletter that says:

“At the end of 2000, we faced an unusual number of Desert Stream-related leaders who fell into sexual sin, or who at least demonstrated a colossal lack of wisdom in their social choices…several were placed on different plans of discipline and restoration.”

In February 2008, Truth Wins Out produced a video featuring ‘ex-gay’ survivor Jaylen Braiden, who claims an Exodus team leader at Desert Stream took him advantage of him.

Comiskey is one of the most influential ex-gay activists and groups use his curriculum, “Living Waters”, across the globe. Comiskey is the author of “” and calls homosexuality “spiritual disfigurement.” His book also indulges in “spiritual warfare”, calling homosexuality satanic.

“Satan delights in homosexual perversion because it not only exists outside of marriage, but it also defiles God’s very image reflected as male and female….Another related source of demonization is the homosexual relationship itself….that attachment and communion are indeed inspired, but the source is demonic.”

So far, Exodus has failed to comment on Desert Stream’s troubles, nor has it moved to either suspend or close down DSM. After stonewalling for more than six months, Exodus finally cut ties with Lansing-based Corduroy Stone last after charges of impropriety were made last year by Patrick McAlvey in a Truth Wins Out video.

“It sends the wrong message when Exodus remains silent on issues of such gravity,” said TWO’s Besen. “We urge Exodus to investigate and take proper action against one of its key ministries so more people are not harmed in the future. We also can’t fathom how Comiskey has kept his job in light of this scandal. It is truly mind boggling.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation campaigns, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to help individuals be true to themselves and lead genuine lives of honesty and integrity.

Fearing a renewed uproar over tonight’s ABC News investigation of Exodus International’s role in Uganda’s kill-the-gays legislation, Exodus President Alan Chambers has informally told conservative Christian pundit Warren Throckmorton:

I am disappointed that Exodus won’t be heard in this piece. Sadly, Don Schmierer declined the interview and our request to go on record with ABC was denied. I would have loved nothing better than to share our disdain for this bill and apologize for going anywhere near such a horrible conference.

It is neither sad nor surprising that Schmierer and the rest of the Exodus board declined to talk: Schmierer had already discredited himself, on Exodus’ own blog.

In December 2009, in an Exodus blog guest article, Schmierer admitted that, since 2002, he had been working closely with antigay evangelicals in Uganda to mobilize antigay political activity.

And yet, Schmierer claims that, over the course of seven years, he was somehow oblivious to evangelical colleagues’ internationally publicized lynch mobs which were killing gay Ugandans and destroying the reputations of rival pastors with false character attacks.

Such a ridiculous claim of ignorance would be torn to shreds by ABC and exposed as a lie — which it is. Hence, Schmierer’s refusal to talk, and Chambers’ failure to follow through with his offer to express disdain or apologize, regardless of whether ABC is listening. (Read More)

TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen to Appear at Just Love Counter-Conference on Saturday, March 6

Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, will join nationally recognized gay and lesbian advocates to oppose Exodus International’s “ex-gay” road show, Love Won Out, which travels to La Mesa’s Skyline Church on Saturday. On the same day as the Exodus event, a counter-conference will be held, Just Love, which will expose the ex-gay industry and educate people about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

“Sexual orientation is not a choice, but thanks to conferences like Love Won Out, some people do choose to embrace prejudice and discrimination,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. “You cannot pray away the gay and the sooner people learn to accept themselves, the better off they are.”

On September 19, 2000, Besen photographed the ex-gay founder of Love Won Out, John Paulk, in a gay bar in Washington, DC. He also has shadowed Love Won Out, organizing or participating in protests or counter-conferences wherever Love Won Out’s road show appears. The last one was in Birmingham, Alabama in November 2009.

Just Love will take-place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (2728 6th Ave) from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Sessions will be conducted by experts including the former co-founder of Exodus International, Michael Bussee, who is now an outspoken critic of the group he helped start. Other notable speakers include, ex-gay survivor Daniel Gonzales, Jim Burroway, Editor of Box Turtle Bulletin and Amity Buxton, founder of the Straight Spouse Network (SSN), which supports straight spouses whose partners came out as gay.  There will also be a session for leaders of the faith community led by Louise Brooks of California Faith for Equality and the Human Rights Campaign.

“We refuse to be defined by misinformation, junk science and religious bigotry,” said TWO’s Besen.  “Just Love will set the record straight on the ex-gay industry and provide factual information on our lives. We will dispel stereotypes, shine a bright light on the lies and send the message that gay people are fine just the way they are.”

Truth Wins Out’s research team revealed today that an alleged split in July 2009 between Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) may only be cosmetic. While PFOX is no longer listed as an Exodus referral agency on Exodus’ website, the groups appear heavily enmeshed.

TWO has found that nearly one-quarter (22-percent) of PFOX chapters are actually Exodus member ministries. The cross-over ministries include:

Wisconsin’s Reclamation Ministries, South Carolina’s New Song Ministries, Oklahoma’s First Stone Ministries, New Mexico’s LifeMor ministries, Missouri and Illinois’ Pure Heart Ministries, and Florida’s Family Ties Ministries.

“Despite their public divorce, Exodus and PFOX appear to be very much in bed together,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out.”These groups should be honest and admit the true extent of their working relationship.”

There is one other possibility. PFOX may be falsely listing Exodus ministries as PFOX chapters in order to mislead the public into thinking the organization is larger than it actually is.

In July 2009, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) broke away from Exodus International – or perhaps it was the other way around. The details remain murky. They were supposedly split over strategy, with PFOX couching its bizarre arguments in civil rights language.

For example, they want “ex-gays” to be included in laws that protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Exodus, simply wants gay people not to be covered by such laws. There was also Exodus’ concern over PFOX’s judgment in placing quack “therapist” Richard Cohen on television.

By Patrick McAlvey

Prior to August 2009 I had probably told the story of my experience with ex-gay therapy to a total of 50 people.  When it came up with friends I would share some of the details of how Mike Jones, an ex-gay “therapist” in Lansing, MI had robbed me of years of self-esteem and confidence with his lies and predatory practices.  It wasn’t something I was overly eager to bring up – it’s not necessarily polite, feel-good conversation and I felt more than a bit embarrassed I had fallen for the ex-gay lies in the first place.

Since going public with my story last summer with the help of Truth Wins Out, things have changed.  Thousands of people have now seen the video in which I tell my story and the man who performed my “therapy” has seen his Board of Directors dissolve and Exodus International remove their affiliation.

In early February I had the opportunity to travel to Des Moines, Iowa and share my story with over 100 strangers – including a State Senator sitting front-and-center.  A group called First Friday Breakfast Club invited me to Des Moines to speak at their monthly meeting.  As part of the trip I also spoke with 25 students at Iowa State University at an event hosted by the LGBTA Alliance and the Office of LGBT Student Services.

I was overwhelmed with the support and kindness with which I was received at both events.  But I was also shocked at the number of people who were unaware the ex-gay industry is still alive and actively victimizing the most vulnerable members of the LGBT community.  Since sharing my story publicly it has become evident that many people, including many LGBT folks, aren’t aware of the activity and dangers of the ex-gay industry.

It is more important than ever the LGBT community at-large understands the real threat the ex-gay industry represents to all of us.  The US ex-gay industry’s connection to the Ugandan “Kill the Gays Bill” is a stark example of the danger these groups represent.  They use the “fact” that sexual orientation can and should be changed to deny basic rights and to actively discriminate against LGBT folks.

In addition the ex-gay industry spreads false and defamatory lies that all gay men are addicted to drugs, alcohol and random sex and that it is impossible to be gay and happy and/or gay and religious.  This is what I was led to believe and these false characterizations certainly perpetuate homophobia and discrimination experienced by gay men in particular.

And most obviously, the ex-gay industry continues to rob vulnerable and scared people of their dignity, self-esteem and identity.  While in Iowa I got to meet several other survivors of ex-gay therapy and was touched to hear their stories.  It was inspiring to meet other survivors who are also finding healing and strength by sharing their experiences and fighting to prevent others from similar abuses.  I’m glad to be healing and fighting beside them.

By now, the world knows that Arthur Abba Goldberg was a big-time crook. After he left prison and his parole was up, he founded Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). He also became a major player in the National Association for Research and Therapy for Homosexuality (NARTH) During his decade-long tenure he never revealed his sordid past.

He hid by slyly dropping the “Abba” from his soiled name. For 10 years, he has posed as a moral paragon and paraded himself around the nation as an “expert” on homosexuality. The truth is, he is just an ex-con up to his same old tricks. Except this time, his con game is “curing” LGBT people.

Today, I went into the bowels  of a musty New Jersey library to retrieve old copies of The Record (Bergen) from 1989. I had to use microfiche, giving me flashbacks of my high school investigative reporting classes.  Below is a crook photo of Goldberg from the July 18, 1989 issue of The Record under the headline, “SWINDLE: Bond Whiz Admits Guilt in $2B Fraud.”

The sub-headline is “Abracadabra is No Houdini.”

Sadly, Goldberg and his apologists are already spinning his criminality and moral turpitude. They are saying that his appalling past is being distorted by gay activists. And, they are claiming that his crimes are minor…..because we ALL know someone who tried to steal $2 billion dollars. More on that another time. For now just enjoy the newspaper clips.

Influential Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker wrote an excellent column today, calling on Rick Warren and other evangelicals to do more to stop Uganda’s heinous Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to Parker:

The proposed law is a case study in the unintended consequences of moral colonialism….If we (Rick Warren) decide that genocide is too political for interference, then what good is moral leadership?…

….Other evangelical Christians operating in Uganda are less easily excused from responsibility in the country’s increasingly hostile attitudes toward gays. Often cited as having stirred the pot are pastors Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, who last March worked with Ugandan faith leaders and politicians to help stop the “homosexualization” of the country….

…In a “Meet the Press” interview last November, Warren said he never takes sides, but one wishes he would. To borrow his own words, it is in certain cases extreme, unjust and un-Christian not to.

Parker is correct to say that Warren and other evangelicals have not done enough, considering their deep involvement in Uganda. At Truth Wins Out, we warmly welcomed Warren’s denunciation of the hate bill, however, that was merely covering his behind.

If Warren and others (Alan Chambers, James Inhofe, and Doug Coe – I mean you) are serious about stopping the persecution, imprisonment and murder of innocent people, they will board planes to Kampala this week and speak directly to the people and lawmakers of Uganda. They helped cause this horrific mess, so it is their  duty to clean it up.

I just checked Orbitz and confirmed that flights still fly to Kampala. Will any evangelical butts fill the seats? Or, do they only light fires in places like Uganda and then butt out when there is too much heat in the kitchen?

The world is watching….and these “moral leaders” will be judged by their action — or inaction.

Good As You has the videos if you want to watch.

Highlights if you don’t want to sit through it, and I wouldn’t blame you:

(My editorial comments/snarkage in parentheses.)

Mat Staver makes unfunny wingnut jokes about Al Gore and snowstorms.  Introduces Alan Chambers.  (Jazz hands!) Alan Chambers makes unfunny wingnut jokes about Al Gore and snowstorms.* He reminds the people that Jesus died for wicked meanie gays too.  Gives history of Exodus which notably does not include all the various “ex-gays” who now acknowledge that they were gay the whole time.  Says “success” for Exodus would be for Exodus to go out of business.  (Concur!)    Three practical steps for Christians to reach out to the gays:

1.  Get educated! Acknowledges that it’s hard to say this at Liberty University. (Because actual education does not happen there?)  Acknowledges that they dropped the “change is possible” lingo, due to their lack of success, in a roundabout way.  Says he wishes there was a step-by-step process, but he hasn’t found one.  Gets confused about how many years he’s been Not Gay Anymore.  Acknowledges that he will always be tempted by gayness, without saying it explicitly.  But God gave him the power to deny who he really is!  (Jazz hands!)  Acknowledges that fundamentalist Christians don’t do well debating their anti-gay position, but doesn’t make the obvious connection that that happens because they don’t have the facts on their side.  Acknowledges that “gay activists” tend to know the Bible better than fundamentalist Christians.  (True! Also knowing more about the Bible than fundamentalists?  Atheists.) “Ignorance will render us ineffective.”  (True!  But ignorance envelops your entire worldview, Alan!)  Whoa, then the outline gets complex:

Five myths about gayness:

A.  ”Homosexuality is the worst sin of all!” God hates lots of stuff worse than gays!  And he hates all y’all’s sins worse than gayness!  Gays are bitter because Christians haven’t been Christlike toward gays.  (TRUE!  But sugarcoating hate and being nicer doesn’t actually make you any less hateful.  It just makes you more deceitful, Alan.)

B.  ”Homosexuality is a choice SLASH isn’t a choice!” Apparently it’s a myth whichever way you say it!  Teaches the people that nobody chooses to be gay.  Says the truth is that he would never have chosen to be gay.  Says he has never met anyone who WOULD choose it.  (Hello, Alan, I’m Evan.  If I had it to do all over again, and I was given the choice, I would choose to be gay.  Yes.)  Says that to say it’s NOT a choice is wrong too!  He says he “decided” to see what the gayness was about!  Decided to “get involved” in homosexuality!  (Signed up on the sign-up sheet, auditioned, got cast repeatedly in the chorus, never in a speaking part, got bitter.)  Likes to use the word “decision” rather than “choice.”  Translation:  Alan didn’t choose to be gay, but he decided to pretend that he isn’t anymore.

C.  ”Homosexuality is all about sex.” See, it’s right there in the word “homoSEXuality.”  Homosexuality is instead about “trying to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way.”  Alan’s dad is his hero, wants to be like him, but he didn’t know how to be a Dad, so Alan…became gay?  WTF.  Alan truly believes that he’s gay because he was looking for someone to love him.  Says he wasn’t looking for “mutuality.”  (What, then, would Alan say about the millions of gays and lesbians who don’t have such hard knock sad sack stories about their emotionally distant fathers, and who actually, simply, are looking for/have found mutuality in their same-gender spouses?  HOLE IN YOUR ARGUMENT, CHAMP.) Says he was looking to fill the hole left by his father with a man’s love, which led to wanting to have sex with men, but he didn’t want to have sex with his dad, but the need for the love of a man became sexualized because?  Oh, no reason!  (Fail, Jazz hands, Fail.)**

D.  ”Homosexuality is determined by one thing.” There is not a gay demon!  (Of course there is.  I call him Giorgio.)  Acknowledges that there have been “counseling practices” that have hurt many people.  (Exodus?)  ”Why does it matter whether gayness is genetic?”  Alan says it doesn’t matter.  Compares it to alcoholism, kleptomania, rage, obesity, cancer…so even if gayness is genetic, it doesn’t make it right!  (Yes but how does homosexuality hurt people, Alan?  Show your work and prove that it’s actually the sexuality that caused the hurt.)  ”Does research and science trump the word of God?”  Says that they don’t.  (HOLE IN YOUR ARGUMENT, ALAN:  If we accept that the word of God represents reality, and research and science are explorations of reality, then research and science should confirm said “word of God,” and if it doesn’t, you only have two choices:  1.  See if you’ve been misinterpreting the text, in light of reality.  2.  Consider the possibility that the word of God is imaginary.)  If Rogaine is strong enough to conquer lady baldness, then Jesus is strong enough to conquer Teh Gay!  (Going to have to see the peer-reviewed study on that one, Chambers.)  Alan “wraps up this point” by saying that homosexuality is “multi-causal,” but please understand that he did not spend one minute in the last section proving this point.  Outline fail, Jazz Hands.

E.  ”The opposite of homosexuality is heterosexuality.” Alan prayed for years and years for God to make him straight, but He didn’t.  (God fail.)  Alan says he is more normal than his brothers and sisters.  (Steer clear of the Chambers clan, is the moral here.)  Alan’s journey wasn’t out of homosexuality (TRUE!), but “to the cross.”  (Yes, but!  Many gay Christians have also made that journey without renouncing an integral part of their being.)  Acknowledges that he still thinks guys are hot (that he’s “tempted”) again.  But says that everybody is tempted!  Says that 40% of the people who look for help from Exodus are married already.  Says you can’t hide from your gayness in marriage.  (TRUE!)  Can people become straight, though?  Alan says yes!  He thinks his wife is downright snazzy!  But his marriage isn’t about heterosexuality! (Heh.)  It was about “mutuality” and a “conglomeration of God’s best!”  (Sounds like V-Day’s gonna be HOT at the Chambers house.)  Says he will always be attracted to guys, but it doesn’t affect his marriage.  (HUH?  Let me tell you something about straight women, Alan, ‘kay?  Straight women are not fulfilled by husbands who actually, in reality, are into guys.  Just so you know.)

2. Finally back into his “three points.”  Evaluate your attitude.  Stop being so mad, you guys!  Says they all get mad too much and have bad attitudes. (Concur!)  Says that if people aren’t angry about “things” that “happen,” then they’re not paying attention!  It’s just like the story of Jonah or something.  You see, God thought it would be funny to deal with Jonah’s poor attitude by letting him get eaten by a whale.  Then he preached a bad sermon?  I don’t know. Gays probably should hate fundamentalists, says Alan!  (We don’t hate you, Alan, we just want you to know that you can be free from your fundamentalist self-loathing.)  Says gay jokes aren’t funny.  ”God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” isn’t funny, it just makes you look like a buffoon, says Alan. (TRUE!)

3.  Evangelize.  Five keys to evangelizing to gays, oh god.  (I am so missing men’s speed skating for this.  I expect gift cards.):

A.  ”It’s all about relationships!” Develop a relationship with people before you tell them they’re going to hell!  (See what I mean when I say “trying to be nicer and sugarcoating hate doesn’t make hate less real, just more deceptive?”  Yeah.  And a worldview that preaches that entire classes of people are going to hell is inherently hateful.  Sorry, fundies!)

B.  Be vulnerable! If you want to change a gay, you need to tell them about how you have a hard time with stuff, too!  (I’m paraphrasing, heavily, yet keeping the spirit of the original text.)  Do you have stories to share about your anorexia, your divorce, your porn stash, your tawdry affair, your drug habit, etc.  TELL A GAY!

C.  Don’t place your timeframe on others. Don’t put gays on a schedule!  If you give them a timetable, then the terrorists will just wait until you leave?

D.  Focus on what’s most important. Don’t debate with gays over whether or not they’re Christians, if they say they are.  WAIT ‘TIL LATER, if they refuse to hate themselves for being gay.  If they’re not Christians anyway, maybe you shouldn’t talk about homosexuality anyway.  Just proselytize about Jesus.  ”Straight people go to hell too!”

Some time passes, because I had to hit pause on the video and go refill my drink because I was laughing so hard at that quote.

Okay, back!

E. You gotta have a plan! Some story about “Church of the open sore” or something.  Leper colony?  Derno.  Watching downhill skiing now.  Church is for everybody, not just for dirty gays.  ”Sin doesn’t happen in a vacuum.”  Walk alongside your adopted gays! He’s not talking about how to make plans or anything, so I guess he just needed a fifth point.

And he’s done!  Finally!  See, now you don’t have to sit through an hour of Jazzhands McGay.

YOU’RE WELCOME.

*For any who are unclear, here is how snowstorms happen:  Warm moist air from one area collides with cold air from another area.  Snow results.  Therefore!  Warmer years produce crazier snowstorms!  Ta-da.  It’s actually really elementary, but you have to pay attention in school, or, you know, go to a school that teaches science.  Also, it helps if you’re not an easily led wingnut.

**It’s only been in recent years that men in our society have been given permission to show emotion, to drop the societal expectations that a father must always be stoic, etc.  The truth of the matter is that if you’re a man around Alan Chambers’ age, chances are that your dad was probably kind of distant, authoritarian, etc.  It was simply the accepted societal construct.  I might also add that it’s been like that in Abrahamic religious tradition pretty much since the inception of each religion.  So why isn’t everybody gay, Alan?  Seriously.  I can think of two grandfathers in my own family who were notoriously distant, from everything I’ve heard.  By Alan’s “theory,” all of their male offspring should’ve been gay.  Not the case.

In a post yesterday, I wrote the following:

Personally, I don’t like the bogus term “SSA”, which stands for “same-sex attraction.” There is no such thing (or diagnosis) as SSA and it is a manipulative attempt to separate LGBT people from their natural, inborn sexuality.

The term SSA is skillfully employed to make it appear as if fundamentalist bigots are not attacking the person, just their sexual feelings. It is a diabolical method of creating a medical-sounding term to deliver Anita Bryant’s hateful “love the sinner, hate the sin” message. At least Bryant had the courage to say what she believes and not hide behind euphemisms and phony pop psychology.

If you think I am wrong, ask yourself: Why does disgraced “sexual reorientation coach” Richard Cohen (pictured) love the term SSA so much? It is all over his website and his books. He is basically turning you into a sick patient rather than a real person. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) also loves SSA.

We should not help our enemies by adopting their language, which is specifically designed and employed to portray us as freaks with a problem that needs to be fixed. SSA — much like STD — sounds like you have a disease that can be cured by running to the local doctor for a shot, the pharmacy for a prescription, or the shrink for a session.

If you don’t think language is important, consider yesterday’s CBS/New York Times News poll. It found a significantly higher level of support for “gays” in the military rather than “homosexuals” in the armed services.  Here is an excerpt:

A New York Times/CBS News poll finds that a majority of the public support allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military.

There’s less support, however, for allowing homosexuals to serve openly.

Confused?

The results highlight the importance of wording on the issue. In a test, half of the poll’s respondents were asked their opinion on permitting “gay men and lesbians” to serve, and the other half were asked about permitting “homosexuals” to serve.

The wording of the question proved to make a difference. Seven in 10 respondents said they favor allowing “gay men and lesbians” to serve in the military, including nearly 6 in 10 who said they should be allowed to serve openly. But support was somewhat lower among those who were asked about allowing “homosexuals” to serve, with 59 percent in favor, including 44 percent who support allowing them to serve openly.

At Truth Wins Out, we are not the word police. We allow a great divergence of opinion and if you love to use the phrase SSA, then keep doing so. It’s a free country. Please realize, however, that you are making Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and Richard Cohen quite happy by adhering to their slick public relations scheme.

More than 35 years after homosexuality was erased from the DSM (list of mental disorders) why voluntarily describe yourself in sterile, medical terms, as if you have a “problem” that quacks can “fix” for a hefty fee?

My new phrase of the week:

“It’s Gay, Not SSA”.

On January 25, I accused the “ex-gay” organization Exodus International of endemic sloth.

With an alleged one-million dollar budget and 13 staff members, Exodus had essentially gone into hibernation. It had not updated its tired website since Nov. 16, 2009. The only peep from the organization comes from periodic posting on the group’s vanity blog by Vice President Randy Thomas.

I guess my criticism lit a fire under President Alan Chambers’ derriere. On January 26, one day after my charges were leveled, he cleared the cobwebs and took a break from praying away his gay to update Exodus’ site.

A new work ethic had been born!!

Well, not exactly.

Since January 26, Exodus has not bothered to update its site. That’s right, we are nine days into February and Exodus is peddling old news, just like it hawks outdated ideas. Likewise, the group’s Exodus Youth site has not been updated since Dec. 1, 2009. The Exodus Church Association site hasn’t changed since August 2009.

While the group’s slogan is “Freedom is Possible”, apparently hard work is another story.

Finally, why is Exodus still not promoting San Diego’s March 6, “Love Won Out” conference on its main site’s front page? They supposedly bought the “ex-gay” road show from Focus on the Family last year. San Diego is its first foray without Focus – yet there has barely been a word of promotion.

In one year’s time, Exodus’ online properties have gone from robust to just plain bust. It is worth considering that the worldwide economic meltdown has affected Exodus more than it’s activist leaders are letting on. It is implausible that the group is still fully staffed and functional, yet unable to carry out the basic online functions it succeeded at only one year ago.

What is really going on at Exodus, Mr. Chambers?