(King James Dobson On His Theocratic Throne)

I knew something was up when I received more than a dozen e-mails last night from irate religious fanatics who insulted me in their special “loving” way. To their credit, these zealots were slightly more polite than the despicable people who sent 50+ hate mails following my appearance on The O’Reilly Factor the night before. Most of these lovely folks wished me a painful death from AIDS or an eternity in Hell. While such letters don’t bother me, as it is part of the job - I’m always impressed by conservative manners and morality.

I soon learned that the new batch of e-mails were generated from Focus on the Family, which had launched a sleazy personal attack against me and my integrity on their online tabloid Citizen Link. I’ve often said that a Focus on the Family ad for the website should read: “Citizen Link: For People Who Don’t Think.” Here is what the tabloid said:

It looks like there will be a few uninvited guests when Dr. James Dobson officially is inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in November. Gay activist Wayne Besen, who reportedly preferred Howard Stern to win the popular vote, plans to protest the Chicago event. He’s called Dr. Dobson “an extremist who has built his empire on the backs of gays and lesbians” and “a bigot who distorts scientific research. Gary Schneeberger, vice president for media and public relations (PR) at Focus on the Family, called Besen “a PR pro of the first order.” “He puts words into sentences very colorfully,” Schneeberger said. “And that attracts the media’s attention. Unfortunately, he’s a little less adept at putting truth into sentences.”

The most outrageous lie told in the story was that it was gay activists, not James Dobson, who distorted research. I have written two books and hundreds of press releases and articles, yet I have not once been accused by a scientist of distorting his or her work. Meanwhile, Dobson has been taken to the woodshed by seven scientists in two years for twisting their science to fit his version of Scripture. Talk about spin! Here is what Focus on the Falsehoods had to say:

As for “distorting research,” Schneeberger said it’s the gay activists who are doing the distorting.

In 2006, Dr. Dobson was invited to write an opinion piece for TIME magazine about the benefits of traditional marriage to children and society. In the article, Dr. Dobson pointed to a handful of scientific studies that found mothers and fathers parent differently.

“He never said the scientists agreed with his conclusion that gay marriage is bad for society,” Schneeberger said. “He merely said their data could be used to reach his conclusion — which is 100 percent true, but something the scientists didn’t appreciate because of their ideological leanings.”

Here are the facts: The seven scientists from three countries who said that Dobson distorted their work were not so-called gay activists. Indeed, I have no idea about their political leanings any more than Dobson does. When I cold called each scientist to let them know Dobson bastardized their work, they did not even know who I was. Yet, they were grateful at the opportunity to set the record straight and upbraid Double-Talk Dobson for manipulating their research.

Clearly, Dobson is the one lying, not me. By saying otherwise, Focus on the Family is bearing false witness. They are also trying to shoot the messenger (me) because they can’t stand up to the seven scientists who accused Dobson of misrepresenting their studies for political gain.

Memo to Focus - this is not about me, this is about Dobson refusing to address the concerns of these scientists. These esteemed doctors ALL tried to address Focus on the Family and they were met with silence. What is Focus on the Family so afraid of? Why won’t they take the calls or answer the letters from the very scientists that they misquote?

Make no mistake - what Dobson did was lowbrow. He wanted to make the point that gay people are inherently worthless, so he cherry picked work from respected researchers to make it look like their secular, scientific conclusions bolstered his religious opinions. As a former child psychologist, he has the training to splice and dice this legitimate research to make it appear as if it supported his erroneous and unsubstantiated conclusions. Thus, it is fair to conclude that Dobson knew exactly what he was doing and therefore his distortions were likely deliberate.

Dobson should apologize for his outrageously immoral behavior. Notice that in the Citizen Link article, he did not mention that there were SEVEN researchers who took him to task in a period of two years. Notice, that he and his PR puppet Gary Schneeberger did not link to any of Truth Wins Out’s videos.

By withholding such crucial information, Focus on the Family ensured that their members who read the tabloid story were unable to judge the veracity of Dobson’s claims. Leave it to Focus on the Family to give their fans half the story and a quarter of the facts so they are unable to come to their own conclusions. Sometimes, it seems this organization disrespects their own members and donors, even more than the gay community.

Focus on the Family must realize that Truth Wins Out is determined to expand its Respect My Research program in the coming year. We are only going to make lying more difficult for this organization. Dobson and Schneeberger are playing a game they are not going to win - as the Truth is a powerful weapon that can overcome the money-changer amounts of money that flow through their luxurious castle in Colorado Springs.

To Donate to Truth Wins Out CLICK HERE

Anthony Falzarano - the founder of Parents and Friends of ‘Ex-Gays’ (PFOX) - was a leading “ex-gay” spokesperson in the late 90’s. His media-friendly story was quite unique, in that he claims he was Roy Cohn’s rent boy and partied each night like it was 1999.

Falzarano’s entry into the ex-gay scene in the early 80’s has always been a little murky. In one version of his tale, God told Falzarano to go straight before the AIDS crises hit. In another version, after many of his friends had passed away, God told him to become ex-gay. In yet a third version, one of his sexual conquests felt guilty after their encounter and introduced him to Christ. Obviously, these colorful versions are contradictions and they can’t all be true.

If there is one thing about Falzarano - he is not opposed to telling a good story, the facts be damned. So, his fictional book, “Such Were Some of You: One Man’s Walk Out of the Gay Lifestyle,” is sure to be entertaining and certainly much better than Exodus’ Alan Chambers depressingly trite tome, “God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door.”

Falzarano holds to the empty and unsupported belief that homosexuality is caused by a young person being molested - and he pulls bogus figures out of thin air to bolster his case. Indeed, he is known to invent new percentages on the number of gay people molested from one interview to the next. The man has no scruples and honesty is just an inconvenience in his bizarre universe.

He is also a proponent of spiritual warfare, once telling CBS News, “AIDS comes from the devil, directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.” Another time, he called hate crime victim Matthew Shepard a “predator to heterosexual men.” (Read More)

High gas prices inspire different reactions in Americans.

As sensible people realize that gas prices will only go higher in the coming years, some people move closer to transit, employment, or schools. Some people telecommute. Some people car-pool. Some lose weight through once-common practices known by quaint names such as “walking” and “biking.” This writer (for what it’s worth) is selling his car next month and moving to an urban center with good neighborhoods, transit, and walkable streets.

Not everyone can pick up and move, but incremental changes are possible.

On the other hand, some people just want to complain.

In a recent op-ed article, Exodus President Alan Chambers admits to central Florida that he’s mad at gas prices and polluted air. But his recollection of a recent commute across Orlando suburbs in his old Mercedes offers no sign that Chambers was taking any measures to conserve fuel, besides briefly turning off his air conditioning. He seems unwilling to publicly acknowledge a basic truth: His decision to live and work in separate, car-dependent suburbs represents an unyielding and unsustainable lifestyle choice which, repeated by millions of motorists worldwide, is the cause of both rising fuel prices and worsening air pollution. (Read More)

Sporting a fog machine for its smoke and mirrors routine and an extravagant stage that would make The Rolling Stones blush, the “ex-gay” group Exodus International held its glitzy annual conference in Asheville, North Carolina. I was in town all week to partner with regional and state organizations to oppose the meeting and its dizzying array of distortions.

A dark cloud hovered over the Exodus event, with violent hate crimes unsettling the local GLBT community. At the very moment ex-gay televangelists were railing against homosexuals in the foothills, news broke of an 18-year old boy in Anderson, South Carolina whose father, “yelled, cursed, swung a baseball bat, prayed and tried to cast the demon of homosexuality out of him.”

In nearby Greenville, South Carolina, Stephen Moller, an anti-gay thug who murdered 20-year-old Sean William Kennedy outside a gay bar, just learned that he would spend approximately 10 months in jail for his ferocious crime. In this gross miscarriage of justice, the message was sent that murdering gay people was tacitly acceptable, if not encouraged. While in town, I spoke to Sean’s grieving mother, Elke Kennedy, who rightfully called the sentence, “a joke and a slap on the wrist.”

Meanwhile, on the opening day of the Exodus conference, an anti-bullying bill was stalled in the North Carolina legislature. Into this backdrop of brutality stepped the ex-gay activists Alan Chambers and Randy Thomas, who were determined to show the progressive residents of Asheville that Exodus did not stigmatize gay and lesbian people. Unfortunately, they kept tripping over reality and revealing the true nature of their duplicitous, deceptive and depraved ministry.

For a week, western North Carolinians were dazzled with disingenuousness. The audacity of the lies was breathtaking and the sheer nerve was mind numbing. By the end of the conference, everyone who had paid attention learned that Exodus leaders are shameless charlatans who lack even a modicum of morality. (Read More)

(Randy Thomas, Left)

Exodus Blatantly Lies In Local Media And Unveils Deceptive ‘Asheville Talking Points’ To Appeal To Progressives, Says TWO

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – TruthWinsOut.org (TWO) teamed-up with an inspiring group of state and local GLBT advocates to fight back against the “ex-gay” group Exodus International, which invaded the progressive city of Asheville, North Carolina this week with its cruel message of false hope. This Friday, TWO founder Wayne Besen will also appear on a panel, to discuss the movie “Fish Can’t Fly,” an expose on the ex-gay industry.

“I have been honored to speak out against lies and intolerance with so many incredible activists in Western North Carolina,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We are having an impact and making a difference in the lives of many people.”

The Exodus conference has been a hot topic and covered by the local mainstream media – which has generally done a decent job. However, Exodus leaders Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers have been chronically lying to the press and spinning the truth. Chambers began the mendacious marathon by claiming in the Asheville Citizen-Times that Exodus’ message is “not about fire and brimstone.” Oh, really?

Exodus leader, Alan Chambers, said in a 2005 Exodus Newsletter, “One of the many evils this world has to offer is the sin of homosexuality. Satan, the enemy, is using people to further his agenda to destroy the Kingdom of God and as many souls as he can.” (Read More)

(Alan Chambers, Left)

In typical fashion, Exodus and Focus on the Family are fooling future victims with false advertising, pie-in-the-sky promises and semantic games. In hyping the Asheville event, Focus on the Family wrote an article that claimed the following:

** For 33 years, Exodus has been spreading a message of hope and freedom to a world impacted by homosexuality.

I would agree that Exodus is spreading a message of hope. Indeed, the entire organization is all about “messages” - even if their slick words conflict with the dark reality experienced by most of the people who will attend the group’s conference. The sad truth is, anyone can offer “messages” - but are these messages backed by substance or simply empty promises that will cause needless pain and suffering? The statistic-free Exodus refuses to show whether its rhetoric matches reality - because it doesn’t. In my view, the Exodus message machine borders on consumer fraud.

** Exodus President Alan Chambers said, “There is a biblical alternative, that we can find freedom from homosexuality.”

Once again, Chambers is word-smithing to make it appear as if Exodus is offering a magical cure. Chambers pathologically denies this, but wide-eyed, new conference-goers will surely see Chambers’ words as offering a new life as a heterosexual. After all, “freedom from homosexuality” implies that the alternative is heterosexuality. Anyone who says otherwise is flat out lying and exploiting people.

** Jeff Johnston, gender issues analyst at Focus on the Family, attended his first Exodus conference more than 20 years ago. It helped him gain victory over homosexuality, and he said he wants that message of freedom to spread. “You have some churches saying, ‘Homosexuality is OK; that’s how God made people,’ ” he said. “Exodus is proclaiming (the) truth and helping people find freedom.”

Johnston is also guilty of manipulating words to make conference attendees believe they will become straight - which they won’t. He is saying that people will “find freedom” and the text supports this by saying that Exodus helped him “gain victory.” For the vast majority of people paying their hard earned money in Asheville, victory means an opposite-sex spouse that they are actually attracted to. It means that when they are at the gym and see an attractive person of the same-sex, they will feel nothing sexual.

Exodus cannot promise such a transformation, and is thus immorally preying on people by offering promises they can’t deliver. Why doesn’t Exodus simply tell people the truth. Here are few honest slogans:

1) “Marry someone you aren’t attracted to and learn to have sex with them!” (Alan Chambers, Instructor)

2) “Improve your acting skills by playing straight! Free Haircuts!” (Melissa Fryrear, Instructor)

3) “Learn the Joys of Lifetime loneliness and Celibacy!” (Randy Thomas, Instructor)

Until Exodus is honest with people, they are nothing more than immoral sleaze merchants who peddle snake oil to the highest bidder. They ought to be ashamed. And, yes, Alan, Jeff and Randy - I’m talking directly to you.

Exodus International Offers False Hope, Divorces and Ruined Lives, Says TWO

NEW YORK – TruthWinsOut.org (TWO) will join a coalition of state and local North Carolina organizations to counter a conference in Asheville (July 15-20) that plans to teach people to ‘pray away the gay.’ The controversial Exodus International symposium will sell books that promote exorcisms and encourage gay men to play touch football and lesbians to wear lipstick to become heterosexual.

“Ex-gay groups would be a farce if its failures weren’t so destructive to individuals and families,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of TruthWinsOut.org. “We plan a robust week of activities to highlight the harm caused by this nefarious right wing organization and to show the truth about the lives of GLBT people. I want to thank the Coalition for Equality for their commitment to educating North Carolinians about the dangers of the ‘ex-gay’ myth and the positive contributions GLBT people make to the community.”

Schedule of Events, July 15-20

Tuesday, July 15, 7:00–8:30 PM, Kick off Event
“Can You Pray Away the Gay?”
Firestorm Café & Books (48 Commerce St., Asheville)
Speakers: Wayne Besen, Director, TruthWinsOut.org and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-gay Myth,” and Ian Palmist, Director, Equality NC

(Read More)

(A ‘Blinded’ Chambers Now On The Gay Marriage Market?)

Last year, Alan Chambers, the head of so-called “ex-gay” group Exodus International appeared in full-page newspaper ads opposing same-sex marriage. His bizarre reasoning in the ad text stated:

“By finding my way out of a gay identity, I found the love of my life in the process. Gay marriage would have only blinded me to such incredible joy.”

Well, now that marriage is legal in California, might the temptation be too much for poor, struggling Chambers? Might the sight of thousands of happy same sex couples, “blind” him and his celibate understudy, Randy Thomas? If his silly ad is an indication, Chamber’s might run off to California and marry a man any day.

(To SEE ADD scroll to bottom)

By Wayne Besen

“What is it about gay sex that makes U.S. health officials want to play Chicken Little with AIDS prevention and public safety?” Tony Valenzuela writes in the latest Poz magazine, where he criticizes, “The clueless tabloid and public health hysteria over man-on-man sex.”

Valenzuela points to “an imaginary ‘super strain’ of HIV to the sci-fi MRSA superbug.” And, he is correct that it seems the media and society seem to always take on the absurd posture that gay sex is a mysterious ticking time bomb.

It is important to remember that gay bashing is a multi-million dollar industry. There is a vested interest by fundamentalist groups to convince the public that gay people are morally inferior and diseased, thus a threat to children, society and themselves.

The notion that AIDS is a punishment from God is a staple of right wing literature. Instead of focusing on the condemnation of unsafe sexual practices, extremist groups say that the very nature of being gay makes one a candidate for an early death. For example, the so-called “ex-gay” group Exodus International uses the Bible to justify their belief in God’s wrath and fury against homosexuals.

“Those who practice these sins ‘receive in their own persons the due penalty of their error,’” writes former Exodus Executive Director Bob Davies in ‘A Biblical Response to the Pro-Gay Movement.’ “In today’s society, homosexuality is reaping a bitter harvest…homosexual involvement reaps deep devastation in the lives of many who practice it.”

The Traditional Values Coalition has published what they call a “fact-based report on the dangers of homosexuals and homosexual behavior to children and to our society.” One “fact sheet” is called, “Homosexual Sex = Death From HIV Infection.”

Focus on the Family offers that, “solid, irrefutable evidence proves that there are lethal consequences to engaging in the defining features of male homosexuality…”

Of course, blaming victims for deadly diseases is nothing new and has ushered in some of the most shameful and horrific acts in world history. In a recent New York Times magazine article, epidemiologist and physician Gary Slutkin (the article was about gang violence, not HIV) spoke of how Chinese Americans were once thought to be inherently prone to disease.

“Chinatown, San Francisco in the 1880’s,” Slutkin said. “Three ghosts: malaria, smallpox and leprosy. No one wanted to go there. Everybody blamed the people. Dirty. Bad habits. Something about their race…And people come up with all kinds of other ideas that are not scientifically grounded – like putting people away, closing the place down, pushing people out of town. Sound familiar?”

John Kelly’s book, “The Great Mortality” explains how Jews were blamed for the “Black Death” that wiped out an estimated one-third of fourteenth century Europeans.

“In January 1349, Basel burned its Jews on an island in the Rhine, while hygiene-conscious Speyer, fearing pollution, put its dead Jews in wine barrels and rolled them into the river,” wrote Kelly. “Strasbourg marched its Jews to a local cemetery and burned them…In Worms the local Jewish community, faced with death at the hands of Christian neighbors, locked themselves in their homes and set themselves ablaze.”

What I find bizarre is how the right continues to portray HIV as a gay disease when more than 80 percent of people infected worldwide are heterosexual. If God really wanted to punish the so-called “gay lifestyle” and send a message, wouldn’t He use a smart bomb – like blowing up gay bars on Saturday nights – instead of an indiscriminate shotgun blast that claims the lives of hemophiliacs and babies? The last time God was this inefficient, He placed George W. Bush in the Oval Office to carry out his will.

For reasons of political convenience and conservative correctness, anti-gay groups pick and choose who gets blame. In Washington, DC, black residents account for 81% of new reports of HIV infection and 86% of people with AIDS, though the city’s population is only 57% African-American. Based on anti-gay “logic,” this would mean that the “black lifestyle” is dangerous and should be condemned. Interestingly, they only focus on homosexuality and ignore other demographics and the largely hetero International AIDS epidemic because the inconvenient facts don’t mesh well with the right’s anti-gay storyline.

Gay people were around for thousands of years before AIDS and will still inhabit this planet long after the disease subsides or is eradicated. In the grand scheme of the universe, HIV does not define homosexuality any more than past syphilis or gonorrhea outbreaks in Europe defined heterosexuality.

Illnesses, like natural disasters, are not God’s wrath, but ordinary phenomena that affect different populations at any given time. History, however, teaches us that the most enduring disease is divisiveness in the name of the Divine, that predictably rears its ugly head at the very moments when healing is needed instead of hatred.

(Bob Davies, right)

Exodus claims to love homosexuals, but their message to those infected with HIV: “You are getting what you deserve and God is punishing you for being gay.” On Exodus’ website, there is a commentary by former Executive Director Bob Davies, “A Biblical Response to the Pro-Gay Movement.” In this screed he says:

Those who practice these sins “receive in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (v. 27). In today’s society, homosexuality is reaping a bitter harvest. Homosexual men are six times more likely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual men. Between 25 and 33 percent of homosexual men and women are alcoholics (the national average is 7 percent). Currently, 70 percent of Americans with AIDS are male homosexuals or bisexuals. Homosexual involvement reaps deep devastation in the lives of many who practice it.

It was certainly convenient for Davies to ignore that heterosexuals make up more than 80 percent of cases worldwide - so this is hardly a product of homosexual behavior. Many of the new infections are caused by right wing squeamishness to teaching comprehensive sex education - including condom use.

For political convenience, Exodus also skirts the obvious. In Washington, DC, black residents are hardest hit, accounting for 81% of new reports of HIV infection and 86% of people with AIDS, though the city’s population is only 57% African-American. Based on Exodus “logic” this would mean that the “black lifestyle” is dangerous and should be condemned. Interesting, how they only focus on homosexuality and ignore other demographics and the International AIDS epidemic because they don’t mesh well with the group’s bigotry.

The fact is, Exodus is a bona fide hate group that will say anything to smear homosexuals. Gay sex, when practiced safely, is no more dangerous than any other form of sexuality. Gay people have been around for thousands of years before AIDS and will be on this planet long after the disease subsides or is eradicated. In the grand scheme of the universe, it does not define homosexuality any more than syphilis outbreaks in Europe defined heterosexuality. It is time for Exodus to stop the blame game and act responsibly.