Remember Daniel Avila, the Massachusetts attorney who advises the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on marriage policy (AKA how to exclude same-sex couples from marriage using any means necessary)? The one who wrote an opinion piece in the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” and saying that homosexuality is caused by Satan entering the wombs of unsuspecting pregnant women and wreaking havoc with their hormones?
Well, after Truth Wins Out and others got wind of his vile comments, the story generated a bit of a firestorm. Being a former member of the Catholic Church, I knew that Avila’s words went too far even for the flagrantly homophobic American bishops. Consequently, TWO made sure our press release condemning Avila was sent directly to both the newspaper that published his remarks (the Boston Pilot) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops themselves.
Today, both the Boston Pilot and Daniel Avila issued statements apologizing for the publication of the piece, which was also removed from the newspaper’s website. Judging by the tenor of Mr. Avila’s remarks, it looks like the paper and/or the American bishops gave him quite the dressing-down. Both apologies, which can also be found here, are reprinted in full below.
From the Boston Pilot:
Editor’s Note: Daniel Avila issued the following “Retraction/Apology” Nov. 2 in regard to his opinion piece “Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction” which was published in our Oct. 28 edition. In addition to echoing Mr. Avila’s statement of regret, The Pilot also wishes to apologize for having failed to recognize the theological error in the column before publication. The Pilot has removed the column ‘Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction’ from its Website.
And the “retraction/apology” from Daniel Avila:
“Statements made in my column, ‘Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction’ of October 28, do not represent the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the column was not authorized for publication as is required policy for staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The teaching of Sacred Scripture and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church make it clear that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and have inviolable dignity. Likewise, the Church proclaims the sanctity of marriage as the permanent, faithful, fruitful union of one man and one woman. The Church opposes, as I do too, all unjust discrimination and the violence against persons that unjust discrimination inspires. I deeply apologize for the hurt and confusion that this column has caused.”
Truth Wins Out is proud to have played a part in stemming the tide of even greater anti-LGBT hostility from the leaders of the American Catholic Church.
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
Email: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Truth Wins Out Condemns Advisor to U.S. Catholic Bishops for Saying Homosexuality Comes From Satan
BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out condemned Massachusetts attorney Daniel Avila today for calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” caused by Satan invading the wombs of mothers of LGBT children. Avila, who serves as Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, made the inflammatory remarks in an article for the Boston Pilot, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In the article, he discussed a theory that homosexuality is caused by “random imbalances in maternal hormone levels,” which he falsely labeled as “the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis.” Avila went on to say:
“…the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture’s account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God’s handiwork.
Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”
“Avila’s bizarre theories are unscientific and defamatory,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Telling Catholic mothers with LGBT children that Satan entered their womb and caused their child’s homosexuality is spiritual abuse of the highest order.”
“It is outrageous for an official advisor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to make such an appalling statement at all, much less in the approved newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston,” added John Becker, Truth Wins Out’s Director of Communications and Development. “The USCCB and the Boston Archdiocese must unequivocally condemn Avila’s bigoted remarks, or explain to LGBT Catholics and their parents why they refuse to do so.”
While the Catholic Church has increased its public anti-gay efforts in recent years, Avila’s words directly contradict those of the American Catholic Bishops in their 1997 pastoral letter entitled Always Our Children, which gave a far more nuanced view of the topic of homosexuality:
“…it seems appropriate to understand sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual) as a deep-seated dimension of one’s personality and to recognize its relative stability in a person. A homosexual orientation produces a stronger emotional and sexual attraction toward individuals of the same sex, rather than toward those of the opposite sex… There seems to be no single cause of a homosexual orientation. A common opinion of experts is that there are multiple factors—genetic, hormonal, psychological—that may give rise to it. Generally, homosexual orientation is experienced as a given, not as something freely chosen. By itself, therefore, a homosexual orientation cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose.”
The bishops’ letter also told parents of gay children not to reject them in a society full of violence and discrimination, that “God does not love someone any less simply because he or she is homosexual,” and that “the Christian community should offer its homosexual sisters and brothers understanding and pastoral care.”
“There is nothing remotely understanding or caring about Avila’s anti-gay smears,” said Becker. “His statements are in direct conflict with those of the bishops he counsels, and contribute to the continued marginalization of LGBT Catholics and their families within their church communities.”
Added Besen: “If America’s Catholic bishops are looking to Daniel Avila for advice about the LGBT community, it’s no wonder that so many fair-minded people are leaving the Catholic Church for other, more reasonable and rational denominations.”
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO fights anti-LGBT religious extremism, monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Daniel Avila (whom you may remember from one of Wayne’s reports from the Values Voter Summit) is the “Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family” to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage — he describes himself as “the bishops’ marriage guy.” In a recent article for the Boston Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, he discussed a theory (which he falsely labeled as “the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis”) that homosexuality is caused by “random imbalances in maternal hormone levels.” And so Mr. Avila concludes:
…the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture’s account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God’s handiwork.
Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.
Their marriage policy advisor says that homosexuality comes from Satan, but don’t you dare call them bigots!
What a disgusting slap in the face to LGBT Catholics and Catholic parents — in particular, mothers — of LGBT children. No wonder so many are leaving that church.
Rev. Irene Monroe is a Ford Fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School.
In this interview, Irene will discuss her views on LGBT outreach to the African American community, “ex-gay” gospel singer Donnie McClurkin and the efforts of white evangelical politicians to lure black preachers.
One of Monroe’s outreach ministries is writing religion columns. She writes “The Religion Thang,” for In Newsweekly, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender newspaper that circulates widely throughout New England, “Faith Matters” for The Advocate Magazine, a national gay & lesbian magazine, and “Queer Take,” for The Witness, a progressive Episcopalian journal.
Her writings have also appeared in the Boston Herald and in the Boston Globe. Her award-winning essay, “Louis Farrakhan’s Ministry of Misogyny and Homophobia”, was greeted with critical acclaim.
Monroe states that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American , queer and religious studies.” As an religion columnist she try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
Gospel music on a Sunday afternoon? Sounds like a great idea.
But no city-supported music festival should preach prejudice against youths, nor promote ostracism and family strife in the name of God.
Yet notorious homophobe Donnie McClurkin, who has called gay people “vampires,” is appearing at Boston’s city-funded Gospel Fest on City Hall Plaza, on July 18.
Join the Impact MA, Truth Wins Out, and the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts are planning a counter-protest. McClurkin’s bigotry, his hostility toward LGBT people of faith and their families, his unhealthy contempt for sexual honesty, and his harassment of gay and lesbian youths — all are unwelcome in the cradle of liberty.
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 5 p.m.
Boston City Hall Plaza at Government Center
Claims to be “saved,” “sanctified,” and “delivered” from homosexuality
Admits he is still same-sex attracted, comparing his orientation to diabetes: “I don’t eat sugar, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want sugar.”
What Donnie McClurkin has said and done:
Incited crowds in Barbados, where homosexuality is illegal
Says about young lesbians, “They can hide … but there are some evil young hard butch girls.”
Calls openly gay, well-adjusted young men “broken and feminine.”
Calls sexual honesty a “curse,” calls gay people “vampires”
Of fellow gay gospel singer Tonex, McClurkin says, “God did not call young people to such perversion.”
Projects his lies about his own orientation onto those who live honestly: “Anybody who has a lying problem: They get to the point where they hate having such a lack of character that they make a change.”
Wayne Besen kicked off a month of LGBT activities for “GAYpril” on Thursday at Tufts University in Boston. He discussed the ex-gay industry and the religious right with more than 50 students in the Crane Room. “I thank the LGBT Center and Tom Bourdon for hosting this amazing event,” said Besen. “The students were terrific and asked some great questions. I hope the presentation had an impact and was both educational and entertaining.” If you are interested in booking Wayne Besen or another TWO speaker, please contact Lisa Darden for details, ask4darden@aol.com. Truth Wins Out’s next stop is Belfast, Ireland on April 21 to help counter Exodus International, which is sending its President, Alan Chambers to Belfast to teach people to “pray away the gay.”
He seems to be genuinely burned by the fact that he’s being held accountable for his words and deeds over the past years, his Americans For Truth [sic] website having been newly classified as a hate site by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The designation, of course, was a long time coming, and as Jeremy Hooper has been reminding us, this is not the first time Peter LaBarbera’s dishonesty and vitriol has been recognized by the SPLC:
Back when Peter was the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, Pete gave what the SPLC called a “full-throated endorsement of [Paul] Cameron” when he, in a piece on the discredited researcher’s work, said: “Paul Cameron’ work has been targeted for ridicule by homosexual activists, and he’ been demonized by the left”…”but this should not discount his findings.“). This endorsement of Cameron earned the IFI a place on the SPLC’s dubious “hate groups” list in the anti-gay category: Solely because of Peter’s actions. After current IFIer Laurie Higgins (a major LaBarbera pal) took down the offending piece and pressed the SPLC for removal, the civil rights group did eventually remove IFI from their list. Because as we said: The SPLC’s threshold is not willy-nilly, designed add anyone who does anything anti-gay. A group or person has to do something particular, and in the case of IFI it was Pete’s action that did it.
Right. And Peter STILL defends Paul Cameron. Not only that, but he also has defended the perpetrators of the anti-gay genocide legislation in Uganda, pleading that those of us who have shone a light on the goings-on in that country are afflicted with “activist arrogance.”
But you see, this is Peter’s game: He says godawful things, he maligns an entire community of people based on trumped up accusations against a few, he lies and tells his readers (whoever they are) that being gay, itself, is a danger to society, etc., and then when he’s called it on it, he cries “But I’m just a nice boy who loves Jesus!”
Give us all, collectively, a break, Peter.
Now let’s go through his post and see what he had to say. As I mentioned in the headline, Peter thinks we at TWO should be on the list too, based on well, one time Wayne yelled on a megaphone, you see, and this is just as bad as the Holocaust, because…
Energetic ideological debate is one thing ‚Äî and pointed and colorful rhetoric flows in both directions (it’ not called a “Culture War” for nothing) ‚Äî but I can’t even imagine screaming through a bullhorn into the window of a “gay” church. Yet this is precisely what homosexual activist Wayne Besen did in Boston last year ‚Äî to protest an ex-gay seminar designed for pastors. Are you investigating his group, Truth Wins Out, as a potential “hate” group? If not, why not?
Oh, he’s playing so innocent, and so cute with the facts. It’s been covered here before, but since Peter posts his favorite picture of Wayne Besen In Shorts With a Megaphone once a week or so, and since he never tells the story of what was actually happening there, let’s just cover it again. This is from our press release on the event, last year:
Truth Wins Out joined local Boston GLBT advocates to demonstrate against Exodus International, which hosted a training seminar on Tuesday to teach people to “pray away the gay.” The protest was held at the site of the “ex-gay” symposium — the Park St. Church.
“We thank Join the Impact MA for coordinating an effective response to the damaging misinformation Exodus International peddles to vulnerable people,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Speaking up and educating the public is the first step in exposing the ex-gay myth. I was honored to be part of this bold action.”
The protest, at one point, moved to the burial grounds of some of America’ Founding Fathers, which was next to the church where the seminar was held. The radical, anti-gay organization, Massachusetts Family Institute (FMI) filmed a poorly shot video of the protest. Interestingly, their own video shows that protesters had not “desecrated” the graveyard, as they had stated in a press release.
“It is amazing that people who claim to represent ethics and morality would not only lie — but capture their dishonesty on videotape,” said Besen. “What the Massachusetts Family did was reprehensible and they should be ashamed of their blatant lies.”
Indeed, MassResistance (ANOTHER SPLC hate group — nice company, Pete keeps, isn’t it?) reported the protest in utter hysterics:
Tuesday afternoon, April 28, several major homosexual activist figures, including a prominent state employee, led a screaming demonstration to terrorize a downtown Boston church while it was holding a peaceful religious training event inside. Using a bullhorn, they illegally trampled through an adjoining Revolutionary War-era cemetery in order to be directly outside the church’s windows. Despite numerous apparent violations of the law, the Boston Police talked with them but refused to make any arrests.
(…)
And the Boston Police Department went right along with it. There were obvious violations of the law, including at the very least (1) a clear violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights statute (2) holding a demonstration (in the graveyard!) without a permit; and (3) creating a public disturbance. But the one uniformed Boston Police officer and two plainclothes officers who were there made no effort to arrest anyone. The uniformed officer asked them a few questions and went on his way (see our video). The Boston Police Department told us yesterday that there were no arrests in the incident.
Uh…huh. No arrests were made. But MassResistance (again, a certified hate group) gnashed their teeth, beat their breasts, and wailed that it was all a conspiracy, because the Boston Police went along with it! Right. Everyone is out to get them, surely.
Or could it just be that protests are not illegal on public property, and that it was non-violent, so the police had no reason to arrest anyone?
Note that these hysterical hate groups accused the gay protesters of “desecrating” a cemetery, and let what they’re really saying sink in: that the mere presence of gay people on public property is, itself, desecration. Does that sound like a hate group to you? Because it sounds like a hate group to me.
So, to sum up, the protest had the following characteristics:
1. Was legal.
2. There was no church service going on, but instead a meeting of leaders from Exodus, who had just come back, incidentally, from the anti-gay conference in Uganda where Scott Lively (ALSO on the hate group list) stated that gays caused the Rwandan genocide.
3. Those protesting were on public property.
4. No arrests were made.
Oh, by the way, would you like to know what Wayne was saying into that megaphone that day? “Uganda!”
Considering what’s happened over the past year with “Uganda,” would you say Truth Wins Out is looking more hateful or less hateful than the man who is currently bitching about being recognized as a grade-A hatemonger?
Anyway, that’s that. Let’s look at the outline of Pete’s letter to Mark Potok of the SPLC.
Playing nice nice:
Am I and Americans For Truth opposed to homosexual behavior and any activism seeking to advance homosexuality/bisexuality/transsexuality as normative and acceptable? Absolutely. Do I “hate” people? Not at all. In fact, I am constantly responding to (often vicious) emails from pro-gay activists who write in to AFTAH via our website with my message that we can disagree with hating each other. That is the essence of civility and true tolerance, IMO [in my opinion] ‚Äî i.e., tolerating opinions with which we disagree while continuing to aggressively debate our viewpoints.
Neglects to mention that he posts the meanest letters he gets as a way to broadbrush LGBT people as “the reel haturs,” yet never posts these nice conversations he supposedly has.
Concern trolling:
I don’t expect you to sympathize with AFTAH’ views, but from a practical standpoint, you must know that your credibility is waning among people whom the SPLC needs to reach to stay viable. America is a center-right country (perhaps many liberals would say centrist) ‚Äî and while you may have success in fund-raising by reaching out predominantly to the Left, you cannot build credibility with unfair, politicized attacks on religious conservatives that appeal to base, uninformed stereotypes.
Oh yes, that’s right. Peter is so concerned for the credibility of the SPLC. Additionally, his suggestion that he’s just like the other evangelical groups who oppose LGBT people is asinine. There’s a reason Focus on the Family is not on the list, while AFTAH and MassResistance are. Focus is obnoxious, and they play cute with the truth, but they don’t tend to cross the line into the sort of bilious hatred Peter spews out on a daily basis. (Do I need to provide a corroborating link for that, or do you just want to set up a Google alert with his name and see what the hell he says every time he gets on the computer?)
As Pam Spaulding would say, protect your keyboards for this next part, folks:
What about the hateful rhetorical attacks against me and AFTAH and nasty shibboleths that come routinely from the Left? “Porno Pete”? Honestly, this is the type of malicious, hateful slander I experience on a daily basis (it is analogous in its ugliness to Phelps’ use of the term “Fag”).
OMG. He’s comparing “Porno Pete,” a silly name that we sometimes use, because “Pete” has an insane predilection for posting albums full of photographs of leathersex events (as a way to smear, again, all LGBT people) which are decidedly Not Safe For Work, all the time, to the term “fag,” which, as Jeremy Hooper points out, is used in virtually every gay bashing attack:
The word “f*g” is among the most heinous on the landscape, used in most every gay bashing to ever occur. To relate it to a silly web nickname that applies to a supposed affection for pornography (something that many would gladly own up to)? And to compare those who use the silly name to the Phelps family from Westboro Baptist, who protest people’s funerals and tell the parents that their child is burning in hell?!?! That is completely out-of-line!
Peter and his pal Matt are trying with all of their might to spin the script so that gay activists are the “haters.” It is a completely futile exercise. Not a single one of us who fight for equality want to be doing this. We do this because folks like Pete have demanded it of us, and we’re scared of where we’d be if we didn’t resist the onslaught! The on the socially conservative side declared this so-called “culture war” against our inclusion in the spectrum of normalcy, which puts them in the aggressor seat from day one. Some folks like Peter, who so things like personally attack people’s weddings, have just taken it to a whole other level!
Uh yeah. And if you don’t know what Jeremy is talking about when he says “personally attack people’s weddings,” it was Jeremy’s wedding, and Peter sent him a personal attack e-mail the week of. Click the clicky to read about it.
Peter needs to get over it. He earned the nickname “Porno Pete,” and a silly nickname is not “hatred.” It’s a silly nickname. Let us know when it’s used as a slur against an entire group of, um, Porno Petes.
Anyway, Peter also wants the SPLC to investigate Joe.My.God as a hate group, because Joe makes fun of Peter sometimes. Oh, and also ACT-UP, which really wouldn’t have had to exist if the Reagan administration and social conservatives hadn’t been absolutely evil in their misinformation and neglect of the HIV/AIDS issue as it arose suddenly in the ’80s.
More faux-victimization:
In fact, over the years there have been numerous assaults by pro-homosexual militants against people of faith and churches ‚Äî do you recall the attack against Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco in 1993 in which pro-gay activists were literally pounding on the doors of the church? What about ACT UP’ invasion of St. Patrick’ Cathedral in New York City in 1989, or more recent attempts by homosexual activists to intimidate supporters of Prop 8 and traditional marriage?
Goddammit, does Peter even know what the word “assault” means? Because banging on the doors of a church doesn’t leave a trail of blood. We on the pro-LGBT/pro-equality/pro-human side can, unfortunately, provide a list a mile long of LGBT people who have been beaten and murdered simply for who they are. And Porno Pete is going to bitch about the fact that a couple of church services were disrupted?
There’s a bit of wishful thinking as Peter brings his letter to a close:
Rest assured that SPLC’ reckless mischaracterization of AFTAH has touched off deep resentment within the pro-family, conservative community.
Actually, no. Peter is upset that there is very little resentment among the part of the greater “pro-family” community that retains a semblance of respect in this country. Peter has seen over the past year, up close, that he’s unwanted in his own movement, that he embarrasses his movement. Peter and his friends were shoved to the sidelines during the anti-gay fight in Maine, because they were deemed too embarrassing to be associated with. In fact, that was probably Yes on 1′s smartest play. That they misrepresented their own views in an effort to appear un-hateful to Mainers, that they shoved their most embarrassing players (Peter, Mike Heath, etc.) into Siberia, may be why they were able to inch over the top. It’s no longer socially acceptable in this country to espouse the kinds of views Peter LaBarbera emits onto his keyboard every day. Peter is upset because he knows that being on the SPLC list pushes him even further into Siberia from his own movement.
But he deserves the honor. Aside from Matt Barber (who’s probably not too far away from being on the list himself, but I won’t conjecture), the only people in the “pro-family” movement who will even have Peter are the others on the hate group list. He’s in the company he deserves, and in the bed he’s made for himself.
That’s why he’s literally begging to be taken off the list. Not only is his zealous hatred of gay people passionate, but it’s also his livelihood.
But the fact that Peter can’t control himself enough, can’t restrain his own hatred, his lies, his fake victimization — none of that is our fault. It’s not the SPLC’s fault. It’s not Joe Jervis’s fault. It’s not Jeremy Hooper’s fault. It’s not Wayne Besen’s fault. It sure as hell isn’t my fault.
It’s Peter’s fault.
UPDATE: Joe Jervis has also responded to Peter’s desire for Joe.My.God to also be on the hate group list:
LaBarbera clearly doesn’t like my near-daily habit of “smearing” Christian conservatives by quoting their idiocy verbatim. They hang themselves by their own words, Petey, and I rarely need to do more than provide a photo and a headline. If that’s hate, you need to speak to my team of writers: Matt Barber, Tony Perkins, Brian Brown, Harry Jackson, Pat Robertson, James Dobson….and YOU.
Join The Impact – Massachusetts, Boston GLAAD, Political Research Associates, Truth Wins Out, and local equality supporters joined in Boston on Feb. 4 to protest the U.S. Christian Right and ex-gay movement’s efforts to undermine human rights and freedom in Africa.
In more than twenty years of activism, I can honestly say that the anti-gay organization, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), is by far the most immoral, bizarre and dishonest organization I have come across. It is a cynical, homophobic knock-off of the wonderful group, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). It is run by a mother, Regina Griggs, who has rejected her own gay son’s sexual orientation, and urges other parents to do the same.
So much for family values…
PFOX also has this odd strategy, where it fakes or stages hate crimes to make it appear that so-called “ex-gays” are victims. When GLBT people innocently come up to a PFOX booth at an event, the anti-gay activists provoke confrontations, and then, sneaks that they are, call the police to pretend they were harassed or attacked.
In some cases, this batty organization just makes up tales out of thin air. For example, on the group’s blog, it has a story about me with the misleading headline, “Wayne Besen Attacks a Church. “It goes on to identify my as a member of a group, “Bash Back”. PFOX also shows video footage of me supposedly screaming into megaphone directed at a church. I must respond to these perfidious calumnies:
1) The church in question was not “attacked”. This is an outright fabrication. A couple dozen protesters did, however, protest an “ex-gay” meeting in Boston. The action occurred on public property. The police were on-hand and not a single ticket was given, nor was anyone arrested. So, the alleged attack never actually took place, although it makes for a great story if you are a right wing nut who wants to feign persecution. If PFOX has a problem with protests on public property and the First Amendment, the group’s leaders should leave America. Despite PFOX’s best efforts, we are still a free country.
2) Contrary to the PFOX report, I have never been a member of the organization “Bash Back”. I do have a book that I wrote named, “Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture.” I can only assume PFOX’s Greg Quinlan, Richard Cohen and Regina Griggs conflated the two in a slimy effort to smear me, or they were too obtuse to know the difference between the book and the group. In any case, PFOX ought to do its homework before it issues false and misleading public statements. To do otherwise is unchristian.
3) PFOX identifies me in a video as “the man in the orange shirt holding the bullhorn up against the church’ window to disrupt the ex-gay meeting.” Newsflash: the person in the video with the bullhorn is NOT ME and I have been intentionally misidentified for the purposes of PFOX’s sleazy propaganda. I am proud to say, however, I did take a turn at the bullhorn and led the chant, “Uganda,” to remind Exodus International of its prominent role in the persecution of GLBT citizens in this African country. I am very proud that I stood up for human rights in Boston. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
PFOX is run by lunatics who should be institutionalized. Don’t take my word for it, just take a peak at the video below featuring PFOX’s former President Richard Cohen. Judge for yourself.
Finally, I find it sad that an organization that claims to be Christian has such an easy time bearing false witness. Shame on PFOX for their outright lies and fanciful fiction. Apparently, the work of Truth Wins Out must be having an impact, or they would not feel the urge to resort to such slime and skulduggery.
Remember Daniel Avila, the Massachusetts attorney who advises the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on marriage policy (AKA how to exclude same-sex couples from marriage using any means necessary)? The one who wrote an opinion piece in the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” and saying that homosexuality is caused by Satan entering the wombs of unsuspecting pregnant women and wreaking havoc with their hormones?
BURLINGTON, Vt – Truth Wins Out condemned Massachusetts attorney Daniel Avila today for calling homosexuality a “natural disaster” caused by Satan invading the wombs of mothers of LGBT children. Avila, who serves as Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, made the inflammatory remarks in an article for the Boston Pilot, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In the article, he discussed a theory that homosexuality is caused by “random imbalances in maternal hormone levels,” which he falsely labeled as “the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis.” Avila went on to say:
Gospel music on a Sunday afternoon? Sounds like a great idea. 
Wayne Besen
