‘We Will Stop Focus on the Family’s Destructive Lies Wherever They Are Spread,’ Says TWO

Truth Wins Out (TWO) announced today that its founder, Wayne Besen, would appear in Anchorage to oppose Focus on the Family’s notorious “ex-gay” Love Won Out road show on Sept. 13. Besen is the author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth.” TWO shadows this anti-gay seminar across the nation to ensure that the public is armed with the facts and aware that Focus on the Family is deliberately disseminating misinformation about gay and lesbian people.

“We appear wherever Focus on the Family spreads lies and fear,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Love Won Out distorts gay life and conflates stereotypes with science, while selling false hope to vulnerable people. We are looking forward to working with Alaskan advocacy groups to counter Focus on the Family’s false and destructive messages.”

More details about Besen’s trip will be forthcoming. The Love Won Out conference will take place on Sept. 13 at the Abbott Loop Community Church.

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Or - send a check to: Truth Wins Out; P.O. Box 25491; Brooklyn, NY 11202

(Sen. Sam Brownback, Left)

Focus on the Family Admits That Dobson Twists Research, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today condemned the introduction of a United States Senate resolution to “congratulate” Focus on the Family’s James Dobson for his selection into the Radio Hall of Fame. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) sponsored the controversial measure that says Dobson’s program has “benefited the lives of families and individuals across the United States and around the world.”

“It is disgraceful that Senators would consider congratulating James Dobson for his reprehensible radio broadcasts that damage families and promote discrimination,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Honoring a man who distorts research and misrepresents facts sends the wrong message to youth who are looking for role models. Do we really want young people to think lying and cheating are acceptable ways to promote a viewpoint?”
(Read More)

The Magic Theatre has offered to host First Sprout Theatre for a week-long workshop in mid-August that will culminate in three shows over the weekend of August 15-17, 2008 at the Magic Theatre Northside Space, Fort Mason Center, Building D.

August 15th - 8pm
August 16th - 8pm
August 17th - 2:30 pm

Tickets are ten dollars, cash only at the door of the Magic Theatre’s Northside Space. Every show is two for the price of one. Please email: firstsprout@gmail.com, to reserve seats for any of the three performances.

For more information please visit: www.magictheatre.org
Or any email questions to firstsprout@gmail.com or kevloha@yahoo.com

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)

(Ensley, left, Doesn’t Read Exodus’ Website)

Poor Mike Ensley. Next time he debates in a mainstream venue he needs to read the Exodus website. He was totally unprepared for the Alan Colmes Show and spent much of the debate denying undeniable facts, squirming or disavowing quotes made by his loose cannon boss, Alan Chambers. He claimed that the host, Alan Colmes, and I were taking words out of context or making things up - but the problem is, the proof is on the Exodus website or part of the historical record.

Sorry Mike, but if you are going to speak to people who have not been brainwashed, at least do your homework. I know it must be difficult to defend the scientifically bankrupt “What to Do When Your Child is Gay” or argue that Exodus does not believe gays are evil or demon possessed, when your organization promotes spiritual warfare.

The cold facts can be stubborn and unforgiving.

Here is my message to Mike: If you are too preoccupied to know your topic and what the organization you work for actually represents - just tell the truth. It is amazing how easy interviews are when you believe in what you are saying and can speak with a clear conscience. When you ultimately leave Exodus, Mike, you will finally understand this simple truth.

Finally, Mike, the GLBT community will be here for you if and when you are ready to come out. We will show you the unconditional love and support that you will never find at Exodus. And, the best part is - when you do interviews with the media, you won’t have to remember the lies you told before the commercial break.