Janet Boynes is an avowed “ex-lesbian” running a ministry in Minneapolis. She is affiliated with the Exodus Church Association, which works to have people “pray away the gay”.

On the Oprah Winfrey Network show, Our America with Lisa Ling, Boynes touted her “ex-gay” ministry. Yet, the one person she put forth as a success story — Christian — was super-gay and admitted to still being attracted to men.

Boynes ministry is a joke that confuses stereotypes with legitimate science. She thinks putting on a dress (or making Christian take off his) makes a person heterosexual.

This is both a distortion of homosexuality and a parody of heterosexuality.

The bottom line is that Boynes is about nothing more than peddling her book. If she had real success stories to show — than why weren’t they featured on national TV?

Maybe, because Boynes is a charlatan and a false for profit prophet?

Of course, Boynes’ failure is not unique at Exodus International. The entire “ex-gay” program is based on changing behavior through bizarre techniques. It has nothing to do with genuinely altering one’s sexual orientation, as John Aravosis eloquently pointed out on America Blog. According to Aravosis:

So basically these are celibacy groups. Nothing more. But they call themselves “ex-gay” simply for political reasons, since it helps them undermine our civil rights. Really pitiful. And it again begs the question of why these admitted phonies are permitted to have an iPhone app when hate groups who targets Jews, blacks and other minorities are not permitted apps?

Op-ed by Patrick McAlvey

As a survivor of “ex-gay” therapy, I was mortified to learn that Exodus International is shifting its focus in 2011 to children and teens. These are the people most vulnerable and defenseless to Exodus’ attacks on healthy development and psychological well-being.

As I first became aware of my sexual orientation at the age of 12, I was drawn into the web of Mike Jones, one of Exodus International’s unlicensed, unqualified, untrained, unregulated, and unsupervised counselors.  For the next 10 years, a man who had no business counseling anyone, and who certainly should not have had access to children, set the tone for how I viewed my orientation and myself as a person.

Jones passed on to me the “facts” that my attractions were sinful, that no gay person was happy, and that every gay person was addicted to drugs, alcohol and random sexual encounters.  I lived in a homogeneous religious world, didn’t know any LGBT people and had no reason to believe otherwise. I fully believed Mike Jones for years. He assured me that my sexual orientation could and should change, leading me to suffer through years of shame and self-hatred when no such change occurred.

Later, when I was 19, he subjected me to prolonged hugs and even “holding therapy”, where I was instructed to lay in his arms for a solid hour to “feel the strength of another man”.  He asked me inappropriate questions about my genitals and suggested I use handyman tools to become more masculine.

Last year, Jones was largely discredited – his board of directors dissolved, many local churches ceased supporting his work, and he was removed as an “approved outreach group” with the Michigan Department of Corrections.  But the entire time he was victimizing me, Exodus International supported Jones’ work and continued to refer people to his “ex-gay” operation.

This week, Exodus International unveiled its plan to put targets on the backs of thousands of innocent children around the country, many who already sit in pews each Sunday feeling scared and alone.  The “ex-gay” group plans to utilize social media, YouTube videos, booklets, an IPhone App, and a re-branding to make sure every one of these kids hates a part of themselves and believes their orientation is perverse and an abomination.

The reality is their orientation is a natural and beautiful part of who they are.  Exodus International has proven they are content to sacrifice children’s identities, happiness, self-confidence and mental health, to further their lies and messages of intolerance.

I know because I experienced the Exodus International nightmare firsthand.

What is particularly insidious about Exodus’ ministry is that it hides behind the fallacy that it desires helping only those who face what they cynically call “unwanted same-sex attraction”.

The reality is the “ex-gay” industry works day and night to create cultures in families, churches, communities and governments when possible, where folks who are not heterosexual are left ostracized, alone, judged and condemned.  When the lies spread by Exodus International and the “ex-gay” industry lead people to believe change is possible and necessary for God, their church or their family to love them, naturally their attractions become “unwanted”.

Thankfully, there is a happy ending to my story.  I escaped the destructive lies of the “ex-gay” industry and with time, good friends, and therapy, came to love and accept myself the way I am.  I have been an out and proud gay man for almost 5 years and have found healing through sharing my story and connecting with other survivors of the “ex-gay” industry.

But my heart breaks imagining other children naively falling for the same lies that ruled my life all those years.  Children deserve to be loved and supported for who they are. Their young, fragile self-esteems deserve to be protected and their identities nurtured.

It is my sincere hope that more and more families and churches will see the real danger Exodus International represents and choose to distance themselves and their children from Exodus’ materials, counselors and programs.

Before the organization does enormous harm, it should abandon its disturbing plan to target children and teenagers in 2011.

(Exodus’ Randy Thomas schmoozing with Karl Rove in headier times)

Is the once active “ex-gay” organization Exodus International on the decline?

Those who follow the group have noticed fewer events scheduled and virtually no media presence. The last press release for Exodus was posted on October 6, and the group’s front page promotes an event as far back as June. In terms of messaging, the group appears to be stuck in a rut and its once vital campaigns have grown predictable and stale.

Needless to say, I’m pleased with this development!

It is unclear if Exodus’ woes are a result of an internal shake-up, or if financial setbacks have hobbled the organization. Perhaps, they are not working as closely with Focus on the Family, which augmented Exodus’ past campaigns with creativity and professionalism. Ever since Focus on the Family handed over the flashy “ex-gay” road show Love Won Out to Exodus, it appears that the standing of Exodus has diminished.

The only evidence the group is still alive comes from Vice President Randy Thomas’ blog posts. But, even this venue suffers from inertia and rust, with Thomas posting offensive videos of Chambers preaching hate in 2006. Are there no new videos or messages to highlight?

In 2010 the organization left hardly a footprint. Its sluggish efforts lacked energy, and its impact had noticeably diminished. It will be interesting to see if Exodus comes out of its slumber and recovers in 2011.

The “ex-gay” group People Can Change (PCC) is increasingly filling the void left by Exodus. PCC runs Journey Into Manhood (JIM) weekends, which is a scam that takes gay men into the woods for $650, with the goal of making them more masculine. The group recently gained notoriety after ABC Nightline filmed a puff piece highlighting the group’s work. (A more accurate description of the group might be Journey into Manhunt)

The good news is that PCC is particularly vulnerable to scandal and outright collapse. This heavily Mormon organization adheres to the bizarre therapy model of Richard Cohen, the laughable and discredited “Sexual Reorientation Coach” who runs the bizarre International Healing Foundation. Convicted Wall Street hood, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is responsible for funneling a good number of paying clients into the group. (I’d love to see what’s in it for him) The organization’s senior trainer, Alan Downing, faced credible accusations of sexual misconduct by two clients earlier this year.

The PCC scheme is likely on borrowed time and is making a mistake by stepping out so publicly. Journalist Ted Cox wrote a fabulous expose showing the creepy and peculiar happenings at Journey into Manhood weekends. We had hoped that ABC Nightline would have engaged in real journalism and corroborated Cox’s story. However, they eschewed investigative reporting for cheap access to the camp, leading to a disappointing and woefully incomplete depiction and representation of Journey into Manhood weekends.

Still, it is only a matter of time before committed broadcast journalists with standards of excellence infiltrate JIM to reveal the closety, homo-erotic exercises that are offered in the camp’s “Cuddle Room”. When this happens, the entire program will turn into a punchline. I can hardly wait.

PFOX is also trying to assert itself, but its ties to the colorful and outrageous sexual engineer,  Richard Cohen, will likely retard the group’s progress. The organization’s president, Greg Quinlan, appears angry and unstable, further hindering PFOX’s efforts to have an impact and gain mainstream credibility.  And, Executive Director Regina Griggs is no more than a figurehead who avoids public appearances outside the safety of adoring fundamenalist Christian audiences. Indeed, PFOX may simply be a shell group for the Family Research Council and a number of Christian legal groups that want to show that “ex-gays” exist for political reasons. (To its detriment, PFOX embarrassingly can’t find real “ex-gays” to show, unless they work for the group, like Quinlan)

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) remains a dangerous organization, because their members pose as legitimate experts on homosexuality. However, they consistently underachieve because they fail to produce respectable peer review studies.  Instead, they offer up transparent propaganda that has undermined the organization’s reputation with the public and media.

It will be interesting to see which one of these organizations — or perhaps a new one — comes out of the woodwork to pick up the slack. Hopefully, the answer is “None of the above.”

Richard Cohen, continues to undermine “ex-gay” groups

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Does the World Bank think that your sexual orientation can be cured? Well, maybe not officially, but that’s not stopping the World Bank from funneling money to an organization that not only tries to convert people from homosexuality to heterosexuality, but also has ties to Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill. Perhaps the World Bank is adjusting their mission statement: “Working for a World Free of Poverty … and Free of Gay People.”

As Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner writes, the World Bank has allowed a controversial ex-gay group — Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) — to join the ranks of its Community Outreach Program, a workplace-giving campaign that allows employees of the World Bank to give money to an organization, and have that money matched by a contribution from the World Bank. Depending on how many employees decide to give money to PFOX, the World Bank will give anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent in a matching donation.

Which means that in the months ahead, the World Bank will be giving money directly to an organization that believes homosexuality can be cured. On top of that, as Truth Wins Out notes, a former PFOX board member, Richard Cohen (who still serves as a therapy guru to the organization), was intimately involved in efforts to create legislation in Uganda that would punish homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment.

And it gets even shadier. The director of PFOX’s Speakers Bureau, Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for bilking poor communities with bond schemes. And PFOX has also had its tactics condemned by the worldwide psychological and medical profession, with leaders from the organization being thrown out of professional groups like the American Counseling Association for violating ethical protocols.

Wow, if the World Bank is willing to lend credence to an organization like PFOX, what does it say about their overall credibility? For the World Bank, it looks like corporate social responsibility equals corporate endorsement of curing gay people.

What’s also particularly troubling about the World Bank’s endorsement of PFOX is that it looks like the Bank made an exception in order to squeeze PFOX under its Community Outreach Program guidelines. Under those guidelines, a qualifying organization is supposed to have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.” But a 2009 report by the Washington City Paper revealed that PFOX has no presence in D.C.; moreover, the organization’s headquarters are in Reedville, Virginia — a whopping 127 miles from Washington, D.C.

“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’”, said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”

The World Bank has some serious explaining to do, Lucy. Of course, if you listen to World Bank spokespeople, they say that their support of PFOX shouldn’t be considered an endorsement of PFOX’s work. And if you believe that, I think there’s a bridge in Alaska that’s for sale, too.

“‘Because Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) met the minimum criteria for inclusion on the Community Connections campaign, they were included this year,” said a spokesperson for the World Bank, according to Metro Weekly. Ah, such bureaucratic speak for such a serious issue.

Send the World Bank a message that their decision to include PFOX in the Community Outreach Program is as offensive as it is tactless. This is an organization that uses manipulation and discredited psychological tactics to “cure” people of their sexual orientation, has ties to an anti-gay bill in Uganda that could wipe out an entire population of gay people, and who has a leadership that includes people with shady criminal ties. Is that really the type of “charity” the World Bank wants to lend credence to?

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Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner unearthed the disturbing story that Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) will soon be able to say that its programming is supported by funding provided to it by the World Bank.

Requirements include that the organization have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.”

However, PFOX fails to fulfill this criteria and may be guilty of attempting to defraud the World Bank. The organization is based in Reedville, VA — placing the town 127 miles — and a two hour and forty minute drive — southeast of the nation’s capitol. Indeed, Richmond is significantly closer to Reedville and is a mere 85 miles away from PFOX’s headquarters.

“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”

The truth is, PFOX does not meet in the area and has almost no local footprint, other than an occasional lobbying foray or an advertising buy. The Washington City Paper confirmed that PFOX has no local DC presence in a 2009 report, “The Ex-Gay Movement That Wasn’t”. According to the news report:

Unfortunately for PFOX and reporters on the sexual-orientation beat, ex-gay Washingtonians are hard to come by. Since each of my dozen or so calls to PFOX headquarters went unanswered, I am unable to confirm any of the group’s purported ex-gay offspring or friends. J. Matt Barber, a member of the PFOX board of directors, tells me that he has “a number of very close friends who are former homosexuals”—none of whom live in D.C.

“The World Bank needs to answer why it is bending the rules to accommodate an ideological organization that, under any objective measure, does not meet the criteria of working in the DC metro area,” says TWO’s Besen. “It is outrageous that PFOX tried to pull a fast one and they should immediately pull the plug on this scheme. We call on The World Bank to launch a thorough investigation to see if PFOX and some World Bank employees conspired to misrepresent PFOX’s location in an effort to defraud the bank.”

PFOX also does not list any legitimate chapters in DC or Virginia. The only “contact” e-mail listed in DC or VA is that of the national organization.

Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner has discovered that Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays  – PFOX – will soon be able to say that its programming is supported by funding provided to it by the World Bank.

As part of the World Bank’s efforts to ”strengthen communities,” the Community Outreach Program coordinates an annual workplace-giving campaign that includes World Bank matching funds given to various community groups and international nonprofits. Depending on the level of employee participation, the bank’s matching funds are either 50 percent or 100 percent of the employee donations.

Requirements include that the organization be incorporated as a ”not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization,” have ”a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area,” prepare ”an annual IRS Form 990” and adhere to a few other general provisions. The materials also note that the organization must ”[o]bserve and practice a policy of inclusivity and equal opportunity.”

PFOX supports so-called ”conversion” therapy – by which people who identify as gay attempt to become ex-gay – and the National Association for Reparative Therapy (NARTH), specifically.

One of the few videos on the PFOX YouTube channel is a video of an interview with former NARTH president Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. Another shows a televised debate between PFOX’s Peter Sprigg and Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen, who has been writing about the ex-gay organizations for more than a decade.

Besen told Metro Weekly on Wednesday afternoon, ”It’s as sickening as it is scandalous.”

Besen said that the former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen – who Besen described as ”the guru of the organization to this day” – runs the International Healing Foundation and ”sent his protégé to Uganda – and what came from that was the Anti-Homosexuality Bill” that has been the subject of intense worldwide scrutiny and criticism.

”Here’s this group that is tied to what can only be described as an eliminationist campaign, worldwide, against gay people,” Besen said, ”and they’re receiving money from the World Bank?”

The American Psychological Association has studied efforts to help people change their sexual orientation, resulting in a 2009 resolution concluding that ”there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation.”

The resolution went on to ”encourage mental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation when providing assistance to individuals distressed by their own or others’ sexual orientation.”

PFOX, however, describes its mission on its website by stating that, ”Each year thousands of men, women and teens with unwanted same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality.

”However, there are those who refuse to respect that decision,” the site tells visitors. ”Consequently, formerly gay persons are reviled simply because they dare to exist! Without PFOX, ex-gays would have no voice in a hostile environment.”

Besen, though, said of the World Bank’s inclusion of PFOX in its campaign, ”It’s unbelievable that they’re putting forth a group that is rejected by every mental health organization out there. This is not a charity – or, is only in the most technical terms – this is a group that’s not designed to help people, but to hurt them.”

Besen said that PFOX’s inclusion in the campaign could raise questions about the World Bank’s commitment to diversity – both in its workforce and in its programs.

”I think it undermines the World Bank’s claim to be a group that cares about diversity, and it really makes all of their programs suspect,” he said.

The World Bank spokesperson disagreed, writing, ”The World Bank Group is committed to a diverse staff, offering Domestic Partner benefits to same sex couples, including for health coverage, for over 10 years.”

He added that the World Bank ”was the first international financial institution to offer health care insurance coverage for same sex couples.

Besen noted that the move has implications for PFOX as well. ”I think what it also does with PFOX – they’re actually using the World Bank and exploiting them and their reputation to promote their agenda. And the World Bank shouldn’t fall for it.”

As for the next steps, Besen said that the World Bank ”shouldn’t endorse this whatsoever. They shouldn’t hide behind technicalities. Hatred is hatred.

”They should make an example of it. Say, this is not – PFOX does not represent our values.”

The World Bank spokesperson, however, told Metro Weekly only that ”Community Connections has made clear that they will take the views of staff, including GLOBE, in their consideration of what charities will be included next year.”

Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org

Demonstration Against ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Takes On New Urgency Following LGBT Teen Suicide Crisis

PHILADELPHIA – Truth Wins Out launched the website, Lift My Luggage.org, today and announced a Saturday, Nov.6 protest against the “ex-gay” organization, The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), at their annual convention in Philadelphia.

The notorious “ex-gay” group is hoping that Americans have amnesia and won’t remember that its most “prominent” board member, George Rekers, was forced to resign in May. Rekers stepped down from NARTH after he was caught vacationing with a male escort he met on Rent Boy.com. When asked why he had hired the young man, Rekers said it was to, “lift his luggage.”

“As the infamous quacks at NARTH gather for their annual convention, let’s remind America that NARTH is a pseudo-scientific organization that is more about luring Rent Boys than conducting legitimate research,” said Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen. “In light of recent gay teen suicides, we must stand up and show how NARTH’s lies harm LGBT youth and create an intolerant climate where persecution, bullying, and violence occur.”

The Lift My Luggage demonstration is co-sponsored by the Equality Forum, The William Way LGBT Community Center, MCC Philadelphia, Pam Spaulding (Pam’s House Blend), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) and Jeremy Hooper (Good As You), Zack Ford (Zack Ford Blog). If your organization would like to consider co-sponsoring this event, please contact Wayne Besen, wbesen@truthwinsout.org.

Protest Information:

What: Protest of NARTH’s annual convention. We are asking that you bring your own luggage to the demonstration (pink luggage would be ideal).

Please consider attaching signs to the luggage such as:

NARTH = Junk Science

“Ex-Gay? No Way”

“Rent Boy Rekers”

Where: Renaissance Philadelphia Airport Hotel
500 Stevens Drive
Philadelphia, Pa.

When: Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010
Noon-1:30 PM

Excellent column by Hardy Haberman on JONAH ex-gay “fondle therapy” scandal in the Dallas Voice:

With all the hubbub of the Fred Phelps Cult making a visit here and the oil spill continuing in the Gulf, one story seems to have dropped through the cracks. Luckily, Wayne Besen at the blog Truth Wins Out (TruthWinsOut.org)  has been on it like a dog on a bone. It involves a group called JONAH.

Aside from the biblical acronym, the group’s full name is Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, and it is part of the ex-gay industry.

The group was co-founded by a fellow named Arthur Abba Goldberg. Seems he was known 20 years ago in the financial community as “Abba Cadabra” for his apparent wizardry with money. That wizardry turned out to be a scam, and Goldberg was convicted of federal mail and wire fraud as well as a conspiracy to sell worthless bonds.

The guy is a real peach, and now he has reinvented himself as the leader of an “ex-gay” therapy group.

One of his “life coaches,” Alan Downing, recently has been implicated in something a bit more touchy-feely than you would expect from an ex-gay. According to men who went to Downing, part of his treatment involves having clients strip naked in front of a mirror while touching parts of their bodies, including their genitals.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 19, 2010

Contact: Wayne Besen, TWO Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

Therapist Alan Downing, A Key Figure In JONAH and People Can Change, Allegedly Made Clients Get Naked And Touch Genitals

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) released an exclusive video statement today from two former clients of “ex-gay” life coach Alan Downing. The clients, Ben Unger and Chaim Levin, alleged that during individual therapy sessions, Downing (pictured) made them undress in front of a mirror and touch their bodies while the significantly older therapist watched. Unger and Levin call the sessions a “psychological striptease” and believe they were harmed by what they consider unprofessional behavior and sexual misconduct.

Downing, who admits he is still attracted to men, is a major player in the “ex-gay” industry and a practitioner of so-called “reparative therapy”. He is the lead therapist for Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) and is listed on the People Can Change website as a “Senior Trainer” for Journey into Manhood, which is a controversial “ex-gay” backwoods retreat designed to supposedly make gay men more masculine.

“These dysfunctional, unscientific programs are rife with sexual impropriety and need to be shut down,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Too often, repressed ‘ex-gay’ quacks pretend they are trying to get into your head when they are really trying to get into your pants. They call what they do reparative therapy, but it’s more like re-perv-ative therapy.”

“He was encouraging me, ‘it’s okay Ben, you can take your shirt off’…here was a man that was much older than me, and I was around 20,” said Ben Unger, a former client of Alan Downing. “At that point, I was just staring at a mirror with my shirt off and he was right behind me staring at the mirror with me at my body. Then telling me to look at my body and feel my body. It was weird.”

“While I was standing there without my clothes on, he asked me to touch my genitals,” says former Downing client Chaim Levin. “Once again, I communicated that I was not comfortable with it. And he was like, you know, ‘just feel yourself. Just feel it for a second. So, you can grasp your masculinity physically.’”

“If you believe having a closeted gay therapist undressing clients makes one straight, than you’ll believe that playing doctor makes one a brain surgeon,” said TWO’s Besen. “The concept is both outrageous and ridiculous and these sick, exploitative practices should be abandoned immediately.”

JONAH was co-founded by Arthur Abba Goldberg, a Wall Street criminal mastermind who was convicted in 1987 of “fraud of spectacular scope”. Upon completing parole, Goldberg secretly reinvented himself as a moral leader who “cures” gay and lesbian people. Known as “Abba Dabba Do” in the financial world, Goldberg was sentenced to 18 months in jail for bilking poor communities with complicated bond schemes and served six months in prison.

“Given the sordid history of JONAH, this latest scandal is not too surprising,” said TWO’s Besen. “This is an unscrupulous organization of high moral turpitude that has few qualms about harming desperate and vulnerable clients. This group has consistently been tied to bizarre, sexually suggestive methods that are unsettling, dangerous and ineffective.”

Journey into Manhood, where Downing is a counselor, exhibits similar eyebrow raising techniques. Writer Ted Cox infiltrated this peculiar program and was surprised to find what he called, “homoerotic exercises” and a cabin that he called “The Cuddle Room” because it was a space where supposedly “ex-gay” men gave each other inappropriate massages.

“Apparently some of the guys in one cabin threw their mattresses into the middle of the room and had an all-night holding session,” said one of the men attending the Journey into Manhood session, according to Cox’s article.

“How ironic that therapists that claim to cure homosexuals keep ending up naked with their gay clients,” said TWO’s Besen. “Such lurid exploitation has moved from a disconcerting pattern to a full-blown trend and it needs to be investigated by the authorities.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights religious extremism. TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders as charlatans. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

If you ever want a good belly laugh, read blog posts from Exodus International’s Randy Thomas (see pretentious picture, left). He has this incessant need to pose as a deep, contemplative thinker, which is problematic considering he can nether write nor think in a particularly lucid manner. The dilettante’s latest humdinger was his post commenting on a Time Magazine story on Gay Day at Disney.

In his bloviation, he takes a veiled swipe at sensationalistic homophobes, such as Porno Pete LaBarbera, when he writes:

Within the Christian community it also bothers me when Christian activists will go into these events, take a few tabloid TMZ worthy pictures and then post those as the only representation of what gay people are trying to do to our country. I always maintain that stigmatizing (anyone) is not Christ-like.

Of course, Thomas quickly contradicts himself by stigmatizing LGBT people:

It worth noting that TIME actually showed both gay couples seeking to be mainstream and the gay party scene. On one hand you have the lesbian couple with children as opposed to scantily clad men at 17 different pool parties, the after hours waterpark party and “rivers of alcohol.” The article also mentions other very racy elements associated with the event.

Scantily clad men at pool parties — imagine the surprise and horror…because surely Thomas would have gone down the water slides in a fine, tailored Italian suit. Maybe, he’s just freaked out because all the hot guys are getting him excited?

How about the alarming notion of men consuming alcohol while partying? Because, of course, straight people never get sloshed at Spring Break events in Fort Lauderdale, Panama City or Daytona Beach. And, they never go half naked in body paint and get trashed at University of Florida football games. Thanks for the great, “fair and balanced” insights Randy!

Thomas, while pretending to be objective, chastises the LGBT community and urges honesty:

Yet honesty is a Christ-like attribute as well. While the gay community is much more complex than this, there is a strong dueling undercurrent within the gay community of mainstreaming vs. overt public sexuality.

As a Florida native, I can recall countless heterosexual revelers fornicating on our lovely beeches, leaving condoms in the sand, vomiting booze on our white sidewalks, pissing on our green lawns, fighting in nightclubs and behaving belligerently towards the locals.

Yet, I’m intelligent enough to realize that when you have an economy based on tourists (gay or straight) partying , this is the sacrifice you make to collect their dollars. I don’t put forth pseudo-intellectual trash, such as, “While the heterosexual community is much more complex than this, there is a strong dueling undercurrent within the straight community of mainstreaming vs. overt public sexuality.”

Look, when people come to Florida to party — they get drunk. If they are lucky, they have sex. And, inevitably, they swim, and when they do so, they are usually pretty close to naked. If Thomas can’t comprehend this, maybe he should return to Texas. Well, come to think of it, they also drink in Texas and wear swim trunks at the Galveston beaches too. There’s always Saudi Arabia…

Randy then puts on his paper dunce, um, I mean thinking cap and asks (emoticon and bold type are his):

So the open-ended no assumptions based questions for this post is: How does one describe the gay community accurately and honestly? Did TIME magazine do a good job? Is there a gender difference on community goals within the gay community? (The article contrasts lesbians with the male party scene.) What is the best way for Christians to do outreach at gay pride events?

Perhaps, Thomas doesn’t get this, but there is no real gated community which houses the ho-mo-sex-uals. The notion is metaphorical and usually has to do with the fact that we must band together to protect ourselves from self-loathing bigots like Thomas, who work hard to deny LGBT people their basic rights. To paraphrase Larry Kramer, we are more of a “population” than a community that defies easy or simplistic categorization — which appears to be a specialty of Thomas.

As for ways self-righteous phonies like Thomas can do outreach at Pride? How about staying the hell home, so hard working people can enjoy a few precious vacation days without being verbally assaulted and told they are — to quote Exodus — sexually broken?

Both straight and gay people go to Florida for drunken revelry and escapism. The last thing tourists want to hear while they are having fun is a sexually repressed, self-hating homosexual preaching about his puny, angry version of God who is constantly on sexual surveillance.

Just because Thomas has eschewed sex, does not give him the right to condemn others and demand they also live a eunuch lifestyle. Lighten up, Randy. As a carpetbagger, you might not realize that people have been going to the Florida beaches scantily clad and drinking themselves into stupors forever. Newsflash: This started long before the gay rights movement even existed. So, stop asking us to justify or apologize for having fun in the Sunshine State. It just makes you look like the small-minded bigot you truly are.