An exciting lineup of workshops is planned for the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference which will meet November 20-22 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Before the conference, Beyond Ex-Gay will be hosting a pre-conference institute for ex-gay survivors as well as allies interested in combating the heterosexism that permeates and drives the ex-gay movement.

Conference keynote addresses and concurrent workshops include:

Straight Rackets: Why the Religious Right Needs Reparative Therapy
Sylvia Rhue, Ph.D.

Microaggressions and the LGBT Community:
Advocating for Social Justice on Individual, Institutional, and Societal Levels
Kevin Nadal, Ph.D.; David Rivera, M.S.; Melissa Corpus, M.A.; Lauren Fisher, M.A.

Pray Away the Gay?
Wayne Besen

Genocidal Intentions: Public Policy and the Ex-Gay Movement
Christine Robinson, Ph.D.

“It Just Ain’t So”: Debunking the Myth of Gender Polarity
Rev. Deborah L. Johnson

Heterosexism and Transgender Oppression
Virginia Stephenson & Jordan Johnson

The Effects of Homophobic Stress in Childhood and Adolescence on Later Adult Psychological Functioning in Gay Men: A Model for Treatment
Dominic Carbone, Ph.D.

Getting It Straight: Ex-Gay Survivors and Their Therapeutic Needs
Christine Bakke and Jallen Rix, Ed.D.

Media 101: How to Build and Deliver an Effective Message
Brian Winfield

Body & Soul: Integrating Sexuality & Spirituality
Timothy Palmer, M. Div.

Heterosexual Interrupted: What the Ex-Gay Movement Really Means By “Change”
Jim Burroway

Media Access: Getting Through the Noise
Gabriel Arana

Spiritual Self-Defense for LGBT Christians
Rev. Candace Chellew

Queering Youth/Young Adult Activism
Andi Gentile and Asher Kolieboi

Lessons Learned This Weekend: A Conversation About Implementing Effective Strategies In Our Communities
Marsha McDonough, Ph.D.; Paul W. Dodd, D.Min., L.P.C.

Straight Jackets: A Psychiatrist Deconstructs Sexual Conversion Therapies
Jack Drescher, M.D.

For a complete conference schedule, presentation abstracts, and speaker bios go to
www.Anti-HeterosexismConference.org.

To register for the conference, purchase an exhibit table, or become an individual or corporate sponsor, please click here. Early registration continues through October 5, 2009.

The conference is sponsored by Soulforce, Truth Wins Out, the National Black Justice Coalition, Beyond Ex-Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin, and Equality Florida.

National Jamaican Boycott Campaign Kicks-Off in New York City With ‘Rum Dump’ at Birthplace of Gay Rights Movement

Stonewall Inn Owners Dump Stock of Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer in Sewer; Urge Other Bars To Follow Lead

Gay advocates launched a national boycott of Jamaica in New York City at the famed Stonewall Bar – birthplace of the gay rights movement. The bar’s owners and boycott supporters dumped Jamaican liquor – Red Stripe beer and Myers’ Rum – down the sewer.

Human rights activists have given Jamaica the infamous title: “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth.” Gay people have regularly been beaten and murdered on the island, while authorities do little to stop the violence.

“We, as the owners of the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the Gay rights movement, refuse to support, in any way, shape or form, the oppression of any people especially our gay brothers and sisters in Jamaica,” the Stonewall Inn said in its statement. “We ask all people of all walks of life to send a clear message to the Jamaican people and their government, that as long as they continue to allow and condone violence and hatred toward the Gay community, we will neither buy their products nor support their tourist trade. To do so is to tacitly support the current climate of oppression.”

“If you love your gay friends and family members, you won’t visit Jamaica,” said boycott co-organizer Wayne Besen. “If you care about the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, you won’t buy Jamaican products. We hope that all gay and gay friendly bar owners and restaurateurs across the nation will participate in ‘rum dumps.’ We can no longer subsidize our own slaughter.

GLBT activists Michael Petrelis, Wayne Besen and Jim Burroway launched this boycott after a State Department report highlighted the violence faced by GLBT people. According to the report:

The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG) continued to report human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents.

The West Coast portion of the boycott took place earlier this month with a rum dump in San Francisco that featured Petrelis and city Supervisor Bevan Dufty.

Learn more about the boycott at www.BoycottJamaica.org.

Beyond Ex-Gay announces:

During the weekend of November 7-9, NARTH, a national association of “gay conversion” therapists, is holding its annual conference in Denver. Two local survivors of ex-gay programs, Christine Bakke and Daniel Gonzales, along with Beyond Ex-Gay, and a coalition of local and other gay organizations, are forming a response to speak to the harm groups like NARTH can cause.

Former ex-gays will rally at the conference site, then gather to discuss the deception and harm done to them by the ex-gay movement, and offer workshops to assist mental-health professionals in meeting the recovery needs of former ex-gays.

Truth Wins Out, a representative of the Metropolitan Community Church, a former “ex-gay,” and local GLBT groups conducted a prayer vigil, protest and discussion forum in conjunction with Focus on the Family’s ex-gay road show, titled “Love Won Out,” in San Jose, Calif.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that 700 people attended the ex-gay event. About 25 people protested outside.

Sadly, some attendees of “Love Won Out” sought to learn about gay people, not from actual gay people who stood peacefully nearby, but from Focus on the Family speakers who wage political and cultural warfare against a so-called gay “lifestyle”:

Anthony Jones, a church minister from the Pearly Grove Baptist Church in Fresno, said he came to learn to improve his ministry.

“I’m hoping to learn approaches on how to minister to homosexuals,” he said, “to know and understand what their lifestyle is.”

“We’re not saying you’re going to hell for being a homosexual,” he said. “We want to embrace them and love them but understand the sin of same-sex attraction.”

Buffy of The Gaytheist Agenda provides a detailed first-hand account and pictures of the protest and discussion forum. Joe.My.God has an overview with reader comments.

Truth Wins Out will air video from the events later this week.

UPDATE: Truth Wins Out posted the following video from the event: