Exodus Should Immediately Shut Down Scandalized ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Desert Stream, Says TWO
Truth Wins Out today called on Exodus International to shut down Desert Stream Ministries (DSM) following new revelations of sexual abuse with at least one minor. The admissions were made last week on the blog of DSM’s leader, Andy Comiskey (pictured), who is also the creator of the ex-gay program Living Waters.
“Exodus should swiftly move to shutter Desert Stream Ministries to protect young people from the sordid and tawdry atmosphere revealed by Andy Comiskey,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Exodus has a history of turning the other cheek when confronted with inappropriate behavior in its affiliates.”
On March 8, Comiskey wrote a blog post entitled “Falling Mercies” where he says DSM had been, “cast out of our home church”, Vineyard Anaheim, as a result of “a darker strain of sin in our own ranks.” He goes onto reveal that this sin was, “a longstanding staff person from Desert Stream had sexually abused at least one teenager who had sought help from us.”
Comiskey alleges that he was a victim of seven-figure blackmail from the relative of one of the abused boys. This led to, “a scourging of our entire ministry through police interrogations, the naked bulb of insurance agents and their lawyers, and Vineyard elders who for good reason wanted to know what was really going on in Desert Stream Ministries.”
As a result of the investigation, Comiskey says DSM was “torn in two” and that “we the righteous became the scum of the earth–not only the defender of victims, but the predators.”
In his post, Comiskey seemed to care little for those harmed by DSM and tried to come across as a victim saying, “News of our tragedy, now official on police and court records, attracted our accusers like vultures: ‘Do they change homosexuals or create them?’”
Comiskey claims that, “At the end of 3 years, the case was settled. Our insurance covered most of the costs.” He rightfully thanks the media for not covering the story and allowing his ministry to continue. “Not one story was printed about the tragedy,” writes Comiskey. “God spared us. His mercy leveled and sustained DSM.”
“Comiskey is mocking the mainstream media for not serving as the public’s trusted watchdog,” said Besen. “I hope news outlets understand that inaction has allowed this ministry to continue its operations. Given these revelations, it would be an optimum time for the media to investigate this story.”
For reasons possibly related to this scandal, Comiskey moved Desert Stream from Anaheim to Kansas City, Mo., several years ago, where it currently remains in operation.
This is not the first time Desert Stream has been in trouble. In 1998, The Los Angeles Times reported that one family sued Desert Stream alleging that a minister had sexually abused a teenager while the youth was undergoing therapy to turn him heterosexual. Besen’s book, “Anything But Straight”, discusses a newsletter that says:
“At the end of 2000, we faced an unusual number of Desert Stream-related leaders who fell into sexual sin, or who at least demonstrated a colossal lack of wisdom in their social choices…several were placed on different plans of discipline and restoration.”
In February 2008, Truth Wins Out produced a video featuring ‘ex-gay’ survivor Jaylen Braiden, who claims an Exodus team leader at Desert Stream took him advantage of him.
Comiskey is one of the most influential ex-gay activists and groups use his curriculum, “Living Waters”, across the globe. Comiskey is the author of “” and calls homosexuality “spiritual disfigurement.” His book also indulges in “spiritual warfare”, calling homosexuality satanic.
“Satan delights in homosexual perversion because it not only exists outside of marriage, but it also defiles God’s very image reflected as male and female….Another related source of demonization is the homosexual relationship itself….that attachment and communion are indeed inspired, but the source is demonic.”
So far, Exodus has failed to comment on Desert Stream’s troubles, nor has it moved to either suspend or close down DSM. After stonewalling for more than six months, Exodus finally cut ties with Lansing-based Corduroy Stone last after charges of impropriety were made last year by Patrick McAlvey in a Truth Wins Out video.
“It sends the wrong message when Exodus remains silent on issues of such gravity,” said TWO’s Besen. “We urge Exodus to investigate and take proper action against one of its key ministries so more people are not harmed in the future. We also can’t fathom how Comiskey has kept his job in light of this scandal. It is truly mind boggling.”
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation campaigns, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to help individuals be true to themselves and lead genuine lives of honesty and integrity.
It’s sad that Peter LaBarbera has been reduced to picking fights/starting one-man witchhunts against college professors. It’s all he has left, apparently. I never thought I would say this, but I feel sorry for Warren Throckmorton, that he’s having to learn the true character of his erstwhile friend Peter firsthand. But anyway, the witchhunt continues with a letter written by some AFTAH reader (Matt “Bam Bam Right Hook Hunka Hunka Macho Smash Totally Not Gay” Barber, maybe?), reminding us that even if you’re not gay, if you act like a fag, you’re still going to hell:
Let us remember that the Bible not only condemns homosexual sex, but also plainly says that “the effeminate” will not inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor 6:9 KJV). Sin extends beyond explicit, overt activity/behavior; the attitude and demeanor of homosexuality must be cast off as well as the practice itself.
Do you hear that, Every Ex-Gay Ministry Leader? Still going to hell. Sorry.
You should always pay attention when a fundamentalist says that the Bible “plainly says” something, because they’re about to come at you with something intellectually equivalent to “If ‘Anglish was good enough fer Jesus, it’s good enough fer me!”
Okay, do you want to know what that verse is actually about? Well, it goes like this: to translate the word malakoi as “effeminate” is incorrect, at least insofar as “effeminate” is understood in modern society. The literal meaning is “soft” and it’s used elsewhere in the Bible and in other writings of the time to describe clothing, or wearers of certain kinds of soft, lush clothing. I could spend a lot of time explaining, but this and this are helpful places to start. In short, if you study the passage closely [a concept completely foreign to illiterate homophobes] in light of the culture in which it was written, the best translation is more of a concept of a soft, lazy, wealthy and well-fed ne’er-do-well sort. The word also was used sometimes in relation to the practice of pederasty, but again, one has to understand what pederasty was and was not. Lying bigots will tell you pederasty was just like our modern day concept of homosexuality, because they know that the people who listen to them are not well-read. Pederasty was a strange cultural phenomenon practiced by heterosexuals wherein a younger man, as a rite of passage, was sort of mentored by an older man. Sometimes it involved sex, but sometimes it didn’t. Here’s how Plato described it:
“When an older lover and a young man come together and each obeys the principle appropriate to him – when the lover realizes that he is justified in doing anything for a loved one who grants him favors, and when the young man understands that he is justified in performing a service for a lover who can make him wise and virtuous – and when the lover is able to help the young man become wise and better, and the young man is eager to be taught and improved by his lover – then, and only then, when these two principles coincide absolutely, is it ever honorable for a young man to accept the lover.”
But again, I emphasize that the word Paul used only sometimes referred to this practice, which does not remotely resemble a married gay or lesbian couple who are committed to each other in sickness and health, etc. But unfortunately, you fast forward 2,000 years and rednecks who can’t tell the difference between “your” and “you’re” feel comfortable explaining that the Bubble sez if you ack like a fag yer goin’ to hey-ull. It’s mindnumbing, I know.
Anyway, thus concludes your second Bible lesson from an atheist!
In 2007, three former Exodus leaders offered a public apology to those “who believed our message that there is something inherently wrong with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.” Today we find that Smid is offering his own apology.
Some people have spoken out about being wounded through their experience with Love In Action. ” I want to say I am very sorry for the things that have wounded you or hurt you by my hands of leadership at Love In Action or anything I have done personally that has harmed you. Please forgive me.
Concerning Exodus International he writes:
I believe I could have done a better job of letting people know that Jesus loves them purely because He does, unconditionally. I am sorry for not being a better vessel of the Love of Christ to those who deeply need to know of His love. I realize I was often more concerned with telling people how to live than I was with imparting God’s grace so that they would want to live!
Concerning the Refuge program responsible for the ordeal over Zach:
I really wanted to help the young men in our program but in some cases the design of our program caused more harm for some of these kids that it did good. I am very sorry for the ways that Refuge further wounded teens that were already in a very delicate place in life.
And Smid asks those who were hurt by or through him to contact him.
If you have been wounded by me or harmed through the hands of my leadership; please come to me and allow an opportunity for me to personally apologize with the hope that we can both be released from the bondage of unforgiveness.
Hey John, was that indeed you that showed up on my parents’ doorstep in 1999, unannounced and uninvited, to fill my mother’s head with your fundamentalist brainwashing and junk science? If so, you may leave your personal apology for setting my family on a course that has never been righted in the comments section.
But that’s as far as it needs to go. As Timothy Kincaid points out in the comments section at Ex-Gay Watch:
As for “apologize in person”, I would not recommend it. Though John has moved away from judgmentalism, his site still has as a doctrinal statement that “We acknowledge the sinfulness of any sexual act outside of the scriptural context of Holy Matrimony between a man and a woman” and I’m not seeing that to be anything less that a rejection of those who do not agree.
Exactly. I would take it further: his site still has a doctrinal statement that denies reality and stands in opposition to the existence of millions of healthy, happy LGBT people and our families. You can dress bigotry up with a bow and a new please-and-thank-you attitude, but it’s still bigotry, and it hurts actual people.
Donald W. Wildmon, chairman of the rabidly anti-gay American Family Association, stepped down today, citing an illness resulting from a mosquito bite.
“The resignation comes following several months of hospitalization,” reads an AFA press release. “A bite from a mosquito carrying the St. Louis encephalitis virus caused Wildmon’s illness.”
Under his 30-years at the helm, the Tupelo, Mississippi-based AFA became obsessed with gay people and was a sponsor of 1998’s notorious ex-gay Truth In Love Campaign. The organization made a video with Truth in Love star Michael Johnston, who discussed on the video how he had prayed away the gay after he became HIV+.
In 2003, Johnston was exposed for meeting multiple men on the Internet and having sexual relations with them. The AFA acknowledged the scandal saying that Johnston had a “moral fall.” Amazingly, the AFA continued to sell “It’s Not Gay” and never bothered to tell viewers that the poster boy featured in the video was living in a sex addiction facility in Kentucky. (Indeed, the organization continues to sell the video and peddle the fiction that gays can go straight.)
In all my years in activism, the AFA is one of the most dishonest and hateful organizations we have dealt with. The group does nothing to support families, but spends its time gay bashing. Wildmon’s exit will, if anything, make the organization more radical and extreme. Donald’s son, Tim, will be apparently taking over.
AFA’s first big splash came when it accused Mighty Mouse of snorting cocaine. More recently, the group launched failed boycott’s against Disney, McDonalds and Ford, while also vigorously supporting California’s Proposition 8 to prohibit marriage equality.
While researching last week, my organization, Truth Wins Out, stumbled upon an interesting find. The “ex-gay” group Homosexuals Anonymous Fellowship Services (HAFS) had sent their director, Doug McIntyre, on a trip to Kenya to impart his views on how gay people could be converted to heterosexuality using a 14-step group therapy program. According to the organization’s October 2009 newsletter:
On November 3, 2009 the Director of HAFS will begin a visit to the beautiful country of Kenya. We have been invited to begin a new work for the HA program and educate the members of a two thousand member church so that they can begin to reclaim the lost youth of the area. An invitation has been extended to teach in 15 local schools and participate in a leadership training program for nearly 200 pastors and church leaders.
Not surprisingly, there had recently been an outbreak of intolerance and intimidation against Kenya’s LGBT citizens. The BBC reported that Kenyan police released five people arrested for planning a “gay wedding” north of Mombasa, saying there was no evidence to prosecute them. Police spokesman Martha Mutegi told the BBC the men had been told to leave the region for their own safety and to avoid angering the local community.
It is important to note that some LGBT advocates dispute the BBC report, claiming that a same-sex wedding never actually took place and that the event was a fabrication in order for anti-gay forces to incite mob violence. In any case, neither scenario is comforting and highlights the escalating danger faced by gay and lesbian Kenyans.
Isn’t it amazing that wherever American anti-gay and ex-gay activists go in Africa, hate campaigns are not too far behind?
First, we had Uganda, where parliament is currently debating a “kill the gays” bill. The witch-hunt against sexual minorities began soon after a Spring 2009 conference in Kampala featuring American “ex-gay” activists from Exodus International and The International Healing Foundation.
Now, we have growing anti-gay sentiment in Kenya following a visit by HAFS’s Doug McIntyre. Although HAFS is not directly responsible for the violence, they are certainly contributing to a hostile climate by preaching a message that one can be cured from their homosexuality through a combination of prayer and therapy.
In a phone call I had with HAFS’s McIntyre last week, he claims that he spoke to nearly 10,000 students and educators in Kenya on his November trip to Kenya and plans to return this week to indoctrinate thousands more. When confronted with the possibility that his message might contribute to an antagonistic environment for LGBT Kenyans, McIntyre brushed off the suggestion and became angry. He later wrote in the comments section on Truth Wins Out’s blog:
“As for connecting the HA program with violence…I did hear about the violence that happened with the ‘marriage’ on the plane on the way over to Kenya so it could not have been connected to anything I was doing there.”
This statement was clearly not true, because McIntyre’s trip was in November 2009, while the alleged wedding occurred on February 12, 2010. So, there is no way he could have “heard” about this episode unless his plane was packed with passengers headed to a Nairobi psychic’s convention.
McIntyre’s ultimate response to my catching him in a fib was to start a rumor on my website about my HIV status. According to a McIntyre post (comment 41) on Truth Wins Out’s blog
“I suggestyed [sic] that in the interest of truth [sic] You and I might investigate the truth to a very harmful rumor about the founder of this blogg [sic] being HIV positive and request him to provide results to dispell [sic] that rumor.”
First, I want to make it clear that I believe there is no shame in being HIV-positive. It is a virus and if I were infected I would have no issue disclosing my status. However, I happen to be HIV-negative.
It is appalling that McIntyre would start a rumor and pretend that he is broaching the topic to “dispel” the very misinformation he had deliberately put in the public realm. It speaks to a lack of integrity and a breathtaking amorality from a man who claims to be a minister.
However, his display of dishonesty with me is only relevant because is it is indicative of the behavior displayed by unscrupulous American religious fanatics that are fanning out across the planet to spread disinformation about LGBT people. And unlike me, the victims of these anti-gay lies are not able to respond for fear of reprisals.
As technology shrinks the world, we will be affected more each year by globetrotting anti-gay characters with character issues. It is important that we realize that our foes have few scruples and will travel to the ends of the earth to peddle End Times theology. They are no longer waiting for the rapture, but trying to capture and corrupt the minds good people across the globe.
TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen to Appear at Just Love Counter-Conference on Saturday, March 6
Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, will join nationally recognized gay and lesbian advocates to oppose Exodus International’s “ex-gay” road show, Love Won Out, which travels to La Mesa’s Skyline Church on Saturday. On the same day as the Exodus event, a counter-conference will be held, Just Love, which will expose the ex-gay industry and educate people about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“Sexual orientation is not a choice, but thanks to conferences like Love Won Out, some people do choose to embrace prejudice and discrimination,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. “You cannot pray away the gay and the sooner people learn to accept themselves, the better off they are.”
On September 19, 2000, Besen photographed the ex-gay founder of Love Won Out, John Paulk, in a gay bar in Washington, DC. He also has shadowed Love Won Out, organizing or participating in protests or counter-conferences wherever Love Won Out’s road show appears. The last one was in Birmingham, Alabama in November 2009.
Just Love will take-place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (2728 6th Ave)from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Sessions will be conducted by experts including the former co-founder of Exodus International, Michael Bussee, who is now an outspoken critic of the group he helped start. Other notable speakers include, ex-gay survivor Daniel Gonzales, Jim Burroway, Editor of Box Turtle Bulletin and Amity Buxton, founder of the Straight Spouse Network (SSN), which supports straight spouses whose partners came out as gay. There will also be a session for leaders of the faith community led by Louise Brooks of California Faith for Equality and the Human Rights Campaign.
“We refuse to be defined by misinformation, junk science and religious bigotry,” said TWO’s Besen. “Just Love will set the record straight on the ex-gay industry and provide factual information on our lives. We will dispel stereotypes, shine a bright light on the lies and send the message that gay people are fine just the way they are.”
This is the funniest, campiest 700 Club clip I’ve ever seen. The melancholy music. The close-up shots of the little boy wearing high heel shoes. The credulous narrator. And that’s all in the first thirty seconds! I found it over at Rich’s FourFour blog, where he had this to say about it:
I’m of two minds regarding the ex-gay thing. Because I believe that no one is a better expert on my emotions than I am, it seems hypocritical to turn around and tell someone that what he’s saying he feels is not what he actually feels. Being “cured” of homosexuality flies in the face of what I consider to be innate and acceptable (Whoooo! I don’t need no cure! I don’t need no cure!), on top of it supporting the ludicrous “choice” argument made by the hateful and unsympathetic (homosexuality is a choice in the same way that going out to get food so that you don’t starve is a choice), but if Tony Spears wants to put on broad, five-minute theater to convince us he’s banging chicks now, well, whatever! I love the ultimate implication that you can be cured of desire, but that the gay sensibility is resistant to prayer. Reassuring!
Maybe if the way to “cure” homosexuality is through prayer, the way to cure homophobia is through laughter. I’m so sick of being depressed by shit that it’s worth a try.
I like the way he compared it to eating to fend off starvation. The only difference is that, while swearing off food is deadly, celibacy probably won’t kill you. But it won’t change the fact that your biology draws you toward a certain kind of person, a certain gender, etc.
Anyway, here’s Tony Spears talking about how he once was gay, but now he’s banging one very special lady named Felicia! Also, he only had the gayness because he didn’t know his Paw Paw. Riiiiiiight. Oh, and Pat Robertson gets so excited at the end! He’s rocking back and forth in reaction to the gayness that went away by the power of prayer!
Truth Wins Out’s research team revealed today that an alleged split in July 2009 between Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) may only be cosmetic. While PFOX is no longer listed as an Exodus referral agency on Exodus’ website, the groups appear heavily enmeshed.
Wisconsin’s Reclamation Ministries, South Carolina’s New Song Ministries, Oklahoma’s First Stone Ministries, New Mexico’s LifeMor ministries, Missouri and Illinois’ Pure Heart Ministries, and Florida’s Family Ties Ministries.
“Despite their public divorce, Exodus and PFOX appear to be very much in bed together,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out.”These groups should be honest and admit the true extent of their working relationship.”
There is one other possibility. PFOX may be falsely listing Exodus ministries as PFOX chapters in order to mislead the public into thinking the organization is larger than it actually is.
In July 2009, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) broke away from Exodus International – or perhaps it was the other way around. The details remain murky. They were supposedly split over strategy, with PFOX couching its bizarre arguments in civil rights language.
For example, they want “ex-gays” to be included in laws that protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Exodus, simply wants gay people not to be covered by such laws. There was also Exodus’ concern over PFOX’s judgment in placing quack “therapist” Richard Cohen on television.
Australian former ex-gays explain on national television how U.S. evangelicals and their Australian affiliates sought to damage them, their spirituality, and their families.
African violence against the LGBT community is partially the result of American anti-gay and “ex-gay” activists stirring the pot in countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. We all know that Exodus International’s board member Don Schmierer was at a Spring 2009 conference in Kampala that helped lead to the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
However, Truth Wins Out’s research team revealed today that another American “ex-gay” organization, Homosexuals Anonymous, had a conference in Kenya in November 2009. It was led by Doug McIntyre, HA’s Director.According to the organization’s October 2009 newsletter:
On November 3, 2009 the Director of HAFS will begin a visit to the beautiful country of Kenya. We have been invited to begin a new work for the HA program and educate the members of a two thousand member church so that they can begin to reclaim the lost youth of the area. An invitation has been extended to teach in 15 local schools and participate in a leadership training program for nearly 200 pastors and church leaders.
While it remains unclear what happened at this particular HA event, a disturbing patten has seemingly developed. Ex-gay activists appear in African countries right before spasms of violence and persecution erupt.
Is this a mere coincidence or is the groundwork being laid for attacks on LGBT people? Are American ex-gays being used as a means to justify terror tactics and horror against innocent people? Do American “ex-gay” activists allow dangerous regimes and frothing mobs to rationalize violence by claiming, “these people deserve what they get because they can change?”
Truth Wins Out left a message this morning for HA to obtain more information on the group’s role in Kenya. They have yet to return our call.
The BBC reports that Kenyan police have released five people arrested for planning a “gay wedding” north of Mombasa, saying there was no evidence to prosecute them. But police spokesman Martha Mutegi told the BBC the men had been advised to leave the area for their own safety and to avoid angering the local community.
There are, however, those who dispute the BBC report. They claim that a gay wedding never actually took place and that the event was a fabrication in order for anti-forces to incite mob violence.
Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya and punishable by up to 14 years in jail. A BBC reporter in Mombasa says police began a crackdown on the gay community last week following anti-gay protests.
Perhaps it is time that American ex-gay activists stay home and stop creating mischief overseas. (Here is a glimpse of the type of false and destructive message that was brought to Kenya)
As a result of the investigation, Comiskey says DSM was “torn in two” and that “we the righteous became the scum of the earth–not only the defender of victims, but the predators.”
For reasons possibly related to this scandal, Comiskey moved Desert Stream from Anaheim to Kansas City, Mo., several years ago, where it currently remains in operation.
Donald W. Wildmon, chairman of the rabidly anti-gay American Family Association, 
(Weekly Column)
TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen to Appear at Just Love Counter-Conference on Saturday, March 6 
African violence against the LGBT community is partially the result of American anti-gay and “ex-gay” activists 
