Last week, TWO’s Director of Communications & Development John Becker did a last-minute interview with progressive talk phenom David Pakman about Alan Chambers’ confusing statement that it’s impossible to pray away the gay. Unless you’re Alan Chambers, who was able to… err, what was that? As David and John discussed (and as Wayne wrote in the latest TWO Special Report), it will be interesting to see how Chambers and Exodus spin this going forward, both at next week’s Love Won Out conference in Atlanta and beyond.
Ladies and gentlemen, we always ask “ex-gay” leaders and their supporting cast of wingnuts to provide numbers, and dangit, Alan Chambers did it this past weekend on a panel discussion at the Gay Christian Network conference! Warren Throckmorton’s blog:
Alan Chambers is asked, I think by GCN Executive Director Justin Lee, about the way Exodus and member ministries describe the work they do. Specifically, Lee asked about the slogan “change is possible.” Chambers responds by discussing his views of sexual orientation change, saying
The majority of people that I have met, and I would say the majority meaning 99.9% of them have not experienced a change in their orientation or have gotten to a place where they could say that they could never be tempted or are not tempted in some way or experience some level of same-sex attraction. I think there is a gender issue there, there are some women who have challenged me and said that my orientation or my attractions have changed completely. Those have been few and far between. The vast majority of people that I know will experience some level of same-sex attraction.
For those who are not familiar with Math, 100% minus 99.9% equals 0.1%. For every one thousand gays who enter “ex-gay” reparative therapy, one of you might be successful, and really you were probably bisexual anyway, so meh.
So speaketh the guru, who, we gently remind readers, has admitted that he is still into guys.
I wrote about this when it happened a few weeks ago, but here is CBN reporting on Exodus’ Alan Chambers being named World magazine’s “Daniel of the Year.” At first I figured they called it that in allusion to the Biblical character of Daniel and the whole lion’s den story, but maybe “Daniel” is just some guy who likes dudes but is married to a lady, which would make Alan Chambers a perfect recipient.
In that report, I love where they mention the Exodus iPhone app being pulled during 2011. In case you forgot, we did that.
So this ad from Exodus International is running in newspapers in Trinidad and Jamaica right now. It’s indicative of their troubles at home that the only places they feel like they’ll get any bang for their buck are already among the most homophobic nations on earth:
Their graphic designer apparently isn’t as good as ours either.
It’s like the Out 100, but there’s only one, and it’s for closet cases. WORLD Magazine has given Alan Chambers their [coveted?] “Daniel of the Year” award:
ORLANDO—Alan Chambers is in denial.
Yep.
It’s a charge his critics level against him on a regular basis. They say that Chambers—a former homosexual who helps others struggling with same-sex attraction—is denying what comes naturally to him. Chambers wholeheartedly agrees.
Well, I guess our work is done.
“For Christians, every day we’re called to a life of biblical self-denial,” he says. “We take up our cross and follow Christ, and we deny what comes naturally.” But he says denial isn’t without reward: “Those who reject the concept of self-denial haven’t reaped the joys that come with it.”
Christians? Help me out here. Because I used to be an Evangelical Christian, and nowhere in those years of brainwashing do I remember anyone else besides gay people being told that they needed to deny an inherent part of their beings. Alan, you’re simply telling yourself things to make yourself feel better.
Self-denial isn’t a new concept to Chambers.
Not at all.
The 39-year-old president of Exodus International—a Christian ministry that helps people struggling with homosexuality—grew up in a Christian home but embraced homosexuality as a teenager. But through years of an active gay lifestyle, Chambers couldn’t shake the biblical conviction that what came naturally to him was also sinful. He didn’t want to be gay.
Eventually, he embraced the biblical teaching that Christ could change his heart, and his sinful patterns, including homosexuality. It didn’t happen quickly. “I didn’t get a magic wand or a lightening bolt,” says Chambers. “I got a very difficult, painful, blood-sweat-and-tears journey—and a Jesus who never left me along the way.”
“And I’m still into dudes like WHOA.”
Part of Chambers’ work involves treading into the lion’s den of mainstream media outlets that scorn the notion that homosexuality is wrong. Critics have called him a bigot, a homophobe, and a spiritual terrorist. An online petition to ban an Exodus application from Apple’s iTunes store earlier this year drew more than 150,000 signatures. Apple dropped the Exodus app, saying it offended large groups of people.
But there’s something that angers Chambers’ opponents as much as his belief that homosexuality is wrong: His message that homosexuals can change.
Reality-based people tend to be angered by outright lies, yes.
If Chambers leads a nationwide ministry, you wouldn’t know it by standing outside the Orlando headquarters where he works. After a handful of security threats from opponents in recent years, the Exodus staffers don’t post a sign on the front door. They don’t publicize their address. They usually lock the doors.
Well yeah, and when the foreclosure fairy comes a-callin’ to reclaim that building, they want to be warned by at least a knock at the door.
Was this award ginned up behind the scenes as part of Exodus’s Hail Mary, Save Our Asses campaign? Just curious.
Chambers takes homemade cards from his children and wife when he travels for work and displays them on the dresser in his hotel room. But he doesn’t offer the cards or pictures as proof that he’s not gay anymore. “My wife isn’t my diploma,” he says. Instead, he says he pursued marriage and children after his homosexual desires changed.
Wait, when did his “homosexual desires change”? Because just above, Alan is admitting that he denies his natural desires for men, men and more men, and moreover, he’s admitted that many times before. He’s not “changed.”
Websites like Truth Wins Out and Ex-Gay Watch have whole sections devoted to condemning Chambers and other ministries to homosexuals. They note that some prominent former leaders of Exodus have returned to homosexuality. Chambers acknowledges that many people do return to homosexuality, but he says that doesn’t negate the validity of Exodus’ message.
Um, it’s less that “some leaders have returned,” and more that it’s a veritable game of whack-a-mole keeping track of which “ex-gay” leaders are currently being paid by “ex-gay” companies to be spokesmodels, which “ex-gay” leaders have fallen off the wagon into a pile of men, and which are both.
Anyway, the rest of the piece is pretty annoying and long-winded, and I have no desire to spend any more time on Alan’s biography, so I’ll just quote this one last piece, where Alan is playing victim as usual, make a joke, and then finish this up:
Chambers says he’s received a handful of threatening calls, including a message saying he should be killed for what he’s doing. He maintains a substantial security system at his home and calls his wife when he’s traveling to go over a security checklist at night. “I don’t live my life in fear, but we’re careful,” he says.
Ex-Gay Watch posted a report this morning which shows an Exodus International in dire straits, indeed, something many of us on this side of the fence have suspected for a while. Alan Chambers threw a “Hail, Mary” conference several weeks ago for the purposes of finding a way to save/revitalize the organization:
Three years ago, Exodus purchased a building for a little over $1.1 Million. This was at the height of the real estate bubble and it’s value must have decreased significantly since. While they seem to have shed as many of their obligations as possible, debt service for that building must be a great draw on their meager resources. According to IRS documents, they burned through $200,000 of their savings in 2010 alone. In short, if they continue on their current trajectory, there seems little doubt that Exodus will fold in the near future.
Knowing this, Chambers called the New York meeting together and posed the question, “how can we save Exodus?” Unfortunately for those of us who might have a glimmer of hope to the contrary, this plea does not seem to be based on any deep, inner change of heart or ideology. According to first person accounts, the emphasis was on how to make Exodus more “donor accessible.” The meeting was filled with the modern lingo of those who advise on the solicitation of charitable funds. This is about money.
Chamber’s apparently wishes to “re-brand” Exodus into something more palatable to those with funds to give, and the general public alike. According to our sources, Chambers said that “everything is on the table.” That everything apparently includes the possibility of his resignation. It was also clear from the meeting that this is their last resort, their “Hail Mary” so to speak — they’ve tried everything else. Indeed, it seems certain that Chambers would have made pleas to anyone he knew with money before taking this drastic action. And we’ve all seen the odd inconsistencies apparent in their public face. Exodus is an organization fumbling for a solution.
David Roberts goes on to mention that Alan Chambers is mystified by people’s positive reactions to John Smid’s journey toward humanity, and seems to want a piece of that pie. What’s sick about it, though, is that one gets the sense, reading the report, that any “change” in message from Exodus would be purely motivated by money. On some level, at least, the leadership of Exodus understands that the Western world has left them behind, and that the money is drying up for their sort of hateful work, but it doesn’t seem that they’re actually soul-searching in any way. Just looking to rebrand the organization so they don’t look so hateful.
One of the reasons Truth Wins Out and Ex-Gay Watch and other people/organizations with a dog in this fight work so tirelessly to simply expose what these “ex-gay” businesses are all about is that the whole “reparative therapy” model doesn’t fare well in the light of day. Indeed, even moderate-to-conservative Christians, when they find out that it exists, tend to roll their eyes and consider the notion preposterous. So into the light of day we send them and let them succeed or fail on their own merits. Failure tends to be the order of the day.
Exodus plans to announce their “new direction” after their 2012 Leadership conference in January:
It will be after this conference that Exodus announces whatever it is they decide, presumably some sort of apology which allows them to maintain their core ideology, while claiming to have gone about expressing it badly — too much truth and not enough grace, etc.
Wayne remarked in the comments section on Ex-Gay Watch on the plastic, transparent nature of this Hail, Mary! pass from Alan and the Exodus clan:
When Exodus apologizes we expect substance, not a strategy. Chambers must realize that Smid received support because his apology seemed sincere, or at least he was heading in the right direction.
Meanwhile, no one bought The International Healing Foundation’s recent apology from Richard Cohen, who we all thought was full of shit. Chambers would be wise to look at the Cohen flop, not just the Smid success.
The dishonesty and deciept; the semantic games and double talk; the arrogance and allegiance to the political right; the forays overseas that spread hate in places like Uganda; have earned Chambers incredible ill will.
An apology absent a resignation will ring hollow. Chambers should practice some of that conservative “personal responsibility” and admit he has been a failure as a leader and maybe as a human being. He should go somewhere peaceful and quiet to reflect on the harm he has caused as an agent of intolerance. When he returns from exile, he should consider spending the rest of his life undoing the damage that occurred at his hands.
The website Fierce Mobile Content listed the Top 5 most offensive apps of 2011 — and the frauds at Exodus International got picked for the top spot. Truth Wins Out is very proud that we teamed up with Change.org to nix the obnoxious and ineffective app.
It’s good to see that the losers at Exodus finally won something. Check out the story:
But while it’s increasingly difficult to offend, it’s still possible. You just have to really work at it. Some mobile applications seem to go out of their way to outrage consumers, relying on shock value to generate attention and drive downloads–some have gone so far overboard that consumers and activist groups have successfully campaigned for their expulsion from the app store ranks. What kinds of apps could provoke such a visceral reaction?
Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A became embroiled in a controversy surrounding its donations to anti-gay groups. Though Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy denied having an “agenda against anyone,” an Equality Matters investigation discovered that Chick-fil-A donated more than $1 million to anti-gay causes between 2003 and 2008.
Now, new IRS 990 forms reveal that the company donated nearly two million dollars to anti-gay groups in 2009 alone, the most recent year for which public records are available.
I embarrassed to say that I went to eat at this restaurant one time out of a burning curiosity to try anti-gay chicken. But I’m not going back — especially after reading this report that gave me a latent case of indigestion.
Please tell your friends and family to go to KFC, Popeye’s or even raise their own chickens — anything but spending dough on this “restaurant” that is looking more like a front for funneling money directly into the hands of rabidly anti-gay organizations. The owner’s charitable arm even gave $1,000 to the “ex-gay” sham group Exodus International.
Several recent posts by Truth Wins Out have documented Linda Harvey’s efforts to promote antigay violence, defamation, and denial of access to health care.
It’s amazing what one ostensibly Christian woman can accomplish on just $29,000 per year.
Harvey’s IRS filings are incomplete and sketchy. According to Guidestar, Mission America is missing from the IRS’s most recent list of tax-exempt organizations, yet the group’s tax-exempt status apparently has not been revoked.
From the available information, we see that Harvey claims to work 20 hours per week, claims to collect no income, and yet somehow spent almost $27,000 on a weekly AM radio show for which she is the host.
According to her filings, Harvey’s four main supporters in 2010 were:
Thomas W. Harvey, same address as Linda
Fieldstead & Company, the asset management company of right-wing philanthropist Howard F. Ahmanson. This same company employs Exodus director and financier Don Schmierer as program officer.
George Edward Durell Foundation, Westerville, Ohio
The IRS filing implies that each foundation gave no more than $5,000 directly to Mission America, but altogether, these four sources can single-handedly supply Harvey with most of her annual revenue.
If Harvey keeps promoting antigay violence, then it’s only a matter of time before she appears on official lists of U.S. hate-group leaders.
In the meantime, we can ponder why Don Schmierer, a key director of Exodus and its holding entity, is so closely tied to one of Linda Harvey’s primary sources of cash.
Ex-Gay Watch points out that recent U.S. Internal Revenue Service filings confirm what Exodus International has long denied:
The abusive Christian Right quack-therapy network does try to change people’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, despite executive director Alan Chambers’ ongoing insistence to the public that his “ministries” merely help people with “unwanted homosexuality” grow closer to godliness through a new ideological “identity” of ambiguous “holysexuality.”
Furthermore, the organization admits in its IRS Form 990 filings that it seeks to convert people’s sexual orientation against their will.
In 2006, for example, the organization budgeted more than $124,000 for “missions and other outreach projects (that) allow Exodus to reach individuals not actively seeking help who may be open to change.”
That’s Exodus-speak for “lobbying for harsh antigay laws” and “pressuring parents to detain their teen-age children in ex-gay boot-camps.”
In 2007, Exodus budgeted more than $342,000 to provide “various education programs and publications that explain how to change sexual orientation” at a time when Exodus publicly denied the existence of sexual orientation, preferring instead to characterize sexual attraction as nothing more than a label or “identity” that could easily be swapped out in favor of Exodus’ unholy redefinition of Christian faith.
Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A became embroiled in a controversy surrounding its donations to anti-gay groups. Though Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy denied having an “agenda against anyone,” an 
It’s amazing what one ostensibly Christian woman can accomplish on just $29,000 per year.
