Sure, its scandalous when an anti-gay charlatan employs a male escort to lift his sack and rub his back. But the larger story is that Florida’s Attorney General, Bill McCollum, hired now disgraced professor George Rekers for $120,000 to testify as an “expert” witness in favor of the state’s ban on allowing gay people to adopt. He did so knowing that Rekers testimony had already been debunked and lacked credibility. While the handsome Jo-Vanni Roman was a bargain for Rekers at $75 per night, “Big Spending Bill” bilked taxpayers for a handsome sum of money to defend his bible-based bigotry. As the rent boy hoopla begins to subside, people should begin to focus on the far more dangerous rent-a-quack industry, where puritanical politicians funnel public money to fellow fundamentalists who twists facts in the name of faith.
“Rekers is part of a small cadre of homophobes-for-hire that charge top dollar for their bogus’expert’ witness testimony despite the fact that they’ve been discredited over and over again,” Nadine Smith, Executive Executive Director of Equality Florida, told me during an interview. “McCollum knew this guy was a fraud but he paid him anyway to burnish his conservative credentials. While thousands of children languish in the foster care system and hundreds age out of the system never having been adopted, Rekers is an ideological hired gun who will distort the truth for pay in defense of this law that dehumanizes gay people and denies children in need the stability and permanency that only adoption can bring.”
Rekers was paid a $60,900 retainer in Florida. He also received a $59,793 payment for hourly billing, according to the Department of Children and Families, for 402 hours at about $150 per hour. The payments were made by the office of the Florida attorney general, Bill McCollum, which was defending the DCF’s policy in court.
Rekers, an officer of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, testified in 2008 that LGBT people have a higher likelihood of depression, drug addiction and failed relationships. He claimed these ailments made them unfit parents who could not provide stable homes for children. Of course now we all know that Rekers thinks its okay to rent boys, not raise them.
What McCollum got for the loot was pure lies at the expense of tax payers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman found that Rekers testimony was “motivated by his strong ideological and theological convictions that are not consistent with the science. Based on his testimony and demeanor at trial, the court can not consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy.”
Of course, McCollum, a Republican who is now running for Florida governor as a “fiscal conservative” had to have known that he was wasting public money. Rekers had already testified in Arizona against gay foster parents. But the judge called his testimony “extremely suspect and of little, if any, assistance to the court.”
Rekers also testified on behalf of the state of Arkansas. A two-year legal battle followed after Rekers billed the state for $165,000, more than the state wanted to pay. The case concluded with Rekers receiving a $60,000 settlement, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In an Orlando Sentinel article, “Big Spending Bill” admitted that he hired Rekers because he could not find a credible mental health expert to testify in favor of the ban.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of choice,” said McCollum.
Well, there was a choice. McCollum could have decided to save the peoples’ money and not place a disreputable witness on the stand that he knew was pushing junk science. That is what a man of good character and strong morality would have done. Clearly, McCollum has no problem abandoning the facts in the service of justifying his faith.
McCollum’s actions were a clear violation of the public trust and he has a duty to return the money to the state he was elected to represent. It would be nothing less than disgraceful if he did not pay restitution for the political prostitution that happened on his watch.
As for George Rekers, he should return the dough he has not yet squandered on rent boys to Florida, Arizona and Arkansas. He bamboozled taxpayers and should not get away with it. Of course, now we all know why he needed a strapping young man to lift his baggage. They could possibly have been filled with dirty money from his anti-gay money-grab in Florida.
It seems that Jo-Vanni Roman’sbiggest mistake was that he was in the wrong business. The quickest way to make a buck is to buck reality and provide propaganda for ambitiouss politicians such as Bill McCollum.
A bill that aims to expand the state’ film incentive program ‚Äî an effort to attract jobs, which is likely to pass ‚Äî would add language limiting a proposed 5 percent tax credit to productions that do not exhibit or imply “nontraditional family values.” This includes nixing such tax-breaks for any movie with LGBT characters or a gay theme.
The bill’ sponsor, Representative Stephen L. Precourt, an Orlando Republican, told The Palm Beach Post that he wanted to encourage film-making akin to “The Andy Griffith Show”.
As a Florida native I am appalled. You basically have a bunch of holy-rolling prudes and scolds trying to harm the Florida economy and undermine the state’s movie industry by pushing their backward version of morality down the throats of all Floridians. Instead of focusing on job creation, these blue nosed values vultures are opportunistically hijacking the jobs bill to push their religious agenda.
The 1950′s are over and these fundamentalists are stuck in the past. Attempting to remake Florida’s movie industry in the mold of a bygone era is short-sighted and terribly misguided. It will place the state’s entire movie industry in harm’s way and send a terrible signal to the moguls in Hollywood. If Florida Republicans insist on thumping the Bible and thumbing their noses at the movie industry, the studios will find new beaches on which to film – at the expense of jobs for Floridians. I seriously doubt that the churches behind this fiasco will pick up the slack and employ all the unemployed actors once they cripple the state’s movie industry.
But, I guess that is what happens when the public elects political fundamentalists whose selfish, Dark Age agenda trumps real issues. As long as Florida voters send such cavemen to Tallahassee, they should know exactly what to expect.
So, good luck with the Andy Griffith movies, Florida. I’m sure they’ll be splendid, compete with contemporary movies and win numerous Academy Awards. And, I hope the Florida legislature takes the next logical step and bans color from the movies! If we are going to live in the past, why not do it right?
Dr. Jack Drescher, M.D., is a psychiatrist and psychologist in private practice in New York City. He presented the second keynote address at the Anti-Heterosexism Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, in November 2009.
Dr. Drescher has written and edited over 20 books regarding homosexuality and gender identity. His keynote, “STRAIGHT” Jackets: A Psychiatrist Deconstructs Sexual Conversion Therapies, speaks in great detail about the psychology and psychiatry of homosexuality and the ineffectiveness of so-called “conversion therapies.”
The conference organizers have now made video of this address available. Video length: about 48 minutes.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference was co-sponsored by Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Truth Wins Out, Box Turtle Bulletin, Equality Florida, and Beyond Ex-Gay.
Opponents of antigay prejudice and arrogance gathered in south Florida two months ago at the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to expose the deceit of the ex-gay and antigay movements.
Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Ph.D., presented the first keynote. Dr. Rhue serves as Director of Religious Affairs with the National Black Justice Coalition and is a scholar, writer, educator and sought-after public speaker. The title of her presentation was “STRAIGHT” Rackets: Why the Religious Right Needs Reparative Therapy.
The conference organizers have now made video of this address available. Video length: about 58 minutes.
Homophobia in the black church is an artifact of archaeology, and not an artifact of faith.
Authoritarian religious movements, filled with fear and loathing, wage an ongoing war against love.
Ten years ago, the ex-gay movement patterned a national ad campaign in a fashion some found starkly reminiscent of past campaigns against Negroes. In those times, southern Americans, largely Baptist, would conduct castrations and lynchings on Saturday nights and worship on Sundays without a hint of schizophrenia or guilt.
Jesus is not in the orientation-changing business, because sexual orientation is God-given and morally neutral
From Fred Phelps to Harry Jackson, numerous Christian Rightists demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of human sexuality and a lack of empathy for the harm they do.
The need of some Christian Rightists to be at war with some segment of the population highlights a lack of integrity and confidence in their theology.
The word “homosexuality” was invented in 1869, didn’t arrive in states until the turn of century, and did not appear in the Bible until c. 1940 as a mistranslation.
Most evangelical youth leave their church, never to return: They want faith, but not their parents’ faith.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference was co-sponsored by Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Truth Wins Out, Box Turtle Bulletin, Equality Florida, and Beyond Ex-Gay.
People who were spiritually and emotionally injured by “ex-gay” ministries and reparative therapy gathered in south Florida two months ago to reflect on their experiences and their recovery.
The conference organizers have now made video of these recollections available. Video length: about 50 minutes.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference was co-sponsored by Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Truth Wins Out, Box Turtle Bulletin, Equality Florida, and Beyond Ex-Gay.
From November 20-22, advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality will join clergy, educators, mental health professionals and allies at the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida. The conference offers a range of in-depth workshops and is open to everyone who seeks to challenge the harmful affects of heterosexism, reparative therapy, ex-gay ministries and other efforts to change people’ sexual orientation.
“First off, it’ important to be clear that the title of the conference is the Anti-Heterosexism Conference, not anti-heterosexual,” says Jeff Lutes, Executive Director of Soulforce and one of the organizers of the conference. “Heterosexism is the widespread assumption that heterosexual relationships are somehow superior to same-sex relationships, which leads to all kinds of abuse and discrimination against LGBT people. We want to highlight where heterosexism seeps into the social, cultural, religious and political fabric of society, and how we can begin to unravel its damaging consequences.”
Through a weekend-long series of workshops and keynote speakers, conference attendees will learn to challenge heterosexist attitudes and practices, speak out against the dangers of reparative therapy and other conversion efforts, and become strong advocates for LGBT equality.
Keynote speakers for the conference include Dr. Sylvia Rue, Interim Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, Rev. Deborah L. Johnson of Inner Light Ministries, and Dr. Jack Drescher, Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Joining Soulforce as co-sponsors of the conference are Truth Wins Out, the National Black Justice Coalition, Beyond Ex-Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin and Equality Florida.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference also serves as a counterweight to the anti-gay think tank, NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality), which will be hosting its annual conference on the same weekend in West Palm Beach. For years NARTH has promoted reparative or “sexual orientation conversion” therapy, claiming that LGBT people can and should change their sexual orientation.
However, after a thorough review of the literature on conversion therapy, the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that sexual orientation is unlikely to change through therapy and adopted a resolution in August 2009 calling on mental health professionals to avoid telling clients they can change from gay to straight through “therapeutic” efforts or other treatments. The resolution builds on an APA report from 1998, which warned that reparative therapy can lead patients to “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior,” because “therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”
In November, individuals and organizations from across the country will come together for the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to work through the process of moving beyond the dangers of heterosexism to a more just and equitable environment for LGBT people. “It’ time we named the problem,” says Lutes, “and begin walking together through the solution.”
For more information on the conference, visit: http://www.soulforce.org/anti-heterosexism-conference
Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality will join clergy, educators, mental health professionals and allies at the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 20-22. The conference offers a range of in-depth workshops and is open to everyone who seeks to challenge the harmful affects of heterosexism, reparative therapy, ex-gay ministries and other efforts to change people’ sexual orientation.
“First off, it’ important to be clear that the title of the conference is the Anti-Heterosexism Conference, not anti-heterosexual,” says Jeff Lutes, Executive Director of Soulforce and one of the organizers of the conference. “Heterosexism is the widespread assumption that heterosexual relationships are somehow superior to same-sex relationships, which leads to all kinds of abuse and discrimination against LGBT people. We want to highlight where heterosexism seeps into the social, cultural, religious and political fabric of society, and how we can begin to unravel its damaging consequences.”
Through a weekend-long series of workshops and keynote speakers, conference attendees will learn to challenge heterosexist attitudes and practices, speak out against the dangers of reparative therapy and other conversion efforts, and become strong advocates for LGBT equality.
Keynote speakers for the conference include Dr. Sylvia Rue, Interim Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, Rev. Deborah L. Johnson of Inner Light Ministries, and Dr. Jack Drescher, Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Joining Soulforce as co-sponsors of the conference are Truth Wins Out, the National Black Justice Coalition, Beyond Ex-Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin and Equality Florida.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference also serves as a counterweight to the anti-gay think tank, NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality), which will be hosting its annual conference on the same weekend in West Palm Beach. For years NARTH has promoted reparative or “sexual orientation conversion” therapy, claiming that LGBT people can and should change their sexual orientation.
However, after a thorough review of the literature on conversion therapy, the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that sexual orientation is unlikely to change through therapy and adopted a resolution in August 2009 calling on mental health professionals to avoid telling clients they can change from gay to straight through “therapeutic” efforts or other treatments. The resolution builds on an APA report from 1998, which warned that reparative therapy can lead patients to “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior,” because “therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”
In November, individuals and organizations from across the country will come together for the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to work through the process of moving beyond the dangers of heterosexism to a more just and equitable environment for LGBT people. “It’ time we named the problem,” says Lutes, “and begin walking together through the solution.”
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.
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.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas expressed frustration yesterday with the anti-family Liberty Counsel, a religious-right organization that assists allies such as Exodus International in filing frivolous lawsuits and legal threats against families and pro-equality advocates.
The LC’s latest effort to harm children begins like many similar stories: With foster children whom religious rightist couples decline to adopt.
The story began during the 2004 Christmas season, when state social workers brought two brothers to foster parent Frank Gill. They picked him because of his experience and success in dealing with the hard-luck cases.
The boys certainly were that.
John, 4, wore filthy clothes, suffered from a severe case of ringworm and was all but comatose, responding only to his 4-month-old brother, James. He had become James’ main caregiver, feeding him and changing his diaper as his parents huffed their drugs.
John shunned affection. He grunted instead of talked. He hoarded food because in the world he came from, it was not a commodity to take for granted.
James was so young, he healed quickly. But it took Gill and his partner, Tom Roe, two years of relentless compassion to reach John. And now both brothers are thriving. They have friends, a school, a safe neighborhood, loving parents and, most of all, structure.
Gill saved their lives.
Everyone who knows the boys, including a state-appointed guardian and a child therapist, say this house is where they belong.
A circuit-court judge agreed, granting Gill permission to adopt the boys. This prompted an appeal from the Attorney General’s Office, charged with defending an archaic state law that bans gay adoptions in Florida.
The Family Law Section of the Florida Bar Association then decided to get involved. Its executive committee voted unanimously to file a brief in support of the two boys, and then won the unanimous approval of the Bar Association’s Board of Governors to do so.
But the Liberty Counsel and Christian Coalition see things differently. No two-parent heterosexual household has Gill’s qualifications or experience, nor the willingness to take on the challenge. So the two organizations want the children placed in orphanages or with a string of reluctant and unqualified (but heterosexual and evangelical) strangers instead. Thomas observes:
Can you imagine the effort Gill put into rescuing John? Can you imagine the baggage that boy arrived with and the love and patience required to overcome it? You think your kid is a handful? Imagine a boy who knew only the kind of abuse we couldn’t even imagine the first four years of his life.
And the Liberty Counsel reduces this to giving him a pair of pants, filling his cereal bowl and taking him to tennis lessons. I would like to see one member of the Liberty Counsel who has exhibited anything close to this level of Christian compassion exhibited by Frank Gill.
Instead, the Counsel sits back in judgment, painting blindly with its broad brush, oblivious to the fate of these two boys if they ever were yanked from the only family they’ve ever known.
First they banned marriage and adoption by gay couples; now Florida religious-rightists want to tax marriage for heterosexual couples and compel lower-income couples to attend counseling that presently is provided by religious non-profits.
The $100 tax would raise the cost of a Florida marriage license to almost $200. The objective, antigay activists say, is to strengthen marriage. Marriage, that is, for middle- and upper-income Christian Republicans.
Who’s responsible for this plan to save marriage from po’ folks, non-Christians, and liberals?
John Stemberger and the Florida Family Policy Council, with support from the Catholic Church, is out to make it more difficult — or at least more expensive — for straight couples to wed.
It’ not that Stemberger has anything against heterosexual marriage. To the contrary, he said the goal is to make it stronger.
Stemberger and his allies want to add $100 to the fee for a Florida marriage license, bringing the total to $193.50. Most of the charge — $132.50 — would be erased for a couple that goes through eight hours of premarital education.
Currently, couples can get a discount of $32.50 for four hours of education, but supporters of the new proposal said the financial incentive isn’t enough to encourage participation.
Opponents don’t think the state should tax marriage or become involved in sectarian religious proselytization.
Rich said it’ fine for religious or non-profit groups to offer all the education and counseling they want — something the Catholic Church, for example, requires. “I just don’t think the state should be involved in this.” …
Gay rights activist Waymon Hudson, of Oakland Park, who battled Stemberger over the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment last year, said people who want to get married shouldn’t be forced to choose between paying almost $200 for a license or indoctrination into Stemberger’ ideal of the “Leave it to Beaver family.”
“It’ basically using state funds to proselytize their viewpoint,” he said.
Many people marry at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons, and many people are surprised at the difficulty of managing a marital relationship. Proper education may help people choose marital partners and manage marriage more wisely.
But such education should be voluntary, should occur a neutral context that is free of sectarian religious spin, and must not discriminate on the basis of income. Public secondary schools would seem to be an ideal place for teen-agers and young adults to learn about family life — and many public schools do offer family-life courses, despite opposition from the religious right.
Despite the proven existence of thousands of people nationally who are born with the genitals of both sexes, and despite decades of research into the biological and early-childhood roots of gender identity, Focus on the Family continues to deny the existence of transgender persons — and to suppress their constitutional freedoms.
Focus’ CitizenLink political propaganda tool sneered at persons of mixed biology in a Jan. 19 article, placing the word “transgendered” in scare quotes and insinuating that such American taxpayers should not granted to equal access to public facilities and government employment.
Focus urges voters in Gainesville, Fla., to vote away equal access. Focus accomplishes this by falsely telling its readership that the vote to repeal an equal-access and non-discrimination ordinance is really a ban of “pedophiles” from bathrooms.
“The statute says if they have an inner sense of being of a specific gender, then they can be that gender,” said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council. “That’ crazy because pedophiles would love to use bathrooms where little girls are located in parks.”
Quite simply, the insinuation that transgender persons are pedophiles is a lie that is intended to incite violence against people of mixed biology and identity.
(Weekly Column)
Straight Rackets: Why the Religious Right Needs Reparative Therapy
