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.
On Thursday, the New Jersey Senate ended the chance for approval of homosexual “marriage” [sic] in the legislature, but the fight to push the measure through continues.
…[D]espite the defeat, says Greg Quinlan of New Jersey Family First, homosexuals will continue to push for approval. ”The homosexual lobby has threatened now to go back to the New Jersey Supreme Court to have them change the definition of marriage as courts have imposed it in other states like Iowa and Massachusetts,” he explains.
Not taking “no” for an answer? You betcha! And why would that be, Greg? Well, you see, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in 2006 (Lewis v. Harris) that it’s unconstitutional to give lesser rights to same-sex couples and deferred to the Legislature to correct the problem. The legislature shirked its responsibility, and so now, we go back to the courts.
Capisce?
Let us know if there’s anything else we need to clear up for you people.
While 2009 will be remembered for the worldwide economic recession, for the ex-gay industry, it will be known as The Great Moral Depression. It was a dreadful year for such programs, as they showed themselves to be a global menace run by reprobates, such as Exodus’ Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers, who combined a dangerous dose of arrogance and incompetence. Much like the Roman Catholic Church, these men ignored a credible allegation of abuse for more than six months and engaged in a dangerous game of denial.
Whatever shard of credibility this industry had was stripped away in 2009. It was a year where such programs were harshly rebuked by the mental health establishment. An important new study showed that their retrograde methods of shame and blame harmed LGBT people. The old, outdated research that they stubbornly latched onto for dear life seemed to betray them and then vanish into thin air.
Several “ex-gay” heroes turned out to be zeros and slithered away into the mist. The past 12 months, if anything, unmasked the facade of “love” this industry cynically showers on potential clients and an often gullible media. In 2009, the world saw ex-gay programs for what they are: A sugar coated excuse for homophobia.
Exodus was revealed as a front for international hate groups, who used the group’s credulous leaders as pawns in an international struggle for theocracy. PFOX stepped forward and showed, time and again, that it was just plain nuts.
NARTH put out an embarrassingly shoddy “study” that was so pathetic it was virtually ignored by the media. By the end of 2009, NARTH had solidified its place as a cabal of embittered and irrelevant quacks on the far outer fringes of psychology. Homosexuals Anonymous was, well, anonymous. The Catholic ex-gay group Courage also had a meager profile and had little impact on popular culture. And, JONAH, the Jewish ex-gay group, continued to humiliate itself through its affiliation with crackpot Born Again sexual reorientation coach Richard Cohen.
May 2010 bring the same abundance of truth and light regarding the ex-gay fraud we had in 2009. Here are the Top 10 ex-gay related stories of the year. Please feel free to comment on any major items I may have missed.
10) The Passing of The Old Guard
Focus on the Family co-founder James Dobson announced that he was stepping down. He was an arch-homophobe who once claimed allowing gay people to marry would end the earth. Under Dobson’s leadership, this mega-ministry started the ex-gay roadshow Love Won Out. Dobson’s retirement represents the winding down of the old guard. This includes the passing of other ex-gay proponents or anti-gay preachers such as Rev. Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy and Oral Roberts. A new generation of Evangelicals will hopefully join the reality-based community and break with the past. However, there is reason to be skeptical, considering the leader of the pack is Rick Warren, who isn’t too much better than his predecessors.
9) The Fizzling Out of Michael Glatze and Stephen Bennett
Michael Glatze (left) was formerly co-editor of XY Magazine and YGA Magazine, publications directed at LGBT youth. He and his partner of ten years, Benjie Nycum, also co-authored the book XY Survival Guide.
Glatze’s ventures went belly-up and he seemed to disappear from LGBT activism. He reemerged in July 2007 with a disgusting op-ed on the extremist website WorldNetDaily, where he announced he was “ex-gay” (although he had no experience with women)
Glatze alleged sexual conversion seems, in part, to have come from a sort-of nervous breakdown. He reported that he suffered from frequent panic attacks and that he obsessed about death.
In late September, Glatze contacted me, hoping that I would interview him and reinvigorate his flagging career as an “ex-gay”. I refused to oblige his publicity stunt, and so did LGBT advocates at other sites.
Glatze’s downfall came when he opened an incoherent vanity blog and wrote:
“Have I mentioned lately how utterly *disgusting* Obama is? And, yes, it’s because he’s black. God, help us all….It’s a shame Obama is black. He could end up setting back race relations decades.”
Condemned for his idiotic comment about President Obama, Glatze sent out a rambling e-mail announcing his career as an ex-gay spokesperson had fizzled and he was retiring. Chalk Glatze up to a pitiful flash in the pan.
Similarly, 2009 was the year that big haired ex-gay activist Stephen Bennett (left) completely vanished from the scene. And, Anthony Falzarano’s (founder of PFOX) attempted return to the spotlight also petered out.
8) The Lisa Miller Kidnapping and Abduction Case
Lisa Miller broke up with partner Janet Jenkins (Right) after becoming a born again “ex-gay”. In a fit of holier-than-thou zeal, Miller went on the lam and absconded from Vermont with their child, Isabella, that the couple was raising together after having a Civil Union.
As a result of Miller’s poor parenting and criminal behavior (she was cited for contempt of court), a Vermont court transferred custody to Jenkins (after a five year legal ordeal that will surely leave emotional scars on their child Isabella) and refused a motion to delay transfer, as requested by Miller’s law team.
People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch reports that the location of Miller and 7-year-old Isabella Miller are presently “unknown”. This is highly problematic because the court order takes effect on New Year’s Day.
Janet Jenkins filed a missing person report in Virginia on Wednesday in hopes of finding her 7-year-old daughter, according to her lawyer. Unfortunately, Miller’s outlaw behavior has been cheered on by ex-gay activists who want to pretend they are martyrs, rather than criminal miscreants.
7) The Caitlin Ryan Study
The January 2009 issue of Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on a new study by San Francisco State researcher Caitlin Ryan. Her research concluded that, “Teens who experienced negative feedback (when they came out as LGBT) were more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide, nearly six times as vulnerable to severe depression and more than three times at risk of drug use.”
This definitive study was hugely important because it contradicted the claim by “ex-gay” activists that homosexuality was the root cause of such problems. Indeed, it was ex-gay programs – the epitome of negative feedback – that led to the destruction of LGBT people.
Exodus International officially cut ties with its Lansing affiliate Corduroy Stone after charges were made by an ex-gay survivor that the sessions included harmful and bizarre therapy.
In August, Patrick McAlvey made the charges against Corduroy Stone’s Mike Jones in a Truth Wins Out video. At the age of 19, McAlvey, who came from a religious background, was terrified that he might be gay. Feeling vulnerable and desperate to change, he placed his trust in Mike Jones and Corduroy Stone.
“He asked how large my penis was,” McAlvey explained of Jones’ therapy. “He asked if I shave my pubic hair. He asked what type of underwear that I wore.
He wanted me to describe my sexual fantasies to him and the type of men I’m attracted to. On one occasion, he asked me to take my shirt off and show him how many push-ups I could do, which I did not do.”
Tragically, it took Exodus until December to take action and cut ties with this renegade ministry. Exodus’ dithering in the face of scandal cost precious time and may have placed additional youth in harm’s way. This was a key episode in 2009 because it underscored how Exodus has little control over its satellite ministries and each one is an independent fiefdom with its own rules and techniques. Exodus is no more than a Wild West and an unprofessional hodgepodge of fundamentalist pop-psychology combined with spiritual warfare and efforts to pray away the gay.
5) Ex-Gay Charlatan Matthew C. Manning Unmasked As A Fraud
A report by the website, “Ex-Gay Watch” cast a dark cloud of skepticism over “ex-gay” activist Matthew Manning’s tale of being “delivered” from homosexuality and AIDS. According to the report, Manning has been repeatedly dragged into court for allegations of inappropriate behavior and was even banned from a popular gym after improper sexual advances were made on a 22-year-old heterosexual male. Manning, a frequent television guest and the founder of Lighthouse World Evangelism Inc., based in Santa Rosa, California, has yet to comment on the allegations made in the investigative report.
In more than twenty years of activism, I can honestly say that the anti-gay organization, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), is by far the most immoral, bizarre and dishonest organization I have come across. It is a cynical, homophobic knock-off of the wonderful group, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). It is run by a mother, Regina Griggs, who has rejected her own gay son’s sexual orientation, and urges other parents to do the same.
So much for family values…
PFOX also has this odd strategy, where it fakes or stages hate crimes to make it appear that so-called “ex-gays” are victims. When GLBT people innocently come up to a PFOX booth at an event, the anti-gay activists provoke confrontations, and then, sneaks that they are, call the police to pretend they were harassed or attacked.
In some cases, this batty organization just makes up tales out of thin air. For example, on the group’s blog, it has a story about me with the misleading headline, “Wayne Besen Attacks a Church. “It goes on to identify my as a member of a group, “Bash Back”. PFOX also shows video footage of me supposedly screaming into megaphone directed at a church. I must respond to these perfidious calumnies:
1) The church in question was not “attacked”. This is an outright fabrication. A couple dozen protesters did, however, protest an “ex-gay” meeting in Boston. The action occurred on public property. The police were on-hand and not a single ticket was given, nor was anyone arrested. So, the alleged attack never actually took place, although it makes for a great story if you are a right wing nut who wants to feign persecution. If PFOX has a problem with protests on public property and the First Amendment, the group’s leaders should leave America. Despite PFOX’s best efforts, we are still a free country.
2) Contrary to the PFOX report, I have never been a member of the organization “Bash Back”. I do have a book that I wrote named, “Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture.” I can only assume PFOX’s Greg Quinlan, Richard Cohen and Regina Griggs conflated the two in a slimy effort to smear me, or they were too obtuse to know the difference between the book and the group. In any case, PFOX ought to do its homework before it issues false and misleading public statements. To do otherwise is unchristian.
3) PFOX identifies me in a video as “the man in the orange shirt holding the bullhorn up against the church’s window to disrupt the ex-gay meeting.” Newsflash: the person in the video with the bullhorn is NOT ME and I have been intentionally misidentified for the purposes of PFOX’s sleazy propaganda. I am proud to say, however, I did take a turn at the bullhorn and led the chant, “Uganda,” to remind Exodus International of its prominent role in the persecution of GLBT citizens in this African country. I am very proud that I stood up for human rights in Boston. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
PFOX is run by lunatics who should be institutionalized. Don’t take my word for it, just take a peak at the video below featuring PFOX’s former President Richard Cohen. Judge for yourself.
Finally, I find it sad that an organization that claims to be Christian has such an easy time bearing false witness. Shame on PFOX for their outright lies and fanciful fiction. Apparently, the work of Truth Wins Out must be having an impact, or they would not feel the urge to resort to such slime and skulduggery.
Janet Boynes Ministry is challenging Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) as an organization “ministering” to parents who have GLBT children. According to Boynes’ newsletter:
“Janet Boynes Ministries is pleased to launch our new blog, Parents Reaching Parents, to assist parents in finding support from other parents in the midst of this journey. May this blog be a blessing to you.”
I can’t blame Boynes for wanting to supplant PFOX as the primary organization alienating parents from their GLBT children. PFOX is basically a sham group that serves as a front for anti-gay legal organizations to sue people or schools. It has attracted bizarre activists, such as Richard Cohen, Anthony Falzarano and Greg Quinlan, who represent about the worst faces the ex-gay industry can put forth.
While Boynes is friendly and well intentioned, she is terribly misguided and will most certainly separate parents from their kids. This is especially sad as we approach the holiday season, when loving families should be together, not divided and driven apart because of religious extremism.
According to Boynes’ website:
Janet Boynes Ministries (JBM) is a non-denominational outreach dedicated to evangelism by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. JBM will also minister to individuals who question their sexuality or who wish to leave homosexuality. JBM will seek to inform and challenge churches and society about the issues surrounding sexuality and teach how to minister to the homosexual community. These goals will be accomplished through promotion of family values, public speaking events, distribution of media, and coordination with individuals, churches, ministries, and organizations.
Just what America needs – yet another professional “ex-gay” seeking the limelight and peddling false tales of change for profit. I suppose it is a good gig while it lasts – until the almost inevitable “fall”. But, I suppose this is an improvement over PFOX, the most reprehensible and creepy organization in the nation.
The antigay parents group PFOX claimed today that it has won recognition of “former homosexuals” as a protected sexual orientation in a D.C. Superior Court ruling. PFOX said:
“We are gratified that the ex-gay community in Washington D.C. now has the same civil rights that gays enjoy,” said Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), which had filed the lawsuit against the District of Columbia government for failing to protect former homosexuals in the Nation’s Capital.
In a discrimination complaint filed by PFOX against the National Education Association (NEA) for refusing to provide public accommodations to ex-gays, the D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR) had agreed with the NEA that sexual orientation protection did not extend to former homosexuals. “By failing to protect former homosexuals, the sexual orientation laws gave more rights to homosexuals than heterosexuals who were once gay,” said Griggs. “So PFOX asked the Court to reverse OHR’s decision, which it did. The Court held that ex-gays are a protected class under ’sexual orientation.’”
“All sexual orientation laws and programs nationwide should now provide true diversity and equality by including former homosexuals,” said Greg Quinlan, a director of PFOX. “I have experienced more personal assaults as a former homosexual than I ever did as a gay man.”
Not so fast, Greg. The court did not reverse OHR’s decision; it ruled in June 2009 that the NEA was justified in excluding PFOX for its stridently discriminatory, antigay literature, and it chose not to reverse the decision. According to Washington City Paper:
While [Judge Maurice] Ross decided in the NEA’s favor, he also held that ex-gays do, in fact, constitute a protected group under the D.C. Human Rights Act. Judging from PFOX’s eerily celebratory press release, this is kind of a big deal for them.
According to Ross’s decision, the Human Rights Act doesn’t only protect groups defined by “immutable characteristics,” as the Office of Human Rights’ decision claimed. The Act also protects groups defined by “preference or practice” —like people who previously “practiced” gayness, and now “prefer” to practice heterosexuality:
OHR’s determination that a characteristic must be immutable to be protected under the HRA is clearly erroneous as a matter of law. . . . Indeed, the HRA lists numerous protected categories such as religion, personal appearance, familial status, and source of income, which are subject to change. . . . Pertaining to sexual orientation, moreover, the HRA in §2-1401.02(28) defines sexual orientation as “male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality, by preference or practice.” Thus, the HRA’s intent and plain language eschews narrow interpretation.
But while the NEA can’t discriminate against “ex-gays,” it may legally discriminate against exhibits that are explicitly anti-gay:
The Court affirms OHR’s ultimate determination that PFOX’s application was denied legally. In NEA’s judgment, PFOX is a conversion group hostile toward gays and lesbians. Thus, even though PFOX vehemently disagrees with NEA’s characterization, it is within NEA’s right to exclude PFOX’s presence at NEA’s conventions. . . . Indeed, the HRA would not require NEA to accept an application from the Ku Klux Klan or a group viewed by the NEA as anti-labor union or racist. . . . Similarly, military organizations and the Boy Scotts of America are excluded from renting exhibit space at the NEA Annual Meetings because of the positions those organizations take with regard to gay and lesbian rights.
. . . Thus, PFOX’s arguments miss the point. The NEA did not reject its application because PFOX’s members include exgays, homosexuals, heterosexuals, or members of any other sexual orientation. Rather, NEA rejected PFOX’s application because PFOX’s message and policies were, in NEA’s opinion, contrary to NEA’s policies regarding sexual orientation.
In other words, the D.C. Human Rights Act may protect groups who identify as “ex-gay” based on their mutable, previous and current sexual “practices” but does not — contrary to PFOX’s wishes — protect ex-gay activist groups such as PFOX that seek to use other organizations as soapboxes to spread political opinions and policies that are contrary to those of the host organization.
Unfortunately, the D.C. court has also legitimized a ludicrous claim that sexual orientation can be defined by what one isn’t, rather than what one demonstrably is.
Addendum: Given a great deal of misreporting by various blogs, I wish to reiterate:
Blame for the court’s logic regarding sexual orientation lies with the D.C. Human Rights Act (HRA), which broadly defines orientation as a matter of either “preference” or “practice.” The court observed:
While [Office of Human Rights'] analysis and the Title VII cases cited by OHR speak in terms of immutable characteristics, the HRA clearly does not limit itself only to immutable characteristics. The premise of the HRA is simple: to end all discrimination based on anything other than individual merit. Numerous protected classes listed in the HRA include mutable traits. Furthermore, the definition of sexual orientation defines an individual’s sexuality as a “preference” or “practice.” D.C. Code §2-1401.01. OHR’s analysis posits that the immutability of a person’s preferred sexual orientation categorizes them as a member of a protected class. In focusing on federal discrimination cases, however, the OHR misses the broad scope of the HRA and the explicit inclusion of the term “practice” in the HRA’s definition of sexual orientation.
If PFOX truly affirms D.C.’s Human Rights Act, then it will not only respect the NEA’s right not to host hostile and discriminatory organizations such as PFOX, but also move to hire “practicing” gay people in accord with PFOX’s claim to represent both “ex-gays” and those who “practice” homosexuality.
It remains the responsibility of the D.C. Council and mayor to reconsider language in the Human Rights Act which misdefines sexual orientation as a matter of “practice” or lack thereof.
When I worked for the Human Rights Campaign, from 1998-2003, “ex-gay” activist Greg Quinlan proclaimed that he had once lobbied for the organization. By showing a radical transformation – gay activist to ex-gay - his tale instantly became more marketable to the media and presumably for public speaking engagements.
This week, the recently divorced fundamentalist, now working with Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), repeated the “lobbyist” story to the Christian Examiner, which uncritically dictated his claim. The problem is, Quinlan is either lying or greatly exaggerating any role he may have had with the gay organization.
I personally investigated this sexual engineer’s tale while still at HRC. No one in Washington or Dayton, Ohio, where he claims to have lobbied, remembers working with him. Now, it is possible that he licked stamps on volunteer night, at some point. Or, that Quinlan ate at a Human Rights Campaign dinner. But, that does not make him a lobbyist any more than the fact I went to a concert last month makes me a rock star.
If Quinlan has evidence that he played a major role with the Human Rights Campaign, he ought to present it or stop peddling his story to gullible Christian media outlets.
In an article at ChristianExaminer.com, ex-gay activist Greg Quinlan asserts that one cannot be gay, monogamous, and Christian; repeats his unproven claim to have volunteered for the Human Rights Campaign; and projects his own past “shallow, lust-filled and immature” lifestyle onto all sexually honest persons living today.
Quinlan says these things during a visit to San Diego for the National Education Association’s convention on behalf of the antigay parents’ group P-FOX and its “Ex-Gay Educators’ Caucus.” He also consults for the New Jersey Family Policy Council, an affiliate of Focus on the Family. (P-FOX recently gave up its affiliation with Exodus International.)
Quinlan is pushing for access to teachers in an effort to oppose the union’s push for same-sex marriage rights to ease the social and economic burden on children of gay couples, and the union’s push for a curriculum that opposes antigay stereotypes and bullying.
Quinlan hopes to change public schools’ curricula by opposing comprehensive sex education and by changing science lessons so that they conform to the ex-gay myths of P-FOX mentors Richard Cohen and NARTH.
He blames his own past homosexual behavior on an “abusive ‘Archie Bunker-type’ father,” followed by an inability to reconcile his sexual behavior with his faith and identity in a healthy and responsible fashion.
Instead of life improving at home, the father’s abuse toward him worsened. Eventually he filled his desperate need for affection at the hands of a young teen boy who introduced him to sex. Quinlan said he became a willing molestation victim.
Unfortunately, Quinlan now works to deny gay youths the safe and affirming support that might have protected him from “willing molestation” at the hands of an older boy.
Because his own same-sex attractions allegedly faded during counseling for his father’s abuse, Quinlan campaigns to coerce sexual change in persons whose same-sex orientation is not derived from environmental factors such as abuse or parental neglect.
For a trend toward increasing sexual honesty among gay youths in the schools, Quinlan blames Christians who are not emphatic enough in silencing gay youth and coercing change.
“We’ve allowed this to happen,” he said. “There are so many Secret Service Christians who need to come out of the closet, but we also need to know how to argue and debate persuasively. This conspiracy and its wheel have been around for decades.”
Quinlan has yet to demonstrate that he can argue and debate persuasively, however — his past efforts have been hindered by anger, stereotypes, strawman arguments, and disrespect for those who are sexually honest. Are we now to believe that a kinder, gentler Greg Quinlan is emerging?
Addendum: Almost one year after Quinlan was caught lying about mainstream professional mental-health consensus regarding ex-gay therapy, and in particular lying about the human-genome research of Dr. Francis Collins, Good As You noted last week that Quinlan is repeating the same lies in order to rationalize his opposition to federal legislation that would equalize punishment for antigay hate crimes.
It is fair to say that I have officially driven the so-called “ex-gay” industry to distraction. The proof is in the pudding.
The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is now trying to discredit me by making false accusations about an alleged incident in Orlando. A couple of years ago, I organized a protest in this city against the “Ex-Gay Educators Caucus,” which hosted a booth inside a convention hall at the National Education Association’s annual meeting.
Following our protest, I wandered in to the hall and approached the “ex-gay” booth. I did not think twice about doing so, since I had been to dozens of ex-gay meetings, booths and conferences over the years without incident. I had even written an entire book and interviewed dozens of ex-gays – with no confrontations.
Once at the booth, I asked a single question: How many ex-gay educators were in the so-called “ex-gay caucus?” I asked, because all I saw were professional anti-gay activists posing as legitimate educators.
Before I got an answer, I was verbally and physically accosted by anti-gay activist Greg Quinlan (pictured). I told him in no uncertain terms to back off. I do not apologize for this – as it is my right to basic self-defense. I’d do it again without hesitation.
In a bizarre twist, after deliberately trying to provoke a confrontation, Mr. Quinlan called the “mall cops” to play victim – even though he was the aggressor. It was the most bizarre thing I had seen in my 20 years of activism. The incident was as pathetic, as it was perplexing.
Of course, the outcome of the non-incident was that I peacefully walked away with the mall cops and immediately went to a meeting with the GLBT educators caucus. I gave a short speech. There was no police report – not even questioning – of the alleged “incident.” No time in the cell block at the big house. Indeed, no one in the hall really noticed that anything had happened – because it really hadn’t.
Yet, PFOX is now sending out a surreal press release that exaggerates the truth and is pure fiction. Why? Because PFOX is on a pathological campaign to create fake “hate crimes” out of thin air that supposedly took place against ex-gays. The group’s goal is to get “ex-gays” included in the hate crime bill in Congress. Thus, if you approach a booth, they call the cops and make false charges and allegations.
Indeed, they did this last year at a state fair in Virginia. They blew an incident out of proportion and claimed to be victims. Interestingly, once again, there was no police report. The police did confirm that something happened – and that PFOX complained – but, again, there were no arrests and no charges filed. I wonder why?
A few weeks later at the Falls Church, Va. fair, Mr. Quinlan tried to create another fake hate crime. Unfortunately, he threatened to call the police on Nick Benton, publisher of the Falls Church News Press. Thus, Quinlan’s agenda was exposed in the media and his credibility shattered. (His credibility had already been damaged by claiming to have worked as a key volunteer at the Human Rights Campaign. While I worked at HRC, no one had ever heard of him.)
A disturbing pattern has emerged from PFOX.
1) They buy a booth at a local fair.
2) They provoke a confrontation
3) They call the cops, even as they have no evidence, thus there are no arrests, nor police reports.
4) They send out propaganda to the media blowing these non-events – that they provoked – out of proportion. Or they embellish or simply make things up.
In light of this creepy and alarming trend, I would strongly advise all GLBT people and their allies to stay away from PFOX booths. They are looking to create trouble because it is an organization that relies on fakery and trickery to disguise the emptiness of its mean-spirited agenda.
I’m not mad, really. At this point, I just feel sorry for these folks. They can’t accept their gayness and refuse to love their gay children. Instead, they have created a poisonous house of cards designed to vindictively harm their own families. PFOX is losing this battle and they have become more desperate and more outlandish by the day. I just hope those involved in this organization seek the help they need – before they further self-destruct in anger, confusion and bitterness.
On Sept. 28, Truth Wins Out protested a Baptist Press article by ex-gay activist and longtime Exodus member Bob Stith. While mourning the sexual honesty of Christian contemporary singer Ray Boltz, the article unnecessarily and falsely quoted Human Genome Project former director Francis Collins as saying:
Homosexuality is not hardwired. There is no gay gene. We mapped the human genome. We now know there is no genetic cause for homosexuality.
Collins never said that; ex-gay political activist Greg Quinlan did. Good As You made the same observation.
Collins had said almost the opposite: He told Ex-Gay Watch:
The evidence we have at present strongly supports the proposition that there are hereditary factors in male homosexuality — the observation that an identical twin of a male homosexual has approximately a 20% likelihood of also being gay points to this conclusion, since that is 10 times the population incidence. But the fact that the answer is not 100% also suggests that other factors besides DNA must be involved. That certainly doesn’t imply, however, that those other undefined factors are inherently alterable.
Collins added:
No one has yet identified an actual gene that contributes to the hereditary component (the reports about a gene on the X chromosome from the 1990s have not held up), but it is likely that such genes will be found in the next few years.
Ten days later, Baptist Press finally changed the wording of the article — without acknowledging to readers the nature of the falsehoods that had previously been conveyed, without apparent effort to correct syndicated copies of the article that were circulated around the Internet, without apology to Dr. Collins, and — most importantly — without apparent reforms necessary to prevent future errors.
The only hint of the two-week deception appears at the top the article with this brief note:
REVISED: October 8, 2008 to reflect more accurate wording from “The Language of God” by Dr. Francis Collins.
Stith’s article now accurately conveys what Collins said — but the damage has already been done among readers who walked away from the article (and more than a dozen syndicated copies) believing that a leading geneticist had declared homosexuality a purely environmental choice.
Thus far, it seems Stith might walk away from the damage with nothing more than a quiet admission of fault to one web site, Ex-Gay Watch, which his regular audience never reads. Meanwhile, Quinlan has not acknowledged any deception whatsoever. We have asked Stith for assurances of complete remedial action; he has declined to respond.
Stith’s peers say that he is a man of good character; at one time I believed that, but I became very doubtful 10 days ago and now I am nearly convinced otherwise. True accountability, transparency, and penitence require more effort and integrity than I’m seeing, at present, from a prominent Exodus speaker and policy wonk for the Southern Baptist Convention.
Quinlan says these things during a visit to San Diego for the National Education Association’s convention on behalf of the antigay parents’ group P-FOX and its “Ex-Gay Educators’ Caucus.” He also consults for the New Jersey Family Policy Council, an affiliate of Focus on the Family. (P-FOX recently 
On Sept. 28, 
