Igor Volsky at Think Progress has put together a handy little list of responses from conservative groups and news sources, reacting to the revelations that Marcus Bachmann’s clinic treats patients with discredited, disproven harmful reparative therapy techniques.  They’re all painting the Bachmanns as victims, of course, because conservative groups tend to traffic in professional victimhood, as it helps them raise ca$h.  Tony Perkins’ reaction is adorably delusional:

– FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: “Apart from Washington, D.C., and homosexual interest groups, the majority of the country will view Marcus’s work for what it is, a ministry of hope. Pointing men and women who struggle with same-sex attractions to God isn’t ‘a discredited form of therapy,’ it’s the path to sexual healing.” [Tony Perkins, 7/13/2011]

Oh, the poor thing. He actually believes that the “majority” of the country’s reaction to Pray Away the Gay therapy is positive, rather than somewhere between shock and guffawing derision. That’s sad and pathetic, but it’s also evil, as Tony’s “path to sexual healing” ruins lives and destroys families.

NOM’s reaction is predictably whiny:

– NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: “We’ve been following with concern the organized efforts by gay activists to demonize Michele Bachmann’s husband. Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays and Executive Director of Equality and Justice For All comes to Mr. Bachmann’s defense — and to the defense of others who are not given a voice.” [NOM Blog, 7/13/2011]

Greg Quinlan is a known liar. While this does not, obviously, disqualify him from being quoted adoringly by groups like NOM, as Religious Right spokespeople often are more than willing to lie, as they believe they are serving their deity by doing so, out here in the real world it’s sort of a stain on his character. He also trips himself up regularly by suggesting that “ex-gay” is a hated sexual minority, deserving of special protected status under nondiscrimination statutes, which seems to fly in the face of the Pray Away The Gay world’s contention that people like Greg are now, ahem, heterosexual.

If any grown-ups decide to complain about the Bachmann story, I’ll let you know, but for now, go read the rest of Igor’s round-up.

Last summer, Truth Wins Out flew an undercover agent to the Chicago exurbs to infiltrate Porno Pete LaBarbera’s incipient “Truth Academy”. Despite heavy promotion in the fundamentalist media, the event was a poorly attended dud. Here was part of our report from the front lines:

The thrust of the conference was to teach an army of young culture warriors how to beat back the gay agenda. These students would then return home equipped to turn back the clock on gay rights in their communities.

What we found, however, was an event that looked more like a poorly attended condo board meeting than a youthful resurgence of the anti-gay movement. The crowd vacillated between 20-30 people, who were considerably older than the “students” the conference claimed it was trying to reach. I’m not sure how LaBarbera plans to win his culture war, when he can’t even fill one buffoon platoon.

Indeed, it seemed that most of the young people attending were “spies” from other pro-LGBT organizations. Our spy ended up interviewing their spies until everyone figured out what was going on. Far from the grand expose we had hoped for — this event was a surreal circus act.

This is not to say that all was lost. We did procure surreptitious audio of the effete PFOX president, Greg Quinlan, loudly proclaiming that he was not some sissy. Quinlan explained how he went from gay-to-straight, and found support from an Assemblies of God Church who accepted him because he allegedly was not effeminate.

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,”  Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

In the same vein as Quinlan, convicted felon and co-founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), Arthur Abba Goldberg, offered a few stereotypes of his own.

“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”

It seems that the 2011 incarnation of Porno Pete camp will be just as dismally attended. The leather-daddy-wannabe-scold is already extending his discount rate — practically begging people to attend this year’s conference in Columbus, Ohio. Notice how the word DISCOUNT is capitalized:

** UPDATE, March 30, 2011 ** [note $25 Student and Pastor Rate & extended deadline for DISCOUNT early registrations: midnight Thursday, March 31st]

Anyway, here is what the event invitation says:

Our second Truth Academy — to be co-sponsored with our good friends at Mission America – in Columbus, Ohio, is 10 days away: April 1-2, 2011. Each Truth Academy — the first was in Chicago (see tape ordering info below) — is an intensive seminar designed to educate citizens from a conservative perspective on the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. The Columbus Truth Academy – focusing on the “‘hate’-labeling of Christians” –features some of the world’s top pro-family experts on the homosexualist agenda. Basic information follows:

What: Truth Academy: Columbus 2011: theme: “The ‘Hate’ Labeling of Christians—Why it’s Happening and What We Can Do”

Co-sponsored by Mission America ( www.missionamerica.com) and Americans for Truth ( www.americansfortruth.com ).

David Kupelian, author of “The Marketing of Evil” and “How Evil Works,” is keynote speaker Friday evening.

When: Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2, 2011; ; doors open Friday, April 1 at noon; program begins at 1:00 PM; Friday evening dinner-lecture by award-winning journalist David Kupelian, WorldNetDaily editor and author, “The Marketing of Evil,” and “How Evil Works,” Saturday: program runs from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM [see hourly schedule below]

Where: Columbus, OH. Discover Christian Church, 2900 Martin Rd., Dublin, OH 43017 [see map HERE]; near the intersection of Sawmill Rd. and Rt. 161, near the airport.

This seems like an awful lot of work for an barren conference hall. Truth Wins Out won’t waste our money to have our spies converse with other spies. Let Porno Pete and this sordid gang of misfits talk to themselves in their empty echo chamber.

“Ex-Gay” minister John Westcott resigned from his ministry position at Exchange following a divorce from his wife of 17 years, Dena. They were a high-profile “ex-gay” couple that were spokespeople for Exodus International. The divorce left a broken home for their three sons, Joseph (15), Jason (12) and Jacob (7).

“My divorce just happened this year and I am still walking through the process of that,” Westcott told me in an e-mail. “My divorce has nothing to do with my or my ex-wife past it is the unfortunate reality of the brokenness that affects all of humanity.”

True, but most of humanity does not parade around using “God’s Word” as club to mug people over the head with. Jesus said nothing about homosexuality, but was very clear that he was no fan of divorce. Given this reality of their new “sinful” lifestyles and the harm of divorce on families, how do John and Dena justify preaching to gay people?

Marriage means forever, John and Dena. It does not mean doing what feels good or what is convenient when the marriage gets tough. If you are going to be preachy fundamentalist scolds and tell other people how to live, the least you can do is show some Family Values and keep your vows. Either you are Bible-believing literalists or you are hypocrites. You can’t have it both ways.

Westcott is not the first “ex-gay” to abandon the Bible and get divorced when it felt good. PFOX president Greg Quinlan also ignored the Lord’s admonitions against divorce and took the easy way out. Yet, despite his sinful lifestyle, he continues his anti-gay teachings.

Wescott is best known for making a fool of himself in comedian Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous. Prior to his “ex-gay” conversion, Westcott worked at the gay bar Parliament House in Orlando.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a landmark report today adding new official Hate Groups to its well-respected list. The report concludes that the overall climate is getting better for LGBT people, which is leading some anti-gay organizations to get even more extreme.

Such extremism has taken its toll.

SPLC analyzed hate crime statistics and compared the rate of victimization for homosexuals to that of the other groups:

The figures show that homosexuals are 2.4 times more likely to suffer a violent hate crime attack than Jews (8.3 divided by 3.5). In the same way, gays are 2.6 times more likely to be attacked than blacks; 4.4 times more likely than Muslims; 13.8 times more likely than Latinos; and 41.5 times more likely than whites, according to the FBI figures. The basic pattern holds by years as well as across the years.

The bottom line: Homosexuals are far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime.

One new organization certified as an official hate group is the Family Research Council. A key reason for the listing is FRC’s Peter Sprigg, who is also on the board of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays. PFOX just weaseled its way in as a charity at the World Bank. Here is what SPLC had to say about PFOX’s go-to guy:

Headed today by former Louisiana State Rep. Tony Perkins, the FRC has been a font of anti-gay propaganda throughout its history. It relies on the work of Robert Knight, who also worked at Concerned Women for America but now is at Coral Ridge Ministries (see above for both), along with that of FRC senior research fellows Tim Dailey (hired in 1999) and Peter Sprigg (2001). Both Dailey and Sprigg have pushed false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia (see related story, p. 31): Sprigg has written that most men who engage in same-sex child molestation “identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual,” and Dailey and Sprigg devoted an entire chapter of their 2004 book Getting It Straight to similar material. The men claimed that “homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses” and similarly asserted that “homosexuals are attracted in inordinate numbers to boys.”

More recently, in March 2008, Sprigg, responding to a question about uniting gay partners during the immigration process, said: “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them.” He later apologized, but then went on, last February, to tell MSNBC host Chris Matthews, “I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions on homosexual behavior.” “So we should outlaw gay behavior?” Matthews asked. “Yes,” Sprigg replied. At around the same time, Sprigg claimed that allowing gay people to serve openly in the military would lead to an increase in gay-on-straight sexual assaults.

When the World Bank learned about PFOX’s radical program, it made a step in the right direction by ensuring it would not receive tax-payer money through World Bank matching funds in 2011. However, to punish PFOX, the World Bank had to undermine 24 legitimate organizations that will also not be eligible for matching funds.

Given this new information on Sprigg and his ties to PFOX, the World Bank should move expeditiously to reinstate the legitimate organizations and drop PFOX as a charity. Unless, that is, the World Bank is comfortable associating itself with extremists who seek to discriminate against, blatantly lie about, deport and imprison LGBT people.

The World Bank should act now before it diminishes its reputation as a tolerant organization that respects diversity. This is particularly important because associating with radical hate-mongers will also damage the World Banks global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

This is not the first time that PFOX has been tied to hate groups.

In August, two key members of PFOX spoke at the “Truth Academy”. The conference was hosted by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality’s founder Peter LaBarbera, whose  organization was also listed today as an official hate site by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At the Truth Academy, PFOX Board President Greg Quinlan raised eyebrows with an offensive speech. Quinlan explained how he allegedly went from gay-to-straight, and found support from an Assemblies of God Church that accepted him because he allegedly was not effeminate.

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

At the same conference, Arthur Abba Goldberg, the convicted Wall Street thief who runs PFOX’s speakers bureau, demonstrated PFOX’s unscientific use of stereotypes.

“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Abba Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”

Again, we ask the World Bank: Do you really want to be linked to destructive people such as Abba Goldberg, Sprigg, LaBarbera and Quinlan?

(Exodus’ Randy Thomas schmoozing with Karl Rove in headier times)

Is the once active “ex-gay” organization Exodus International on the decline?

Those who follow the group have noticed fewer events scheduled and virtually no media presence. The last press release for Exodus was posted on October 6, and the group’s front page promotes an event as far back as June. In terms of messaging, the group appears to be stuck in a rut and its once vital campaigns have grown predictable and stale.

Needless to say, I’m pleased with this development!

It is unclear if Exodus’ woes are a result of an internal shake-up, or if financial setbacks have hobbled the organization. Perhaps, they are not working as closely with Focus on the Family, which augmented Exodus’ past campaigns with creativity and professionalism. Ever since Focus on the Family handed over the flashy “ex-gay” road show Love Won Out to Exodus, it appears that the standing of Exodus has diminished.

The only evidence the group is still alive comes from Vice President Randy Thomas’ blog posts. But, even this venue suffers from inertia and rust, with Thomas posting offensive videos of Chambers preaching hate in 2006. Are there no new videos or messages to highlight?

In 2010 the organization left hardly a footprint. Its sluggish efforts lacked energy, and its impact had noticeably diminished. It will be interesting to see if Exodus comes out of its slumber and recovers in 2011.

The “ex-gay” group People Can Change (PCC) is increasingly filling the void left by Exodus. PCC runs Journey Into Manhood (JIM) weekends, which is a scam that takes gay men into the woods for $650, with the goal of making them more masculine. The group recently gained notoriety after ABC Nightline filmed a puff piece highlighting the group’s work. (A more accurate description of the group might be Journey into Manhunt)

The good news is that PCC is particularly vulnerable to scandal and outright collapse. This heavily Mormon organization adheres to the bizarre therapy model of Richard Cohen, the laughable and discredited “Sexual Reorientation Coach” who runs the bizarre International Healing Foundation. Convicted Wall Street hood, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is responsible for funneling a good number of paying clients into the group. (I’d love to see what’s in it for him) The organization’s senior trainer, Alan Downing, faced credible accusations of sexual misconduct by two clients earlier this year.

The PCC scheme is likely on borrowed time and is making a mistake by stepping out so publicly. Journalist Ted Cox wrote a fabulous expose showing the creepy and peculiar happenings at Journey into Manhood weekends. We had hoped that ABC Nightline would have engaged in real journalism and corroborated Cox’s story. However, they eschewed investigative reporting for cheap access to the camp, leading to a disappointing and woefully incomplete depiction and representation of Journey into Manhood weekends.

Still, it is only a matter of time before committed broadcast journalists with standards of excellence infiltrate JIM to reveal the closety, homo-erotic exercises that are offered in the camp’s “Cuddle Room”. When this happens, the entire program will turn into a punchline. I can hardly wait.

PFOX is also trying to assert itself, but its ties to the colorful and outrageous sexual engineer,  Richard Cohen, will likely retard the group’s progress. The organization’s president, Greg Quinlan, appears angry and unstable, further hindering PFOX’s efforts to have an impact and gain mainstream credibility.  And, Executive Director Regina Griggs is no more than a figurehead who avoids public appearances outside the safety of adoring fundamenalist Christian audiences. Indeed, PFOX may simply be a shell group for the Family Research Council and a number of Christian legal groups that want to show that “ex-gays” exist for political reasons. (To its detriment, PFOX embarrassingly can’t find real “ex-gays” to show, unless they work for the group, like Quinlan)

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) remains a dangerous organization, because their members pose as legitimate experts on homosexuality. However, they consistently underachieve because they fail to produce respectable peer review studies.  Instead, they offer up transparent propaganda that has undermined the organization’s reputation with the public and media.

It will be interesting to see which one of these organizations — or perhaps a new one — comes out of the woodwork to pick up the slack. Hopefully, the answer is “None of the above.”

Richard Cohen, continues to undermine “ex-gay” groups

There is a brochure on the website of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) that says,”Get Smart, Get The Facts”. Unfortunately, PFOX is fact averse when it comes to accepting that the District of Columbia has rescinded a certificate supposedly honoring the “ex-gay” organization.

On April 28, 2010, a controversy erupted after it was discovered that Adrian Fenty, then the mayor of Washington, D.C., inadvertently signed a “Certificate of Appreciation” for radical PFOX activist Regina Griggs. An ecstatic PFOX plastered the certificate prominently on its website. According to a gushing PFOX press release:

The government of the District of Columbia has awarded a certificate of appreciation to Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). The certificate, signed by D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, recognizes Griggs for her “dedication, commitment, and outstanding contributions as Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.”

“Regina’s award is well-deserved,” said Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays. PFOX presented the award to Griggs last week in honor of her ten years of volunteer service to parents and the ex-gay community.

Like most everything with PFOX, the dust-up was a combination of grandstanding and smoke and mirrors. As for the certificate, it was essentially meaningless — no more than a perfunctory piece of paper signed by auto pen that virtually anyone could attain with minimal effort.

Nevertheless, PFOX deceptively pretended that the paper was a significant achievement that conferred the endorsement of the DC government. (Yes, the group’s actions are truly as desperate and pathetic as they sound.)

Upon learning that PFOX had received the lame piece of paper and was misrepresenting it as a real accomplishment, the mayor’s office took back the “honor”. The mayor’s office released a statement saying:

“A staff level error was made when the request for the certificate in question was fulfilled. We apologize for the error as it runs contrary to the Mayor’s vision of a more open and inclusive city.”

This very public and humiliating spanking occurred in April 2010. Yet, PFOX still has the certificate proudly displayed on its website.

Clearly, PFOX is an untrustworthy and unscrupulous organization with few morals and little regard for truth. If the group had one scintilla of integrity, it would have taken the certificate down from its site in April. Yet, the group continues to misrepresent itself and mislead the public — including potential clients in which it is trying to hawk expensive “ex-gay” snake oil cures.

To view the rescinded certificate, please visit the PFOX website and scroll down to the right hand corner.

Ironically, PFOX was allowed into the World Bank program as a DC-based charity*, even as it blatantly continues to defy the will of the DC government and parades a certificate that it was plainly told was invalid.

It is impossible to shame PFOX, because the group is shameless.

** PFOX is also fudging its DC credentials in its attempt to access taxpayer money through the World Bank. In reality, PFOX is not even close to DC. Its headquarters is in Reedville, VA — 127 miles and a two hour and forty minute drive  southeast of the nation’s capitol. To be listed as a charity an organziation has to have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.” No one familiar with the workings of this group can claim that PFOX has but minimal ties to the District.

Weekly Column

In August, two key members of the “ex-gay” organization PFOX spoke at the “Truth Academy”. The conference was hosted by the paradoxically named Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, whose founder Peter LaBarbera’s website is listed as an official “hate site” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At the Truth Academy, PFOX Board President Greg Quinlan raised eyebrows with an offensive speech explaining how he allegedly went from gay-to-straight, and found support from an Assemblies of God Church that accepted him because he supposedly was not effeminate.

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

At the same conference, Arthur Abba Goldberg, the convicted Wall Street thief who runs PFOX’s speaker’s bureau, demonstrated PFOX’s unscientific use of stereotypes.

“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Abba Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”

Clearly, Virginia-based PFOX is a dangerous organization that traffics in ugly slurs and crass stereotypes. The group has not one iota of science to back up its anti-gay rhetoric, so it turns to quacks for guidance, such as its former board President Richard Cohen.

Cohen runs the sham group, the International Healing Foundation which specializes in bizarre “ex-gay” therapies, such as a banging a pillow with a tennis racket, while yelling a parent’s name. In 2009, Cohen sent his protégé, Caleb Lee Brundidge (who claims to raise the dead), to Uganda. The result of his visit was the introduction of the deadly and draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Incidentally, Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association on March 23, 2002 for multiple ethics violations.

With no credibility, PFOX tries to legitimize its homophobia by slyly gaining endorsements from mainstream institutions – usually through chicanery, such as disguising what the organization truly stands for.

For example, earlier this year, PFOX pretended the District of Columbia government endorsed it, after its Executive Director Regina Griggs received a Certificate of Appreciation. Upon learning that PFOX had received the perfunctory piece of paper and plastered its website with it, the mayor’s office took back the “honor”.

“A staff level error was made when the request for the certificate in question was fulfilled. We apologize for the error as it runs contrary to the Mayor’s vision of a more open and inclusive city,” the mayor’s office wrote to PFOX.

The latest victim of PFOX’s hapless and pathetic quest for legitimacy is the World Bank, which foolishly approved this organization of reprobates as an official charity. They got the illustrious listing after a small number of anti-gay staff-members at the World Bank had recommended PFOX for this year’s Community Connections Campaign. World Bank matching funds were to be given to the chosen charities. Depending on the level of employee participation, the bank’s matching funds are either 50 percent or 100 percent of the employee donations.

My organization Truth Wins Out and Change.org launched an online petition to drop PFOX from the list of charities. Members of the World Bank staff also made a persuasive case against using taxpayer funds to assist PFOX. Funding this organization would make a mockery of the group’s commitment to diversity and undermine its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.

Armed with new information, The World Bank decided to take another look at PFOX and elected to change their guidelines. According to the new rules:

Bank-matching funds will be provided to those organizations that have, through prior participation, established a track record of support with staff. Organizations that have come on the list this year will not be offered matching funds in this year’s campaign, though the Bank will match any contribution that has been made to this latter group prior to today, November 15, 2010. We will review the new organizations after one year, to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match in the FY12 campaign.

The World Bank should have simply dumped PFOX from the campaign. Unfortunately, PFOX’s self-serving and underhanded quest to grandstand cost twenty-five respected organizations the opportunity to receive matching funds. But at least this interim measure keeps this hate group away from taxpayer funds.

PFOX can bank on the fact that the more people know about the bizarre therapy it endorses, the unprofessional counselors in which it associates, and the slimy way it distorts science and sniffs out publicity – the less support it will receive.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010

Contact: Wayne Besen, TWO Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org

TWO Pledges To Help Educate The World Bank About PFOX’s Record of Hate and Harm

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out today praised the World Bank’s plan to eliminate matching funds for the “ex-gay” hate group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), and called it a “positive step in the right direction.” The bank took this extraordinary step after learning more about PFOX’s reprehensible record and strong objections from staff who were upset PFOX had been included on the World Bank’s list of approved charities.

“We are grateful that the World Bank ensured that taxpayers will not be subsidizing PFOX’s anti-gay campaign,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We pledge to continue educating the World Bank on this vital issue. The more they learn about PFOX’s history of hate and harm, the less likely they will consider PFOX a legitimate charity.”

Last week, Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner discovered that a small number of anti-gay staff-members at the World Bank had recommended PFOX as a charity for this year’s Community Connections Campaign. World Bank matching funds were to be given to the chosen charities. Depending on the level of employee participation, the bank’s matching funds are either 50 percent or 100 percent of the employee donations.

Truth Wins Out and Change.org launched an online petition to drop PFOX from the list of charities. World Bank staff  also made a persuasive case against using taxpayer funds to assist PFOX. The World Bank decided to take another look at PFOX and elected to change their guidelines. According to the new rules:

Bank-matching funds will be provided to those organizations that have, through prior participation, established a track record of support with staff. Organizations that have come on the list this year will not be offered matching funds in this year’s campaign, though the Bank will match any contribution that has been made to this latter group prior to today, November 15, 2010. We will review the new organizations after one year, to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match in the FY12 campaign.

Truth Wins Out preferred that PFOX be completely dropped from the list this year, but is satisfied with this interim measure that starves the hate group of taxpayer funds. In 2011, TWO will disseminate key information to World Bank staff and management to ensure they are aware of PFOX’s dubious record.

“It is a shame that other first time charitable organizations will have to suffer because of PFOX’s unseemly presence,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “Sadly, the PFOX baby is so toxic that the bathwater had to be flushed to avoid contaminating the entire program’s reputation.”

In August, two key members of PFOX spoke at the “Truth Academy”. The conference was hosted by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality’s founder Peter LaBarbera, whose website was listed as an official “hate site” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At the Truth Academy, PFOX Board President Greg Quinlan raised eyebrows with an offensive speech. Quinlan explained how he allegedly went from gay-to-straight, and found support from an Assemblies of God Church that accepted him because he allegedly was not effeminate.

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

At the same conference, Arthur Abba Goldberg, the convicted Wall Street thief who runs PFOX’s speakers bureau, demonstrated PFOX’s unscientific use of stereotypes.

“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Abba Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”

“PFOX is a dangerous organization that traffics in ugly slurs and crass stereotypes,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “Given PFOX’s level of vitriol, it would seem reckless and irresponsible to give this group charitable status in the future.”

PFOX’s former board President is Richard Cohen, who still serves as the “therapy” guru of the organization. Cohen runs the International Healing Foundation and sent his protégé, Caleb Lee Brundidge, to Uganda. The result of his visit was the introduction of the deadly and draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association on March 23, 2002 for multiple ethics violations.

PFOX is an anti-gay political organization founded in 1998 by Anthony Falzarano with the help of an $80,000 Family Research Council grant. Falzarano once called University of Wyoming hate crime victim Matthew Shepard a “predator to heterosexual men.” He also said on CBS News that, “AIDS comes directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”

“PFOX likes to claim that they ‘love’ LGBT people,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “But their syrupy rhetoric does not match their record, nor reality. From the moment this organization was founded, it showed open hostility and extreme animus towards LGBT people.”

There are also lingering questions as to whether PFOX should have been listed as a charity, given that to be included in the World Bank’s Community Outreach Program, an organization is required to have, “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.”

PFOX fails to fulfill the criteria. The organization is based in Reedville, VA — placing PFOX 127 miles — and a two hour and forty minute drive — southeast of the nation’s capitol. PFOX also does not list any legitimate chapters in DC or Virginia. The only “contact” e-mail listed in DC or VA is that of the national organization based in Reedville.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.

Greg Quinlan audio of Truth Academy speech:

Arthur Abba Goldberg’s Truth Academy Speech:

Richard Cohen’s Odd Behavior:

PFOX Endorsed Therapy

Sign Change.Org Petition HERE

Does the World Bank think that your sexual orientation can be cured? Well, maybe not officially, but that’s not stopping the World Bank from funneling money to an organization that not only tries to convert people from homosexuality to heterosexuality, but also has ties to Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill. Perhaps the World Bank is adjusting their mission statement: “Working for a World Free of Poverty … and Free of Gay People.”

As Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner writes, the World Bank has allowed a controversial ex-gay group — Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) — to join the ranks of its Community Outreach Program, a workplace-giving campaign that allows employees of the World Bank to give money to an organization, and have that money matched by a contribution from the World Bank. Depending on how many employees decide to give money to PFOX, the World Bank will give anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent in a matching donation.

Which means that in the months ahead, the World Bank will be giving money directly to an organization that believes homosexuality can be cured. On top of that, as Truth Wins Out notes, a former PFOX board member, Richard Cohen (who still serves as a therapy guru to the organization), was intimately involved in efforts to create legislation in Uganda that would punish homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment.

And it gets even shadier. The director of PFOX’s Speakers Bureau, Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for bilking poor communities with bond schemes. And PFOX has also had its tactics condemned by the worldwide psychological and medical profession, with leaders from the organization being thrown out of professional groups like the American Counseling Association for violating ethical protocols.

Wow, if the World Bank is willing to lend credence to an organization like PFOX, what does it say about their overall credibility? For the World Bank, it looks like corporate social responsibility equals corporate endorsement of curing gay people.

What’s also particularly troubling about the World Bank’s endorsement of PFOX is that it looks like the Bank made an exception in order to squeeze PFOX under its Community Outreach Program guidelines. Under those guidelines, a qualifying organization is supposed to have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.” But a 2009 report by the Washington City Paper revealed that PFOX has no presence in D.C.; moreover, the organization’s headquarters are in Reedville, Virginia — a whopping 127 miles from Washington, D.C.

“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’”, said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”

The World Bank has some serious explaining to do, Lucy. Of course, if you listen to World Bank spokespeople, they say that their support of PFOX shouldn’t be considered an endorsement of PFOX’s work. And if you believe that, I think there’s a bridge in Alaska that’s for sale, too.

“‘Because Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) met the minimum criteria for inclusion on the Community Connections campaign, they were included this year,” said a spokesperson for the World Bank, according to Metro Weekly. Ah, such bureaucratic speak for such a serious issue.

Send the World Bank a message that their decision to include PFOX in the Community Outreach Program is as offensive as it is tactless. This is an organization that uses manipulation and discredited psychological tactics to “cure” people of their sexual orientation, has ties to an anti-gay bill in Uganda that could wipe out an entire population of gay people, and who has a leadership that includes people with shady criminal ties. Is that really the type of “charity” the World Bank wants to lend credence to?

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Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner unearthed the disturbing story that Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) will soon be able to say that its programming is supported by funding provided to it by the World Bank.

Requirements include that the organization have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.”

However, PFOX fails to fulfill this criteria and may be guilty of attempting to defraud the World Bank. The organization is based in Reedville, VA — placing the town 127 miles — and a two hour and forty minute drive — southeast of the nation’s capitol. Indeed, Richmond is significantly closer to Reedville and is a mere 85 miles away from PFOX’s headquarters.

“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”

The truth is, PFOX does not meet in the area and has almost no local footprint, other than an occasional lobbying foray or an advertising buy. The Washington City Paper confirmed that PFOX has no local DC presence in a 2009 report, “The Ex-Gay Movement That Wasn’t”. According to the news report:

Unfortunately for PFOX and reporters on the sexual-orientation beat, ex-gay Washingtonians are hard to come by. Since each of my dozen or so calls to PFOX headquarters went unanswered, I am unable to confirm any of the group’s purported ex-gay offspring or friends. J. Matt Barber, a member of the PFOX board of directors, tells me that he has “a number of very close friends who are former homosexuals”—none of whom live in D.C.

“The World Bank needs to answer why it is bending the rules to accommodate an ideological organization that, under any objective measure, does not meet the criteria of working in the DC metro area,” says TWO’s Besen. “It is outrageous that PFOX tried to pull a fast one and they should immediately pull the plug on this scheme. We call on The World Bank to launch a thorough investigation to see if PFOX and some World Bank employees conspired to misrepresent PFOX’s location in an effort to defraud the bank.”

PFOX also does not list any legitimate chapters in DC or Virginia. The only “contact” e-mail listed in DC or VA is that of the national organization.