From the John Selig Outspoken Podcast:

Wayne Besen discuses his latest work with Truth Wins Out in protesting “Ex-Gay” therapy including a recent trip to Alaska and protesting James Dobson’s induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago. “Ex-Gay” therapy survivor, Brian Nesbitt discusses what lead him into “Ex-Gay” therapy, what was involved with the therapy, the failure of the therapy and his life since stopping therapy, becoming a proud out gay man and protesting the work of Exodous, NARTH and other “Ex-Gay” organizations.

Download the Podcast Episode (MP3, 73 MB, 1 Hr. 3 Min.)

Coalition To Protest Awards Dinner If Undeserved Award Is Not Rescinded

NEW YORK — Truth Wins Out (TWO) launched a new website today, DumpDobson.com, that calls on the Museum of Broadcast Communications to reverse its decision to honor Focus on the Family’s James Dobson in its Radio Hall of Fame. Unless the museum withdraws its pledge to induct Dobson, TWO will join Equality Illinois and the Gay Liberation Network to protest the awards ceremony, Saturday, Nov. 8, (5:30 PM – 7:30 PM), at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel.

“There is still time to reverse the reckless and irresponsible decision to honor James Dobson in the Radio Hall of Fame,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “It is simply unconscionable that the Museum is giving its imprimatur to a demagogue who has profited from divisive and discriminatory rhetoric. If the museum wants to regain its respect and credibility, it will choose to dump Dobson.”

“We believe that you and your associates at the museum must be aware of Dobson’s contribution to anti-gay hate, and yet you chose to ignore, or perhaps even applaud, his harm to our community,” wrote Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network in an open letter to Bruce DuMont, president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. “Museums should be places that celebrate the best of human endeavor, not the worst.”

To fight back against this offensive decision, DumpDobson.com is asking fair-minded people to take four actions.

1. E-Mail Radio Hall of Fame CEO Bruce Dumont, brucedumont@museum.tv, and urge him to withdraw Dobson’s honor.
2. Sign our letter to the Radio Hall of Fame urging them to reverse their foolhardy decision to celebrate Dobson’s shameful and ignoble career.
3. If you live in the Chicago area, please sign up to participate in our protest.
4. Donate to Truth Wins Out or Donate to the Gay Liberation Network to help us fight back.

Dobson’s ugly rhetoric is so polarizing that former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said that, “Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies.” Focus on the Family co-founder Gil Alexander Moegerle said that, “I believe Dobson-style politics have been inept, simplistic, exclusionary, divisive and alarmingly sectarian…James Dobson’s political style has been one of relentlessly demonizing his adversaries.”

Dobson told The Daily Oklahoman on Oct. 23, 2004 that, “Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.” Dobson also told the Daily Oklahoman that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is “a God’s people hater. I don’t know if he hates God, but he hates God’s people.”

In the past two years, at least seven researchers have accused Dobson of manipulating or cherry picking their results to back his anti-gay teachings. Letters and videos documenting the concerns of these respected professors can be viewed on RespectMyResearch.org.

Dobson also profits from intolerance. He founded a ministry, Love Won Out, that promises to “cure” homosexuals – even though the so-called “ex-gay” leader of Love Won Out, John Paulk, was photographed in a gay bar. Dobson continues to promote dishonest psychological theories about gay people that are rejected by every respected medical and mental health association in America, including the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

Truth Wins Out, which operates DumpDobson.com, is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org. The Gay Liberation Network is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered direct action group

For at least a decade, the antigay political organizations Focus on the Family and Exodus International have promoted the myth that their opposition believes sexual orientation is determined by a single “gay gene.”

This claim has never been true of most researchers nor of most equality advocates, but that lie — a strawman argument — is useful to ex-gay scam artists because it distracts potential supporters of the ex-gay movement from three unpleasant facts:

• No reputable scientific survey has found sexual orientation to be either chosen or changeable in most persons
• Most persons who claim to be ex-gay later admit they were always attracted to the same sex and had never “left homosexuality.”
• Ex-gay programs injure their participants, give false hope to spouses, poison parental relations, and divide families.

On Top magazine touches on the ex-gay strawman argument about a “gay gene” in an article that spotlights Truth Wins Out’s role in weekend protests against an ex-gay roadshow in Anchorage, Alaska. (Read More)

Palin Should Explain her Views On ‘Curing’ Homosexuals

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out expressed deep concern today after learning that Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s church appears to support so-called “ex-gay” ministries. These programs that aim to “pray away the gay” are ineffective and have harmed thousands of gay and lesbian people. TWO urged the media to ask Palin if she supports such programs and what her views are on this topic.

In a background article on Palin, Time Magazine revealed that Wasilla Bible Church, where the Palins worship, had a Sunday morning program insert advertising an upcoming Focus on the Family conference on curing homosexuality in Anchorage called Love Won Out. Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, will be in Anchorage next week to oppose this anti-gay symposium.

“We are deeply concerned that Sarah Palin may share the extreme and medically unsound view that gay and lesbian people can and should be cured,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “We call on Palin to express her views on this issue so we have a clear idea of where she stands. We hope this is an area where she disagrees with her church.”

Focus on the Family’s notorious “ex-gay” road show will take place at an Anchorage mega-church on Sept. 13. Besen will join several clergy and parents of gay children to speak out on the harm of ex-gay programs on Sept. 11. The seminar will be at the Metropolitan Community Church (7208 Dubin Avenue) at 6:30 PM.

Focus on the Family plucked a video from its Web site today that urged people to pray for “rain of biblical proportions” during Barack Obama’s Aug. 28 appearance at Invesco Field at Mile High to accept the Democratic nomination for president. This, of course, would be about as effective as their attempts to have people “pray away the gay” at their “ex-gay” Love Won Out freak shows.

“If people took it seriously, we regret it,” Minnery said Monday.

Who is Focus on the Family kidding? They are a nasty group that portrays God as a right wing bully who is molded in James Dobson’s dictatorial image. The only joke here, was that Focus on the Family is covering up their true colors by portraying their ugliness as a parody.

You can only feel bad for people who have such an authoritarian, hideous view of spirituality. I hope, even pray, that they get the help they need to escape this miserable mindset in which they are trapped.

‘We Will Stop Focus on the Family’s Destructive Lies Wherever They Are Spread,’ Says TWO

Truth Wins Out (TWO) announced today that its founder, Wayne Besen, would appear in Anchorage to oppose Focus on the Family’s notorious “ex-gay” Love Won Out road show on Sept. 13. Besen is the author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth.” TWO shadows this anti-gay seminar across the nation to ensure that the public is armed with the facts and aware that Focus on the Family is deliberately disseminating misinformation about gay and lesbian people.

“We appear wherever Focus on the Family spreads lies and fear,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Love Won Out distorts gay life and conflates stereotypes with science, while selling false hope to vulnerable people. We are looking forward to working with Alaskan advocacy groups to counter Focus on the Family’s false and destructive messages.”

More details about Besen’s trip will be forthcoming. The Love Won Out conference will take place on Sept. 13 at the Abbott Loop Community Church.

We need your help to make this happen. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us fight the right in Alaska. To Donate online CLICK HERE.

Or - send a check to: Truth Wins Out; P.O. Box 25491; Brooklyn, NY 11202

Focus on the Family Promotes Culture of Death, Says TWO

NEW YORK – TruthWinsOut.org (TWO) condemned Focus on the Family today for distorting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) statistics on HIV and encouraging the very sexual behavior that spreads the disease. By doing so, Focus on the Family is promoting a culture of death and encouraging sexually active people to act recklessly and irresponsibly, says TWO.

Last week, the United States acknowledged it had underreported new cases of HIV. It revised the statistics from approximately 40,000 new infections in 2006, to 56,000 - a 40 percent increase. Focus on the Family spokesperson Jeff Johnston shamelessly exploited the revised data to oppose safer-sex practices, which would have prevented nearly all of the reported infections. Instead, he implied that gay men should marry women they did not find sexually attractive:

“Outside of a faithful marriage between a man and a woman, there is no ’safe sex,’” said Johnston. “It is irresponsible to teach people that you can have ’safe sex’ or ’safer sex’ outside of marriage.”

“It is undeniable that safe sex works and has saved the lives of millions of people,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Contrary to Focus on the Family’s death-promoting dogma, there is no HIV crisis for gay or straight men who practice the very safe sex techniques that they have irresponsibly dismissed. Furthermore, how is a gay man in a relationship any more at risk than a heterosexual man in a relationship? Focus on the Family’s propaganda defies science, logic and common sense.”

It is also odd that Focus on the Family presumes that marriage is a panacea that makes teaching safe sex unnecessary. Mike Trout, the longtime co-host on Focus on the Family’s radio program, said on Oct. 17, 2000 that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman other than his wife.

“Right wingers should learn about condoms too, so when they cheat on their spouses, they do so safely and not bring STD’s into the home,” said Besen. “This is particularly true in Bible Belt states which have the highest divorce rates in the nation. It is never helpful to promote ignorance over education – and that is precisely the sex education paradigm embraced by Focus on the Family.”
(Read More)

Focus on the Family said today:

Nearly 3,000 Focus on the Family supporters — mostly CitizenLink readers — have sent e-mails to the Radio Hall of Fame, thanking the organization for standing by the election of Dr. James Dobson’s radio program. Some gay activists want the honor taken away from Focus on the Family.

In addition to mobilizing his readers, Dobson is gathering support for his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame among right-wing senators.

Truth Wins Out urgently needs your help to block the induction and to send a clear message that the radio industry must not honor scientific fraud, bigotry, and divisive anti-family values.

Click here to join the campaign or click here to donate to Truth Wins Out.

We welcome and appreciate your support!

Focus on the Family today cheered columnist Mark Joseph’s ultimatum to U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Joseph told McCain in an open letter:

Fire up the Straight Talk Express or whatever it’s called and get your tail to Colorado Springs,” he writes. “Evangelicals don’t have popes; they have leaders with names like (Dr.) Dobson, (Chuck) Colson, (Rick) Warren, (Billy) Graham and (Albert) Mohler. Unless you have a death wish, suck it up, fly to Colorado Springs.

Let me be blunt with you: If you don’t do this, you will lose the election. It’s just that simple.

Those words could not have been said more bluntly if they had come directly from the Man himself, Focus chairman James Dobson. Instead, Focus responded with a verbose statement whose tone begins as false gentility and rapidly inflates with megalomania:

Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family Action, said: “Dr. Dobson would gladly open his door to either candidate for a discussion of issues vital to the family.”

While the mainstream media see Dr. Dobson as a “typical televangelist,” Joseph tells CitizenLink he has “always understood Dr. Dobson’s role and influence to be far larger.

“Many moms listen to his show as they car pool their kids around or run errands,” he told CitizenLink. “They trust him on issues of childrearing and want to hear his opinion on other issues, as well.”

Minnery said Joseph accurately describes Dr. Dobson’s influence with millions of American voters. “It’s a deposit of trust built up over 30 years,” he said.

Joseph’s open letter to McCain was paired at FoxNews.com with Joseph’s open letter to Democrat Barack Obama.

Clearly preoccupied with McCain, Focus on the Family had nothing to say today about Joseph’s positive remarks about Obama’s liberal, pro-American, and Christian values.

(Sen. Sam Brownback, Left)

Focus on the Family Admits That Dobson Twists Research, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today condemned the introduction of a United States Senate resolution to “congratulate” Focus on the Family’s James Dobson for his selection into the Radio Hall of Fame. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) sponsored the controversial measure that says Dobson’s program has “benefited the lives of families and individuals across the United States and around the world.”

“It is disgraceful that Senators would consider congratulating James Dobson for his reprehensible radio broadcasts that damage families and promote discrimination,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Honoring a man who distorts research and misrepresents facts sends the wrong message to youth who are looking for role models. Do we really want young people to think lying and cheating are acceptable ways to promote a viewpoint?”
(Read More)