Ace reporter Andy Birkey has pursued anti-gay extremists in Minnesota — from the Bachmanns and Janet Boynes to Bradlee Dean and the Catholic bishops — more doggedly than perhaps any other journalist in that state; with a marriage discrimination amendment on the ballot there in November, he’s had his hands full.

In his latest article for the American Independent, Birkey reveals that the “ex-gay” movement is working furiously to pass the amendment in the North Star State, and that a disturbing number of other marriage discrimination proponents have embraced the “ex-gay” myth.

Birkey asked me to comment on the deep ties between the “ex-gay” movement and Minnesota’s anti-marriage equality push on behalf of Truth Wins Out:

Last year, John Becker of Truth Wins Out, an organization formed to confront the “Love Won Out” conferences as well as the broader “ex-gay industry,” went undercover in the Bachmann family counseling clinic and found that the clinic conducted “ex-gay therapy.”

That information sparked protests and an unflattering news cycle for Bachmann, who was a presidential contender at the time.

Becker told The American Independent that the endorsement of this type of therapy by every major backer of the marriage amendment “should send shivers up the spine of every fair-minded Minnesotan.”

“Amendment backers claim to want a ‘respectful debate’ about marriage equality, yet they gravely disrespect their fellow Minnesotans by aligning themselves with the ‘pray away the gay’ fraud,” he sad.

He said that the therapy is dangerous.

“This depraved form of ‘therapy’ has been rejected by literally every single mainstream organization of medical and mental health professionals because studies have shown that it doesn’t work and actually increases anxiety, depression, and suicide in patients,” he said.

He added that the fact that so many proponents of the anti-gay-marriage amendment have also supported the “ex-gay” movement shows that the motives behind the amendment are not solely about banning same-sex marriage.

“By embracing the myth that sexual orientation can be changed, amendment proponents are showing their true colors,” he said. “The endgame isn’t simply the exclusion of loving same-sex couples from marriage. They won’t stop until LGBT people are relegated to second-class status in every aspect of society.”

Check out the entire article. It’s an important, albeit deeply troubling read.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bachmann’s Billing Appears As Unethical as His ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy, Says TWO

Burlington, Vt. – Attorney Norm Kent sent a letter to Bachmann & Associates today on behalf of Truth Wins Out demanding that he cease and desist from harassing the organization. TWO has also launched a petition on Change.org urging people to contact Bachmann and tell him to stop his petty and vindictive threats against the LGBT organization.

“Marcus Bachmann’s billing practices appear to be as unethical as the ‘ex-gay’ therapy offered at his clinic,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We will not be intimidated or bullied and do not intend to pay Bachmann’s phony bill.”

On Monday, Bachmann personally called the group’s Communications Director, John Becker, leaving a voicemail in which he demanded $150 for cancelled July sessions of “ex-gay” therapy with a counselor at his practice. He threatened that if TWO did not pay him by Friday he would turn the phony bill over to a collection agency. This morning, the Law Offices of Kent & Cormican faxed a letter to Bachmann’s Minnesota clinic. According to the letter:

“If you are persistent in this claim, and attempt to employ the collection agency you have threatened to, you should know that my firm and our associates in your jurisdiction would take legal action against you,” wrote attorney Norm Kent. “Specifically, and you should make no mistake about the same, we consider your therapy and practices fraudulent. We have concluded your services are dubious and questionable, not worthy of any billing at all. We consider your fees and charges part of a larger civil conspiracy to defraud vulnerable individuals.”

In July, Truth Wins Out went undercover and exposed Bachmann & Associates for practicing a form of discredited “pray away the gay” therapy. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign. After TWO’s John Becker, who went undercover, had enough videotape evidence to prove that “ex-gay” therapy occurred at Bachmann’s clinic, he called the clinic and cancelled his remaining appointments. Despite widespread circulation of TWO’s video footage, Marcus denied the therapy had taken place.

“I cancelled my remaining appointments in compliance with Bachmann & Associates’ stated procedure,” said John Becker, TWO’s Director of Communications and Development, “yet Marcus Bachmann himself called me and threatened to send the fraudulent $150 ‘bill’ to a collection agency by Friday. I find it odd that Bachmann handled this matter personally rather than through his billing department. This is certainly an unorthodox way of doing business, much like the spurious ‘ex-gay’ therapy offered at his clinic.”

Becker returned Bachmann’s call on Tuesday and spoke with him for nearly seven minutes in the presence of a reporter from the local ABC/FOX affiliate in Burlington. The video of the tense exchange can be viewed at Truth Wins Out’s website.

“We saw firsthand that the ‘ex-gay’ therapy practiced by Bachmann & Associates is unethical and unhealthy for clients,” said Becker. “What goes on in that clinic is rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization in America.”

Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO fights anti-LGBT religious extremism, monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

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

Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications & Development
Phone: 920-265-6023
E-mail: john@truthwinsout.org

There’s some gay birds that need reparative therapy, you see:

Same-sex pairs of monogamous birds are just as attached and faithful to each other as those paired with a member of the opposite sex.

The insight comes from a study of zebra finches – highly vocal, colourful birds that sing to their mates, a performance thought to strengthen the pair’s bond.

Scientists found that same-sex pairs of finches sang to and preened each other just like heterosexual pairs.

Huh, well. And apparently some of these birds are so gay that, even when they brought in attractive female birds, the majority of the male birds which had paired off together stayed together.

And that, folks, is what happens when wingnut warnings about impending homosexopocalypses go unheeded. Seriously, how gay is this?

Zebra finches are known to establish life-long monogamous relationships that are routinely consummated through behavior such as birdsong, mutual preening, and beak nuzzling.

All while watching Glee.

Maybe if Marcus and Janet need an extra hand, they can get Porno Pete to come over with his camera and look for birds wearing teeny-tiny assless chaps.

[Photo: Keith Gerstung/Wiki Commons/CC License, via Bryan Nelson]

It really is the beginning of the end for the phonies at Exodus International and NARTH. It seems reasonable and intelligent Christians are starting to abandon this giant hoax in droves. According to CNN:

While many evangelicals once viewed conversion therapy as key way to deal with homosexuality, many of the religious movement’s leaders and organizations have cooled to the practice in recent years, as more science suggests that homosexuality may be innate and as new therapeutic approaches have emerged. “Evangelicals, in quiet ways, are shifting to this position to where there is just not a lot of support for the change paradigm,” said Warren Throckmorton, an influential voice in the world of Christian counseling, referring to so-called change therapy. “In the late 1990s, the debate was clearly, ‘Could gays change from being gay?’ and the focus was on orientation, and it was a big part of politics,” said Throckmorton, an associate professor of psychology at Grove City College, an evangelical school in Pennsylvania.

Today, we learned that Willow Creek Community Church’s formal relationship with Exodus International has ended. The information was originally obtained by Ex-Gay Watch and reported by Christianity Today. While the decision to part ways dates back to 2009, news that the South Barrington megachurch had cut ties with Exodus, the world’s largest ministry addressing homosexuality, did not surface until late June. The wise decision and move towards honesty and integrity left Exodus President Alan Chambers a little bitter:

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus, disagrees. “The choice to end our partnership is definitely something that shines a light on a disappointing trend within parts of the Christian community,” he said, “which is that there are Christians who believe like one another who aren’t willing to stand with one another, simply because they’re afraid of the backlash people will direct their way if they are seen with somebody who might not be politically correct.” Chambers said he sympathizes with Christian organizations that deal with social, political, and financial backlash, but added, “Biblical truth is unpopular, and when you’re supporting unpopular truth, you are unpopular too; which means, some days, getting upwards of 10,000 phone calls and emails, and it can be overwhelming.”

Ten thousand phone calls and e-mails in one day? Really, Alan? Apparently he is more popular and in-demand than Barack Obama. Who would have guessed? The fact is, people are beginning to see through the charade — which was always a slick marketing campaign disguised as legitimate science. Time has not been a friend of these fraudulent groups, due to scandals, defections and science. Honest people look at Chambers and can obviously see he is still gay. And then we have degenerates and undesirables like former coke dealers Janet Boynes and Stephen Bennett (see video below) who allegedly find Jesus, but are really just lowlife hustlers exploiting Christians by peddling their tales of change to make a quick buck. As Australia’s “ex-gay” buster Anthony Venn-Brown points out, all the “ex-gay” activists share tired stories of distant parents, sexual abuse and transformation from pathetic loser to star preacher. Where are the normal so-called “ex-gays” that don’t have a job with Exodus or lived a normal life prior to their “conversion?” Why are these creepy groups only able to dredge up freaks from the bottom of life’s barrel?

Given the situation, it was only a matter of time before the Christian intelligentsia rebelled and stopped humoring clowns like Alan Chambers, Stephen Bennett, and Janet Boynes. Chambers and others of his ilk should strongly consider to tidying up their resumes so they will be prepared to look for real jobs. Recent trends show that “ex-gay” gig is coming to an end sooner than later. ….Of course, none of these con artists succeeded in the real world, so they will likely take their ridiculous roadshow to places like Uganda where these cowards can terrorize local populations with no one to stop them. Some people will do anything for some coin.

Hey, Porno Pete [new readers, see addendum below], whatcha doin?

AFTAH in the News: ABC uses homosexual activist’s mocking slogan, “Pray Away the Gay”

Well, no, the hate group Americans For Truth About Homosexuality wasn’t in the news. Pete seems to be trying to ride the proverbial coattails, here.  Peter:  We may have given you your special name, but that does not mean you get to come with us everywhere we go.

But yeah, “pray away the gay” has become shorthand for the abusive, hateful, damaging, thoroughly discredited practice known as reparative therapy. They could have always used “beating the pillow with a tennis racket…away the gay,” but Porno Pete’s friend Richard Cohen just isn’t a part of this story.

Folks, it sure didn’t take long for the liberal media to go into Christian-bashing mode against GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Watch this almost comically biased hit-piece by ABC’s Brian Ross — featuring the militantly anti-Christian homosexual organization Truth Wins Out.

We’re going to have to let our Christian writers and affiliates know that we are “militantly anti-Christian.” I’m sure they would like to know!

(TWO denies the reality that people can leave homosexuality behind; I call them “Focus on the Failures” because their nonsensical argument seems to be that since many practicing “gays” fail in their quest to change, transformation away from homosexuality is a myth.)

This is absolutely the first time you have ever called us “Focus on the Failures,” Pete. Why you would draw attention to the fact that most people who go through “ex-gay” programs come back more damaged than before, and still gay, is beyond me.  [The others tend to make lots of ca$h by working for "ex-gay" companies, or they write books and, you know, make ca$h.]

Incredibly, ABC even went so far as to title its piece “Pray Away the Gay at Bachmann Clinic?” — recycling TWO founder Wayne Besen’s mocking and bigoted attack-slogan for the idea that people can overcome homosexual desires through faith in God.

“Incredibly.”

Shouldn’t it have occurred to Ross to sit down with and interview a SUCCESSFUL former homosexual like Janet Boynes…

Hmmmm, yeah, they should have pretended that there are two sides to every single story, I suppose.

Dinosaurs: prehistoric creatures from long ago or Heaven’s most vicious Muppets?! We report, you decide!

I don’t have much hope of changing ABC…

Pray away the ABC! [Pete seems to be saying...]

So all of this from hate group leader Porno Pete was a prelude to a piece by another bizarrely unhinged anti-gay activist, Cliff Kincaid, who is notable for defending Uganda’s genocidal anti-gay legislation. Let’s play with him a minute:

Once a greatly feared investigative reporter, Brian Ross has been reduced to recycling left-wing material from the homosexual lobby.

Translation: any reporting on gays that I don’t like is “recycled left-wing material.”

But the pathetic hit job he narrated on Monday’s ABC Nightline show on GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has backfired in a big way.

Not that I’ve seen.

The charge was that the Bachmann family counseling service engages in terrible things by teaching homosexuals how to leave their disease-ridden lifestyle.

Aside from the fact that the suggestion that homosexuality is inherently “disease-ridden” is a flat out lie, yes, the charge is that the Bachmann clinic uses discredited, disproven and harmful methods to try to de-gay people. This is quite a revelation in the Western world in the year 2012. It’s important to interpret the news through the lens of reality that exists, rather than the one Cliff Kincaid imagines to exist.

Ironically, however, he presented evidence that ex-homosexuals do in fact exist…

Nah, he showed Janet Boynes, who is basically a charlatan selling a book and has no actual “success stories” to present.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth says the phrase, “pray away the gay,” is intended to ridicule Christians and comes directly from homosexual activist Wayne Besen’s group, Truth Wins Out. LaBarbera asks, “Why are the major media repeating these hateful attack slogans by radical gay activists?”

He’s baaaaaaack.

He explains, “We don’t mock the idea of leaving drug addiction or alcoholism with God’s help. Why is it acceptable to mock faith in God to overcome unwanted behaviors like homosexuality in their lives?”

No one is mocking anything. We’re simply shining a light on the lie of reparative therapy. Grown-up mental health and medical associations agree that drug addiction and alcoholism are problems in need of solutions. They also agree that homosexuality is not a problem, that it is perfectly normal. The fact that somebody believes an unscientific book says otherwise is really not relevant to our discussion, here at the grown-up table.

To make matters worse, the ABC hit piece was largely recycled leftist material. Ross borrowed heavily from Truth Wins Out (TWO) and an article in The Nation magazine, in order to concoct the shaky story.

In this case, he is using the term “recycled” to refer to the original print versions of the story, which came out in the days just before the television report. Far from being “recycled,” any journalism student could explain to Cliff and Peter that Brian Ross’s report is known as “breaking a story on television.”

The apparently shocking advice to the undercover homosexual operative was that heterosexuality is natural and homosexuality is not. This is what passes for “investigative journalism” these days.

Yep, Cliff, it’s a significant story because the idea that “heterosexuality is natural and homosexuality is not” is a disproven lie. This is not complicated stuff…

Anyway, the rest of Cliff’s piece is a random non sequitur, and a completely undeveloped one at that, about how Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi is mean.  Cliff kinda veers off the road sometimes when it comes to his train of thought in print.

This is just the response from a couple of hate group leaders to the Bachmann clinic story.  Responses from other detractors have been pretty weak as well.  More on that in a minute.

ADDENDUM: If you are new to our organization, a little back story is in order.  Peter LaBarbera is the leader of the SPLC-certified hate group called Americans for Truth About Homosexuality [AFTAH].  Wayne Besen dubbed him “Porno Pete” a few years back on account of his strange affinity for either himself infiltrating [or sending "reporters" into] fetish sex events which cater to people of varying sexual orientations, but which are nonetheless outside of the mainstream of American sexual activity, gay or straight.  While people who are comfortable in their own skin but who may not be particularly interested in such fetish events may be content to shrug their shoulders and say “eh, different strokes for different folks!” and go about the chores of their daily lives, Pete has always set himself apart by posting pornographic pictures on his hate group’s blog [americans for truth dot com], and then using said images in an effort to broadbrush all gay Americans as sick perverts.  Most casual observers find this to be extremely bizarre behavior.  This strategy is of course as disingenuous as it is stupid, and many Religious Right leaders have privately told gay activists [most notably Jeremy at Good As You] that they are very embarrassed by his actions, as they hurt the anti-gay movement by making them look sensationalistic, dishonest, pathetic and approximately as bigoted as a common KKK initiate.  While many on the anti-gay side of the fence may indeed have loving and honest motives, but yet are sadly and terribly misinformed on issues of science, human sexuality and reality, Peter has always revealed himself a little bit too much by also being unable to report on gay human beings without using sophomoric anti-gay slurs and digs which are only funny to the quickly dwindling/dying-off segment of the population which still agrees with him.  He will wax melodramatic, but not really poetic, on a regular basis about how our use of the term “Porno Pete” proves that we are the REAL hate group here, but we rest secure in the knowledge that A., We don’t lie and B., the causes we fight for actually help people, as opposed to raising the national gay teen depression and suicide rate, which is far too often the end result of the activities of the Religious Right in this nation.