In summer 2011, Truth Wins Out infiltrated Bachmann & Associates to see if the clinic’s therapists practiced “ex-gay” (aka reparative) therapy. We launched this operation after presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, claimed that his business did not take part in the discredited practice of converting homosexuals into heterosexuals.  TWO’s investigation discovered incontrovertible evidence that “ex-gay” therapy did, in fact, occur at Bachmann & Associates.

Included in our trove of evidence was a notorious book by Janet Boynes, Called Out: A Former Lesbians Discovery of Freedom, stacked high and sold at the clinic. Prominently displayed above the pile of books was a personal endorsement from Marcus Bachmann:

“Janet is a friend. I recommend this book as she speaks to the heart of the matter and gives practical insights of truth to set people free. – Marcus Bachmann, PhD”

Boynes reciprocated the love in the “Acknowledgments” section of her book:

“Marcus and Michele, when we met, our friendship was instant, and you never left my side when things got tough. To watch your walk with God gives me strength, courage, and hope.”

In 2005, Marcus Bachmann gave a presentation, “The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda,” at the “Minnesota Pastors’ Summit.” The City Pages reported that Boynes was one of three “ex-gay” activists Bachmann trotted up on-stage during his PowerPoint.

While at the pulpit, Boynes said, “If I was born gay, then I’ll have to be born again.” An eyewitness said, “The crowd went crazy,” when she delivered her signature line.

Given her close ties to the Bachmann family, many people are clamoring to know: Who is Janet Boynes?

The quick answer is that she is the Religious Right’s “ex-gay” du jour, embraced by leaders of Southern Poverty Law Center-certified hate groups such as Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, and Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. Anti-gay activists from Bishop Harry Jackson to Gary Bauer tout her alleged conversion as proof that sexual orientation can be changed. In her book, Boynes claims that she met George W. Bush at a fundraiser in 2006 and that the president “told me I was a beautiful person.” (p. 67)

Boynes is also the Exodus International contact person for Living Word Christian Center, located in Brooklyn Park, MN.  For the unacquainted, Exodus in the largest “ex-gay” organization in the world and is dedicated to, “Freedom from Homosexuality through Jesus Christ.”

The Religious Right’s “ex-gay” flavor of the moment (many others have either come out or been scandalized) is also the founder of Janet Boynes Ministries, which runs a prayer line and support group. It appears that Boynes is also the driving force behind the National Ex-Gay Educators’ Caucus, a politicized anti-gay front group that hosts a booth each year at the National Education Association’s annual meeting. The goal of this campaign is to promote the notion that “people deserve to hear all the facts so they can make their own decisions [on sexual conversion]” and to let students know that “for those who truly want change, change is possible.”

Recently, Boynes has become a media darling – she graced the cover of Charisma magazine in June and her tale of conversion was featured in a much-maligned Lisa Ling special on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in March. The entrepreneurial Boynes was also interviewed on HLN’s Dr. Drew Show in April. Rev. Pat Robertson’s 700 Club aired a segment in which they called her alleged transformation “an amazing story.”

Given her level of celebrity and access to powerful political connections, one would think that Boynes might be an impressive individual of great accomplishment.

Think again. (Read More)

Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins were united in a Vermont civil union in 2000. But in subsequent interviews, it became apparent that Miller was not sexually attracted to Jenkins; she may have entered the relationship as a coping mechanism in her struggle with childhood abuse and codependency.

In 2003, Miller became an “ex-gay” activist and absconded to Virginia with Isabella, the couple’s daughter. Utilizing support from Christian Right groups, Miller launched a seven-year campaign in which she violated a series of family-court rulings and appellate decisions in favor of Jenkins’ visitation rights. Due to the repeat violations and failures to appear in court, Miller’s custody rights were revoked in late 2009. At that time, Lisa allegedly abducted Isabella and became a fugitive.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders announced today:

As just reported in the Rutland Herald (pay site), there has been an arrest in the custody case involving former civil-union partners Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller, and their daughter, Isabella Miller-Jenkins. Lisa did not comply with a court order to transfer custody of Isabella to Janet on January 1, 2010.

The person arrested is one Timothy David Miller (link to criminal complaint). Little more is known at this point.

Janet Jenkins issued the following statement from her home in Vermont:

“I’m grateful to everyone in law enforcement for working so hard on finding my daughter, as well as to my attorney, Sarah Star. I know very little at this point, but I really hope that this means that Isabella is safe and well. I am looking forward to having my daughter home safe with me very soon.”

Attorney Sarah Star of Middlebury, who has been representing Janet, said, “It is clear that the government has been working hard on this. Janet is very pleased and we are both hopeful that this will be a step in the right direction of bringing Isabella home. At this point we need to let law enforcement do their work, and recognize that there are still steps to go.”

Mr. Miller will make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont in Burlington on Monday, April 25, at 9 a.m.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has represented Janet at the appellate level in Vermont; Lambda Legal has represented Janet at the appellate level in Virginia.

The Rutland Herald identifies Timothy as “a Tennessee man and Central American missionary” who arranged passage to Nicaragua for Lisa Miller and her non-custodial daughter. Prosecutors say Timothy, who is not related to Lisa, is one of several individuals who aided Lisa as a fugitive from justice. Timothy was arrested in Virginia.

According to the Herald:

In emails and social media messages obtained through federal search warrants, investigators say they tracked Miller’s departure from the U.S. through a border crossing near Buffalo, N.Y., on Sept. 22, 2009.

On that same day, Miller reportedly boarded a plane in Ontario that took her and her daughter to Mexico City. From there, the pair passed through El Salvador before arriving in Nicaragua where investigators say Miller is associated with the Christian Aid Ministries organization in Managua, Nicaragua.

The Herald adds that the Christian Right’s Liberty Counsel — which has filed frivolous lawsuits on behalf of Exodus International and other antigay groups against watchdogs and tolerant school districts — may have aided the abduction.

Investigators say they found an email conversation between Tim Miller and Philip Zodhiates, who Kaegel described as a “leader” within Liberty Counsel — the Virginia-based group whose lawyers defended Miller.

The email messages, sent in November, 2009, are referenced under the subject lines as “bag for Nicaragua” and discuss the sending of packages from Virginia to Nicaragua.

“They are just personal belongings of someone who recently moved to Managua doing missions work and a few things they can’t buy there readily like peanut butter. So it is nothing you need to declare on the customs form,” Zodhiates wrote in an email to a man in Virginia.

Lisa Miller’s lawyers said in court at the beginning of 2010 that they did not know the whereabouts of their client.

Zodhiates is a Christian Right mailing-list vendor who allegedly asked his daughter, a Liberty School of Law employee, to disseminate requests for aid to Lisa.

As Truth Wins Out has previously observed, Liberty Counsel attorney Rena Lindevaldsen affirmed the abduction of Isabella and covered for Lisa during missed court appearances around the time of the abduction. Other watchdog groups such as People for the American Way have noted the extremes to which Liberty Counsel has gone, to place Isabella in the hands of an apparently unfit “ex-gay” parent.

Every judge in the land is activist, you see, what with the way they read the law and stuff:

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has declined to step into a lesbian custody dispute between a woman who has renounced her homosexuality and her onetime partner.

The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from Lisa Miller, the biological mother of an 8-year-old girl. Miller wanted the court to undo a Virginia court decision allowing Janet Jenkins visitation rights with the girl.

Lisa Miller is still on the lam, of course.

This comes on the heels of the Vermont Supreme Court granting full custody of the kidnapping victim, Isabella, to her mother Janet Jenkins.

[h/t Joe]

It’s too bad Isabella Miller-Jenkins’ other mother, Lisa Miller, is apparently a kidnapper. The Vermont Supreme Court has weighed in on the court order which gave Janet Jenkins sole custody of her daughter:

The Vermont supreme court has unanimously granted custody to a lesbian who has been battling to become the guardian of the young girl she and her former partner raised together.

The ruling is in favor of Vermont resident Janet Jenkins, affirming a 2009 court order giving her sole physical and legal custody of Isabella Miller-Jenkins. Lisa Miller, Jenkins’ former partner, is still missing with their 8-year-old daughter, according to Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which argued on Jenkins’ behalf before the supreme court.

This story is just so sad, and shows the childish lengths fundamentalist Christians will go to to defend their fantasy-based worldview.

Lisa Miller is the one-half of a Vermont lesbian couple that conceived daughter Isabella with partner Janet Jenkins — and then abducted Isabella and took her to Virginia. There, prejudiced state courts violated Vermont’s family-law jurisdiction over the family and allowed Miller to violate Jenkins’ visitation rights until the court rulings were overturned by Virginia’s Supreme Court in 2007.

Since then, Miller lived more-or-less openly as a fugitive — violating Jenkins’ visitation rights, showcasing her daughter as a Christian Right political trophy, and sharing her story of troubled celibacy and sexual confusion (which she described as an ex-lesbian fundamentalist freedom) to Christian Right media. Then, late last year, because Miller had violated Jenkins’ visitation rights since 2004, a Vermont judge issued a final ruling granting sole custody of Isabella to Jenkins.

By the time of that ruling, however, it appears that Miller had already absconded with Isabella again. Miller abandoned her Virginia home and left her lawyers at the fundamentalist Liberty Counsel supposedly unaware of her wishes and whereabouts, even as they continued to represent Miller in court.

According to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, Lisa Miller and Isabella Miller-Jenkins are now officially listed as missing and the case is classified as family abduction.

LezGetReal now believes that Miller is hiding as a “missionary” in Quito, Ecuador, using a church group affiliated with HCJB Global as shelter for the abduction.

We hope that U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities urgently investigate.

Traditional values!

The Lisa Miller/Janet Jenkins saga continues, as the case was argued before the Vermont Supreme Court, with Lisa Miller and Isabella, of course, still likely out of the country:

(Dillon) This is the second time that the Supreme Court has heard arguments in a bitter child custody battle between two women who were former partners.
But the case took a new turn in January, when Lisa Miller – who now lives in Virginia – failed to appear to hand over the child in a court-ordered custody swap.
Miller’s lawyer is Rena Lindevaldsen. She says she hasn’t heard from her client in months and doesn’t know where she is. And she told the state Supreme Court that a Vermont trial judge was wrong to award custody to Miller’s former partner.
(Lindevaldsen) You’re switching from the first time anywhere in this nation from a fit biological parent that individual’s child and switching to somebody who has been declared to be a parent who is not that child’s biological or adoptive parent.
(Dillon) But associate Justice John Dooley challenged the lawyer on a number of points. First, Dooley asked: what about men whose children were conceived through reproductive technologies.”
(Dooley) “So I take it your position would be the same to a father, to a husband, for whose spouse was impregnated by artificial insemination – he could not ask for custody in a proceeding if they went through a divorce? Is that right?”
(Lindevaldsen) “Unless of course he adopted the child in the meantime.”
(Dillon) But Dooley said because the couple had been joined in a Vermont civil union the child did not have to be adopted in order for Jenkins to be considered a legal parent.
Then Chief Justice Paul Reiber weighed in. Reiber brought up the issue of Lisa Miller’s contempt of court citations. The Virginia woman faces arrest because she defied a court order and disappeared with the child.
(Reiber) “You said a few moments ago that your client, your referred to her as a “fit parent.” Hasn’t she had seven or eight contempt orders issued against her?”

That’s the trouble with anti-gay fundamentalists trying to be heard in courts of law. Since everything they believe is preposterous nonsense, it doesn’t tend to go well for them.

(h/t Kyle)

The plot thickens:

An 8-year-old girl at the heart of a long-running child custody fight between former lesbian partners may have fled to Central America with her birth mother, a lawyer for one of the women said.

The girl, Isabella Miller-Jenkins, and her birth mother, Lisa Miller, failed to appear for a court-ordered custody swap in January and are believed to have flown to El Salvador last September, said attorney Sarah Star, who represents ex-partner Janet Jenkins.

Star said a Virginia police officer told her that Miller and the girl flew to El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, from Juarez, Mexico, which is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

“This is obviously horrifying,” Star said Thursday. “Isabella’s not in school. She’s most likely in a country that is not as developed as the U.S., and (Jenkins is) worried about her. She’s worried she’s not in a safe environment. As far as we know, Lisa Miller doesn’t even speak Spanish.”

In case you’re new, you’ll remember that Isabella Miller-Jenkins is the daughter of Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins, who decided to bring her into the world when they were a couple. They later were joined in a civil union, until Lisa Miller suddenly went off the deep end, converted to fundamentalist Christianity, and decided that, because of her newfound homophobia, therefore the law did not apply to her. Because of her violation of numerous court orders for visitation, Lisa Miller was to hand custody of Isabella over to Janet Jenkins in January of this year.

Lisa and Isabella have now been missing for six months.

If you’re a Central American reader or have family or friends in the region, and happen to spot these two, please contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

(h/t Melanie Nathan)

Here:

It was January 1 when Linda Wall said she knew for sure her friend Miller and her seven-year-old daughter Isabella had gone into hiding.

“Unbeknowing [sic] to any of us… she was doing something behind the scene,” Wall said.

(…)

“I am supposed to be the number one suspect because I was so involved in this and I don’t know where she is,” Wall said.

(…)

The last time Wall says she had contact with Miller was in late September. Up to that point, she believes Miller was working behind the scenes on her escape. It’ a decision they support.

“I do support what she’s done,” Wall said. “When the law is wrong, what’s a person to do?”

Likening the situation to the underground railroad during slavery, “Was it Harriet Tubman who risked her life for the underground railroad for the black community? Maybe I am committed to this for the children I might be that one voice.”

Linda, I’m “unbeknowing” whether you’re ignorant of history or getting caught up in lies, but I should point out that the comparisons to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad run the risk of being revelatory, since Harriet Tubman decidedly did know where the Underground Railroad was, since she personally helped a number of slaves escape. What other historical figures do you identify with, Linda? Miep Gies, perhaps?

All of these comparisons are silly, obviously, because all Lisa Miller is doing is trying to “protect” her child from her other loving mother, Janet Jenkins, who has a legal and moral right to be in Isabella’s life.

The fact that Wall’s and Miller’s interpretations of reality are straight out of a C.S. Lewis fever dream should have no bearing on what they’re allowed to do in actual reality.

(h/t Kyle)

About time.

(h/t Right Wing Watch)

Because they don’t know where she is.

Huh?

How bizarre.

Kyle at Right Wing Watch adds:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that sort of ruling doesn’t seem to provide much incentive for people to abide by court orders now does it? In fact, it sort of seems to do exactly the opposite.

Why does the judge need her specific location in order to hold her in contempt? You know where she isn’t? His courtroom, where she’s supposed to have appeared.