It is clear that he is about to humiliate himself with his upcoming book, “The Gay Gene Hoax”. Although I have not read much of his polemic, what I have so far seen is as insufferable as it is inaccurate.
Sorba is a dilettante who has no understanding of the topic matter and essentially footnotes bad information hoping his audience is too uneducated to notice.
His book is also a poorly orchestrated hit job on activists, such as myself, who have shown the notion of “ex-gay” to be a myth.
For example, on page 77 of his sophistic screed Sorba writes, “In all likelihood, the man (Wayne Besen)is a calculating and manipulative liar.” (Needless to say, the unbalanced minds at Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) chortled over this attack.)
Interestingly, a few pages later (89) the presumably honest and forthright Sorba quotes the debunked 1979 Masters & Johnson book, “Homosexuality in Perspective” to support his flimsy arguments.
It seems that Sorba is shockingly unaware that the book he quotes was disavowed last year by Virginia Johnson in Thomas Maier’s groundbreaking book Masters of Sex.
Indeed, the results were said to have been entirely fabricated.
Virginia Johnson actually argued in 1978 that “Homosexuality in Perspective” should never have seen the light of day – but it was already too late in the publishing process to undo the damage.
For someone who fancies himself an expert, it is incredible that Sorba was not informed on this major development, considering articles were published on Maier’s book in major newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Maybe Sorba was so busy watching FOX News and reading The Washington Times that he missed the widely publicized information. To help bring him up to speed, here is an excerpt from the Washington Post:
He (William Masters) was also the driving force behind the team’s controversial embrace of conversion therapy for gays. In “Homosexuality in Perspective” (1979), he and Johnson claimed they could straighten out gay men or women in a matter of weeks, with a “failure rate” of only one-third. Buttressed with phony case studies, the book’s findings were quickly denounced by the medical establishment and seized upon just as quickly by the religious right as evidence that gay lifestyles were a choice, not an orientation.
So Masters and Johnson bear some of the blame for the “ex-gay” ministries that currently litter our cultural landscape…
The very foundation that Sorba uses to back his case is a house of cards that had already fallen. Clearly, Sorba is profoundly ignorant of his subject matter, irredeemably truth challenged or so contemptuous of his conservative readers that he believes they will take his erroneous words at face value.
I found this glaring error in about five minutes of research. I can only imagine the treasure trove of embarrassing gaffes to be found with a full-length reading. Even a cursory five-minute glance at Sorba’s sloppy research shows that he is not ready for Prime Time.
Behold the power of Fundamentalist Christian delusion.
Jacob, I don’t know who you are, but these people are predators. Your sexuality is part of you, and it has nothing to do with your drug addictions. And you don’t beat addiction to drugs by exchanging it for a dependency on profit-based faux-spiritual experiences proffered by people who use your life as a way to get rich. (See note.)
Note: It’s been brought to my attention that the leaders of IHOP live “modest lifestyles” and whatnot. This is, of course, anecdotal, and I have as of yet little knowledge of the group’s finances. What I do know is that whatever these people are selling is costly, because they deliver nothing real. They deliver empty promises and opiates for the masses. They also deliver real harm and dishonest counsel to people like Jacob. As you can see in the video, they are bolstering a young man with lies, and passing off as true testimony the preposterous idea that God has “healed” him of homosexuality. When your first exposure to a group is to their snake oil and lies, it’s not beyond the pale to suggest that someone, somewhere, is profiting off of this. But as I don’t know for sure, I wanted to amend this post to point out that these people could very well just be zealots. So there you go. Regardless, the video is painful to watch, because so many of us have been scarred by the people who perpetuate this sort of false worldview.
Huh. Since most pedophiles are straight, how are these two things related? And since most pedophiles are straight, aren’t they already allowed to serve? Convicted felon Oliver North, one of the greatest embarrassments to this nation in the past thirty years, said this on Hannity last night:
Stunning assault on the all-volunteer military, the very best in the world. Barack Obama now intents to treat them like lab rats in a radical social experiment, and it can be very, very detrimental. … In other words, this isn’t about rights. This isn’t about fairness. It’s all about national security. And apparently, Mr. Obama has forgotten it. … Now, here’s what’s next. NAMBLA [North American Man/Boy Love Association] members, same-sex marriages. Are chaplains in the U.S. military going to be required to perform those kinds of rituals? Do they get government housing?
The irony of a convicted felon who lied about diverting proceeds from arms sales to a rebel group in Nicaragua supporting a policy that forces gay and lesbian servicemen to lie about their sexual orientation was lost on both Hannity and North. The pair also failed to mention that Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen personally supports the policy’s repeal, which would have forced North to condemn him for treating the troops “like lab rats in a radical social experiment.”
It’s not quite so ironic, as I see it. Oliver North lied in the ’80s. He’s lying about DADT now. He’s a liar. That’s what liars do. Did I mention he’s a common criminal? Yeah, that too. Also.
Anyway, I guess next up, Hannity will be asking O.J. Simpson his opinions on banning knives on airplanes or something.
If you’d like to watch the video, hop over to Think Progress. No need to stink up the air around here with Oliver North’s moving mouth.
Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann loves controversy and is a regular on cable news. The New York Times reports, however, that she is severely and habitually truth challenged and has trouble separating fact from fiction.
Bachmann is a fan of conspiracy theories, such as this doosie reported in the Times article:
And in April, Ms. Bachmann told an interviewer that she found it interesting that “it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter.” She added, “And I’m not blaming this on President Carter; I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”
As it happens, the scare of the 1970s came in 1976, PolitiFact found. Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president.
Needless to say, when you are as nutty as Bachmann, you are probably anti-gay. According to the congresswoman.
“If you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.”
Yes, entering relationships that are emotionally, physically and spiritually satisfying is “bondage”. While marrying someone out of convenience or religious guilt is “healthy” for both partners. Typical Bachmann “logic”. Interesting how this dishonest Bible-thumper never brings up the “false witness” section of the Good Book.
Bachmann also believes GLBT relationships are are larger problem than a failed health care system, an absence of new jobs and even terrorism. On March 20, 2004, Bachmann said on a KKMS-AM radio program, “Prophetic Views Behind The News”:
[Same-sex marriage] is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that.”
Bachmann is also an End Times enthusiast, saying on the same KKMS program:
“We’re in a state of crisis where our nation is literally ripping apart at the seams right now, and lawlessness is occurring from one ocean to the other. And we’re seeing the fulfillment of the Book of Judges here in our own time, where every man doing that which is right in his own eyes—in other words, anarchy.”
I suggest that everyone read today’s New York Times articles about Bachmann’s aversion to honesty. This is not a brave woman who speaks her mind. But a intellectually dishonest person who sows fear and division to drive her political career. That Republicans take this individual seriously, shows how far they have strayed from the mainstream in recent years.
In a breathtaking display of lies and hypocrisy, a group of anti-gay culture warriors and long-time Mormon bashers placed a full page ad in the New York Times pretending to be both victims of alleged homosexual “mobs” and staunch defenders of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Both claims are absurd and a cruel attempt for the victimizers to claim the mantle of the victimhood – which is a manipulative and cynical political ploy.
The dishonest Times ad essentially claimed that violent mobs of gay protesters were attacking the Mormon Church and its followers in the aftermath of California voters narrowly approving Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state. They even launched a website www.NoMobVeto.org. (It seems they forget that they put basic human rights up for a vote, which is essentially mob rule)
This Times ad is full of blatant lies – much like the immoral television ads attacking same-sex families during the Prop. 8 campaign. The fact is, the vast majority of the rallies across America were peaceful. Considering gay families just got stripped of their basic rights by deception and deceit, the protests were remarkably tame. If any other group had been subject to such humiliation through a multi-million dollar smear operation, there would likely have been riots in the streets – not the fake “violence” conjured in the bogus Times ad.
The anti-gay organizations and individuals who sponsored this “Big Lie” ad are trying to pull off a remarkable feat: They are both crying wolf, while being the wolf in sheep’s clothing. The degree of chutzpah is remarkable and eye-popping. (Read More)
In a breathtaking display of lies and hypocrisy, a group of anti-gay culture warriors and long-time Mormon bashers placed a full page ad in the New York Times on Friday pretending to be both victims of alleged homosexual “mobs” and staunch defenders of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Both claims are absurd and a cruel attempt for the victimizers to claim the mantle of the victimhood – which is a manipulative and cynical political ploy, says TWO.
“These new defenders of the Mormon faith have long been the most prolific Mormon bashers in the nation, so it is remarkable to see their defense of the LDS church,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “The only thing they have in common with the Mormons is an uncommon desire to discriminate against gay and lesbian Americans. The degree of chutzpah and hypocrisy in this ad is eye-popping.”
The ad essentially claimed that violent mobs of gay protesters were attacking the Mormon Church and its followers in the aftermath of California voters narrowly approving Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state. They even launched a website www.NoMobVeto.org. (It seems they forget that they put basic human rights up for a vote, which is essentially mob rule)
This Times ad is full of blatant lies – much like the immoral television ads attacking same-sex families during the Prop. 8 campaign. We should also question the unctuous defense of Mormons by the ad’s signers (Kevin Hasson, Nathan Diament, Rich Cizik, Ronald Sider, Chuck Colson, Chris Seiple, Dr. Alveda King, William Donahue, Robert Seiple, Douglas Laycock, Marvin Olasky, Roger Scruton and Armando Valladares). (Read More)
Ex-Gay Watch reported today that anti-gay activist Greg Quinlan’s wife of three years, Cheryl Quinlan, appears to have received a decree of divorce in May of 2007, having filed the initial complaint seventeen months earlier.
Who can blame her? From my personal experience, Greg Quinlan is one of the most insufferable, dishonest and phony anti-gay zealots in the nation.
The Quinlan family shamelessly paraded their marriage through the media to prove that people could pray away the gay. Greg exploited his union in a successful political effort to ban gay people from marrying in Ohio. He and Cheryl also capitalized on their wedding by appearing in Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s hopeless “ex-gay” movie, “I Do Exist.” That Throckmorton hasn’t burned the remaining copies of this humiliating train wreck in a giant bonfire (or, more appropriately, Hellfire) says all you need to know about his values and morality.
Now, instead of being honest about his failed marriage to an “ex-lesbian,” Quinlan, also an ex-gay poster boy, slunk out of Ohio in the dead of night and went to work for the New Jersey Family Policy Council. When you go to the group’s website, they have much to say about gay people. However, notably missing from the “issues” section of the site are editorials about divorce. Perhaps, now that Quinlan has personal experience in this arena, he can contribute to the commentary. He can begin by writing an essay on why Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, but was quite clear that divorce was unacceptable.
I want to know why Quinlan is still working for a “pro-family” organization, when the one family unit he was responsible for – he destroyed. Who does this hypocrite think he is to tell me or anyone else how to run their family? Aside from wrecking a marriage, what makes this holier-than-thou busybody an expert? It seems he would get his own house in order before preaching to others. But, unfortunately, these types who fight their inner-demons by attacking others on the public stage can never mind their own business. (Read More)
“Crystal Christian” is an exciting new play with music that examines the million-dollar therapy industry of the so-called ex-gay ministries. The play itself attempts to tackle the misuse of the word unnatural in regards to sexual diversity, as well as indict the questionable methods of the ex-gay ministries’ ‘reparative therapy’. The play finds hypocrisy swarming inside the evangelical pageant, where shame is a virus. It would be hysterical if it weren’t so horrifying.
The Magic Theatre has offered to host First Sprout Theatre for a week-long workshop in mid-August that will culminate in three shows over the weekend of August 15-17, 2008 at the Magic Theatre Northside Space, Fort Mason Center, Building D.
August 15th – 8pm
August 16th – 8pm
August 17th – 2:30 pm
Tickets are ten dollars, cash only at the door of the Magic Theatre’s Northside Space. Every show is two for the price of one. Please email: firstsprout@gmail.com, to reserve seats for any of the three performances.
Poor Ryan Sorba.
by Virginia Johnson in Thomas Maier’s groundbreaking book Masters of Sex.
