Another woman has emerged accusing Herman Cain of sexual misconduct. This time, though, Cain stands accused of a thirteen-year-long consensual affair by a Georgia businesswoman. Details are emerging — an Atlanta FOX affiliate appears to be releasing the exclusive story this evening — but today’s revelations are also notable because although Cain officially denied the affair, Cain’s lawyer issued a statement to the station that didn’t, instead opting for the it’s-none-of-your-business argument:
“Mr. Cain has been informed today that your television station plans to broadcast a story this evening in which a female will make an accusation that she engaged in a 13-year long physical relationship with Mr. Cain. This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace – this is not an accusation of an assault – which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate.
Rather, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults – a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. The public’s right to know and the media’s right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one’s bedroom door. [emphasis added]
Mr. Cain has alerted his wife to this new accusation and discussed it with her. He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media.”
So apparently, on Herman Cain’s planet, it’s completely unacceptable to discuss his alleged consensual heterosexual extramarital affairs. However, when it comes to other people’s sexual orientations and the sexual expressions of said orientations, they’re fair game. In fact, Mr. Cain thinks himself such an expert on sexual orientation that he wants people to believe, against ALL evidence, that sexual orientation is a choice.
But seriously — pay no attention to this self-appointed moral scold’s own alleged sexual shenanigans. Herman Cain appears to have a particularly egregious double standard in place: he wants the right to insert himself into the bedrooms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons all across America, while simultaneously asserting that the media needs to keep the hell out of his bedroom. And remember: he’s for traditional marriage.
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Greg Quinlan’s Defamatory Claims Are a Complete Fabrication and a Brazen Attempt to Smear LGBT Organization, Says TWO
Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out reacted with outrage and disgust today to a television interview with Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), who falsely claimed that TWO Executive Director, Wayne Besen, put a hit out on his life. Quinlan is also a lobbyist for the New Jersey Family Policy Council.
On October 7, 2011 Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). The comments, first noticed by Ex-Gay Watch, came to TWO’s attention on Tuesday.
Throughout the show, Quinlan distorts reality and flat out dissembles on several subjects. However, at the 10:38 mark he fabricates an alleged hit on his life. According to Quinlan:
“Truth Wins Out if you look further, including Wayne Besen. He’s asked for people, you know, somebody needs to run Greg over. He needs to be hit with a bus. Somebody should inject him with AIDS. Those are the things that Wayne Besen and Truth Wins Out says about me. That’s pretty hateful rhetoric.”
“The bizarre and defamatory scenario portrayed by Quinlan exists only in his own mind,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “What he said is entirely fabricated and a dishonest and brazen attempt to smear me personally, destroy my reputation, and discredit the good work of Truth Wins Out.”
The integrity of PFOX has long been questioned. Its former president, Richard Cohen, was expelled for life from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations. A key member of the organization’s Speaker’s Bureau, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon sent to prison for financial fraud. In 2010, Quinlan attended a conference organized by Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, a group that is listed as a certified Southern Poverty Law Center hate group. During his speech at the meeting, Quinlan disparaged LGBT people and said that when he used to live as an openly gay man he wasn’t a “flaming faggot.”
“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.”
“It speaks to Quinlan’s character that he lies so easily and simply makes things up,” said TWO’s Besen. “I’d be willing to take a lie detector test to prove my innocence and to show that I’ve never said such vile words. Will Quinlan also take these tests to prove the ‘veracity’ of his calumny? Truth Wins Out is also exploring legal options at this time.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Herman Cain with CNN’s Piers Morgan (h/t: Rex Wockner)
On issues from evolution to climate change, the members of the GOP presidential class of 2012 (with one notable exception) have demonstrated a shocking contempt for science, dismissively tossing aside research-tested, reality-based scientific consensus and deciding instead to stick their collective heads in the sand in order to please their increasingly deranged, reactionary base. Concerned people from across the political spectrum, from Jon Huntsman to Paul Krugman, are alarmed by a Republican Party that is, to quote Mr. Krugman, “aggresively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge.”
This certainly holds true where LGBT issues are concerned. The current crop of Republican candidates have practically tripped over themselves in a quest to outdo each other in the homophobia department. Michele Bachmann, who has made opposition to LGBT rights the central pillar of her entire political career, co-owns a clinic that claims, in the face of the overwhelming medical and scientific evidence to the contrary, to be able to “pray away the gay.” Newt Gingrich and RickPerry are both enthusiastic supporters of the American Family Association, a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified hate group that actively promotes the idea that sexual orientation can be changed. Rick Santorum, whose name will be forever linked with homophobic bigotry thanks to Dan Savage, most recently raised the horrifying specter of gay soldiers showering with other soldiers as a reason to reinstate the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and publicly embraced “ex-gay” propaganda.
The GOP’s current flavor of the month, Herman Cain, has eagerly jumped onto the anti-science, gay-hating bandwagon. Earlier this month, Cain told The View’s Joy Behar that he believes homosexuality is a personal choice and issued a challenge:
“You show me the science that says that it’s not [a choice], and I could be persuaded. Right now it’s my opinion against the opinion of others who feel differently. That’s just a difference of opinion.”
Truth Wins Out, Think Progress, and other groups hit back with the facts: sexual orientation is not a choice and cannot be changed. Ours isn’t an opinion, but scientific fact.
But apparently, to Cain, facts don’t matter — he’d rather cling to his anti-gay bigotry, thank you very much. In an interviewlast night with CNN’s Piers Morgan, Herman Cain reiterated his Stone-Age, anti-science views on homosexuality: “Although people don’t agree with me, I happen to think that [homosexuality] is a personal choice.” When Morgan told the candidate that his comments were just as ridiculous as a gay person telling Cain that he chose to be black, Cain bristled: “You know that’s not true. I was born black;” he added that race “doesn’t wash off.”
Herman, Herman, Herman. I, along with most LGBT people I know, happen to be a big fan of regular bathing. Trust me: I’ve bathed over 9,700 times in my 26 years and it hasn’t washed off — I’m still gay.
Mr. Cain thinking he’s entitled to an opinion on a matter of scientific fact is quaint at best. When one considers that he’s a member of an oppressed minority group turning around and contributing to the oppression of another minority group, Mr. Cain’s bigotry seems tragic, hypocritical, and profoundly sad. When one remembers that Herman Cain is seeking the office of the Presidency of the United States, it becomes a cause for alarm. His dangerously unscientific views about LGBT people render him unfit for that office.
This is Aaron Barton, a purported “ex-gay,” telling his story. The unedited video is here if you want to see it, but commentary has been added, to rebut every single one of Barton’s “ex-gay” talking points/lies, within the video, so that’s handy. If you know someone who is caught up in the “ex-gay” scam — perhaps you’re coming out of it and still know people on the inside — share this video with them. Here’s part of Matt Algren’s reaction:
I feel bad for Aaron Barton. He’s so sad, so bottled up, so ashamed. Really, this video, and his act of accepting applause for lying about who he is, is a form of mortification. The only difference between him and the medieval monks is that instead of flagellating his flesh, Barton abuses his soul.
Perhaps that’s the only way he can feel.
This is his life, the life he chose instead of standing up to his family’s shame and his church’s bigotry. And for that, I feel pity for Barton.
We do feel bad for people like Aaron. But as Matt points out, at this point Aaron is choosing to harm himself AND OTHERS by spreading this crap. He may be truly brainwashed into believing that what he is saying is true. He may be so terrified of the imaginary hell that people no more informed than he have passed down as a torture myth for generations upon generations. I don’t know. But the blood is still on the hands of any of those who try to pass off these sorts of lies. We already know there’s a bodycount involved. And this being Truth Wins Out, we also know what happens to people who have been through the “ex-gay” wringer.
Look at the screen cap for this video. His eyes look almost dead. That’s what “ex-gay” scams do, as they convince people to repress their very souls and replace all that with code words and catchphrases, talking points and lies. And now, having seen that, hit play and see if the eyes come to life.
My favorite part is just under three minutes in, when he describes how he started to lose his shame over his true self when he finally found people who weren’t pig ignorant bigots like the people who raised him, how he started to feel comfortable in his own skin. The charlatans who have washed his mind of rational thought have somehow helped him turn that story into a negative. Fundamentalist Christianity is such a freaking weird cult.
Aaron: Whenever you need us, whenever you get the point that you simply can’t continue living a lie, whenever you realize that your parents and church don’t have your best interests at heart, but their own, we’ll be here. You can even still be a Christian! There’s an app for that, or maybe Kathy Baldock could help out.
And, in case you missed my favorite quote from the on-screen commentary:
“If God can’t cure little Jessica of leukemia, He’s not going to waste time making me crave vaginas.” That’s a winner right there.
Aside: I am so utterly unsurprised that this happened in Augusta, Georgia. I had the misfortune to live in that city for a year, and I have never been surrounded by so much abject, willful stupidity and bigotry in my life. There are good, decent people there, to be sure, probably enough to fill the outside seating area at well-appointed Starbucks. But the rest of them? Holy crap. However! I also am aware that the most exclusive private high school in Augusta now has a gay/straight alliance. It was started by a straight guy. So there is always hope for future Aaron Bartons, that they might hear the message, even among the most poorly educated, most highly bigoted people in this country, that it can and will get better for them. [Get the hell out of Augusta immediately after graduation.]
Alvin McEwen and Jeremy Hooper have done the hard work in going line by line through NOM’s list of talking points, riddled as they are with inaccuracies and outright lies, and created handy, fact-based rebuttals for each and every one. I’d recommend that you read all of it, and bookmark it for later use, you know, in case you’re ever waiting in line behind Maggie Gallagher at the Big Lots, or speaking to a person on the fence.
I particularly like the first talking point from NOM, because Maggie and Brian waste absolutely no time in using race as a wedge issue to divide people. The talking point, and then Alvin and Jeremy’s refutation:
NOM – 1. Are you a bigot? “Why do you want to take away people’s rights?”
“Isn’t it wrong to write discrimination into the constitution?”
A: “Do you really believe people like me who believe mothers and fathers both matter to kids are like bigots and racists? I think that’s pretty offensive, don’t you? Particularly to the 60 percent of African-Americans who oppose same-sex marriage. Marriage as the union of husband and wife isn’t new; it’s not taking away anyone’s rights. It’s common sense.”
Truth – This an unfair generalization of the argument for marriage equality. However, if one was to go there, one could point to the many instances of those claiming to protect marriage making homophobic comments which belie the claim that they simply believe that “mothers and fathers matter to kids.”
They go on to point out myriad examples of anti-gay bigots using anti-gay, bigoted language about gay people, which gives lie to their claim that this is just about “people who believe kids need mothers and fathers.” But more interesting to me is the fact that they suggest that it’s really offensive to call bigots what they are, considering the fact that many black people hold bigoted views on this issue. As if Maggie and Brian are really the ones out there fighting for racial minorities…
The second refuted talking point is one that Maggie and Brian deal with a lot, as people correctly make the connection in their minds between anti miscegenation laws and anti-gay marriage laws:
NOM – 2. Isn’t the ban on gay marriage like bans on interracial marriage?
A: “Bans on interracial marriage were about keeping two races apart so that one race could oppress the other. Marriage is about bringing two sexes together, so that children get the love of their own mom and a dad, and women don’t get stuck with the enormous disadvantages of parenting alone.” “Having a parent of two different races is just not the same as being deprived of your mother—or your father.”
Truth – Racists believed that interracial marriage would create genetically inferior children. Some opposing marriage equality claim that it would create conditions placing children in danger.
But neither view is backed by science. Children born from interracial relationships are not inferior. In that same vein, the majority of studies which look at children in same-sex households have found that they suffer no adverse effects.
I really enjoy that NOM lie because it can so easily be turned on its head. Basically all they do is take two bigoted things — bans on interracial and same-sex marriage — and leave the language negative for the former, while using positive words for the second. ”Bans on interracial marriage were about keeping two races apart…marriage is about bringing two sexes together.” But now, let’s turn it around! ”Bans on interracial marriage are about bringing two white people together, while bans on marriage equality are about keeping two people who love each other apart, based on the fact that we don’t like the genital composition of the household.”
See? Language is fun! The truth of the matter is that both kinds of bans are, of course, discriminatory and hateful and sane people everywhere understand that.
There is so very much more where that came from, as I said, so hop over to Alvin’s joint for the rest.
U.S. Based Ex-Gay Program On Global Crusade to Convert Gays, Says TWO
Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen will give a presentation in Belfast on the harm caused by the so-called “ex-gay” industry, which unsuccessfully tries to turn gay people straight through prayer and therapy. The multi-media event is sponsored by Changing Attitudes Ireland and will occur on Wednesday, April 21 at 7:30 PM in the Central Hall of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, Rosemary St.
The following day, American ex-gay activist Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, will host the “Leaving Homosexuality Celebration”. The anti-gay event is sponsored by Core, a fundamentalist ministry that claims to, “support local churches in their efforts to provide appropriate pastoral support for those with unwanted same sex attraction. The service recognizes God’ grace for many individuals making the journey out of homosexuality.”
“Exodus is targeting Ireland and other countries because they have been thoroughly debunked and discredited in America,” said Wayne Besen, founder and Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Their antiquated efforts are rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization and they have left a trail of hurt and suffering. Having failed at home they are now looking for fertile territory abroad where they can exploit desperate and vulnerable people and profit from their pain. We urge people to explore the group’ dismal record and history of scandal before giving Exodus money.”
Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2006, Besen was named one of the Advocate Magazine’ “People of the Year” for his work with TWO. (Read More)
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Anti-gay organizations have a profound disrespect for their followers. It is accurate to conclude that they believe their flocks are stupid and can be counted on to not think for themselves. Thus, we see these sheep force fed obvious lies and distortions – and the membership of such anti-gay groups appear to eat it up.
To the point, the American Family Association put out a breathless article basically making stuff up about hate crimes legislation winding its way though Congress. According top the AFA:
Here’s what wrong with the “hate crimes” bill:
AFA: It criminalizes thought. For the first time in American history, criminal penalties are being attached to thoughts, not actions. Perpetrators will receive extra punishment not for what they did but for what they were thinking when they did it.
FACT CHECK: No one will be prosecuted simply for what they think or say. The law only applies if violent action is also involved. One would think that a “Christian” group would approve of this – but apparently, the AFA is opposed to all efforts to stop anti-gay violence. Furthermore, hate crime legislation is not new, it has existed for years in several states and the federal level covering categories, such as race, national origin and religion. All the current legislation would do would add sexual orientation and gender identity these other categories. The AFA would have more credibility if it worked to strip religion from existing hate crime laws.
AFA: It endangers freedom of religion and speech. Everywhere in the world “hate crimes” laws have gone into effect, they have quickly been used to harass, intimidate, silence and punish people of faith. Your pastor could go to jail if even a tenuous link could be established between a sermon on homosexuality and some act of violence.
FACT CHECK: According to the Human Rights Campaign, all but five states (Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming) have laws addressing hate crimes. Indeed, 36 states have hate crime laws that include sexual orientation. In these states – representing the vast majority of Americans – the dire warnings by the AFA have not come to pass. In other words, if you are an AFA follower, this group is lying to you and trying to scare you into giving them money.
AFA: It destroys the American principle of equality under the law. It creates a judicial caste system, in which some victims get more legal protection than others. It actively discriminates against heterosexuals by giving them less protection in law than victims who engage in non-normative sexual behaviors.
FACT CHECK: As stated above, several classes – including religion – are already covered by state and federal hate crime laws. So, the only people suffering inequality are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans who are not yet covered. The passage of this new law will change this injustice.
AFA: In a devious maneuver by Democrats, it’s attached to a Defense Appropriations bill. Our military deserves a stand-alone vote on funding.
FACT CHECK: Attaching small measures to larger bills is the way Washington works. If the AFA has an issue with it, they can’t just speak up and whine when it is bill that will protect gay people. To do so reveals that AFA is a narrow special interest group with an anti-gay agenda.
The bottom line is, if I sent such inaccurate, anti-intellectual garbage to the Truth Wins Out membership, they would laugh in my face and quit the organization. Yet, the members of The American Family Association are continuously mocked and disrespected by the AFA – yet they keep sending money and support.
Folks, get educated and think for yourself, it will change your life.
Truth Wins Out (TWO) today called on Parents and Friends of “Ex-Gays’ (PFOX) to clarify whether it actually filed a frivolous lawsuit against the Washington, DC Office of Human Rights. PFOX claimed it launched its alleged suit because so-called “ex-gays” are not protected under its sexual orientation anti-discrimination law.
At the request of a reporter, D.C. Superior Court looked through all the court’s case records and could find no “lawsuit” filed by PFOX against the D.C. Office of Human Rights. What they found was a filing called a “Petition for Review of Agency Decision.” The court does not consider this a lawsuit.
PFOX responded to the Washington Blade by calling their cockamamie legal maneuver a “lawsuit of sorts.” I guess this is similar to their absurd sexual engineering program that produces heterosexuals of sorts.
“PFOX needs to clarify whether they filed an actual lawsuit, or was this simply another one of their bizarre publicity stunts,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “This is one of the most outrageously dishonest organizations in America, so nothing would surprise me.”
PFOX is a political organization that sells the idea that people can “pray away the gay.” It was founded by lawyer Roy Cohn’ ex-boyfriend, Anthony Falzarono, and bankrolled by the Family Research Council. It was later run by therapist Richard Cohen, who was banned for life by the American Counseling Association. The current leader is Regina Griggs, who has an openly gay son.
‘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 onlineCLICK HERE.
Or – send a check to: Truth Wins Out; P.O. Box 25491; Brooklyn, NY 11202
David Benkof likes to portray himself as a courageous man who tells difficult truths about gay life. Originally, he agreed to defend his many outrageous anti-gay positions on an August 22, National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association (NLGJA) panel. I was also scheduled to appear and was prepared to challenge his irrational and inflammatory arguments.
Unfortunately, Mr. Benkof announced today that he is withdrawing from the event unless I “switch to a different panel.” In an e-mail exchange, he told me that I should also pay for his plane ticket, even though I am paying my own way. (This was odd, as he boasted he was making a lot of money publishing in mainstream news publications)
To pull out at this late date and demand “travel welfare” highlights a deep character deficit and shows Benkof’s fear of a direct challenge to his lightweight arguments.
In my view, Benkof is only capable of fooling the uninformed and gullible with sophistic arguments that show his utter lack of knowledge and cluelessness to historical precedent. Benkof understands in his heart that he is deficient in intellectual heft and academic discipline and thus must avoid face-to-face exchanges of ideas. His cowardice is understandable, considering the flimsy arguments that he would be forced to defend – but still disappointing. It seems Benkof would rather hide behind the Internet and lob rhetorical bombs, than sit in the hot seat and answer questions about how he misrepresents himself, misquotes people and distorts the truth.
If I had to lie and mislead people as much as Benkof, I’d be shy about debating in public too.
Another woman has emerged accusing Herman Cain of sexual misconduct. This time, though, Cain stands accused of a thirteen-year-long consensual affair by a Georgia businesswoman. Details are emerging — an Atlanta FOX affiliate appears to be releasing the exclusive story this evening — but today’s revelations are also notable because although Cain officially denied the affair, Cain’s lawyer issued a statement to the station that didn’t, instead opting for the it’s-none-of-your-business argument:
Greg Quinlan’s Defamatory Claims Are a Complete Fabrication and a Brazen Attempt to Smear LGBT Organization, Says TWO
