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LGBT Groups to Host Week of Education, Entertainment, and Protests to Show Harm of ‘Ex-Gay’ Programs in Houston

What: On September 10, the infamous “ex-gay” organization Exodus International will host Love Won Out in Houston, which is a quarterly road show promoting the false and dangerous idea that one can “pray away the gay.” (Sugar Creek Baptist Church)

In response, a coalition of local and national LGBT organizations will host a weeklong series of educational and entertainment events highlighting the harm caused by “ex-gay” programs. The week will conclude with a Saturday protest outside Love Won Out and an MCC church service highlighting the values of love, inclusion, diversity, tolerance, pluralism, and acceptance.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (All events open to media)

Opening Night: Overview of ‘Ex-Gay’ Ministries with Wayne Besen

Wednesday, September 7
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Resurrection MCC (2025 West 11th Street, Houston TX)
Presentation followed by a Pastors’ Panel and Q&A Session

Facebook Event Page

Event Info: Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen will discuss in an acclaimed multi-media presentation the history of ‘ex-gay’ programs, the techniques used, the key players involved and political context in which these dangerous programs operate. Besen is the architect of the recent undercover operation that revealed that the clinic of Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, practiced “ex-gay” therapy. Besen is the author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. He has appeared on leading shows including: NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, ABC’s Good Morning America, FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Film Screening: This is What Love in Action Looks Like

Thursday, September 8
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Resurrection MCC (2025 West 11th Street, Houston TX)

Facebook Event Page

Event Info: America was captivated when Zach Stark, a gay teenager, was forced by his parents into the Memphis “ex-gay” ministry Love in Action (LIA) against his will. This is What Love in Action Looks Like is a new film that explores the controversial LIA experience and shows how youth are coerced into “ex-gay” programs. Film director Morgan Jon Fox and interviewee Brandon Tidwell will be on-hand to answer questions about the film and “ex-gay” programs.

One Man Show: Peterson Toscano

Friday, September 9
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Resurrection MCC (2025 West 11th Street, Houston TX)

Facebook Event Page

Event Info: Celebrated comedian and actor Peterson Toscano shares his own story of trying to ‘de-gay’ himself and the process he took to integrate his sexuality with all parts of his life. In this presentation you will witness the Best of Peterson Toscano as he presents excerpts from original plays including The Re-Education of George W. Bush, Queer 101–Now I Know my gAy,B,Cs, and Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House. Peterson will also share extracts from his newest play, Transfigurations, which looks at the stories and lives of transgender Bible characters. Peterson is the co-founder of Beyond Ex-Gay and has been featured on the Montel Williams Show, The Tyra Banks Show, FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, and the BBC.

Protest of Exodus International’s Love Won Out

Saturday, September 10
11:30AM – 1:00PM
Outside the Sugar Creek Baptist Church (13333 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land, TX)

Facebook Event Page

Founded in 1972, Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church serves more than 850 members and friends and is one of the largest congregations within Metropolitan Community Churches, a Christian denomination with churches in more than 35 countries. The church is widely known for its positive, affirming ministry to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, along with their friends, families and allies, and for its strong commitment to social justice as an expression of the congregation’s Christian faith. For additional information on the ministry, services, and programs of Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, visit www.ResurrectionMCC.org.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

Oh, and the snapshots of the “ex-gays” who will be speaking at the next Love Won Out are pretty depressing too.

On the other hand, the shot of Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka with their kiddos does more for our side then anything we could say, and it’s hilariously featured in this video for Exodus’s “Love Won Out” roadshow, so that truly makes this failure in video form.

Oh, and the part where they show the pictures of Alan Chambers and Joe Dallas looks like an ad for a special fundraiser at a leather bar, or something along those lines.

Anyway.

[h/t Jeremy]

This week, the “ex-gay” organization Exodus International posted a cruel and misleading video on its blog where the group’s president, Alan Chambers, made the outrageous claim that, “Homosexuality will disappoint you.”

In reality, it is Exodus that will disappoint, with its remarkable failure rate and potential for real psychological harm. (There is a good reason Exodus does not keep statistics) The only way, it seems, clients “change” their sexual orientation is to join the Exodus staff and get paid to say they have converted.

Chambers’ claim is patently absurd. Neither homosexuality, nor heterosexuality, can disappoint. Both orientations represent sexual arousal and love — both wonderful feelings of joy and satisfaction. I suppose what Chambers is inartfully alluding too, is that if a person comes out, they will be let down by some who they want to share a sexual and romantic relationship.

Of course, this is true. When you come out, I can guarantee that there will be sexual and emotional interests that will not reciprocate. This will, no doubt, be disappointing.

Surely, Chambers can’t be suggesting that such disappointments are exclusive to LGBT people. How then does he explain the high divorce rate in America? How does he rationalize the jukeboxes filled with songs for the love sick and broken hearted? How does he justify the existence of online dating sites and personal ads if heterosexual happiness is so magically easy? If heterosexual marriage is so perfect, who is frequenting the prostitutes walking the street or selling their wares on the Internet?

Obviously, both sexual orientations can bring bliss or brokenness; ecstasy or despair. For Chambers to suggest that gay people have a monopoly on loneliness and relationship troubles is disingenuous. What he is really trying to do is scare LGBT teenagers into believing that if they come out they will be miserable. This is simply untrue and such lies are why it is difficult to trust or respect Alan Chambers.

If the first lie was not bad enough, Chambers resorts to biblical blackmail and spiritual abuse when he says:

“In God’s word, it says, ‘this is not what I created you for. I didn’t create you for this. This is a counterfeit of my best.’”

If Chambers’ sexuality is so real, why was he impotent for the first six months of his marriage? It seems he was trying to be someone that he was not meant to be. Indeed, Box Turtle Bulletin’s Jim Burroway recorded Chambers at a 2007 Love Won Out conference in Phoenix saying that each morning he wakes up and prays, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without you. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me.’”

And he calls the love of LGBT people counterfeit?

Next, Chambers offers this bit of advice:

“Don’t defer hope by getting involved in homosexuality. Or continuing in homosexuality. It is deferring hope and it will make your heart sick….homosexuality is a poor substitute.”

Deferring hope of what? The Exodus activist told the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 2007, “By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.”

Is he seriously peddling sexual repression as “hope”? And, with endless examples of happy LGBT couples, how exactly will one’s heart get sick? Again, Chambers is trying to spook young people into signing up for his useless “pray away the gay” seminars, which fund his salary.

Alan then goes on to say:

“Many of you people would not be here if your hearts weren’t sick.”

I would agree with his assessment. When one denies reality and subjugates his or her real sexual orientation — the result can be sickness. Lying to oneself about something so fundamental can do serious emotional and psychological damage. The fact that the audience paid to listen to this charlatan, does increase the chance that they are internally ripping themselves to shreds. Unfortunately, Chambers false and destructive message is not the panacea, but the root of the pain. Exodus is the problem. not the solution.

The “ex-gay” activist then cunningly offers a disclaimer that absolves himself and his failed organization from the eventual, dare I say, “disappointment”:

“God is here. He will meet your need if you trust him. If you ask him to do something in your life, he’ll do it. It may not be exactly the way you wanted it to be done. It may not be exactly what you, um, think he was going to do. Or in the time that he, you expected him to do it. But he’ll do something in your life.”

If you read between the lines, Chambers is covering his ass by essentially saying, “You will be a paying customer in my racket for a real long time and don’t expect to see any tangible signs of heterosexuality.”

Of course, the silly claim that “God is doing something” is deceptive and unverifiable. It could be claimed that God made the sun shine today, thus he did “something” in your life. But, the truth is, the vast majority of people who attend Exodus retreats are desperately trying to go from gay-to-straight. If they were simply trying to find Jesus, they could have just as easily have done so by staying home and saving money by praying at the local church. But, no, they fly off to the Exodus event not simply to have God do “something”. They usually want God to do something very specific, which is change their sexual orientation.

Interestingly, Chambers continues his speech by basically saying that his organization has no real product and it is all in the Lord’s hands.

“If your heart is sick, you can find healing here. Not because this is Exodus International and we cure people, because we don’t. We simply stand up here as facilitators in a process and point to the only one that can help you, the only one that can save you. the only one who can heal you.”

How convenient. When the paying customers don’t get what they came for, it’s not Exodus’ fault. It’s the customer’s fault for not pleasing the man upstairs. Is this not the perfect scheme?

Chambers reiterates — even though he is the one who cashes the checks — that God is the only one who gives the green light to leaving the gay behind.

“You are not going to get cured this week. We can’t cure you. I can’t cure you. But the truth is, God can.”

So, the questions often asked by Exodus’ distraught and disillusioned religious clients are: “How come God chose not to cure me? Does God not love me? What did I do wrong?”

Clearly, it is not a leap to see how Exodus’ message can lead to suicide, depression and self-destructive behavior. It’s even sadder that Chambers runs a program called Exodus Youth, in which he peddles his guilt-inducing lies to impressionable teenagers who are told by family members that they are bad people and going to hell if they are gay.

Exodus is an organization that thrives on slick marketing campaigns, selling half-truths, fudging facts, and playing semantic games. It takes advantage of vulnerable and desperate people and exacerbates their trauma. This video is Exhibit A in showing how Exodus is a destructive organization that should close its doors before more innocent people are harmed.

Gay Groups To Protest ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy Organization NARTH In Philadelphia, Saturday, Nov. 6

Demonstration Takes On New Urgency Following LGBT Teen Suicide Crisis

What: A coalition of local and statewide LGBT organizations will protest the annual conference of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), on Saturday, Nov. 6 (noon-1:30 PM). The so-called “ex-gay” group falsely believes that homosexuality is a psychological condition that can be cured through prayer and therapy. The organizations protesting want to send the message that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are fine just the way they are, and that you can’t “pray away the gay.”

The LGBT advocacy groups will be joined by mental health professionals, survivors of “ex-gay” therapy and nationally known LGBT bloggers. The demonstrators will point out that “ex-gay” therapy is harmful, ineffective and a fringe practice that is rejected by every respected medical and mental health association in America. The protest takes on new urgency, following a series of teen suicides due to anti-gay bullying.

Theme: The notorious “ex-gay” group NARTH is hoping that Americans have amnesia and don’t remember that its most “prominent” board member, George Rekers, was forced to resign in May. Rekers stepped down after he was caught vacationing with a male escort he met on RentBoy.com. When asked why he had hired the young man, Rekers said it was to, “lift his luggage.” The theme of this event is “Lift My Luggage” and protesters are urged to bring luggage to the protest (pink luggage would be ideal).

Location: Saturday, Nov. 6
Noon-1:30PM
Renaissance Philadelphia Airport Hotel, 500 Stevens Drive

Who: The Lift My Luggage demonstration is co-sponsored by Truth Wins Out, Equality Pennsylvania, PFLAG, Equality Forum, The William Way LGBT Community Center, MCC Philadelphia, The Mazzoni Center, ex-gay therapy survivor Chaim Levin, Pam Spaulding (Pam’s House Blend), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God), Jeremy Hooper (Good As You) and Zack Ford (ZackFordBlogs.com).

Bonus: November 5th-7th Soulforce will host a symposium exposing ex-gay quack therapy that will feature Jay Bakker, Dr. Daniel Helminiak, Peterson Toscano, Christine Bakke. It will be a great weekend of protest and learning about the ex-gay myth.

Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org

Demonstration Against ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Takes On New Urgency Following LGBT Teen Suicide Crisis

PHILADELPHIA – Truth Wins Out launched the website, Lift My Luggage.org, today and announced a Saturday, Nov.6 protest against the “ex-gay” organization, The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), at their annual convention in Philadelphia.

The notorious “ex-gay” group is hoping that Americans have amnesia and won’t remember that its most “prominent” board member, George Rekers, was forced to resign in May. Rekers stepped down from NARTH after he was caught vacationing with a male escort he met on Rent Boy.com. When asked why he had hired the young man, Rekers said it was to, “lift his luggage.”

“As the infamous quacks at NARTH gather for their annual convention, let’s remind America that NARTH is a pseudo-scientific organization that is more about luring Rent Boys than conducting legitimate research,” said Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen. “In light of recent gay teen suicides, we must stand up and show how NARTH’s lies harm LGBT youth and create an intolerant climate where persecution, bullying, and violence occur.”

The Lift My Luggage demonstration is co-sponsored by the Equality Forum, The William Way LGBT Community Center, MCC Philadelphia, Pam Spaulding (Pam’s House Blend), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) and Jeremy Hooper (Good As You), Zack Ford (Zack Ford Blog). If your organization would like to consider co-sponsoring this event, please contact Wayne Besen, wbesen@truthwinsout.org.

Protest Information:

What: Protest of NARTH’s annual convention. We are asking that you bring your own luggage to the demonstration (pink luggage would be ideal).

Please consider attaching signs to the luggage such as:

NARTH = Junk Science

“Ex-Gay? No Way”

“Rent Boy Rekers”

Where: Renaissance Philadelphia Airport Hotel
500 Stevens Drive
Philadelphia, Pa.

When: Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010
Noon-1:30 PM

Anti-Gay Industry Responsible For Creating Hostile Climate That Leads To Such Tragedies, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out expressed a sense of deep sorrow and loss as news of three gay teen suicides in September rocked the LGBT movement. In each case, the victim was a target of relentless harassment and bullying by school peers. Truth Wins Out blames the anti-gay industry and negligent school officials for creating a hostile climate that places lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at risk for psychological abuse, violence and suicide.

“Our hearts go out to the families of these young men and we feel a deep sense of sorrow and regret for these needless tragedies,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We blame the anti-gay industry for fighting measures to end bullying in schools, and school officials who turn a blind eye to brutality. We are fed up with what amounts to anti-gay schoolyard muggings that are foolishly dismissed as ‘boys being boys’. In reality, it is ‘boys beating boys’, and these bullies receive tacit approval for their violent, homophobic behavior by teachers and certain vocal segments of society.”

Through their annual “Day of Truth” campaign and TrueTolerance.org web site, Focus on the Family and the “ex-gay” group Exodus International actively and continuously obstruct anti-bullying programs in schools across the country. Instead of opposing violence, both organizations remain dedicated to pretending the problem of anti-gay bullying does not exist, or downplaying the deadly results.

“The goal of Exodus International and Focus on the Family is to purge LGBT people from society, although they disingenuously frame the issue as eliminating homosexuality, which is not possible,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “When you target homosexuality, the result is persecution and punishment of LGBT people, and in many cases it leads to gay bashing or suicides. The anti-gay industry should dismantle these despicable programs and work towards creating solutions instead of suicides.”

In September, there have been three gay teen suicides as a result of school bullying:

• Seth Walsh, the Bakersfield, CA 13-year-old who hanged himself from a tree in his back yard after years of being bullied, died Tuesday afternoon after nine days on life support. Police investigators interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he hanged himself. “Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears,” Police Chief Jeff Kermode said. “They had never expected an outcome such as this.”

• Asher Brown, 13, an eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston Texas. Brown, his family said, was “bullied to death” — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.

• Billy (William) Lucas, 15, a student at Greensburg Community High School in Greensburg, IN, was found dead in a barn at his grandmother’s home Thursday evening — he had hanged himself. Friends say that he had been tormented for years. “He was threatened to get beat up every day,” friend and classmate Nick Hughes said. “Sometimes in classes, kids would act like they were going to punch him and stuff and push him. Some people at school called him names,” Hughes said, saying most of those names questioned Lucas’ sexual orientation.

“This insanity must stop and all school districts must commit to making school safe for LGBT students,” said TWO’s Besen. “It is inexcusable and unconscionable that bullying is tolerated in this day and age. Those responsible for allowing such tragedies to occur should be held responsible.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism. TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their misinformation and exposes their leaders as charlatans. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

TRAGIC UPDATES:

• A Rutgers University freshman posted a goodbye message on his Facebook page before jumping to his death after his roommate secretly filmed him during a “sexual encounter” in his dorm room and posted it live on the Internet.Items belonging to 18-year-old Rutgers student Tyler Clementi were found by the George Washington Bridge last week, according to authorities. Clementi’s freshman ID card and driver’s license were in the wallet.Clementi’s post on his Facebook page, dated Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m. read, “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.”

• School bullies broke the arm of eleven year-old Tyler Wilson because he joined the cheering team. But he’s pushing through it, and he’s going to cheer and not give into the thugs. A longer report and full interview with Tyler and his mom from Good Morning America are here.

Tracy Baim, author of the new book, Obama and the Gays, reported on a protest outside Exodus International‘s ex-gay roadshow Love Won Out, which took place this weekend in Rockford IL.:

About two dozen LGBTs and allies showed up to protest the Exodus International “ex-gay” conference in Rockford Saturday, Sept. 25.

Representatives from Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the Gay Liberation Network, and Diversity of Rockford spent two hours outside the church, and were given honks of support from most drivers speeding by the Rockford First Church on Spring Creek Road. One man in a red pickup truck yelled “faggot” as he sped by.

Rockford First Lead Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt came out to greet the protesters, accompanied by Lisa, who did not give her last name. But he was not there to accept them, just to shake hands. When asked what his church believes about gays, he said they follow “what the Bible says.” Pressed further, he said they have church members who are struggling to overcome homosexuality, and that those people are welcome in his church. Basically, the “hate the sin, love the sinner” argument. But he quickly steered away from the media and went back into the conference.

Exodus International is a group of alleged “ex-gays,” and the conference was called “Love Won Out.”

“Love Won Out sugarcoats bigotry with messages of a loving god, while supporting discrimination against [ LGBT ] people in employment, housing, public accommodations,” said David Kirk, one of the protest organizers and a native of Rockford, in an advance press release. “They target vulnerable young Americans with a fake ‘therapy’ program denounced by every major professional psychological association. It is nothing more than a textbook case of brainwashing.”

As the press release for the protest stated: “And more than just gays and lesbians are hurt by Exodus’s bromides. ‘Ex-Gay’ congregants are typically urged to stay in loveless heterosexual marriages, despite the pain that it causes their partners. Their own leaders periodically scandalize the movement by ‘going off the wagon’ and engaging in gay sex.”

READ FULL REPORT

The “ex-gay” umbrella organization Exodus International has never been particularly good with numbers. The group refuses to keep statistics on its failure rate or disclose the number of people who have attempted suicide as a result of its destructive work. If Alan Chambers, its moody Executive Director (pictured), is feeling bubbly, he will make the wild, unsubstantiated claim that there are hundreds of thousands of unseen “ex-gays”. On a more melancholy day, he will say there are merely “thousands” of re-closeted homosexuals.

Chambers may have topped himself with digit dumbness, however, when he heads to a splashy conference in Irvine, California next week to celebrate Exodus’ 35^th birthday. The problem is the organization, founded in 1976, is only 34 years old. Whoops.

In a recent statement, Chambers explained that frequent faux pas, such as Exodus board member Don Schmierer attending a Uganda genocidal conference that pledged to “wipe out” homosexuality, is a result of growing pains.

“We are a large and diverse organization made up of many members,” said Chambers. “Our growth over the years has caused us to not always know what the hand or foot are doing, which sometimes causes us to look like we are “all butt’. That’ humanity for you, even Christian humanity.”

Actually, Mr. Chambers, most growing organizations don’t “inadvertently” end up at seminars calling for the elimination of minorities. But, above and beyond this minor detail, Exodus has very little to actually celebrate in California.

In its horrific wake, a survivors group has sprung up that is dedicated to helping people who have been harmed by “ex-gay” programs. And, at least two organizations exist to help straight spouses cope with the devastation of learning they are married to a closeted homosexual. In light of this dark reality, it seems more appropriate that Exodus repent instead of revel.

Sadly, Exodus — as well as Focus on the Family — is whitewashing its sordid past. While promoting its anniversary, the inconvenient fact that Exodus co-founder, Michael Bussee, left the organization to marry Gary Cooper, who also served as an Exodus spokesperson, is omitted from press materials.

Lost in the misleading cheerleading is that Exodus is on a steep decline. In 1998, the Religious Right saw “ex-gay” organizations as saviors and a bulwark against increasing acceptance of homosexuality. Fifteen powerful anti-gay organizations launched a one million dollar newspaper and television campaign to say that people could “pray away the gay.” They called this assault the “Normandy Landing in the Cultural Wars.”

Twelve years later, the bloom is off the rose. For example, Focus on the Family essentially pawned its “ex-gay” road show, Love Won Out, with Exodus having been downgraded from opening act to circus act. Here are a few factors that have led to Exodus’ slow demise:

Scandals: The gains of the 1998 campaign were reversed after I photographed “ex-gay” poster boy John Paulk in a gay bar in Sept. 2000. In 2003, attorney Michael Hamar and I discovered that the TV star of that ad campaign, Michael Johnston, was meeting men on the Internet for sex. This forced “ex-gay” groups to stop talking about their programs in terms of a “cure” and they began portraying it as more of a process. The thought of a lifelong “struggle” defined by sexual frustration and loneliness was significantly less appealing for potential clients than the magic remedy that had previously been promoted.

Watchdogs: Prior to 1998, few people paid attention to these groups. However, a network of dedicated observers emerged following the ad campaign to challenge the lies of “ex-gay” organizations.

The Program: Exodus believes that bad parenting or sexual abuse makes a person gay. The way to heterosexuality is to become platonic friends with people of the same sex. As more LGBT people came out who did not fit into this fabricated pseudo-Freudian paradigm, it was clear the actual cause and effect model promoted by Exodus was pure, unscientific nonsense.

APA Report: Last year, the American Psychological Association released a landmark report that said there is no evidence that “reparative therapy” works and that it can often be harmful. Every respected mental health organization in America agrees with the APA’ assessment.

George Rekers: The final nail in the coffin was the recent George Rekers scandal, where the anti-gay “expert” was caught hiring an escort on RentBoy.com to “lift his luggage”. This reinforced the emerging consensus that “ex-gay” groups are no more than chuckle-worthy “closet assistance programs”.

On Saturday, I will join nationally recognized advocates at the Irvine United Congregational Church (9-5PM) at a conference to crash Exodus’ gay-bashing birthday bash. While Exodus will continue its efforts to exploit vulnerable people, that market is thankfully shrinking by the day. When Exodus is finished blowing out the candles, they might realize the lights went out on their miserable ministry some time ago.

We have not yet won this fight, but we are certainly close to victory.

Once again, Exodus International is lying about what it offers potential clients. In this slick video promoting its upcoming road show in Irvine, California, Exodus peddles false hope when it asks, “Is freedom from homosexuality possible?” The group is playing semantic games at the price of the mental health of desperate and vulnerable people Exodus purports to assist.

The organization’s leaders, in rare moments of candor, answer the question of “freedom” by saying that one can, with great difficulty, alter behavior but the underlying gay feelings will always stay the same:

Alan Chambers
“One thing we can expect as Christians is a life of denial. I don’t think we’re afraid to tell people that they may have a lifetime of struggle. Freedom isn’t the absence of struggle, but the life of struggle with joy in the process.” (Christianity Today, Sept. 13, 2007)

“By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.” (Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2007)

Sexual orientation “isn’t a light switch that you can switch on and off.” (Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2007)

“And so every single morning — this is a ritual for me — I wake up and I say, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without You. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me.’” (Love Won Out, Phoenix, Feb. 10, 2007, www.boxturtlebulletin.com)

Chambers told One News Now that he had never met someone who had a “sudden or complete change when it came to homosexuality.” He told the news service that he believes that God gives people the ability to overcome on a daily basis, rather than “a complete transformation in an instant.” (One News Now, June 22, 2007)

“I don’t think change is going from gay to straight. Just saying that doesn’t sound like an accurate representation of what Exodus facilitates or proclaims.” (Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, pg. 35, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)

“To say that Exodus is a great healer and the place for people to become straight, I would think that is not right. If there are Exodus ministries that do that, we need to change that. We need to work on that.” (Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, pg. 35, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)

“Put me in a bathhouse, would I find people attractive or would it stir me, it probably would. I’m not a raging heterosexual where I have to worry about if a lady walks in the room and I have to turn my head, while some guys are like that.” Anything But Straight, pg. 58, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)

Joe Dallas, Speaker, Focus on the Family’ Love Won Out tour
“No one has ever left therapy saying, “Wow, I have absolutely no homosexual thoughts.” (Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1990)

Jeff Konrad, Author, You Don’t Have To Be Gay
“Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t lust for women as some men do; that is not healthy behavior either.” (“You Don’t Have to Be Gay,” Pg. 280, Pacific Publishing House, 1987)

Alan Medinger, Author, Growth Into Manhood
“If an attractive man and an attractive woman enter a room, it is the man I will look at first.” (The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 1993)

There you go folks – the real truth behind the fancy video. Exodus is selling false hope. The group is asking people to pay hard earned dollars so they can “help” you spend your life lonely and sexually frustrated. Please consider the simple fact that one can accomplish this for free, without paying the salaries of Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers.

Ever wonder why Exodus does not keep statistics? It is because they have an astronomical failure rate. If they told the truth about their batting average, they would have struck out decades ago.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t be bilked. Don’t be suckered. Don’t be defrauded. Ask questions and think for yourself.

Truth Wins Out has discovered that Focus on the Family’s “ex-lesbian” activist Melissa Fryrear no longer works for Focus on the Family. She was one of the featured speakers at Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out conference. She is best remembered for her melodramatic, tear-filled presentation and for claiming that, “I never met one (gay) woman who had not been sexually violated or sexually threatened in her life. I never met one woman. And I never met one (gay) man either, that had not been sexually violated or sexually seduced in his life.”

Fryrear was also noted for discussing in great detail her transformation from luberjack-to-lipstick lesbian. According to Fryrear:

“During my years of restoration, I also began to learn about this thing called womanhood. Goodness! Who knew there was so much to learn: plucking eyebrows, hair bleaches, hair waxings, facial mud masks, eye lash curlers, manicures, pedicures, push-up bras, tummy tuckers, rear-end boosters, last year’ colors, and next year’ fashions?

I also began to learn about boys. Let me say that if anyone thinks puberty is tough at fifteen, try it in your thirties!”

This afternoon, I was was browsing Exodus International’s shiny, new Love Won Out website and noticed that Fryrear was not listed as one of the featured speakers. I called to see if she was still working at Focus on the Family and a receptionist confirmed that she was not. Her departure is recent, with her last identified as a Focus on the Family employee on March 30.

It appears that she may have been a victim of cutbacks. Focus on the Family’s budget has fallen from $151 million in 2008 to $136 million this year. In 2004, there were 1,400 employees; today, there are 830.

Fryrear’s departure signals Focus on Family’s gradual shift away from the ex-gay industry (although they still do actively promote the ex-gay myth). I can’t imagine what Fryrear will do now, considering her job for the past several years was trying to convince people that she is a heterosexual (although she had never had relationships with men). I’m glad I’m not her career counselor, but she might consider beauty school with all her practice at eyebrow plucking and facial mud masks.

Back to Exodus, I’ll give them credit for creating an exciting, new website to peddle its scientifically bankrupt misinformation. Interestingly, they barely seem to focus on real, live “ex-gay” people. According to the site:

Of course, there are no “experts” on the panel as advertised. And, a plausible case can be made that there are no real Christians either. But, I will concede that there are a number of “nationally known” talking heads who are pretending to have a clue about the lives of LGBT people.

But, where are the real “ex-gays”? You know, people with real jobs and real lives who have actually gone from gay-to-straight. Why does the new version of LWO use the same tired, over-exposed handful of paid, highly-trained spokespeople we have seen 100 times before? It seems that Exodus has trouble finding genuine success stories to share and settles on a recycled cast of slick characters who inevitably have products to sell on the lucrative right wing speaking circuit.

One wonders if the conference should be renamed “Loot Wins Out”.