On October 7, 2011 PFOX President Greg 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. Aside from fabricating stories about Truth Wins Out, Quinlan also slanders scientist Dean Hamer. I informed Hamer about the interview and this is what he had to say:
“As a scientist at the National institutes of Health, the largest and best known biomedical research institution in the world, my research has been extensively peer-reviewed, replicated, and published in respected journals. It’s ironic to be labelled a “liar” by an ideologue who consistently distorts and misreports scientific findings. While I am sympathetic with Mr. Quinlan’s discomfort and struggle with his own sexuality, that is no excuse for misleading people about how science has informed our understanding of sexual orientation as a natural and fundamental aspect of human development.”
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.
On October 7, 2011 Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) President Greg Quinlan was interviewed on News-Plus with Mark Segraves (WDCW-TV). Throughout the show, Quinlan distorts reality and flat out lies on many subjects. However, at the 10:38 mark he commits slander. 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.”
Unfortunately for Quinlan nothing he said about me or Truth Wins Out is true or accurate. What he said was outright libel and a complete fabrication that he invented out of thin air. It speaks to Quinlan’s character that he lies so easily and simply makes things up. As for me, I’d be more than happy to take a lie detector test or a NoLie MRI to prove 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 exploring its legal options. Do our readers think that we should sue PFOX and Quinlan for libel and defamation?
Apologies are all the rage with the “ex-gay” set right now! John Smid has been running around apologizing for various things for the past several weeks/months — he even showed up at Memphis Pride with those grotesque “I’m Sorry!” cards distributed by the Marin Foundation — and now Richard “Beat That Pillow With A Tennis Racket Like It’s Your Mom” Cohen has caught the fever as well! Unfortunately, his “apology” is not an apology at all, and nothing seems to have changed about his beliefs or his life’s work.
It comes via a press release on changeispossible.com, so let’s take a look. Here is the headline:
International Healing Foundation Apologizes to the LGBTQCommunity on its 21st Anniversary
Organization Expands Mission from ‘Change is Possible’ to ‘Coming Out Loved’
Uh huh. Notice that they are “expanding” their vision, rather than “changing” it. Change is apparently not possible in their world.
The International Healing Foundation has educated and counseled thousands of men, women and adolescents who experience unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA). However, on its 21st anniversary, IHF apologized to the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) community for years of unknowingly fueling anti-gay sentiment by simply stating, “Change is Possible.”
That’s not what people are demanding apologies for. It’s more for the years upon years of religious bigotry repackaged as false, discredited “science,” giving people false hope, depression and increasing the suicide risk among vulnerable people who have been abused by religion into believing that “change” is even necessary, much less possible. It’s also for the thousands upon thousands of families which have been damaged further or ruined by such techniques. Moving on.
“We at IHF wish to offer a sincere, heartfelt apology to everyone in the LGBTQ community,” said IHF founder and director, Richard Cohen. “I apologize and ask forgiveness to those who were hurt by our message.” Cohen, a leading expert in the field of sexual orientation and married father of three, knows first-hand how it feels to be ostracized having lived a gay life.
I’m not feeling your apology, Richard.
Beginning today, IHF’s doors are wide open to everyone in the LGBTQ and straight communities. The new mission, “Coming Out Loved,” is the catalyst of true tolerance, real diversity, and equality for all. IHF staff will assist anyone who is conflicted about their sexuality and other challenging issues that arise for many in the gay community.
Wait, they weren’t willing to act as predators for any easy prey in the past? I’m confused.
IHF has adopted therapeutic guidelines from the American Psychological Association for members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities; American Counseling Association guidelines for the transgender community; and National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality therapeutic guidelines for anyone questioning their sexuality and/or experiencing unwanted SSA.
Nice! So if you come in and you’re happily gay — why would you go there if you were happily gay? — they’ll at least attempt to use a veneer of professionalism by using APA guidelines. If you’re transgender, they’ll use the guidelines of the American Counseling Association, from which Richard Cohen was banned for life in 2002 for multiple ethics violations. And if you’re their target market, which is, again, people who have been abused so much by religious indoctrination and bigotry that they believe that there are inherently sick, evil and flawed, they’ll continue to use the guidelines of the sham organization NARTH, a group which masquerades as secular and scientific [and which quietly kicked Cohen out of their lives a few years back -- they don't like for their public faces to be that crazy, though they will continue to work with people like him behind the scenes], while being purely ideological in nature, and a group so consistently dishonest, with such a long trail of broken homes in its wake, that I cannot imagine what would constitute an “ethics violation” in their world. Telling the truth? Reporting the results of a scientific study accurately? Not using willful abuse of children as the basis for much of their work?
Cohen asserts everyone should be loved and accepted for who they are. “By opening our doors to everyone in the LGBTQ and straight communities, we are expanding upon our mission and broadening the scope of our services,” he says. For more information, visit www.ComingOutLoved.com.
And that is the end of the press release. Is this anything more than a cry for help out of the ravines of inadequacy and irrelevance?
In case not everybody’s familiar, let’s take a little tour of the failure that is Richard Cohen’s life, and visit a couple of his friends as well, which should clear up any remaining confusion over whether Cohen’s apology is worth anything.
If readers have been following the “kill the gays” debacle in Uganda, it’s important to remember that one of the major backers of that bill is Stephen Langa, who got much of his information on gay people from Cohen’s book Coming Out Straight. Here is Rachel Maddow tearing Cohen apart on her show in 2009, and showing Langa teaching directly from his book.
And here is a picture you may have seen before, of Stephen Langa with other noted unhinged American homophobes and “ex-gay” leaders, Scott Lively and Don Schmierer, respectively. The man in the middle is Caleb Brundidge, who is also on the staff of Richard Cohen’s International Healing Foundation [sic]. The picture was taken in Uganda, right before the “kill the gays” Crusade really got its legs. Thanks for all your help, American hate group leaders/whack-jobs! Cohen definitely has blood on his hands.
Richard Cohen also used to be the president of PFOX, but thoroughly embarrassed himself and his entire movement when he was on The Daily Show a few years back, so they canned him. [Our own Wayne was also on that episode, if you haven't seen it.] He keeps close ties with them, though, and with NARTH. Indeed, his close associate at the International Healing Foundation [sic], the group who issued this crap apology, is Christopher Doyle, a “sexual reorientation coach” who is also on the board of PFOX.
If you don’t remember Christopher Doyle, here is a picture of him queening out and running away from Joe Jervis at the Truth Wins Out protest of the NARTH convention.
The tall bald guy is Christopher Doyle, an “ex-gay” who is on the board of PFOX and who is on staff with “ex-gay” whackadoodle Richard Cohen as a “Sexual Reorientation Coach” at the International Healing Foundation. If that wasn’t enough for this professionally “former” c*cksucker, he writes newspaper editorials arguing against the Day Of Silence. Anyway, I don’t think pillow-whacker Richard Cohen has totally gotten Doyle in touch with his “natural masculine nature,” because when I kept taking photos, Doyle put his hand on his hip and hissed, “I don’t need this. Why don’t you just sssssssstop!”
If you don’t know what Joe means when he refers to Richard Cohen as a “pillow-whacker,” we’ll get to that at the end, so that we can end on a funny note.
Earlier this year, Christopher Doyle, who is, again, the very fey bestie of Richard Cohen, who works with him at the organization which just issued this BS apology, said this:
Putting “ex-gay” in quotes suggested that such a sexual orientation is not valid, not recognized or both. But thousands of former homosexuals collectively identify themselves as such. The D.C. Superior Court ruled in 2009 that ex-gays are a protected sexual orientation class in the District.
Not all persons who experience same-sex attractions choose to live gay lives. Many of us have voluntarily left a homosexual life through therapeutic work or behavioral choice. I did, and I have been happily married to a woman for nearly five years; we have two children. I no longer experience same-sex attraction and have no desire to return to the homosexual life. Please respect this choice.
Left unproven, as he is obviously unwilling to do so, is his assertion that he “no longer experience[s] same-sex attraction.” Wayne and I wait with bated breath for the first professional “ex-gay” swindler to submit himself to testing which would prove that they are no longer gay, but it never comes. Instead, on a fairly regular basis, they admit, as Alan Chambers and John Smid have, that they are still totally into dudes.
To wrap this up, you can have a look at the truly insane things Richard Cohen believes about why people end up gay or lesbian, or you can just have a laugh watching a couple of videos. Here’s Richard Cohen on CNN beating a pillow with a tennis racket and screaming at his mom, just after he cuddles a grown man.
And here is Richard having a bizarre, queeny temper tantrum about how mean gay people are. Listen to him scream!
This is the man who is very sorry for seemingly nothing, and wants you to think he is relevant, and also to give him more money, because his movement is dying and his life’s work is a waste.
Oh look, it’s the same tired rhetoric we’re used to from the laughable hate group known as PFOX:
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is urging parents, students and educators to distribute ex-gay literature at high schools and colleges across the country this Friday.
“We invite schools to distribute our ex-gay brochures year round,” said Regina Griggs, PFOX’s executive director, “but this Friday is especially important because it is considered a ‘day of silence’ by homosexual school clubs. This means that members of gay student clubs and their allies will purposely remain silent all day in school to protest intolerance against homosexuals and cross-dressers.”
“Because homosexual activists try to censor the ex-gay point of view, PFOX asks students to distribute ex-gay literature to their friends in support of equality for the ex-gay community,” said Griggs. “The day of silence enables students to distribute ex-gay literature without harassment since opponents are obligated to remain silent that day.”
And again, we roll our collective eyes and say:
REGINA. If “ex-gays” really exist, then they are “straight,” and thus have the same rights as all other straight people, by which we mean, more rights than gay people. If “ex-gay” is simply a religious construct caused by consumer fraud and spiritual abuse [it is], then those people are gay, and are on the same second tier as the rest of us gay people.
Anyway, it’s really sick that, on a day which simply seeks to draw attention to the bullying, harassment, depression, violence and suicide experienced by LGBT teens, things which are largely caused by the climate of abuse created by the Religious Right, that Regina Griggs would still feel a perverse need to hurt gay kids. But that’s how people like Regina are, and thank goodness, people young and old are starting to see them for the bigots they are.
Lisa Ling was duped by Exodus President Alan Chambers and failed to ask him key follow-up questions.
This was particularly glaring when it came to Chambers spinning what really went on sexually between he and his wife when they first married.
On Ling’s “Pray the Gay Away” segment on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Chambers portrays his marriage as true bliss. He tells the “reporter”, “It (sex with a woman) felt natural, absolutely, and has every day for our entire marriage.”
What? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Chambers admitted at a 2007 Love Won Out conference in Phoenix, “I realize that I do live a life of denial. Not denial of who I used to be, not denial of who I could be today, but I deny what comes naturally to me.”
Why didn’t Ling ask Chambers, “If your experience with your wife was so natural, then why are you saying that you deny what comes naturally to you?”
It also took Chambers nine months to consummate his marriage, hardly a ringing endorsement of his heterosexuality. Yet, Ling never pointed this out to her audience.
Basically, Alan Chambers lied through his teeth, spun the truth, inverted reality — and Lisa Ling and OWN enabled this charade. If the reporter would have done her homework, she would have known about Chambers’ honeymoon horror.
Shame on Ling for not doing her job and telling the real story. Shame on the Oprah Winfrey Network for allowing this shallow puff piece to air.
KC and Larry met at Exodus International’s “ex-gay” ministry Love in Action while trying to “pray away the gay”. The two men fell in love and are now legally married. The Jansson’s story was featured recently in the Dallas Voice’s Valentine’s Day issue. Truth Wins Out invited KC and Larry to Memphis to speak at Rhodes College on the closing night of TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen’s Winter Tour. The speaking engagement brought KC & Larry back to where it all began — at the Memphis “ex-gay” ministry!
Enjoy this beautiful three-part story of true love and genuine acceptance. This is real love in action.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) Board member and NARTH follower Christopher Doyle had this to say in a letter to The Washington Post:
Putting ‘ex-gay’ in quotes suggested that such a sexual orientation is not valid, not recognized or both. But thousands of former homosexuals collectively identify themselves as such. The D.C. Superior Court ruled in 2009 that ex-gays are a protected sexual orientation class in the District. Not all persons who experience same-sex attractions choose to live gay lives. Many of us have voluntarily left a homosexual life through therapeutic work or behavioral choice. I did, and I have been happily married to a woman for nearly five years; we have two children. I no longer experience same-sex attraction and have no desire to return to the homosexual life. Please respect this choice.” – Christopher Doyle, board member of Parents & Friends Of “Ex-Gays” (PFOX), in a letter to the Washington Post.
Doyle has an issue with so-called “ex-gays” not being recognized by the LGBT community. Yet, the cynical Doyle belongs to NARTH, where the group’s co-founder Dr. Joseph Nicolosi preaches, “There is no such thing as a homosexual, just heterosexuals with a homosexual problem.”
So, Doyle wants to be respected and acknowledged as a so-called “ex-gay” without the dreaded quotation marks — but the group he represents denies the very existence of LGBT people. Doyle’s dishonest double-standard is quite obvious and it is clear that he has an agenda to falsely present himself as a victim. Instead, of course, he is a victimizer that pretends the lives of millions of people are make believe and can be “fixed” by quack therapy and prayer.
Why do we put quotation marks around the word “ex-gay”?
Maybe it is because such activists admit, when pressed, that they have simply changed their behavior, not their sexual orientation. Perhaps, the constant scandals and outings of activists who claimed to be “ex-gay”, but weren’t living as advertised, affects the decision to use quotation marks. And how about the inconvenient fact that every respected medical and mental health association in America says there is NO EVIDENCE supporting the efficacy of reparative therapy, while there is evidence that shows attempts to change can be harmful? There is also the growing body of research that increasingly shows biological components to sexual orientation. Of course, there are many victims of these programs who are speaking out, as well as spouses that were harmed by such unwise marriages to alleged, purported, so-called “ex-gays”.
Frauds like Doyle claim there are “thousands of former homosexuals” — but from what source does he get this statistic? Groups such as Exodus, PFOX and NARTH purposely do not keep statistics — because they are acutely aware the truth about their failure rate would have put them out of business decades ago. Interestingly, for all of their bravado, “ex-gay” activists refuse to take physical tests, such as the No Lie MRI, to prove they have changed their attractions. If they want the quote marks removed, why not take such tests? Maybe it is because telling tales for anti-gay political organizations pays better than telling the truth or a real job?
Finally, if there are thousands or tens of thousands of such people — where are they? It seems the only people who claim that they have prayed away the gay are professional, paid political activists with books and seminars to sell. Where is the “ex-gay” March on Washington to show the masses of “ex-gays” that allegedly exist?
If hucksters like Doyle want the quote marks removed, they should begin by acknowledging the existence of LGBT people who cannot change. He should also put his money where is mouth is and prove that such people truly exist outside the staffs of homophobic political organizations and avaricious therapists profiting from unnecessary pain.
No Lie MRI, Mr. Doyle? Polygraph? Penile plethysmograph?
Until such physical proof is provided — all I can say is:
Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen speaking in Lincoln, at University of Nebraska on the “ex-gay” myth.
In this video, he discusses how Exodus harms its clients when it claims that the group does not heal people — only God can. But, the group does set itself as the middleman and conduit to God.
When Exodus fails to deliver and the promised “change” does not occur — Exodus’ victims often blame themselves and feel abandoned by God. This can cause trauma and psychological damage.
Besen also discusses how so-called “ex-gay” groups do not keep statistics. They simply make them up as they go along.
Contact: Wayne Besen, TWO Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Given Awful Record, Exodus Should Stay Away From Youth, Says TWO
Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out (TWO) expressed alarm today that the world’s largest “ex-gay” organization, Exodus International, announced that its top priority in 2011 was to target students, including those in Middle School. The organization plans to lure youth though slick social media programs and offering high tech gadgets, including an I-phone App.
“We are alarmed because Exodus has a substantial predator problem and a history of placing youth with unsavory characters who are often unqualified as counselors,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Exodus’ message is also destructive because it tells vulnerable youth that they are sexually broken, sinful, and perverse. Hearing such harmful messages can increase the likelihood for depression, substance abuse and even suicide.”
In an online letter to members and donors, the organization’s Executive Director, Alan Chambers, writes,
“…the greatest area of need in our culture is outreach to young people. We will be changing the name of Exodus Youth to Exodus Student Ministries in order to encompass middle school thru [sic] college age students. We have listened to youth pastors, parents and especially students and we want to amplify our message in a way that they will best receive it: via web communication, YouTube, podcasts and short to the point booklets. We are also in the process of creating an App for iPhone users.”
Many Exodus “counselors” have virtually no professional training and the organization does not employ rigorous standards when they pair up youth with adults. The results of such unprofessional and unethical behavior have, at times, been devastating, including the placement of youth with sexual predators.
“Parents should be extremely cautious and take great care to avoid the programs of Exodus International,” said TWO’s Besen. “The fact that Exodus is now targeting eleven year old Middle school students is horrifying and unacceptable.”
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.
With a gift of $35 to Truth Wins Out, you can receive an autographed copy of "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth."
Greg Quinlan’s Defamatory Claims Are a Complete Fabrication and a Brazen Attempt to Smear LGBT Organization, Says TWO
So, Doyle wants to be respected and acknowledged as a so-called “ex-gay” without the dreaded quotation marks — but the group he represents denies the very existence of LGBT people. Doyle’s dishonest double-standard is quite obvious and it is clear that he has an agenda to falsely present himself as a victim. Instead, of course, he is a victimizer that pretends the lives of millions of people are make believe and can be “fixed” by quack therapy and prayer.
