The organization has seemingly been AWOL for much of 2010, briefly emerging for events that are most notable for their declining attendance from previous years. The only sign of a pulse has been the organization’s vanity blog, which sluggishly pens about one or two short items a day.
However, even these paltry efforts have dried up, with Exodus not posting on its blog since Dec. 16. Considering Exodus claims that it converts “hundreds of thousands” of so-called “ex-gays”, it seems irresponsible for the group’s leaders to take such a noticeably early holiday break. Where will the cold, huddled “ex-gay” masses go to get their daily fix of heterosexuality to keep themselves out of the warm bathhouse steam?
Sure, I know that Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers spend a lot of time in church during the holiday season. But, really, the entire organization needs 10 days to prepare for Christmas church services? That’s more time than the Pope needs!
Hmm, it sure must be nice to be an activist in the “ex-gay” lifestyle. It’s like being a highly paid, under-worked actor that doesn’t have to wait tables and gets a remarkable amount of time off . Is Exodus taking applications?
If you have any ides where the missing “ex-gay” activists might be, please let us know ASAP!!
Exodus activist Tom Cole has long been fond of publicity and never shied away from a television camera. I most remember him for his cowardice.
In 1998, 15 religious right organizations embarked on a million dollar advertising campaign to say that people could “pray away the gay”. In several conversations, Cole claimed that he disagreed with the over-politicized message of these anti-gay groups. He said he wanted to speak out against their hatred, but in the end, he never found the moral courage to do so.
Sadly, Cole reached a new low this week. He exploited his teenage daughter, Elisabeth, and had her film a video promoting the “ex-gay” myth. She seems like a sweet kid — though thoroughly misinformed on the issue of homosexuality. Like any child, Elisabeth has limited experience in the real world and is trying to please her parents.
But what kind of father uses his teenage daughter to do his dirty work? Instead of protecting his child, Cole is using her to promote his anti-gay agenda. This kind of reminds me of the parents who force their children to hold up pictures of bloody fetuses in front of abortion clinics. (although not quite as bad)
Exodus talks a good game on family values, but seem to have no problem with such naked exploitation. I can almost hear Tom Cole saying:
“Hey, our ‘ex-gays’ aren’t convincing anyone, let’s trot out our cute kids and cynically use them as props to gain publicity.”
What next? An “ex-gay” Balloon Boy to garner media? This is absolutely pathetic and an example of poor parenting.
Apple has apparently removed an app from its iTunes store which rails against gay marriage and LGBT rights. The app, created by a Christian group, disappeared from the online store after media attention, first reported on PinkNews.co.uk. It was based on the Manhattan Declaration, a manifesto released in 2009 by Christian and Catholic leaders which rails against the “erosion” of marriage.
The question remains, will Apple forbid the so-called “ex-gay” hate group Exodus International from building a planned App?
The answer is YES if Truth Wins Out has anything to do with it. After all, it will not be very difficult to show Apple that Exodus is a hate group that demeans and dehumanizes LGBT people.
Exodus should really stop wasting time and money on an App that will most likely be doomed. Truth Wins Out will do everything in its power to make sure that this abusive, rabidly anti-gay App never sees the light of day.
As a survivor of “ex-gay” therapy, I was mortified to learn that Exodus International is shifting its focus in 2011 to children and teens. These are the people most vulnerable and defenseless to Exodus’ attacks on healthy development and psychological well-being.
As I first became aware of my sexual orientation at the age of 12, I was drawn into the web of Mike Jones, one of Exodus International’s unlicensed, unqualified, untrained, unregulated, and unsupervised counselors. For the next 10 years, a man who had no business counseling anyone, and who certainly should not have had access to children, set the tone for how I viewed my orientation and myself as a person.
Jones passed on to me the “facts” that my attractions were sinful, that no gay person was happy, and that every gay person was addicted to drugs, alcohol and random sexual encounters. I lived in a homogeneous religious world, didn’t know any LGBT people and had no reason to believe otherwise. I fully believed Mike Jones for years. He assured me that my sexual orientation could and should change, leading me to suffer through years of shame and self-hatred when no such change occurred.
Later, when I was 19, he subjected me to prolonged hugs and even “holding therapy”, where I was instructed to lay in his arms for a solid hour to “feel the strength of another man”. He asked me inappropriate questions about my genitals and suggested I use handyman tools to become more masculine.
Last year, Jones was largely discredited – his board of directors dissolved, many local churches ceased supporting his work, and he was removed as an “approved outreach group” with the Michigan Department of Corrections. But the entire time he was victimizing me, Exodus International supported Jones’ work and continued to refer people to his “ex-gay” operation.
This week, Exodus International unveiled its plan to put targets on the backs of thousands of innocent children around the country, many who already sit in pews each Sunday feeling scared and alone. The “ex-gay” group plans to utilize social media, YouTube videos, booklets, an IPhone App, and a re-branding to make sure every one of these kids hates a part of themselves and believes their orientation is perverse and an abomination.
The reality is their orientation is a natural and beautiful part of who they are. Exodus International has proven they are content to sacrifice children’s identities, happiness, self-confidence and mental health, to further their lies and messages of intolerance.
What is particularly insidious about Exodus’ ministry is that it hides behind the fallacy that it desires helping only those who face what they cynically call “unwanted same-sex attraction”.
The reality is the “ex-gay” industry works day and night to create cultures in families, churches, communities and governments when possible, where folks who are not heterosexual are left ostracized, alone, judged and condemned. When the lies spread by Exodus International and the “ex-gay” industry lead people to believe change is possible and necessary for God, their church or their family to love them, naturally their attractions become “unwanted”.
Thankfully, there is a happy ending to my story. I escaped the destructive lies of the “ex-gay” industry and with time, good friends, and therapy, came to love and accept myself the way I am. I have been an out and proud gay man for almost 5 years and have found healing through sharing my story and connecting with other survivors of the “ex-gay” industry.
But my heart breaks imagining other children naively falling for the same lies that ruled my life all those years. Children deserve to be loved and supported for who they are. Their young, fragile self-esteems deserve to be protected and their identities nurtured.
It is my sincere hope that more and more families and churches will see the real danger Exodus International represents and choose to distance themselves and their children from Exodus’ materials, counselors and programs.
Before the organization does enormous harm, it should abandon its disturbing plan to target children and teenagers in 2011.
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.
Last week, I commented on how the “ex-gay” group Exodus International had a sluggish year where, at times, it seemed as they had dropped off the radar. It turns out that Exodus had gone into hibernation since the summer to ask God for direction. According to a new letter written to Exodus supporters from Executive Director Alan Chambers:
As is the case every year about this time, my team and I are gearing up for a new year! We have been in meetings regularly since August praying and talking about how and where God is leading Exodus International in 2011 and beyond. Some years we roll out big new endeavors and introduce big ideas that God has given us. This year, however, God isn’t calling us to do anything new.
God’s call to do nothing sat well with me, considering Exodus was already losing relevance. Unfortunately, I continued reading and was was alarmed that Exodus’ top goal in 2011 is to recruit school children as young as eleven years old (Middle School age). The organization plans to lure these children by investing in high-tech gadgets and new media. According to the online letter:
…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.
Given the organization’s appalling record with youth, this organization has no business in schools or around anyone under the age of 21. Their message is hateful, intolerant, scientifically bankrupt and may lead to teens harming themselves — including the potential for depression, drug abuse and even suicide.
Disconcertingly, many of Exodus’ “counselors” have virtually no professional training and the organization does not employ rigorous standards when they pair up vulnerable youth with adults. The results of Exodus’ lack of professionalism has, at times, been devastating.
The so-called “ex-gay” organization has forced youth, against their will, into its programs. The most notable example is Zach Stark, a 16-year-old Tennessee boy, who in 2005 was forced into Exodus’ “Refuge” boot camp, run by member ministry Love In Action. Zach Stark made international news when he posted his predicament on MySpace:
Somewhat recently, as many of you know, I told my parents I was gay… Well today, my mother, father, and I had a very long “talk” in my room where they let me know I am to apply for a fundamentalist christian program for gays. They tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me, and they “raised me wrong.” I’m a big screw up to them, who isn’t on the path God wants me to be on. So I’m sitting here in tears, joing the rest of those kids who complain about their parents on blogs – and I can’t help it.
The uproar over the incident prompted Exodus into closing down the notorious Refuge program. Similarly, on October 6, 2010, Exodus shuttered its noxious Day of Truth program which mocked the Day of Silence, an annual event where students take a vow of silence in support of LGBT friends who are bullied.
Exodus took this extraordinary step following a high profile string of suicides, tacitly admitting that its program exacerbated homophobia and bullying in schools.
“Even though we have reached a fair number of students”, said Chambers, “We believe that due to the timing of the event, Day of Truth was always perceived in an adversarial manner, and became more about policy than people.
One of the more disturbing aspects of Exodus is the tendency to place youth in programs alongside sexual reprobates. On the March 15, 2007 the Montel Williams Show featured former Exodus client Lance Carroll who spoke out about his harrowing experience with Exodus:
“I went to one of your organizations,” said Carroll, who was speaking directly to Exodus’ Alan Chambers. “I was in a group with a convicted sexual offender.” (See video 1:10 mark)
Lance Carroll is not alone. Exodus clearly has an ongoing predator problem that it must seriously address before it makes brainwashing youth its foremost priority in 2011.
Patrick McAlvey was also an Exodus client at the age of 19. He visited Exodus’ Lansing affiliate Corduroy Stone where he was counseled by Mike Jones. During counseling, McAlvey was asked about the size of his member and made to engage in erotic cuddling. He spoke out about the experience in a Truth Wins Out video:
‘Ex-gay’ survivor Jaylen Braiden was taken advantage of by an Exodus team leader at Desert Stream Ministries [DSM]. This counselor later got in trouble for sexually abusing other minors. Exodus’ Alan Chambers has yet to come clean and publicly discuss the Desert Stream Ministries scandal.
However, on March 8, 2010 Desert Stream founder Comiskey wrote a blog post entitled “Falling Mercies” where he says DSM had been, “cast out of our home church”, Vineyard Anaheim, as a result of “a darker strain of sin in our own ranks.” He goes onto reveal that this sin was, “a longstanding staff person from Desert Stream had sexually abused at least one teenager who had sought help from us.”
Aside from the very real prospect of youth being placed with unsavory characters who appear to be unmonitored and unfiltered, the message of Exodus is destructive. The organization tells youth that they are sexually broken, sinful, counterfeit, satanic or perverse.
Spiritual warfare is a common part of Exodus’ rhetoric.
In a 2005 Exodus Newsletter Chambers said:
“One of the many evils this world has to offer is the sin of homosexuality. Satan, the enemy, is using people to further his agenda to destroy the Kingdom of God and as many souls as he can.”
At the “Family Impact Summit,” a right wing conference in Brandon, Florida held on Sept. 21, 2007, Chambers told the crowd of social conservatives:
“We have to stand up against an evil agenda. It is an evil agenda and it will take anyone captive that is willing, or that is standing idly by.”
To lure youths, Exodus resorts to outright lying about LGBT life. For example, Chambers says that that gay life is only for the young:
Chambers also misleads by falsely claiming that gay life will disappoint.
Given the recent uptick in gay suicides and understanding that hate leads to bullying in schools, it is grossly irresponsible for Exodus, given its reprehensible record — to target youth. Before parents hand their children over to this organization or get them an i-phone application, they should know the whole truth about this notorious organization.
(Exodus’ Randy Thomas schmoozing with Karl Rove in headier times)
Is the once active “ex-gay” organization Exodus International on the decline?
Those who follow the group have noticed fewer events scheduled and virtually no media presence. The last press release for Exodus was posted on October 6, and the group’s front page promotes an event as far back as June. In terms of messaging, the group appears to be stuck in a rut and its once vital campaigns have grown predictable and stale.
Needless to say, I’m pleased with this development!
It is unclear if Exodus’ woes are a result of an internal shake-up, or if financial setbacks have hobbled the organization. Perhaps, they are not working as closely with Focus on the Family, which augmented Exodus’ past campaigns with creativity and professionalism. Ever since Focus on the Family handed over the flashy “ex-gay” road show Love Won Out to Exodus, it appears that the standing of Exodus has diminished.
The only evidence the group is still alive comes from Vice President Randy Thomas’ blog posts. But, even this venue suffers from inertia and rust, with Thomas posting offensive videos of Chambers preaching hate in 2006. Are there no new videos or messages to highlight?
In 2010 the organization left hardly a footprint. Its sluggish efforts lacked energy, and its impact had noticeably diminished. It will be interesting to see if Exodus comes out of its slumber and recovers in 2011.
The “ex-gay” group People Can Change (PCC) is increasingly filling the void left by Exodus. PCC runs Journey Into Manhood (JIM) weekends, which is a scam that takes gay men into the woods for $650, with the goal of making them more masculine. The group recently gained notoriety after ABC Nightline filmed a puff piece highlighting the group’s work. (A more accurate description of the group might be Journey into Manhunt)
The good news is that PCC is particularly vulnerable to scandal and outright collapse. This heavily Mormon organization adheres to the bizarre therapy model of Richard Cohen, the laughable and discredited “Sexual Reorientation Coach” who runs the bizarre International Healing Foundation. Convicted Wall Street hood, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is responsible for funneling a good number of paying clients into the group. (I’d love to see what’s in it for him) The organization’s senior trainer, Alan Downing, faced credible accusations of sexual misconduct by two clients earlier this year.
The PCC scheme is likely on borrowed time and is making a mistake by stepping out so publicly. Journalist Ted Cox wrote a fabulous expose showing the creepy and peculiar happenings at Journey into Manhood weekends. We had hoped that ABC Nightline would have engaged in real journalism and corroborated Cox’s story. However, they eschewed investigative reporting for cheap access to the camp, leading to a disappointing and woefully incomplete depiction and representation of Journey into Manhood weekends.
Still, it is only a matter of time before committed broadcast journalists with standards of excellence infiltrate JIM to reveal the closety, homo-erotic exercises that are offered in the camp’s “Cuddle Room”. When this happens, the entire program will turn into a punchline. I can hardly wait.
PFOX is also trying to assert itself, but its ties to the colorful and outrageous sexual engineer, Richard Cohen, will likely retard the group’s progress. The organization’s president, Greg Quinlan, appears angry and unstable, further hindering PFOX’s efforts to have an impact and gain mainstream credibility. And, Executive Director Regina Griggs is no more than a figurehead who avoids public appearances outside the safety of adoring fundamenalist Christian audiences. Indeed, PFOX may simply be a shell group for the Family Research Council and a number of Christian legal groups that want to show that “ex-gays” exist for political reasons. (To its detriment, PFOX embarrassingly can’t find real “ex-gays” to show, unless they work for the group, like Quinlan)
The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) remains a dangerous organization, because their members pose as legitimate experts on homosexuality. However, they consistently underachieve because they fail to produce respectable peer review studies. Instead, they offer up transparent propaganda that has undermined the organization’s reputation with the public and media.
It will be interesting to see which one of these organizations — or perhaps a new one — comes out of the woodwork to pick up the slack. Hopefully, the answer is “None of the above.”
Richard Cohen, continues to undermine “ex-gay” groups
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.
Tanya Erzen has a great piece at Religion Dispatches which examines the way that “ex-gay” businesses have, in a rather plastic way, tried to soften the edges of harsh fundamentalist Christianity as it’s directed toward gay people, but have simply repackaged the same hateful message:
What did the family and religious lives of these teens tell them about sexuality and religion? What produced despair so profound that death seemed their only avenue of escape from bullying?
It’s obvious to condemn the anti-gay hatemongering of Westboro Baptist church (who recently protested at my university alleging that professors teach “the ubiquitous lie that ‘it’s OK to be gay”). More troubling is the subtle and pernicious rhetoric espoused by religious communities and organizations that advise young people to transform their sexuality from gay to straight. Exodus Youth, an entire branch of the Christian ex-gay movement targets those at the most vulnerable and precarious points in their lives, arguing that instead of being gay, they are merely experiencing what they call SSA or same-sex attraction; a temporary malady that can be fixed through ministry, counseling, and prayer.
On their Web site, Exodus Youth provides “resources to help you minister to struggling youth, understand the root causes and treatment of homosexuality, address homosexuality as a church, and confront the false pro-gay theology.” The premise of Exodus is that youth must change, and that their sexuality is merely a disorder, addiction, or false identity.
Since what Exodus sells is, at heart, a nonexistent product, i.e. changing one’s sexuality through prayer and devotion to Jesus, the scientific equivalent of praying to God for a third leg, their message truly is evil, because there are real, impressionable, hurting people involved. Many of them have been either spiritually abused by their religion, or sincerely are devoted to said religion, and have been led to believe that their sexuality is the gulf that separates them from communion with their god, now and in eternity.
So groups like Exodus take scared adults and children, tell them that God has the power to change them, and then when “God” doesn’t, they feel even more rejected.
Of course, all of this is an aside from the fact that much of the point of groups like Exodus and Exodus Youth is to make straight fundamentalists feel better about hating gay people. “Look!” they say, with Sunday School donut on their lips. “We don’t hate gay people! We just hate gay-NESS! And they’re separate! Really! Why, just last week a former gay man came to speak to our Bible study about how he used to be one of those Awful People, but through the power of prayer, he is healed! And he made the most lovely flower arrangements for everyone as a take home gift!”
[Only part of that is a dramatization.]
Here’s a bit more of Tanya’s piece, and then you should read it all.
I knew a man who took his life after struggling to transform his sexuality in an ex-gay ministry for years. The ideas of “hope for healing” and “freedom from homosexuality” promulgated by Exodus Youth, religious organizations, families, and social communities are deeply entrenched and powerful. Even men and women I met in the course of my research who attended ex-gay ministries and later self-identified as LGBT still struggled. No matter how many years separated them from their experiences as young people in churches, the beliefs of their upbringing and their own same-sex desires still felt irreconcilable.
By focusing on bullying, Exodus Youth and its supporters avoid the truth that their organization endorses insidious forms of hatred cloaked in the language of compassion. Religious organizations need to carefully ask themselves what kind of compassion they promote toward the queer members of their communities. “I grieve for these young lives cut short. I grieve for the parents who love and stood by their teens, knowing what they faced at school daily,” Chris Stump writes. His grief rings hollow given that he works for Exodus. In Stump’s words, “Enough is Enough.”
Gay actor John Barrowman submitted himself to brain scans to gauge his brain activity for signs of arousal, when shown pictures of nude men and nude women. He began by claiming that he was 100% gay.
What did his brain say?
I agree with Rob Tisinai here: I’d like to see Alan Chambers, Randy Thomas, Richard Cohen, Greg Quinlan and all the rest of the supposedly “ex-gay” leaders take just such a test. I would also expand it to all anti-gay Religious Right leaders, such as Peter LaBarbera, Bryan Fischer, Matt Barber, Robert Knight, and all the rest.
Where is Exodus International hibernating lately?
bathhouse steam?
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?
