Truth Wins Out’s research team revealed today that an alleged split in July 2009 between Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) may only be cosmetic. While PFOX is no longer listed as an Exodus referral agency on Exodus’ website, the groups appear heavily enmeshed.

TWO has found that nearly one-quarter (22-percent) of PFOX chapters are actually Exodus member ministries. The cross-over ministries include:

Wisconsin’s Reclamation Ministries, South Carolina’s New Song Ministries, Oklahoma’s First Stone Ministries, New Mexico’s LifeMor ministries, Missouri and Illinois’ Pure Heart Ministries, and Florida’s Family Ties Ministries.

“Despite their public divorce, Exodus and PFOX appear to be very much in bed together,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out.”These groups should be honest and admit the true extent of their working relationship.”

There is one other possibility. PFOX may be falsely listing Exodus ministries as PFOX chapters in order to mislead the public into thinking the organization is larger than it actually is.

In July 2009, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) broke away from Exodus International – or perhaps it was the other way around. The details remain murky. They were supposedly split over strategy, with PFOX couching its bizarre arguments in civil rights language.

For example, they want “ex-gays” to be included in laws that protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Exodus, simply wants gay people not to be covered by such laws. There was also Exodus’ concern over PFOX’s judgment in placing quack “therapist” Richard Cohen on television.

Wall Street Felon known as ‘Abba Dabba Do’ Reemerges As ‘Cure’ Gays Guru

A Truth Wins Out (TWO) and South Florida Gay News (SFGN) investigation revealed today that a Wall Street criminal mastermind who was convicted in 1987 of “fraud of spectacular scope” has secretly reinvented himself as a moral leader who “cures” gay and lesbian people. Known as “Abba Dabba Do” in the financial world, Arthur Abba Goldberg was sentenced to 18 months in jail for bilking poor communities with complicated bond schemes and served six months in prison.

“We have long considered Arthur Goldberg a con-artist, but our investigation shows he is also an ex-con,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. ”His diabolical past mirrors his dishonest present-day work with the ex-gay industry. Whether it was shady deals on Wall Street or shading the truth on gay issues, Goldberg is someone who lacks credibility and can’t be trusted.”

“Mr. Goldberg’s silence today about his illegal conduct yesterday is a clear indicator that 18 months in prison 20 years ago has not inhibited his willingness to deceive others in order to advance himself today,” said SFGN Publisher Norm Kent. “You free yourself by admitting your wrongs, not erasing them. Goldberg is hardly in a position to be advocating how gay men and women should be authentic with their own lives when he is a fraud with his.”

Upon completing his parole, Goldberg dropped his conspicuous middle name, Abba, and co-founded Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) in 1999. He is currently the president of Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH), an umbrella group for “ex-gay” referrals and the Executive Secretary of the notorious National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). He is also the President of Congregation Mount Sinai, a temple in Jersey City and a Principal for the International Center for Gender Affirming Processes (CGAP). Goldberg is a key ex-gay industry insider and viewed as an architect of its strategy and message machine, says TWO and SFGN.

In 1989, Goldberg plead guilty in federal court in California and Illinois to three counts of wire and mail fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The accusations he admitted to include his participation as the engineer of a phony bond and investment scheme, which netted his Wall Street investment firm nearly $11 million in illegal fees.

The U.S. Attorney who handled the case at the time, K. William O’Connor, told the court at his sentencing that Goldberg’s crime was “a fraud of spectacular scope.”

The SEC banned Goldberg and his firm from ever selling securities again. In addition to his prison term, Goldberg was disbarred in both New Jersey and Connecticut. Despite that, he lists himself as a Doctor of Laws today on the website of NARTH.

Additionally, Goldberg is the author of “Light in the Closet” (Red Heifer Press), which promises to “explode the gay gene mystique, offering hope, compassion, direction and vitally needed information to gay strugglers, their families, friends, and surrounding community.” JONAH also plays a key role in supplying clients for Journey into Manhood Weekend, an ex-gay boot camp, where participants are taken deep into the woods to supposedly discover their masculinity. Goldberg is not gay, but has an openly gay son who reportedly lives in the New York City area.

“We conducted an investigation into Goldberg’s dark history to shine a little light in his own closet; to tell the world the truth about who Goldberg really is, and how he has never owned up to his sordid and tawdry past.”

Although Goldberg (in The Record 1989) often claims that he has been deeply involved in civil rights issues, his case revealed a deep insensitivity to minorities. An October 1, 1989 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer reveals that Goldberg jokingly described a bond issue the firm had underwritten in Guam as “selling bonds to the cannibals.”  He also sought out poor minority communities, such as East Saint Louis, as targets for his conspiracies.

“Simply by concealing his middle name and omitting his dirty deeds from his biography, Goldberg was able to mask his past as a mini-Madoff,” said Besen. “The real Arthur Abba Goldberg is an unsavory character who lacks the credibility and integrity to portray himself as an expert on gay and lesbian issues.”

In an interview, one of Goldberg’s former clients suggests that his past moral deficiencies are reflected in his current work. He says that Goldberg is manipulative and exploits those who are despondent and desperate to conform, so they can fit in and be accepted by their friends and family members.

“Arthur Goldberg takes advantage of the vulnerability of religious Jews by promising them the opportunity to heal from their homosexuality and be able to live a life within the community they grew up in and fulfill the expectations they had of themselves and of their families,” the former client told TWO and SFGN. “When speaking to Arthur Goldberg, he uses false statistics of changing hundreds and thousands of men and women and other such numbers as an 80% success rate, which is misleading and false.”

Based in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida Gay News is the premier information source for the region’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

(Research team: Wayne Besen, Norm Kent, Michael Hamar,
 Jerry Wong) 
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In a post yesterday, I wrote the following:

Personally, I don’t like the bogus term “SSA”, which stands for “same-sex attraction.” There is no such thing (or diagnosis) as SSA and it is a manipulative attempt to separate LGBT people from their natural, inborn sexuality.

The term SSA is skillfully employed to make it appear as if fundamentalist bigots are not attacking the person, just their sexual feelings. It is a diabolical method of creating a medical-sounding term to deliver Anita Bryant’s hateful “love the sinner, hate the sin” message. At least Bryant had the courage to say what she believes and not hide behind euphemisms and phony pop psychology.

If you think I am wrong, ask yourself: Why does disgraced “sexual reorientation coach” Richard Cohen (pictured) love the term SSA so much? It is all over his website and his books. He is basically turning you into a sick patient rather than a real person. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) also loves SSA.

We should not help our enemies by adopting their language, which is specifically designed and employed to portray us as freaks with a problem that needs to be fixed. SSA — much like STD — sounds like you have a disease that can be cured by running to the local doctor for a shot, the pharmacy for a prescription, or the shrink for a session.

If you don’t think language is important, consider yesterday’s CBS/New York Times News poll. It found a significantly higher level of support for “gays” in the military rather than “homosexuals” in the armed services.  Here is an excerpt:

A New York Times/CBS News poll finds that a majority of the public support allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military.

There’s less support, however, for allowing homosexuals to serve openly.

Confused?

The results highlight the importance of wording on the issue. In a test, half of the poll’s respondents were asked their opinion on permitting “gay men and lesbians” to serve, and the other half were asked about permitting “homosexuals” to serve.

The wording of the question proved to make a difference. Seven in 10 respondents said they favor allowing “gay men and lesbians” to serve in the military, including nearly 6 in 10 who said they should be allowed to serve openly. But support was somewhat lower among those who were asked about allowing “homosexuals” to serve, with 59 percent in favor, including 44 percent who support allowing them to serve openly.

At Truth Wins Out, we are not the word police. We allow a great divergence of opinion and if you love to use the phrase SSA, then keep doing so. It’s a free country. Please realize, however, that you are making Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and Richard Cohen quite happy by adhering to their slick public relations scheme.

More than 35 years after homosexuality was erased from the DSM (list of mental disorders) why voluntarily describe yourself in sterile, medical terms, as if you have a “problem” that quacks can “fix” for a hefty fee?

My new phrase of the week:

“It’s Gay, Not SSA”.

I was impressed with British journalist Patrick Strudwick’s report in The Independent, “The ex-gay files: The bizarre world of gay-to-straight conversion.” It was an important addition to the literature and I respect his work.

His reporting is an accurate representation of “ex-gay” therapy and echos the abusive practices I witnessed in my book, “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.” Strudwick began his article with the alarming news of the extent “ex-gay” therapy has spread in the United Kingdom:

According to a report by Professor Michael King of University College London, one in six UK psychiatrists and psychotherapists have sought to reduce or change a patient’s sexual orientation. And with the help of the American conversion therapy movement, practitioners here, along with a clutch of international “conversion” organisations, are becoming co-ordinated and unified. They plan to gain credibility, university backing and government funding. In some cases, the NHS is even paying for the treatment.

The journalist also made the smart connection between these programs and political power:

After the conference I look David up online. As I’m researching his practice and qualifications, I see a reference to Iris Robinson, the scandal-stricken Ulster MP who in 2008 famously compared homosexuality to child abuse. In an interview with the BBC, she mentioned she knew a “lovely psychiatrist” who “tries to help homosexuals to run away from what they are engaged in.”

Strudwick pointed out how they twist language to make it appear like homosexuality is a mental illness:

Like those at the conference, she doesn’t say “gay”; she only uses the term “SSA”.*

The writer highlights how these quacks ignore the inconvenient fact that homosexuality has not been listed as a  mental disorder for three decades and mislead clients:

I ask how she (Lynne, the therapist) views homosexuality – as a mental illness, an addiction or an anti-religious phenomenon?

“It’s all of that,” she replies.

Lynne explains that it’s about “reprogramming” and going back into my early developmental stages. “Parts of you have developed but there is a little part of you that has stayed stuck,” she says.

Oh, like being retarded?

“It is a bit like that,” she agrees.

(Read More)

In this video, a friend helps a friend who is terrified of kitty cats with some old fashioned immersion therapy.

Richard.  Randall.  If we see you trying to modify the techniques in this video for use in your “therapy,” we are going to very disappointed in you, even moreso than usual.  And Randall?  If you see this video and feel you MUST raid your kaboodle and put on kitty cat whiskers for the rest of the day, keep it to yourself.

(h/t The Awl)

I mean it, boys.

Michael wrote last night about the piece in the New York Times about the Uganda “Kill the Gays” bill and its American Evangelical supporters.  The piece exposes the inciting role Don Schmierer of Exodus played in the inception of this bill, and showcases his mewling attempts to deny any responsibility for what’s now happening in Uganda.  Schmierer’s statements can be summed up as “We was fooled!”  That’s right, they’re just a few innocent, sweet ex-gay activists, and they’re just trying to help!  Give me a break.  Jim Burroway handily disposed of that notion in a piece last night.  If you haven’t read Jim’s piece, do.  I’ll wait.

What I want to draw attention to, though, is Amanda Marcotte’s piece on this, because she brings in some really important historical perspective on what Schmierer, Caleb Lee Brundige, and Scott Lively did on their little jaunt to Uganda, and she also makes an important point about the weak denials and condemnations they (and Rick Warren) have issued, now that the American press is paying attention:

Right now, Rick Warren and company’s slow-moving denunciations of this law are due strictly to their desire to stay in the mainstream of American society, and have nothing to do with actual moral outrage.  After all, it’s an article of faith for the religious right that gay people “recruit” children because they can’t have their own.  There are so many assumptions bundled up in that—that gay people don’t have children, that children can be considered carbon copies of their parents, that homosexuality is something taught at the knee instead of a genuine expression of sexual desire—but I’d like to point out that what the accusation is, at its base, is a 21st century version of the blood libel. The traditional blood libel that was a big deal in medieval Europe was to accuse Jews of killing and eating Christian children.  Nowadays, the accusation has changed somewhat—now it’s that gays rape and recruit children—but the structure is basically the same, which is to say that the hated group is constructed as a cult that feeds on your children.  And the religious right believes this stuff.  (…)

The point is that the blood libel exists to justify extreme violence against the targeted group, painting them as child-thieves who inflict a society’s most dreaded crimes (molestation, cannibalism) on the children, and by doing so, take them away from the parents.  So when the people who perpetuate this myth about gays and lesbians play innocent, we shouldn’t let them get away with it.

Exactly.  I’ve said several times in the past (I’ve actually said it today) that there is no fundamental difference between religious extremists in the West and those in Uganda, or in the Middle East, etc.  They look different to the untrained eye, simply because they can’t get away with what they really want to do in the West.  Modern society won’t allow it.  So of course they’re trying to cover their lily-white behinds in the American press, for their own followers, and for the rest of the American public which still thinks of Warren as the Purpose-Driven Cuddle Monster.  These people have a narrative to uphold, and it’s a narrative that is in sharp contrast to their actual beliefs and actions:  That Evangelical Christianity is primarily about love and family and patriotism and lots of other Pollyanna BS that plays well with the Fort Worth crowd.  And for many Evangelical Christians, it is about those things.  They may be misled about a lot of things, but I highly doubt that the average Saddleback member is jonesing to kill gay people.

But their leaders?  As Amanda says in the piece, they’re not off the hook for this one.  Growing up in That World, and now analyzing it from the perspective of one who knows the language, I’ve often noticed that the people who follow these leaders are, for the most part, fairly decent human beings, but that they have no idea what their leaders are really like.  (And of course, when you point it out, most of them retreat into their shells or stick their fingers in their ears.)

The blood libel is not new.  But it’s taken far too long for the LGBT community and its supporters to realize that the tactics of Warren, Lively, Schmierer, Brundige, Richard Cohen, etc., are indeed the modern-day version of this age-old Christian tradition.  And the ex-gay element is just more delicious icing on the cake for those who promote this blood libel.  Elsewhere in the piece, Amanda puts it this way:

When an ex-gay claims that gays recruit by raping children, wingnuts can feel good about themselves, because they say, “Hey, he should know.” But of course, that’s simply not true, because the religious right has created huge incentives for so-called ex-gays to lie about their previous (and often ongoing) sexual behavior and habits, in order to keep the esteem and the paychecks coming.

Sick and sad, but true.  What a feat these religious extremists have accomplished — they have an entire “ex-gay” industry devoted to making gay people hate themselves so much that they’ll travel thousands of miles around the world to confess the sins of which they’ve been brainwashed to believe they’re guilty.

For these leaders to now claim that they couldn’t have imagined that things would play out the way they have is simply more disingenuous lying.  They know what they’re doing.

Shame on all of them.

In the past week, Truth Wins Out has been dealing with twin tragedies caused, in part, by Exodus International, the nation’s largest “pray away the gay” ministry.

The first train wreck is Uganda’s proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009″. This legislation would lead to the imprisonment and murder of LGBT Ugandans. It would jail anyone accused of “promoting” homosexuality and imprison friends and relatives of LGBT people who did not turn them into authorities.

This fascist bill came about after Exodus Board member, Don Schmierer, had gone to Uganda last spring to attend a conference on homosexuality. Schmierer was joined by Caleb Lee Brundidge of quack Richard Cohen’s International Healing Foundation and Scott Lively, the twisted author of The Pink Swastika, who believes gays are responsible for the holocaust. There were calls at the conference to “wipe out” homosexuality in Uganda. The current bill before the legislature would do just that.

The second disaster is Corduroy Stone, which was an Exodus ministry in Lansing, MI until this week. After six months of dithering and dawdling, Exodus finally parted ways with Corduroy Stone after a client accused Exodus counselor Mike Jones of engaging in bizarre and dangerous therapy. His sessions with Patrick McAlvey, who was 19 at the time, included “cuddle therapy” and odd questions.

“He asked how large my penis was,” McAlvey explained of Jones’ therapy. “He asked if I shave my pubic hair. He asked what type of underwear that I  wore. He wanted me to describe my sexual fantasies to him and the type of men I’m attracted to. On one occasion, he asked me to take my shirt off and show him how many push-ups I could do, which I did not do.”

In August, Truth Wins Out released this information in a video. Yet, it took Exodus six months to act and cut its ties to Jones. Clearly, they were more interested in protecting their image than the young adults who may have been put in harms way.

Yet, despite such negligence and a trail of destruction, Exodus Vice President Randy Thomas is trying to play martyr. On Exodus’ blog, the solipsistic “ex-gay” political activist posted a letter by someone named Frank:

Randy, how do you wake up every morning, and go to work knowing that as much as you fight for truth, you are hated beyond understanding? that every word you speak will be twisted and you will be made a laughing stock? This Rachel Maddow thing (among others) has me down… truth is not acceptable anymore. no one cares. … I feel like I’ve talked and talked till im blue in the face yet no one listens… how do you do it?

You have fought longer and harder than I and have been villified more… how do you get up every morning and do it again? … I know I will never cease to proclaim the riches there are in Christ (not just talking bout ex-gay stuff) but I just get so tired of trying to make my little corner of the world a better place when it seems like “the establishment” (read: Rachel Maddow, Keith oberman, Wayne Besen…) is screaming louder telling me to shut up and sit down…

Randy Replied:

“I resisted posting this blog post because what I go through is nothing compared to some of my peers and especially other Christians around the world who are dying for their faith. I went ahead and posted this because I got this type of message from several people and thought the topic would be worth exploring in general (not just about me.)”

Mr. Thomas, you are the victimizer, not the victim. It is Exodus – not Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman or myself – that is tied to state sponsored persecution in Uganda. It is you who has repeatedly lied and deceived, not us.

It is Thomas, and his truth-challenged boss Alan Chambers, who have kept Schmierer on the Exodus board, despite the very good possibly of genocidal results because of Schmierer’s foray into Africa.

It is Exodus that allowed bizarre and dangerous therapy to continue for half of 2009 at Corduroy Stone before action was belatedly taken.

It is Exodus who in the past had allowed youths like Zach Stark and Lance Carroll to be forced into Exodus’ ex-gay boot camps against their will.

Thomas’ cynical defense for his role in such appalling actions is that he has a nice smile, doesn’t have fangs and is surprisingly friendly. The term “banality of evil” comes to mind when Thomas tries to make the case that his public demeanor does not match his dirty deeds.

Sorry, Mr. Thomas, but it is time to take personal responsibility for the egregious harm perpetrated by you and the staff at Exodus International. If the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 comes to pass and LGBT people are hunted down, everyone associated with Exodus will be viewed as an accomplice to war crimes.

Please, Mr. Thomas, stop playing the victim card.  If you want to be a real victim, enroll in Corduroy Stone for “therapy”. For any semblance of respectability, you need to go to Uganda and publicly rebuke  this death bill.

But, let’s be clear: right now you are more mercenary than martyr.

Ex-gay organization had been source of contention locally

By Todd A. Heywood 12/16/09 9:57 AM

LANSING — Gay rights advocates are lauding a split between the controversial Lansing-based ex-gay ministry Corduroy Stone and prominent ex-gay ministry group Exodus International.
“Exodus has removed their affiliation and the board of directors has dissolved. Now he’s just some guy,” said Patrick McAlvey, 24, who earlier this year told his story of dealing with Mike Jones and Corduroy Stone Ministries to the national organization Truth Wins Out.

“He’s not a mental health professional. He’s not a pastor,” McAlvey said of Jones, a retired Michigan State University employee. “He’s just some guy with made-up theories and outlandish techniques claiming he can help people change their sexual orientation. He is dangerous and I hope people steer clear of this predator.”

Read More at Michigan Messenger

Exodus Dithered While Scandal Raged, Placing Youth at Risk, Says Truth Wins Out

Truth Wins Out (TWO) revealed today that the nation’s largest “ex-gay” organization, Exodus International, officially cut ties with its Lansing affiliate Corduroy Stone after charges were made by an ex-gay survivor that the sessions included harmful and bizarre therapy. In August, Patrick McAlvey made the charges against Corduroy Stone’s Mike Jones in a Truth Wins Out video, yet it took Exodus until December to take action. Exodus’ dithering in the face of scandal cost precious time and may have placed additional youth in harm’s way, according to Truth Wins Out.

“For decades Exodus International has lent this predator some level of credibility,” ex-gay survivor Patrick McAlvey told Truth Wins Out. “Now they have finally realized how dangerous he is, but how many vulnerable folks have already been victimized because of Exodus’ support of this man?”

“Shame on Exodus International for dragging its feet when our children were at risk,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Exodus was more interested in covering up the scandal than fixing it. This case shows that ex-gay programs lack standards and place vulnerable people in harms way.”

At the age of nineteen, McAlvey, who came from a religious background, was terrified that he might be gay. Feeling vulnerable and desperate to “change”, he placed his trust in Mike Jones and Corduroy Stone.

“He asked how large my penis was,” McAlvey explained of Jones’ therapy. “He asked if I shave my pubic hair. He asked what type of underwear that I wore. He wanted me to describe my sexual fantasies to him and the type of men I’m attracted to. On one occasion, he asked me to take my shirt off and show him how many push-ups I could do, which I did not do.”

“Mike Jones used to be able to say he was an Exodus International affiliate governed by a Board of Directors,” said McAlvey to Truth Wins Out. “Exodus has removed their affiliation and the Board of Directors has dissolved.  Now he’s just some guy.  He’s not a mental health professional.  He’s not a pastor.  He’s just some guy with made-up theories and outlandish techniques claiming he can help people change their sexual orientation.  He is dangerous and I hope people steer clear of this predator.”

Truth Wins Out called Mike Jones today, but he declined to comment. Exodus’ headquarters in Orlando has not addressed the situation since August. Repeated attempts to reach Alan Chambers, Exodus’ President, have gone unanswered.

David Bahati (left), the psychotic would-be-murderer behind Uganda’s kill-the-gays bill, has said he will not water down the anti-gay legislation as previously reported.  The bill may become law by February.

“We are not going to yield to any international pressure – we cannot allow people to play with the future of our children and put aid into the game,” said Bahati. “We are not in the trade of values. We need mutual respect.”

Bahati also rejected Rev. Rick Warren’s plea to eliminate the bill after the televangelist called it “unchristian.”

“It’s unfortunate that a man of God who has inspired many people across the world can give into pressure and disappoint them,” said Bahati.

It is becoming clear that Warren should visit Uganda to help kill this bill, before this bill kills gays. We applauded Warren for his statement last week, but it would be much stronger if he delivered it from Kampala.

It is worth noting that Bahati is quoting American “ex-gay” quack therapist Richard Cohen’s book “Coming Out Straight” verbatim when he talks about homosexuality as a “learned behavior” that can be “unlearned.”

“Learned behaviour can be unlearned,” said David Bahati. “You can’t tell me that people are born gays. It is foreign influence that is at work.”

Bahati is an ignorant, blood-thirsty tyrant who should be staunchly and forcefully opposed by anyone who cares about human rights. And Cohen does, as Rachel Maddow said last week, have blood on his hands. He and everyone associated with his International Healing Foundation is a would-be accomplice to death squads. They should be treated accordingly. It is amazing that the lives of GLBT Ugandans hang in the balance because of an idiotic book printed by an obvious madman like Cohen. (See video below)

In Entebbe last week, The Guardian reports that 200 religious leaders, under the powerful umbrella group Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, demanded diplomatic ties be severed with “ungodly” donor countries, including the UK, Sweden and Canada, who are “bent on forcing homosexuality on Ugandans”.

Is heterosexuality really that weak in Uganda? It sure seems like it based on the hysteria and pandemonium surrounding gay people. Particularly Mr. Bahati, who seems, based on his rhetoric, like he might mount a man any second if his clownish bill isn’t ramrodded through the legislature.

Personally, I think that the United States government would be foolish not to grant these preachers and imams their holiday wish. Uganda is about to treat GLBT people as if they are diseased vermin who need to be exterminated. Where have we seen this movie before?

It would be unconscionable for the U.S. to continue forking over our tax dollars to this sanguinary police state so they can declare war on our defenseless people.  Our nation has a moral duty to display its values and cut off every cent of aid to Uganda if the Anti-Homosexuality bill becomes law.