On Friday, I appeared on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show.

We discussed Delaware’s bizarre and extreme GOP Senate nominee, Christine O’Donnell and her deep roots in the so-called “ex-gay” industry. As the director of The Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth (SALT), she had an ex-gay program led by Wade Richards. He came out of the closet and O’Donnell, like a loving Christian, abandoned him, showing that she is cruel, unforgiving and mean-spirited.

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.

The brain doesn’t lie, folks.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote the following:

If one ever completely screws up his or her life and wants “redemption”, there are two courses of action. The first is a name change, with the hope that no one notices the sordid past. Don’t laugh, the technique worked for ValuJet. In 1996, the airline crashed into an alligator-infested swamp, changed its name to AirTran – and presto – it was like the disaster never happened.

And, like clock work, the beleaguered and scandalized “ex-gay” activist group, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, (JONAH) has changed its name to “Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing”

Where did JONAH get the idea of a name change in a time of scandal?

It came from its co-founder, Arthur Abba Goldberg, who is a convicted Wall Street con artist who looted millions of dollars from poor communities. After Goldberg’s parole was up, he dropped the “Abba” from his name, making it nearly impossible to find out about his sordid history on Google. It was at this point he reinvented himself as a great healer of homosexuals and co-founded JONAH. This scheme worked for nearly a decade, until it was uncovered this year by Truth Wins Out and the South Florida Gay News. So, it makes sense that this charlatan would replicate his old trick, which shielded him from controversy for years.

However, Goldberg can change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and it won’t make his tawdry criminal record disappear. Likewise, altering JONAH’s name will not erase the fact that the group’s senior trainer, Alan Downing,  stands accused by two former clients of sexual misconduct. The facts won’t so easily be dismissed, nor will people be so easily fooled. And, if they are, Truth Wins Out will be there to remind them.

From what I hear through the grapevine, Goldberg is now claiming that “JONAH is at war.” I’m glad to hear this because he is now operating on my turf. I wish him luck and believe that our truth grenades will prevail over his bullshit bombs.

Goldberg is quite cunning. One has to be to steal millions of dollars — and nearly get away with it. His greatest weakness, however, is that he overestimates his abilities. He fervently believes that he is always the smartest person in the room — like the Enron guys. And we all know what happened to them.

While Goldberg might be a genius in money mismanagement (or is it malfeasance), he needs some work on his lousy PR instincts. For example, only someone delusional or out of touch would use disgraced “life coach” Richard Cohen (See pictures of therapy) as his therapeutic guru. He also made a gargantuan mistake by changing the name of JONAH to Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing.

Why?

The greatest weakness of this organization is the bizarre, sexually inappropriate and unproven methods of “healing” it promotes. As of today, they have made it infinitely easier to focus on the types of therapy provided to clients — including nude therapy, therapeutic lap dances and pretending to murder a parent by slamming a tennis racket into a pillow.

Truth Wins Out is excited about debating JONAH on its so-called “healing” methods. The truth is, Goldberg is the smartest person in the room — if the other people are George W. Bush and Carrie Prejean.

Goldberg and JONAH can change like chameleons, but, in the end, they will show their true colors. When they do, Truth Wins Out will be on the scene to shine a bright spotlight so the entire world will see the flawed and corrupt character of Goldberg and his minions at JONAH.

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is a despicable group of sick individuals who pretend to be loving parents – but the organization really exists to give family members and friends the tools they need to reject their LGBT “loved” ones. Wow, how nice and Christian.

PFOX is best known for threatening frivolous lawsuits against schools that reject its junk science, staging hate crimes so alleged “ex-gays” can claim to be victims, and grandstanding to gain free publicity for their silly, lost “cause”.

The latest Springer-esque circus act from this sorry group came when an alleged supporter requested from the District of Columbia a “Certificate of Appreciation” for PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs.

Clearly, these are perfunctory pieces of paper signed by the mayor. Yet, when Griggs got her “award”, she plastered it on PFOX’s website and made it look like she was actually endorsed and applauded by Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Yep, it really is that sad.

To be clear, Grigg’s behavior is no different than a kid who is the worst athlete on the block buying himself an MVP trophy and then boasting about his “award” to the kids in the neighborhood. It truly takes a pathetic, morally bereft organization to pull such a disheartening, churlish publicity stunt.

Apparently, Mayor Fenty agrees (if not so explicitly). He had Stephanie D. Scott, Secretary of the District of Columbia, write a letter to PFOX telling Griggs to take down the mayor’s “Certificate of Appreciation” from the group’s website. The June 24th letter reads:

Ms. Griggs:

I am writing to request that you remove Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Certificate of Appreciation from your website. The document was issued in error, as our office failed to adequately review your request.

I thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Stephanie D. Scott, Ph.D.

That is a very kind way of saying, “we had no idea that a manipulative hate group would exploit the system and grandstand in such a shameless way.”

As of today, PFOX is still displaying the award, as if the discredited group had actually been honored  and not, instead, been upbraided by the mayor.

L-O-S-E-R-S

Finally, I am going to say something politically incorrect. If you are Grigg’s gay son, (is it Jason Griggs?) it is time to crawl out of the closet. You mother is not the head of a run-of-the-mill anti-gay group. She is the bigot who is posing as the alternative to PFLAG, the pro-gay group that helps parents.

In other words, parents who are desperately seeking help and guidance from legitimate sources are finding your mother instead, who is selling them lies about LGBT people. It is time that you stepped up and stopped her dangerous charade. How many parents have rejected their gay children because they found Regina, instead of genuine support?

Mr. Griggs, you’ve been silent long enough. You are no longer a kid (unlike those harmed by your mom). It is time to grow up and speak out.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) are up to their tired tricks once again. A bunch of seemingly unstable oddballs (Regina Griggs, Richard Cohen, Greg Quinlan, con artist Arthur Abba Goldberg) strategize on ways they can be rejected from sundry venues based on their spectacular idiocy and remarkable irrelevance. Then, they make a big fuss and whine to the media that “ex-gays” are victims, hoping they will get their names in the newspaper and feel important.

Their other tactic is to host disinformation booths at state and county fairs and fake hate crimes by provoking innocent gay bystanders, so they can claim that “ex-gays” are a persecuted minority.

PFOX is far and away the sickest and most profoundly disturbed group of people I have dealt with in more than twenty years of activism. They are the lowest of the low — grotesque bottom feeders of the anti-gay industry. There is not a sane, rational voice within this entire organization and hasn’t been since the group’s founding by the Family Research Council in 1998.

This buffoonish organization has virtually no accomplishments or even a discernible mission. Unlike Exodus, which tries to help people unsuccessfully “pray away the gay” (“Freedom from Homosexuality Through Jesus Christ”, for those historical revisionists who deny they pray away the gay), PFOX does….absolutely nothing.

The organization exists as a platform for a couple of showboats who are fighting for the right to show off. It’s one big ego trip to elevate otherwise unimportant people. After all, if Cohen and Quinlan were not “ex-gays” they would be nobodies.

Indeed, they have had no bearing on the debate over the efficacy of “ex-gay” therapy. And, Grigg’s son is still a practicing ho-mo-SEX-ual. After a decade of futile “activism” have you changed him Regina? Does he have a special gal pal yet? If not, why do you continue to run PFOX, given your own personal failure to convert your own son?

Griggs will never answer these questions, and prefers to continue warring with her own family. I just thank God for the parents I have and that I was not born into such a dysfunctional dystopia that clearly exists in the Grigg’s household.

PFOX’s latest tantrum is against the Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Griggs and company are in a predictable swivet because the PTA has wisely rejected the hate group’s demand to host an exhibit peddling anti-gay lies and junk science at their national convention. PFOX knew this would happen, but they are making a stink because they are stage horses who crave ink.

PFOX wrongly says there is a double standard because the PTA allows gay exhibits. Perhaps, this is because the LGBT groups are FOR something — which is equality. If they had positioned themselves as “ex-heterosexuals” with dishonest and mean-spirited pamphlets denouncing the “dangerous” heterosexual lifestyle, the LGBT groups would have been rejected too.

PFOX is not for “ex-gays” (which PFOX has not proven actually exist outside politics), but they are simply anti-gay and anyone with common sense knows this, including the PTA.

PFOX also has the distinction of promoting fake science that is not peer reviewed. They rely on charlatans such as the disgraced George “rent boy” Rekers. Convicted con artist Arthur Abba Goldberg is in charge of its speakers bureau. Their former president, Richard Cohen, was expelled for life from the American Counseling Association for malpractice. Why would the PTA elect to put vulnerable children in the hands of these potentially dangerous and discredited figures?

Furthermore, if so-called “ex-gays” are now heterosexual, they are welcome at the PTA in any capacity. What PFOX is essentially saying is that “ex-gays” are not heterosexuals, but some new sexual orientation.

PFOX has never articulated what an “ex-gay” actually is, since by their own definition they are separate from straight people. What this group offers is a nebulous and convoluted mission and description of who they are and what they stand for. This is why they are rightfully bounced from credible organizations.

Still, in the name of vanity and the rush of the great media spotlight, PFOX persists in its insanity:

“PFOX emailed the PTA for eight months while seeking a response to our request for an exhibit booth at the annual PTA convention,” said Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX. “We also left voice mail messages for Saylors.”

“But Saylors chose not to speak with PFOX. Instead, he sent an email accusing us of not meeting the PTA’ “Diversity and Inclusion Policy.’” (See Saylor’ email at http://pfox.org/NPTA_Diversity_Inclusion_Policy.pdf)

“Why is it gay groups meet the PTA Diversity and Inclusion Policy but our families do not? “Diversity’ and “inclusion’ should mean exactly that ‚Äî diversity and inclusion of everyone,” said Griggs. (See PFOX email to PTA at http://pfox.org/pta-diversity.html)

“Instead, gay groups like PFLAG that deny public access to ex-gays and disrupt church events welcoming former homosexuals are approved by the PTA while ex-gay groups are not,” said Griggs.

“Now the PTA is pressuring its state PTA chapters nationwide to adopt its biased national diversity policy, which includes ‘exual orientation,’ even though that term is selectively used to discriminate against people of faith and ex-gay families.”

“The PTA has become a left-wing advocacy group instead of serving the needs of all children,” said Griggs.

Where to begin?

LGBT groups are inclusive of gay people, heterosexuals, asexuals, bisexuals and transgender people. That about covers the spectrum. PFOX, rejects virtually all these categories. So, one group is diverse and accepting, while the other is defined by who it rejects and what they once claim to have been.

The notion that PFLAG is storming churches and disrupting services is just absurd and comes from PFOX’s legendary paranoia. It certainly is not rooted in reality and is an example of demagoguery of the most obscene kind. Such blatant lies are why the PTA and other groups should continue rejecting PFOX.

Folks, please take a moment and contact Chuck Saylors at csaylors@pta.org or csaylors@mbkahn.com and thank him for rejecting PFOX. This despicable hate group has no place at the June 10 PTA conference in Memphis.

There are groups in South Africa which are claiming to be able to “cure” gay people, as though human sexual orientation and gender identity is some form of disease or “lifestyle choice“. Their attack on human rights and freedom of expression comes ENTIRELY from the perspective of religious conservatism and fundamentalism and has no basis in fact, reality, science or medicine whatsoever.

They claim we are “broken“, burdened with “unwanted SSA” (that’s “Same Sex Attraction”) that we are somehow in need of their intervention, and so they believe that the same God that made us gay, bisexual or trans, has duly appointed them the moral guardians to rush to our aid and to save us from our sinful natures.

I find the fact that so many people actually fall for their nonsensical prattle rather disturbing. In fact, I think it is because of a lack of education on what we are as opposed to what they say about us. (Read More)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Contact: Wayne Besen, TWO Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org

“Ex-Gay’ Lobby Group Peddles Junk Science and Misleads Public On LGBT Issues

NEW YORK — Truth Wins Out (TWO) called on Adrian Fenty, the mayor of Washington, D.C., to quickly explain how Regina Griggs, an activist with Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays, (PFOX) received a certificate of appreciation. PFOX touted the honor in a press release and is displaying a copy of it on its website.

“We call on mayor Fenty to explain how a pusher of anti-gay propaganda and junk science received a certificate of appreciation,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “It is outrageous and surreal that one of the most dishonest and divisive organizations in Washington would be honored.”

According to a gushing PFOX press release:

The government of the District of Columbia has awarded a certificate of appreciation to Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). The certificate, signed by D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, recognizes Griggs for her “dedication, commitment, and outstanding contributions as Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.”

“Regina’ award is well-deserved,” said Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays. PFOX presented the award to Griggs last week in honor of her ten years of volunteer service to parents and the ex-gay community.

“Regina has served as executive director without pay. Instead, she prefers that donations be used to develop resources for families and teens, to promote unconditional love for all regardless of sexual orientation, and to seek equal access and protection for the ex-gay community. Her dedication is unparalleled.”

PFOX is a dangerous organization that promotes reparative therapy, a fringe practice rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization in the nation. Attempts to change sexual orientation are condemned by the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association and The American Academy of Pediatrics.

PFOX’ is an irresponsible organization that potentially places children in harms way. The organization’ speaker’ bureau is run by Arthur Abba Goldberg, a former Wall Street criminal mastermind who was sent to prison in 1987 for committing bond fraud. PFOX’ former President, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for malpractice.

PFOX is a political front group founded by the Family Research Council in an effort to use so-called “ex-gays” to lobby in favor of discriminatory laws. The group’ first executive director, Anthony Falzarano regularly smeared gay people claiming, without supporting evidence, that, “70-percent of homosexuals are molested as children.” He also said on CBS News that, “AIDS comes directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”

“PFOX is a group that has long attracted undesirable elements who disseminate demeaning and dehumanizing anti-gay lies,” said TWO’ Besen. “It is mind-boggling that Griggs has been given this honor. Only Mayor Fenty can clarify what happened, take responsibility, and ensure this kind of grievous insult won’t be repeated.”

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.

Two days after CNN uncritically aired the disbarred ex-gay therapist Richard Cohen as an expert on sexual orientation, the network finally aired a response from a real expert: Dr. Clinton Anderson of the American Psychological Association.

Hat tip: Queerty

I referred to this below, but now we have the video. In a pathetic attempt to appear “fair,” CNN decided to bring Richard Cohen, noted expert on nothing, on to spew his disproven nonsense. He claims that he’s helped “thousands” of men and women “overcome” their homosexuality, and change into heterosexuals, a specious claim that even most of the anti-science zealots on his own side have given up. He uses a “factsheet” [sic] from a group calling itself the American College of Pediatricians in order to lend credence to his claims that homosexuality is caused by Richard Cohen’s mom, whom he has forgiven through the holy power of tennis racket and pillow. Jeremy Hooper has done the legwork in exposing the “American College of Pediatricians” as a group of like-minded fringe anti-scientific, non-credentialed wingnuts attempting to pose as experts by using such a smarty-pants sounding name. Also, there’s a plug for NARTH, the group which lies and claims to be secular, while being wholly staffed by extremist gay-obsessed conservatives Christians. The dishonesty of these people is stunning, really.

Note, also, that the subject matter they brought Richard in to discuss has nothing to do with Richard’s for-profit business. Nothing.

(h/t Good-As-You)

God, Kyra. What on earth were you all thinking?

This has been buzzing around for the last hour, and people are pissed. I haven’t seen the video yet, but it seems that Kyra Phillips did a report on “ex-gays,” and here’s how it went down:

CNN’s Kyra Phillips just ran a repulsive and shockingly irresponsible segment…in which she asked, “Homosexuality ‚ÄîIs it a problem in need of a cure?”

She then brought on crackpot “ex-gay” Richard Cohen, spewing lies about how people can change their sexuality and become straight, with nobody to rebut his disproven arguments. (You may remember when Rachel Maddow ripped Cohen to shreds over Uganda).

First of all, Kyra: The fact that you asked this question is beyond the pale, because it’s been answered, repeatedly, by every credible mental health and medical organization, going all the way back to the early 1970′s! No, Kyra, it’s not a “problem in need of a cure,” and it’s absurd that you would ask the question. I know that CNN is failing miserably right now, and I know that the Murdoch empire has pressured mainstream media organizations to seek faux “balance” in all areas, but this is insane. Will we next see a story on CNN about someone who has left the negro lifestyle? I mean, you’re just asking the questions, right? Because yes, that would be the same, in terms of journalistic integrity.

And CNN, are you really not aware of Richard Cohen? If not, let us help, because his antics have been covered here thoroughly, from his ties to the anti-gay genocide bill in Uganda, his man-cuddling ministry, his activities with the hate group PFOX, and so on.

Why don’t you spend a little time doing some damn research before you go on the air with imbecilic nonsense?

THANKS.

Video when it’s available.

(h/t Joe Sudbay)

UPDATE: Speaking of ex-gay crackpots, Bryan Safi tore Richard Cohen a new one in a particularly memorable episode of “That’s Gay”:

(h/t Joe.My.God)