An Open Letter from Soulforce to Jan and Paul Crouch, founders of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the Evangelical Christian broadcasters who are featured on Lighthouse Television, TBN’s affiliate in Uganda, including: Matthew Crouch, Joyce Meyer, Andrew Wommack, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, and Franklin Graham:

By now you are well aware of the anti-homosexual bill pending before the Parliament of Uganda. We urge you to denounce this bill. Use your personal friendships with President and Mrs. Museveni, with MP David Bahati (your Christian colleague who proposed this bill) and with Stephen Langa, (the Ugandan Christian organizer behind the bill) to take a public and passionate stand against it.

The media are blaming the visit to Uganda by three of your colleagues for this despicable and truly un-Christian law. In fact, for years you have used your Lighthouse Television programs, your radio broadcasts and your massive public meetings to warn Ugandans of the so called “threat homosexuals pose to Bible-based values and the traditional African Family.”

In no small part, you are already responsible for the current call by Ugandan leaders to enforce the old law condemning lesbian and gay Ugandans to up to 14 years in prison. This new law increases that sentence to life imprisonment and even death by hanging. Denounce this new bill or the blood of lesbian and gay Ugandans will be on your hands.

It isn’t just the “liberal media” who are condemning the bill. (Read More)

Speaking Event Counters Notorious ‘Pray Away The Gay’ Therapy Conference 

Only three months after the American Psychological Association released a landmark report that claimed attempts to change from gay-to-straight do not work, a notorious “ex-gay” therapy group will come to South Florida this weekend to peddle its fraudulent cure for homosexuality. In response to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality’s (NARTH) infamous conference, Compass and Equality Florida hosted Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen last night, who gave a multi-media presentation on the harm of so-called ex-gay therapy.

“NARTH is a notorious and discredited fraud that peddles shame and profits from pain,” Wayne Besen, Executive Director of  Truth Wins Out, said at Compass, the Lake Worth LGBT community center. “The American Psychological Association made it clear that there is no evidence that people can go from gay to straight. Unfortunately, NARTH members are only interested in evidence that the checks they take from vulnerable and desperate clients can be cashed.”

NARTH’s conference will be held at the West Palm Beach Marriott, Nov. 20-22. Besen’s talk will kick off a week of protest and educational events that will culminate with the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference, sponsored by SoulForce and several other organizations, including Truth Wins Out.

“A special thanks goes to Tony Plakas and his partner Jamie Foreman for holding the event at Compass,” said Besen. “Allan Hendricks of Equality Florida did a wonderful job promoting the presentation. And, thank you to Dan Hall, a great friend and long time supporter of our work.”   

INFORMATION ON THE PROTEST

In August, the American Psychological Association released a report that explicitly said  “there is insufficient evidence” for therapists to claim conversion therapy works.

The APA report also admonished so-called “ex-gay” counselors to not mislead clients by telling them that their sexual orientation can be changed.

The experts who crafted this report made it crystal clear that such efforts to “pray away the gay” are a sham. That, however, has not stopped a trade group of quacks from planning to sell their snake oil in West Palm Beach next month.

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is holding yet another conference that runs counter to science and reality. What makes this group dangerous is that it pretends to be secular, but consists of hyper-religious counselors whose goal is to make it appear as if science backs their rigid belief system.

A wide range of tactics will be used to counter this hate symposium. I will be speaking at Compass, the GLBT community Center, on Nov. 17^th at 6:30PM. There will also be a protest on Nov. 21^st (10-2PM) organized by various student groups in South Florida.

The centerpiece of our opposition will be The 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference (Nov. 20-22), created by SoulForce and sponsored by a host of other organizations. Several of the leading experts who fight the “ex-gay” industry will be on-hand to educate the community about this continuing scourge.

We tend not to think much about heterosexism, but it is both prevalent and pervasive. Much of society – even some of our allies – can’t seem to wrap their brains around the fact that we are equal, our love is on par with theirs, and that our families are valid.

For example, on blog comment sections, I have consistently read critiques from supposed “friends” that we should sublimate our equality to other concerns, such as healthcare or the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

These people – and some are well meaning – would do almost anything to protect their families. Yet, they expect us to leave our families vulnerable. They assume we will stay silent so their families can receive benefits, while our own spouses and children are left to fend for themselves.

There is also the societal assumption that everyone is heterosexual, a bad cultural habit, considering GLBT people are everywhere. The primary reason that GLBT people must come out, is the idea that all people are heterosexual until they declare otherwise.

The “straight” assumption plays into the hands of group’s like NARTH that have very narrow views of sexuality and gender identity. They specialize in placing men and women in a behavioral box, with any deviation from that narrow 1950’s model labeled deviant.

NARTH thrives on such stereotypes and often confuses them with science. They make their money by finding insecure gay men and teaching them how to walk and talk so they will be perceived as “normal.” Women are urged to stay home and avoid masculine projects or jobs – lest they reject men and become lesbians.

In essence, groups like NARTH create a fake standard of what it means to be a man or woman. They actively bash anyone who does not adhere to their version of masculinity or femininity. Once a culture of persecution has taken root – they pretend to be the solution to the discrimination and abuse. NARTH ensures that anyone who is outside their approved model is labeled a freak, and for a hefty fee they can de-freak you.

Most heartbreaking, NARTH preys on parents and encourages them to send in children as young as three to be “fixed”. They tell parents that if a child is gay their life will be more difficult – even as NARTH is the one ensuring it will be so. There is a conflict of interest when those responsible for causing rejection and harassment claim they are there to only help those who want to change. They never seem to ask, “Why do people want to change?”

The answer, of course, is clearly the existence of NARTH.

NARTH is a backward organization run by fringe ideologues whose ideas have been soundly rejected by every respected medical and mental health association in America. It is crucial that we continue working to shine a light on its shenanigans, so people understand that NARTH is extreme, not the mainstream group it pretends to be.

Learn About Attending The Exciting Conference

Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality will join clergy, educators, mental health professionals and allies at the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 20-22. The conference offers a range of in-depth workshops and is open to everyone who seeks to challenge the harmful affects of heterosexism, reparative therapy, ex-gay ministries and other efforts to change people’s sexual orientation.

“First off, it’s important to be clear that the title of the conference is the Anti-Heterosexism Conference, not anti-heterosexual,” says Jeff Lutes, Executive Director of Soulforce and one of the organizers of the conference. “Heterosexism is the widespread assumption that heterosexual relationships are somehow superior to same-sex relationships, which leads to all kinds of abuse and discrimination against LGBT people. We want to highlight where heterosexism seeps into the social, cultural, religious and political fabric of society, and how we can begin to unravel its damaging consequences.”

Through a weekend-long series of workshops and keynote speakers, conference attendees will learn to challenge heterosexist attitudes and practices, speak out against the dangers of reparative therapy and other conversion efforts, and become strong advocates for LGBT equality.

Keynote speakers for the conference include Dr. Sylvia Rue, Interim Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, Rev. Deborah L. Johnson of Inner Light Ministries, and Dr. Jack Drescher, Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Joining Soulforce as co-sponsors of the conference are Truth Wins Out, the National Black Justice Coalition, Beyond Ex-Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin and Equality Florida.

The Anti-Heterosexism Conference also serves as a counterweight to the anti-gay think tank, NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality), which will be hosting its annual conference on the same weekend in West Palm Beach. For years NARTH has promoted reparative or “sexual orientation conversion” therapy, claiming that LGBT people can and should change their sexual orientation.

However, after a thorough review of the literature on conversion therapy, the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that sexual orientation is unlikely to change through therapy and adopted a resolution in August 2009 calling on mental health professionals to avoid telling clients they can change from gay to straight through “therapeutic” efforts or other treatments. The resolution builds on an APA report from 1998, which warned that reparative therapy can lead patients to “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior,” because “therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”

In November, individuals and organizations from across the country will come together for the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to work through the process of moving beyond the dangers of heterosexism to a more just and equitable environment for LGBT people. “It’s time we named the problem,” says Lutes, “and begin walking together through the solution.”

Learn more or register