Every now and again we highlight “ex-gay” activists who disappear from the scene. One such individual is Mike Ensley, who was laid off from Exodus in 2008. For those who do not remember, Ensley was the group’s “Youth Analyst”, with the insidious role of brainwashing young people.
He has now reinvented himself as an Orlando-area photographer named “Philip Michael” with a penchant for homoerotic art house photos — particularly focusing on tanned musclemen. (Ensley Photo below)
Here is what he said in his bio:
“I’m a freelance artist living in Central Florida. I discovered my passion for photography several years ago on a road trip across the United States. Since then the train has never stopped rolling.”
No words in the bio about the youth preyed on and harmed by telling them that they were sick, sinful, and could pray away the gay?
I called Ensley to ask how he was doing and to see if he was still pretending to be straight. He began stuttering and said, “I have nothing to say to you” before he hung up the telephone.I had hoped to get an update on his lifestyle, but I guess he had no interest in discussing the good ole’ days at Exodus.
In any case, Mike, when you are ready to come out of your closet, we are here to help you. A picture may be worth a thousand words. Perhaps, a hot homoerotic photo is worth 2,500 words. But, true freedom as an openly gay person is priceless.
Apparently, Mr. Ensley’s into playing make believe. First Exodus International, and now this. It seems someone likes living in a fantasy world.
This is why I get fed up with naive gay activists who feel like there is dialogue or common ground to be found with rancid bigots like Matt Barber. There is no common ground, for people like this do not experience love in a human way:
Eunice and Owen Johns are a Pentecostal couple in the United Kingdom who are unwilling to care for all children equally, insisting that they would have to tell any foster children in their care that homosexuality is sinful. For this, they lost their rights to foster children, took their case to court, and have now lost:
A ruling from Britain’s high court found that a Pentecostal Christian couple’s belief that homosexuality is morally wrong could be used as a factor in deciding whether they can care for foster children.
Eunice and Owen Johns, aged 62 and 65 respectively, couldn’t convince judges at London’s Royal Courts of Justice that a British city discriminated against them after they expressed their views on homosexuality, the Guardian newspaper of London reported Monday.
The case stems from the Johns telling a Derby city social worker in 2007 that they couldn’t tell a child that a “homosexual lifestyle” was acceptable, the Guardian reported. The couple had cared for foster children in the past and wanted to take in children aged 5 to 10.
In their ruling, Lord Justice Munby and Justice Beatson noted they weren’t striking down the Johns’ beliefs but ruled instead on the discrimination stemming from those beliefs, the Guardian reported.
“No one is asserting that Christians (or, for that matter, Jews or Muslims) are not ‘fit and proper’ persons to foster or adopt,” the judges wrote in their ruling, according to the Guardian. “No one is seeking to de-legitimise Christianity or any other faith or belief. On the contrary, it is fundamental to our law and our way of life that everyone is equal before the law and equal as a human being … entitled to dignity and respect.
That last quote from the judges’ ruling is the key here. Fundamentalist Christians have a weird complex, in which they believe that most or all of their co-religionists are also flaming bigots like they are. This is simply not the case. There are members of every religious faith whose beliefs on sexuality have matured in light of science and experience. Moreover, there are members of every religious faith who are adult enough to care equally for the all children, even gay ones. What is at issue here is that Eunice and Owen Johns are using their backwards religious beliefs as a plea for an exception to that rule. The fact that they are anti-gay and cannot get past that makes them a danger to any foster child who happens to be gay.
In foster care, the children’s needs come first — not the fee fees of a Pentecostal couple unable to get past their discredited beliefs on sexuality and embrace the harsh light of reality.
Flour Bluff Independent School District will not allow a proposed club supporting gay and lesbian students, but the proposal prompted the district to rethink allowing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to meet on campus.
Superintendent Julie Carbajal said she has asked the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to meet off campus while the district studies the legality of allowing the club while disallowing a club supporting homosexual students. She said there is no chance the district will approve the proposed Gay-Straight Alliance, but she will make sure all other school clubs are following the district’s policy.
“We need to be fair and equitable to all,” she said.
In disallowing the Gay-Straight Alliance, the district said it didn’t have to follow a federal law mandating schools offer equal opportunities for all students to organize. The district approved a policy in 2005 that did not allow student clubs not tied to curriculum to meet on campus.
Absolutely pathetic. Local activists would protest, but since the wingnut superintendent is apparently so irrationally fearful of The Gays that she’s willing to screw the Christian clubs in the process, they’re sort of at a loss:
Carbajal’s decision to disallow any non-curriculum clubs from meeting on campus may stop a local gay activist from protesting next week.
“They’d rather get rid of all organizations rather than to allow this one to start? Wow,” said Paul Rodriguez, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. “If she’s not going to allow any other clubs on campus then we have no ground to stand on.”
Yeah, sometimes you sort of have to let bigots implode all by themselves. I feel sorry for the kids, though — all of them — for whom such a poor example is being set by the supposed “adults.”
This is one of those stories that makes me want to slam my head against the desk repeatedly. How do these people grow up in such a vacuum? If y’all think back to elementary, middle and high school, many of you probably will recall your schools having “Spirit Weeks” of some sort, usually leading up to Homecoming. Every school I attended did it, both public and Christian private, and one of the days was always some sort of “reverse day,” where boys would dress up like girls and girls would dress up like boys. It was done in a spirit of fun, and my god, it’s kids. They do not care about “gender politics” at that point. But some parents and an ignorant wingnut pastor north of Toronto saw the plans for a day of this sort and got their little Evangelical panties in quite the wad:
The student council at King City Public School thought a great way to celebrate “school spirit” day would be for the boys to dress like girls and the girls to dress like boys. But their attempt to have fun has turned into accusations that gender identity politics is being forced on young minds, and left the school’s principal distraught over how something generated by 11- and 12- and 13-year-olds became such a minefield.
“This has been a real eye-opening experience for both the students and staff of the school,” said Ross Virgo, manager of public affairs for the York Region District School Board, north of Toronto. “These children are not old enough to even know what ‘gender identity politics’ are.”
The school, which runs from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, decided to cancel the spirit day after several calls from parents who objected for reasons of family values, Mr. Virgo said.
“The last thing we wanted to do was offend any of the parents. The principal of the school has been deeply emotionally affected by the reaction.”
[...]
Reverend Charles McVety, a staunch social conservative who has expressed concerns in the past about a “homosexual agenda” in the school system, raised the issue Thursday after receiving an email that was sent from a parent to Ms. Goan.
The parent wrote:
“The psychological implications of cross-dressing can be a very sensitive issue. Have we thought about children who may be dealing with their own issues of sexual or gender identity and how they might feel? Or about the four year old who witnesses his peers dressing up as the opposite gender? What messages will be sent?”
For his part, Rev. McVety said he found it hard to believe the students came up with the idea on their own and thought the cross-dressing plan reflected a dangerous kind of political correctness that lacks any moral standards in our schools.
Oh, my god. Reverend McVety, were you home schooled or something? Grow up!
This is pretty cool. Newly out country star Chely Wright teamed up with Nate Berkus to redo the youth lounge at the YES community center in New York, and then talked to the kids about her experiences. Here’s some of what she said:
“I am from a small town in Kansas,” Wright said. “I scoured my little town looking for anyone else like me and I couldn’t find anyone. I continued to hide because I had a dream of being a country music singer.”
“I hit my rock bottom and I found myself in 2006 ready to kill myself because I had painted myself into a corner. I had created an entire life where nobody knew me. I got on my knees and prayed to God, ‘Help me out of this,’ and the answer I got was stand up, tell the world who you are. And I came out for me, most of all because I wanted to live.”
“But my second most compelling reason for coming out was I didn’t want to think about another kid sitting on the edge of his bed, or another young person like Seth Walsh, I couldn’t stand the thought of somebody else feeling like there wasn’t somebody else like him or like her,” she said, referring to the 13-year-old California boy who hanged himself after suffering years of torment at the hands of his classmates.
“I came out in May of 2010 and it’s the best thing I ever did for my life,” Wright added to a warm applause.
Truth Wins Out supports the OUTMUSIC Foundation’s Sponsor A Young Person Initiative, and we hope that readers and their local or national organizations will consider offering their support as well.
It’s certainly not what the Religious Right advocates. No, it’s more like this piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, written by an actual gay teen who has it pretty good, due to the support system he has in his family, his friends and his community. Read it all, but here’s a taste:
I remember sitting [my mother] down at the kitchen table as my brother was getting ready for bed, saying to her, “I think I’m … I don’t know what the word is … ”
“Transsexual? Bisexual? Gay?”
“Yeah,” I said, “That’s the word. Gay. That’s what I am.”
She asked me if I was sure, and I nodded.
“And you’re sure it’s not because I had girlfriends before?” I shook my head.
“Well,” she said. “I’m happy for you honey. Now get ready for bed.”
A year later, I shared my news with my fifth-grade class, and then my mom threw me a coming out party. My brother, mother and I spent hours making the house presentable, washing tablecloths and filling balloons. We printed my coming out poem on lavender paper and distributed it to the friends, and even teachers, who showed up. When I blew out the candles and cut the cake, slicing through the red cursive icing letters that spelled “Happy Coming Out,” it didn’t even occur to me how fortunate I was. This was a gay kid’s dream come true, and I was living it.
His mom and brother support him, he has a great gay-straight alliance in school, and when he faces challenges, he has a true support system. That’s what it should be like for every gay teen in America.
Jason Cherkis has a heavy piece in Mother Jones shining a light on the stark reality faced by gay teens who end up in the foster care/group home system. These kids already come from unfriendly, harsh environments, and then are faced with the fact that many foster parents don’t want gay kids, the system doesn’t have the resources to support them, and the bullying they face in the system is often far worse than what “normal” gay kids go through.
Please read the whole thing, but here’s a taste:
According to the American Bar Association’s 2008 guidebook for child-welfare lawyers and judges, virtually all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning kids in group homes had reported verbal harassment; 70 percent had been subjected to violence; and 78 percent had either run away or been removed from a foster placement for reasons related to their sexuality. “They are the one population thrown out of their home because of who they are,” says Gerald P. Mallon, a professor at New York’s Hunter College School of Social Work.
[...]
The crisis facing gay foster kids hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed. The Child Welfare League of America publishes guidelines on the subject for social workers, and several states have taken baby steps: California passed a foster-care nondiscrimination law (PDF); New Jersey has established “safe zones” for gay youth; and Illinois, Connecticut, and New York have hired dedicated staffers to help them. But child-welfare agencies are only as good as their foster families—and many foster families refuse to take a gay child. Jerry Walters, vice president for foster-care services with the Jacksonville-based Boys’ Home Association, says his organization recently surveyed its 246 families and found only 21 who were willing to accept a gay teenager. Attorneys Linda Diaz and Kristin Kimmel (PDF)—who run a project focusing on gay issues for the nonprofit Lawyers for Children Inc.—told me that openly gay kids in New York are typically put into group homes instead of foster care. In New Orleans, gay teenagers deemed “ungovernable” by their biological families sometimes end up in juvenile hall.
Even Connecticut—which works closely with True Colors, a nonprofit dedicated to helping gay kids in the system—has a heck of a time finding them a home. They tend to “have lots of other issues,” explains Robin McHaelen, executive director of True Colors. “They’re not cute little Matthew Shepard kids.”
If you read the whole piece, Cherkis tells the stories of specific kids in the system, and it’s scary and sad. Obviously much more needs to be done for these kids, as they are, it seems, a forgotten subset of an already widely forgotten population.
In the wake of increased media reporting of suicides caused by antigay bullying, Focus on the Family has retaliated against concern for the bullied by portraying itself as the victim of efforts by “homosexual activists” to “promote homosexuality” and the “homoseexual agenda” in public schools.
Focus only infrequently details these supposed sex promotions, and unfortunately the news media almost never demand that Focus on the Family document these promotions.
In an August 12 statement to OneNewsNow, Focus on the Family defined the three conditions that it considers “promotion”:
Acknowledgement in federally recommended antiviolence programs that antigay violence is not, unfortunately, excluded from the definition of “bullying”
Schools’ acknowledgement to elementary-school students that same-sex couples exist — an acknowledgement driven by the simple fact that these youngsters are seeing same-sex couples in their neighborhoods and meeting classmates who have same-sex parents
Diversity training for high school teachers and students, acknowledging that non-heterosexual colleagues and classmates deserve the same respect and treatment as everyone else
Focus’ full disclosure is, frankly, a disappointment. I was hoping for revolting accounts of lurid pictures, sex toys, and adult-child solicitations. The reality seems hardly worth the self-pitying and paranoid anger and hate that Focus has unleashed upon the victims of antigay bullying.
Every now and again we highlight “ex-gay” activists who disappear from the scene. One such individual is Mike Ensley, who was laid off from Exodus in 2008. For those who do not remember, Ensley was the group’s “Youth Analyst”, with the insidious role of brainwashing young people.
words in the bio about the youth preyed on and harmed by telling them that they were sick, sinful, and could pray away the gay?
