Anchor Darcel Grimes: A group promising to help bring gays and lesbians out of their lifestyles arrives in Ashville, and with the promise comes some controversy. The Exodus Conference is being held in Ridgecrest this week. News 13’s Charu Kumarhia is in the news center with more, Charu, Exodus has been here before…
Charu Kumarhia: That’s right Darcel, the last time was in 2005, the late Jerry Falwell spoke, and now Exodus is back, but there is an opposition group that’s having another conference at the same time.
Eric Didia: It was a very dark time of my life
Charu Kumarhia: 30 year old Eric Didia has quote “left the lifestyle.” He says a bad relationship with a man and a bout with Hepatitis B made him want to stop living as a gay man.
Eric Didia: God did not make me as a man to love another man. He made me as his servant.
Charu Kumarhia: Exodus holds a conference every year, telling attendees, you may not stop being attracted to the same sex, but you don’t have to act on it.
Randy Thomas: The barometer of success is not heterosexuality, it’s our faith in Christ. 16 years ago I was a proud out gay man. I had no shame, I did not live in a closet, I still don’t live in a closet. I tell people all the time, I came out of the closet and eventually found out I was in the wrong house.
Monroe Gilmour of Equality Ashville: We’re basically trying to be like the Better Business Bureau and say, somebody harmful’s come to town selling a product that don’t work.
Charu Kumarhia: Equality Ashville is sponsoring an alternative event throughout Exodus, they want folks to know, you’re ok, just the way you are.
Monroe Gilmour: You can perhaps, live that--what they’re saying, for awhile, but it is going to come out eventually.
Charu Kumarhia: Didia says he isn’t ashamed of who he is or what he’s done, but he knows, he does want to change.
Eric Didia: …is that he didn’t make us to be this way, we’ve chosen. Many of our choices -- and where we are today -- is because of our choices.
Charu Kumarhia: And Exodus staff tell us that demand for their services is high, they say that all of their conferences fill up. But Equality Ashville believes that’s because there’s still a lot of shame associated with homosexuality.
In the news center, Charu Kumarhia, News 13.
Randy Thomas: The barometer of success is not heterosexuality, it’s our faith in Christ. 16 years ago I was a proud out gay man. I had no shame, I did not live in a closet, I still don’t live in a closet. I tell people all the time, I came out of the closet and eventually found out I was in the wrong house.
--
Charu Kumarhia: And Exodus staff tell us that demand for their services is high, they say that all of their conferences fill up. But Equality Ashville believes that’s because there’s still a lot of shame associated with homosexuality.
Now compare the above with what Thomas says on page 97 in the 2006 Exodus book "God’s Grace and the
Under the section entitled "Overcoming Shame" (bold mine):
A second profound need for most homosexuals is the need to overcome shame. How often do you hear of people dealing with homosexuality talk about “coming out of the closet”? You hear it often, no doubt.Got that? The solution isn’t in "coming out of the closet," but in abandoning the need for the concept of "closet."
The problem with this symbol is that it reframes the debate over homosexuality as one of coming out of culturally imposed silence and in embracing the politically correct truth that they are “gay.” The homosexual is told, wrongly, that “coming out” is somehow empowering to them. But as said earlier, homosexuality isn’t ultimately about identifying with a subculture or naming oneself as gay; it first and foremost is a relational issue. If your loved one has been led to believe that by “coming out of the closet” his problems will lessen, he’ll likely soon see how wrong that is. In or out of the closet, the issue is still about overcoming alienation and learning to enjoy stable relationships. And stable relationships in the gay community is practically an oxymoron.
What homosexuals find when they “come out of the closet” is that they were in the wrong house to being with. The whole premise of “the closet” is one of shame and rejection. Shame and rejection are the true enemies of someone seeking to walk away from homosexuality. Confronting these two issues right off the bat and continuing to guard against them consistently is one of the most important strategies of walking with someone to help them overcome homosexuality.
Gobbledygook: nonsense or jargon: language that is difficult or impossible to understand, especially nonsense or technical jargon
However, one clear thing so far would seem to be that Thomas' "faith in Christ" has led him to the conclusion that he is somehow now qualified to pronounce that we are all shamefully incapable of maintaining stable relationships...
...who ever we are...whatever relationships we have...and...with whomever we have them with...
And as Randy Thomas notes on his blog featuring the above video (dated July 23, 2008):
An asides, today is *the* sixteenth anniversary of my decision to walk away from my gay identity and ideology.
Sixteen years is a long time and I personally attest that I am still not gay.
Which, of course, by his own words in the newscast, has nothing to do with not being gay! Again:
"The barometer of success is not heterosexuality, it’s our faith in Christ."
Which is also in step with the "Who We Are" page of Exodus International (italics in original):
Exodus is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian organization promoting the message of Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.
Doublespeak: evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse.
He also says in that same posting (hyperlink mine):
The "truth" is that while you may have some who tried our way of life and bailed out for various reasons … some of us did not abandon our journey.
So if Exodus offers freedom from homosexuality, but not a successful destination to heterosexuality, the question then becomes, what exactly did they "bail out" on, if not a journey to nowhere?
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