"Ex-gay" Therapist Claims "Sensitive temperament" is Fundamental Cause of Homosexuality

(Reposted from Ex-Gay Watch)
---
And then goes on to bash gay activists as scheming thugs.

–

Anti-gay/exgay therapist, Christopher Doyle of The International Healing Foundation, recently penned an op-ed in the Christian post.

These feelings [same-sex attractions (SSA)] are the result of many factors, mostly environmental and familial, mixed-in with one genetic factor, a sensitive temperament. [emphasis added]

Anti-gay/ex-gay activists often claim “there’s no gay gene” to support their “not born gay” meme. For Christopher Doyle, sensitivity and empathy are not only the cause of homosexuality, but a genetically-based one at that.

In twenty-three years, we have found that 99 percent of our clients who experience homosexual feelings have very sensitive temperaments. … This is what I believe to be the foundation for the development of SSA…

Using that logic, teaching them how to be heartless monsters would cause them to experience heterosexual feelings.

And that’s the end of that theory, let the bashing begin…

He continues with the clichéd assertion that we equality-agenda driven, pro-gay activists are all mindlessly following Kirk and Madsen’s “homosexual manifesto,” After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s. (You know, the one we all carry around in our back pockets.)

This landmark book blueprinted how to indoctrinate the public into the innate-immutability myth of homosexuality – that people are born this way and cannot change. … Their biggest problem, however, in achieving all their goals, is the advent of the former homosexual, or ex-gay. Because if homosexuals can change, the whole foundation of ‘born this way’ tumbles like a stack of cards.

We and our “powerful” influence wielding organizations …ignore, defame, or disqualify [gay to straight] research for some reason.” Because it is “…biased, or fatally flawed for whatever reason.” [emphasis added]

He then goes on to tout a thoroughy debunked anti-gay-parenting study to make his point.

~~~

The second tactic is to paint SSA persons who seek sexual orientation change as victims by their counselors.

So, life-maimed survivors of “ex-gay” therapy, like some at Beyond Ex-Gay and a myriad of those elsewhere are no more than pawns in our political ploy to undermine the ex-gay movement?

They are now recruiting clients who are unable to achieve sexual orientation change to sue their former therapists in the name of consumer fraud…

Unable to change, you say?

The third and final method is to attack former homosexuals who have come public with their stories of change.

That “attack” is well deserved when so-called “ex-gay” persons like, Mr. Doyle, use the word “change,” ambiguously, to imply that euphemisms like “ex-gay,” “formerly homosexual” and “post-gay” mean the equivalent of heterosexual.

His marriage, children and not having “relapsed in eight and a half years” in no way prove or even indicate that same-sex orientation can be “changed” — across the board — to an opposite-sex orientation.

Further, There are PLENTY of gays and lesbians who are married with children who have never had sex or a relationship with a member of the same gender.

___

You can read his delusional perception that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is waging a “hate campaign” on the ex-gay counter-movement here, and Wayne Besen’s (of Truth Wins Out) scathing rebuttal to it here.

SPLC on conversion therapy:

 

40% homeless youth LGBT

Thank you, Cyndi Lauper -- advocate extraordinaire.



Forty to None Project: America's Next Generation

In America, it is estimated that up to 1.6 million youth are homeless each year and that up to 40% of them identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Cyndi Lauper and youth from the True Colors Residence, The Door, Safe Space and Green Chimneys in New York City share why we all need to get informed and get involved in bringing an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. It is time that we stand with America's next generation, so they can stand on their own. Share this video and be a part of the Forty to None Project!

Visit us at http://www.fortytonone.org to learn more.

Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fortytonone

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The other side of why conversion therapy should be banned for minors -- when the kids want it and the parents don’t.

The ex-gay meme alive and infectious in Australia.

But we begin with the latest on the subject matter in California.

LA Times: Brown appeals injunction against gay-conversion law
January 2, 2013 | 3:06pm

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday appealed a court injunction that has blocked enforcement of a new law [SB 1172] that prohibits providing gay minors with therapy aimed at converting them to being heterosexual.

The notice of appeal was filed on behalf of Brown and the Medical Board of California by state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided Dec. 21 to block the law that took effect Jan. 1 pending a decision on its constitutionality.

A small group of therapists and religious groups argued that the law infringes on their rights to free speech, but Harris has called conversion therapy “unsound and harmful.” [emphasis added]

The first Amendment argument could also be made in regard to driving, alcohol, cigarettes and a host of other minor-related regulatory laws.

The “free speech” that these therapists and religious groups argue for almost cost these parents the life of their son.

From Australia’s The Project news org.

Partial transcript:

Ben Gresham: Growing up I’d always been told that homosexuality is wrong. That if you are gay or lesbian that you can’t be part of the Church, you don’t get into heaven and that it’s a sin. … I would pray every night that God would take my attraction to other men away from me.

Narrator: But praying didn’t work. At just 16, he turned to a church leader for guidance. … The church helped Ben enroll in an online conversion program, aimed at turning him straight.

Phyllis Gresham [sitting with husband, Michael]: We had no idea, honestly, that Ben was going through the ex-gay program. He went to church meetings, we thought they were just church meetings. We do feel angry that the church did not notify us. Certainly if we had known what was happening we would have stopped him from doing them.

Narrator: Ben tried three conversion programs in three years, all failed. At 19, he tried to take his own life.

Ben: Because, for me, I couldn’t imagine a life without God. I couldn’t imagine a life without my faith, without my church, without my family, and that’s what I thought would happen.

Phyllis Gresham: It’s taken me a long time to forgive myself that I didn’t know what was happening.

Michael Gresham: Yeah.
---
Ben, like many gay kids, got the message that the state of being homosexual is sinful, and thus, are in an unwitting perpetual state of unrepentantce.

The anti-gay-ex-gay solution is a denial of homosexuality as a state of being for the promise of a virtually non-existent hope of becoming heterosexual.

Either look forward to hell, or look forward to a life of hell.

~~~

therapists and religious groups argued that the law [banning underage conversion “therapy”] infringes on their rights to free speech

And in doing so, they also argue that they should have the right to indoctrinate minors into the anti-gay-ex-gay lifestyle without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

A precise and additional reason why ex-gay therapy should be X rated.

(Thanks to Flourish&Bloggs for inspiring this post.)

Exodus’ Jayson Graves keeps the focus on the anus.

Jayson Graves, a board member of Exodus International, co-hosts a show called “Pure Passion” (now in reruns). A show that highlights those who’ve supposedly overcome “sexual bondage.” Personally, I think it gives genuine testimony of changed (for the better) lives, and actually helps some people.

Unless you’re gay. Then you will get AIDS and die because of your “sinful behavior.” At least according to this program.

Jayson Graves (intro): Welcome to Pure Passion. My name is Jayson Graves and I’m your host for today’s program.

Did you know that the US Center for Disease Control has a fact sheet they’ve issued, which says that in 2006, 54% of HIV infections among males age 13-29, were caused by homosexual contact. As well, that demographic is the only one that is seeing an increased rate of HIV infection in this country. Sadly, there were over 56,000 people in the US who were newly infected with HIV that same year, most of them being homosexual men.

The CDC fact sheet went on to say that 77% of HIV positive homosexual men, between the ages of 15 and 29, do not know they’ve been infected.

Another study shows that HIV positive, practicing homosexual men, are 9000% more likely to develop anal cancer.

Even in Canada, the HIV / AIDS rates have risen sharply, 51% of infections are now found among homosexual men.

On today’s program, we’re going to talk with a man who has AIDS. These are always sobering stories, but it’s important that we become informed on the subject.

So let’s hear Dan’s testimony, and let it be a witness not only to the consequences of sinful behavior, but, also to the power and love of God, to cleanse us, and forgive us, from all unrighteousness.

The entire intro was devoted to the conclusion that HIV/AIDS are due to "sinful behavior."

From the Exodus website: "In brief, AIDS is better seen as a reaping of consequences than as God's wrath on a specific group."

Exodus leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not AIDS is God's punishment.

Timothy Kicaid of Box Turtle Bulletin crunched some numbers and estimates that there is a "5.9% incidence of gay people (men and women) who are living with HIV/AIDS"

Instead of expressing a desire to find a cure and/or vaccine for the disease, they exploit, in God's name, the 6% of us who are suffering and dying, to suggest to their audience that anyone GLB or T are are warehouses of infectious disease.

Focus on the Family smarter than the AMA

11-11-09

Once again, from Focus on the Family's Citizenlink magazine:

AMA Opposes 'Don't Ask Don't Tell,' Says Gay Marriage Bans are Unhealthy

The country's largest professional organization for doctors takes a position on homosexual issues.

Gary Rose, a consultant with the conservative Medical Institute for Sexual Health, said the AMA should stick to medicine.

The AMA “should stick to medicine” eh? Here’s a Citizenlink quote from last July:

A third major finding of the study is that there is significantly greater medical, psychological and relational pathology in the homosexual population than the general population.

So there you have it. FOTF’s anti-gay Citizenlink knows more about medicine than the American Medical Association.

And in regard to the “study” they speak of:

In short, the study design was so flawed that no mainstream, peer-reviewed, mental-health journal would publish it. And the study’s supposed success stories were gay celibate individuals who adopted false labels to direct attention away from frequently undiminished same-sex attraction.

No cigar, Dobson.

Love Won Out protest in Alabama

Ala black Christian news.com:

"They're telling you to hate your child unless he lives the way you tell him to live," said Johnathan Quinn, president of Central Alabama Pride, one of the protesting organizations. "Their literature tells the parents to abandon their children unless they go this route: forcing them to be straight."

[[Melissa] Fryrear, director of gender issues for Focus on the Family and one of the speakers.] Fryrear said Focus on the Family does not want parents to shun homosexual children.

"One of our messages is helping parents stay in a relationship with their gay-identified child," Fryrear said. "Moms and dads shouldn't have to relinquish their religious convictions."

As described above, she confuses the issue by describing same-sex attraction as both an uncontrollable condition, and one that is a chosen identification.

This is the kind of doublespeak that leads me to conclude that Focus on the Family is a corrupt organization.

As I mocked on my facebook page; "Yay! I want parents who love their “religious convictions” more than they love me!"

GLSEN’s “Ally Week” makes lobbyists of gay allies

Via Citizenlink:

10-20-09
'Ally Week' Pushes Gay Agenda

GLSEN's week long effort uses the anti-bullying message as a springboard to indoctrinate students with the homosexual agenda.
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Cushman said events like Ally Week play directly into the activist's plans.

"GLSEN is using this so-called anti-bullying event to transform students into lobbyists for its adult agenda," she said, "for things like pro-gay legislation currently proposed in the U.S. House."

Is everyone terrified yet?

Here’s how GLSEN’s “Ally week” bills itself:

I believe all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression,deserve to feel safe and supported. That means I pledge to:

-Not use anti-LGBT language and slurs;
-Intervene, if I safely can, in situations where other students are being harassed;
-Support efforts to end bullying and harassment.

The nerve of those insidious gays and their agenda “to transform students into lobbyists” for the protection of their fellow students!
---
The news here is that they’re not promoting Exodus International’s “Allies Too” week:

Wait a minute, aren't you the ones who hate gays?

If that's what you think, it's about time you stop believing the lie that people with different beliefs about sexuality hate those who embrace homosexuality.

In other words, “We don't hate gay liars.”

I especially enjoy #4 and #6 from their “Core Principles” page:

4. We believe that a homosexual, bisexual or transgender identity and/or behavior are outside of the intentional design of human relationships and sexuality, and therefore aren’t what’s best for us, regardless of whether we are drawn to them.

6. We reject the notion that these beliefs somehow amount to hatred, bigotry, or a “phobia.”

You are free to “reject.” You are also free to be labeled hateful, bigoted, and homophobic.

[Candi] Cushman said events like Ally Week play directly into the activist's plans.

Again, Candi, why not counter these "gay activist" indoctrination techniques with Exodus International’s already tried and true “Allies, Too” week?
---
P.S. Focus on the Family also reminds us to hate Kevin Jennings.

Matthew Shepard: December 1, 1976 -- October 12, 1998

Buffy from “The Gaytheist Agenda” reminds us that today is the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death:

In Memorariam: Matthew Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998)

Linked to is an AP article on the event, and this YouTube video below:



The poster of that video, Michelle5451, writes:

This is for all you hate filled people who feel the need to spew your venom at people who live their lives different than your own. There is no bigger indication of self-hatred and deeply rooted fear than when a person throws hate and anger upon the world.

As if the story of Matthew Shepard isn't terrible enough - picture this, sit with it for awhile and bring it to mind the next time you want to attack a "fag," "dyke" or "homo" - when Matt was found 18 hours after his beating, his head and face were caked with dried blood, and in the blood on his face was a trail leading down his cheeks from his eyes. This tells us Matt had been awake at some point after his beating and before he fell into a coma, he knew what had been done to him, he was in pain, he was scared and perhaps, he knew he was going to die - and so, he cried. Tied to a fence, unable to move, brain damaged and dying - this man cried. Does that break your heart? It should...if you have one. If the story of Matt Shepard doesn't shock and disgust you far greater than the idea of two people of the same gender loving each other, you're the one not right with God.

Song written and performed by Melissa Etheridge. She wrote the song in memory of Matt Shepard.

And who can forget congresswoman, Virginia Foxx's, unconscionably callous remarks (note, Judy Shepard was on the House floor at the time):



Here’s what Exodus International has to say on the matter of hate crimes:

Thought Crimes Laws*

Exodus International believes that every human being is of equal value and worthy of the same treatment under the law. While Exodus International strongly opposes violent crimes and acts of aggression against any individual or group of individuals, thought crimes laws offer more legal protection to certain citizens based on their sexual preference alone. In addition, these laws pave the way to prosecute biblical beliefs about homosexuality, instead of prosecuting illegal actions that harm others.

* often called "hate crimes" laws by proponents

They want their religious hatred---and the consequences of it---protected at the expense of the safety of their LGBT brothers and sisters.

Excuse me while I vomit.

For more information see The Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Exodus/Focus favor the bullying and harassment of gay youth

From Citizenlink:

Activists Push for Expanded Anti-Bullying Bill in New York

The New York City Department of Education is expanding its "Respect for All" anti-bullying program.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the New York Civil Liberties Union are lobbying school officials to include a homosexual agenda in the program, according to family experts.

Randy Thomas, vice president of Exodus International, said that parents need to be aware that similar organizations may be trying to promote homosexuality in their schools.

"What gay activists are trying to do is take a legitimate problem, which bullying is, and turn it into an opportunity to spread gay ideology," Thomas said.

From the NYC Dept. of Education:

Second Phase of ‘Respect for All’ Initiative Expands Trainings for School Staff, Creates New Accountability Standards

Last year, the Department of Education added mandated reporting and investigation guidelines to its anti-bias “Respect for All” initiative, making New York City a national leader in efforts to combat bullying and harassment based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other factors.

Hypocrisy aside, to use Mr. Thomas’ words:

"What anti-gay hate activists are trying to do is take a legitimate problem, which bullying is, and turn it into an opportunity to spread anti-gay hate ideology."

Is Being Gay a Choice

Via Truth Wins Out:

From big93scott: Is Being Gay a Choice:



Transcript:

Today we’re going to talk about a notion that’s the backbone for a lot of the arguments against homosexuality. The argument that being gay is a choice.

I’ve answered this question before in a video, but I felt my answer was not personable enough. I thought this question could be better answered if I shared with a you part of my life that I don’t like reliving---to an extent that I have never before made public---before this video. I thought the question could be better answered if I took you back to the end of the summer between grade 6 and grade 7, and the beginning of grade 7. And it was in and around that time that I first realized that, well, I had very strong feelings for guys, and none for girls.

It was at that time that first realized that I might be gay. I never told myself that I was gay definitively. I felt that I couldn’t be. Not that it was impossible, but that I just…I couldn’t be. I never had anything against gay people, it’s just, I knew other people did.

I told myself that it was just a phase. I told myself that it was just a phase, and if it wasn’t a phase, that I’d change. Because growing up, I’d always believed that being gay was a choice. You hear so many people say it is, on TV, on the radio, on the internet. You hear so many people saying it’s a choice, that you believe them. Why wouldn’t you? It’s only those who go through it that really know the answer.

And so from about half way through grade 7 to half way through grade 8, I tried my hardest to not be gay. I tried my hardest to make the feeling go away. It was when I came to the realization that these feeling wouldn’t go away. It was when I came to the realization that the only choice I had about being gay, was acting on my feelings. It was when I came to that realization, that I lay before me two options. Option A) I could suppress my feelings, never tell a soul that I was gay, could marry a girl and have kids like a normal person and live a normal life, while secretly suppressing my feelings. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to suppress anything about me, and so that lead me to option two, I could kill myself.

There was no option three. There was no, I could be true to myself but I could be gay, I never, I never wanted that. And so one day, in the dead of winter in grade 8, I came home from school, was home alone, and I took a knife from the kitchen, and I went upstairs, and I sat on the toilet across from my bathtub. I set the knife down on the counter beside me. And I cried for what must have been an about an hour.

I was so close to getting into the bathtub and cutting my wrists that day. I was so close that it scares me even today, but I realized something when I was sitting there contemplating my own death. I realized that I hadn’t given my family a chance.

I knew that the only way that I could ever accept myself, would be to tell my family and see if they accepted me. And so about a couple months later, I told my sister, and if you’ve seen my coming out story, you know that from there, I told my brother, and from there I told my parents, and they were all as accepting as you can possibly imagine. And that’s why I can tell you, without a doubt, that without my family’s acceptance, I wouldn’t be making this video today. Without my family’s acceptance, I would be dead.

You see, it was the notion that being gay was a choice, that almost killed me. ‘cause I believed it. And I put so much hope, I put so much hope in one day being straight, and one day not having to fear the things I feared. That when I came to the realization that I would never be straight, I was thrown off the deep end. I never accepted the fact that I was gay, until I knew that all of my family accepted me.

And so for those of you who say that being gay is a choice, I ask you this; if you approached me in my state of desperation as a thirteen year old contemplating suicide--if you told me that I didn’t have to fear getting kicked out of my house by my parents. If you told me that it is an act of fear, people who I used to call my friends, looking at me with disgust. If you told my I didn’t have to fear being physically assaulted or even looking at a country’s laws before traveling there with my future spouse. I you told me that I could be straight, do you not think that I would have said yes. Do you not think I didn’t try?

You see, it’s the notion that being gay is a choice that almost killed me. It’s the notion that being gay is a choice that kills thousands of gay teenagers, gay young adults. It leads them all to suicide. It almost lead me to suicide.

When someone stands on a podium, stands in front of a microphone, sends it out over the airwaves of the radio into peoples homes. When someone says that being gay is a choice, it’s nothing but another nail in a desperate teenagers coffin.


----------------------------
Exodus International on the suicide of gay youth:

Randy Thomas: "tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions"

Exodus International takes over 'Love Won Out' conferences

I know this has been covered, but there's something in this AFA OneNewsNow article that I wanted to highlight (And no, it's not the ancient Matt Damon-like photo of Thomas):

Focus on the Family is transferring the conferences to Exodus International, according to spokesman Randy Thomas.

"We're talking tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions of people influenced by a redemptive view of homosexuality" Thomas says. "The Lord has raised up the ministry of Exodus International to bear witness to the world that he is alive and well and he has a loving response to homosexuality."

Millions "influenzed" is more like it.

Redemptive: liberating, redeeming, saving, rescuing, delivering, emancipating, releasing

Ah, redemption...

Patrick McAlvey, Ex-Gay Survivor

Posted August 13th, 2009 by Wayne Besen

Last week, Truth Wins Out released a video by ex-gay survivor Patrick McAlvey of Lansing, Michigan. He has spoken out on local radio and will join me on Culture Shocks radio with Barry Lynn TODAY at 4PM (ET). I hope you will tune in and listen to the live broadcast on the Internet.



Transcript as follows -- and as always, feel free to use:

Patrick McAlvey: It was devastating and it confused and isolated me, I didn’t know how to process what I was thinking and what I was feeling and how to still have any sort of self-esteem and feel good about who I was, with the knowledge that this desire, that is beyond my control, is somehow sinful and wrong.

I think it does a lot of damage to people’s mental health

[I] picked up the phone and called the founder and director of the ministry, in sixth grade, and he had just spoken at my middle school youth group that year.

His name is Mike Jones, he’s the director of corduroy Stone [a referral ministry of Exodus International].

When I found out I could change, I mean, it was the only hope I could hold onto, ’cause I was so scared and felt very alone, so.

No, I didn’t tell any family or friends, I grew up in a very conservative Christian home and school, and didn’t think it was a safe thing to tell anybody.

In middle school, after I called Mike, the guy who ran the ministry, we started emailing regularly and exchanging letters and talking on the phone occasionally.

Well I distanced myself from Mike sometime in early high school, and really had very minimal contact, he sent a couple letters, but I had very minimal contact until I was 19. And so when I was 19 I was kicked out of a missionary training school and forced to move back home with my family, and I was kicked out because of my attraction to men, and so in that time, I was sort of in a crisis mode and was very low, very depressed and just trying to make sense of my life and mostly of my attraction, so I contacted Mike again, and we started meeting regularly.

That night he suggested we go over to his friend’s house so that we could do “holding therapy.” So we drove together to his friend’s house and had an hour where I was instructed to lay in his arms, chest to chest, and not talk, it was just an hour of silent holding and he told me to feel the strength of another man, smell the smell of another man, feel the security of another man’s arms. And it was supposed to replace, or fill a void that I had from some unmet childhood need.

I thought the holding therapy was very strange, and it made me uncomfortable, but I was willing to try anything, and trusted Mike.

Afterwards, he wanted to know if it felt good, if I had felt safe, and he said the he enjoyed it.

He would initiate prolonged hugs.

I responded with nervous laughter to a lot of his questions, but, again, I was not as skeptical as I should have been, just because I was so desperate for an answer.

As part of the therapy, he asked how large my penis was. He asked if I shaved my pubic hair. He asked about the type of underwear that I wore. 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, and he wanted me to describe my sexual fantasies to him, and the type of men I’m attracted to. And one time he asked me to rate my own attractiveness, on a scale of 1-10, with separate scores for my face, my hair, my body, and then an overall score. And then after I scored myself, he assigned scores for my attractiveness, each category, and I remember that my hair got the best score and my face got the worst score.

As part of the therapy, he had me come over to his house, and he rented the movie of the play Equus, and he had us watch it together, in his home. In the movie there was full frontal male nudity, and it made me rather uncomfortable to be watching it with him, but it was his idea, and afterwards he wanted to talk about some the dynamics of the play and then also how I felt about seeing the naked actor.

Well, he thought it would be a good idea to learn about home repair and maintenance, those types of things, used tools a little more often. And one time we went to a play together, again, as part of the therapy, and he had me pay for the tickets for the play that we went to, as part of my payment for receiving therapy from him.

I never felt like I was changing, I never saw a change.

We had a discussion and I told him that I wasn’t going to be coming. He said that he was scared for me in that--he reiterated many of the myths he had told me earlier about being gay, that no one was happy who was gay, and that the gay lifestyle was all about drugs and alcohol and random sex and everyone who was gay had STD’s. So, he said that he was scared for me because I was moving toward acceptance of my orientation.

I think that I’ve been damaged in a lot of ways by what Mike did and what the people who support him, or the people who even just allow him to be around, and continues to do what he’s doing. They’ve had an enormous impact on me and, there were years through middle school and high school where I just really came to hate myself, to loathe myself. I didn’t trust anyone, and didn’t allow anyone to get close to me, because I was terrified they might find out secret and that they would think less of me, so I spent many years locked in my room, crying by myself and it just--for no reason, for no good reason. If I had had a fair representation, if someone had told me that it was possible to be gay and happy and have sustained healthy relationships and families and everything that straight people have, then I could have avoided a lot of suffering.

And so I chose to finally embrace the person I was, including my orientation.

And I know there are a lot of people are confused and scared and aren’t sure what to do, and in that situation it’s easy to be taken advantage of and it’s easy to fall for a lot of the false information…

I would like to tell the man who did my ex-gay therapy, that he was wrong, and that the happiest I’ve ever been in my life is when I finally accepted myself. And I would encourage him to consider doing the same thing, and I would tell him that he is doing a lot of damage, and I would want him to know how much damage he’s done in my life, and how much sadness and hurt he’s caused, that could have been completely avoided if he was honest with me, and with himself, about his orientation, my orientation, and the fact that neither of them were going to change.

Needless Misery

Where I've been lately...

These are a couple of articles I wrote for Ex-Gay Watch. The Michael Brown one really sapped me. I transcribed a 40 minute episode from his radio show which entailed listening to it at least 4 times. I felt so dirty...

Building ‘London Bridges’ with Dr. Michael Brown
Posted on July 1st, 2009 by Patrick Fitzgerald

"Brown’s feigned interest in “building bridges” seems like it was designed to inspire condescension-conversations that are meant to elicit an angry response. That way they can see our supposedly explosive nature in person—confirming just how undeserved of legal protections we all are, and further fueling the victim/moral superiority meme."

Book Review: Alan Chambers ‘Leaving Homosexuality’
Posted on July 17th, 2009 by Patrick Fitzgerald

"...In the first part of that paragraph, Chambers defines homosexuality as a state of being: “to be a homosexual.” Then switches gears, defines homosexuality as a behavior, and voilà, the pro-gay movement now considers sexual behavior to be as uncontrollable as an epileptic attack."

Exodus’ “differing views” on the definitions of slander, insult, condescension, defamation...

Ministry Welcomes Protesters
Encourages Church to Model Compassion
Amid Differing Views
July 8, 2009

Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, welcomed news of the protest saying, "Ironically, there are many at this event who at one time would have been outside protesting it, but have exchanged the hurt and anger of the past for a relationship with Jesus Christ and with caring individuals in the Christian church.

"What we, as the global Christian church, must recognize is that on the other side of a picket line, are often hurting people in need of God's unconditional love," said Chambers. "While our views on these issues may differ, the bold love of Christ must prevail over opposing policies, differing views and even our own pride."

Some of those "Differing Views" may, and most likely include:

1) homosexual men who are unable to sustain healthy peer relationships might well find the potential for age-inappropriate attractions more real than they thought possible.

2) Christ can change the homosexual!

3) Homosexuality may lead to physical death, but it will surely lead to relational, emotional, and spiritual ruin.

4) Those trapped in the deception of homosexuality are people in need of healing. They are hurt and broken people who need the touch of the great physician, Jesus Christ.

5) deviation from heterosexuality to homosexuality is devastating. The devastation pervades every relationship in which the homosexual man, woman, or child engages.

6) Pray God will help them see and find biblical resolution to underlying issues that led to a homosexual orientation.

7) people [are] bound by homosexuality

8) gossipers, liars, people from non-Christian religious backgrounds, etc. Wouldn't it be better for us to view someone gay as just another sinner

9) Whatever you decide about the question of whether AIDS is God's judgment... ...show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh" (Jude 22–23).

10) if someone pursues homosexual involvement and refuses to acknowledge this as sin, it's valid to humbly question whether their commitment to Christ is genuine.

11) there is realistic hope for change for men and women who do not want their sexual orientation to be homosexual.

--Just a few snippets from their FaQ section, as linked to above.

Anti-gay ex-gay axes other anti-gay ex-gay

D.L.Foster insists that Alan Chambers Tell the whole truth about God’s love
13 July 2009

Foster quotes this portion of Chambers' quote in order to make his point:

Alan Chambers: My overwhelming message will be that God is deeply in love with the most adversarial of gay activists and that as these groups do battle over policy they must never forget that fact.

Condescending to be sure, but here's Foster's take on it:

D.L.Foster: Is God deeply in love with adversarial gay activists? Im a little wary of language that romanticizes God to sinners

Foster is worried about God's appeal to sinners.

Alan Chambers in paperback.

Leaving Homosexuality: A Practical Guide for Men and Women Looking for a Way Out.

By Alan Chambers

Alan Chambers is the President of Exodus International. His own decision to leave homosexuality more than fourteen years ago gives him tremendous insight as he addresses this difficult issue in churches, colleges and various public forums around the world. Alan has been interviewed by Time magazine, ABC’s 20/20, MSNBC’s Buchanan & Press and ABC’s Nightline. He was listed in Charisma magazine as one of the top Christian leaders who represent the future of the American church. Alan and his wife, Leslie, make their home in Orlando, Florida and are the parents of a son and daughter.

(Excerpt PDF)

In this accessible book Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, explains the process and clarifies the expectations for those who are skeptical of change or frustrated by an ongoing struggle with same–sex attraction.

Readers will learn how to

--enter into a new life in Christ
--set realistic and healthy expectations
--build authentic community
--learn to forgive
--overcome the power of sexual addiction

You can also get it at Amazon. They have 2 1 left in stock. (unless you want a "used" copy with someone's prayer prints all over it...not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Note to Exodus: Proofread your press releases.

As I noted in my June 1st post, Exodus’ latest press release is only two paragraphs long, yet they didn’t notice that they inverted the term “live a life” for “life a live.” It has yet to be corrected.

Me: “I also think that that grammatical Faux pas above is indicative of their lack of scrutiny when it comes to so much of what they say and do. They don't seem to care when they are caught in a lie, or come across as hypocritical. That article was two paragraphs long, and they didn’t even take the time to proofread it, yet they want the world to conform to their supposedly superior standards.”

Well, upon re-reading that post, I noticed another one:

“…Scott Davis who overseas Exodus International's outreach to youth…”

This further highlights my point that Exodus International does not consider accuracy to be a priority.

Luke 16:10:

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

To be sure, bad grammar is not a form of dishonesty, but the point remains: If they can’t get the little things right, how can they be trusted to get the big things right?

Exodus expands its message of hate and intolerance through social networking.

Exodus Reaches a New Generation with New Communication Trends:

"With the increasing influence of Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube, Exodus is hoping that its presence on such outlets will expose a wider audience to the message that there is help available to those wanting to life a live (sic) that reflects the Christian faith.

"Social networking trends are universally appealing, but especially to young people," said Scott Davis who overseas (sic) Exodus International's outreach to youth as well as the ministry's innovations in technology and development."

Clearly, Exodus International isn’t satisfied with the inadequate amount of LGBT youth who get kicked out of their homes and / or commit suicide every day.

I also think that the grammatical Faux pas above are indicative of their lack of scrutiny when it comes to so much of what they say and do. They don't seem to care when they are caught in a lie, or come across as hypocritical. That article was two paragraphs long, and they didn’t even take the time to proofread it, yet they want the world to conform to their supposedly superior standards.

The areas which they are utilizing to spread their poisonous message are all hyperlinked on the Exodus web page:

Exodus International on Twitter
Exodus Youth on Twitter
Exodus on FaceBook
Exodus Freedom Conference on FaceBook
Exodus Youth on My Space
Exodus on You Tube
Exodus Student Channel on You Tube
Exodus podcasts

I’m not twitter literate, and their FaceBook page is a blurb, so I’m just going to explore a couple of their newfound avenues of approach.

Exodus on You Tube

"Through Jesus Christ, freedom from homosexuality is possible."

Alan Chambers: "How many of you are in need of some hope tonight? How many of you feel like you are just absolutely at the end of your rope? How many people came just absolutely ready for an encounter with the Lord? We serve a God who loves us. Who died for us. Who wants to have a relationship with us. Who’s crazy about us. He can sustain you. You can find freedom. It is possible, and freedom can come amidst a life of struggle. God created us to be in relationship, first and foremost with Him. That was broken in the Garden---through a relationship with one another. He did not create us to do this by ourselves."

Underlying this promotion of false hope and freedom from reality is an inspirational song with lyrics that include: ♪ Oh Lord make us one...May the world finally see, that you made us one ♪.

An understanding that I agree with, but would re-word. However, juxtaposed with the lies, deception, and violence-encouraging hatred that Exodus wholeheartedly endorses by default, the song becomes a true and revolting bastardization of the very concept of oneness.

Love = unity = oneness, a concept that is apparently lost on Exodus employees and their affiliates, proven by their continual dehumanization of us in the public sphere.

The sad part is that there are people who will never accept their same-sex attractions, but cannot turn to Exodus because they have integrity.
---
And now onto all things Exodus Youth, AKA Scott Davis:

"Social networking trends are universally appealing, but especially to young people," said Scott Davis who overseas Exodus International's outreach to youth as well as the ministry's innovations in technology and development.

One of the propaganda DVD’s Exodus and Exodus Youth promotes, is called “Truth and Tolerance.” Which, of course, is anything but truthful or tolerant. (You can find the Scott Davis portion of the DVD transcribed here.)

It’s a litany of hypocrisy, delusion, and easily knocked down arguments. The problem is that it’s not intended for those with “unwanted same-sex attractions,” it’s a training manual for adults to rape the minds of GLBT youth. And yes, there are actual follow up manuals you can download.

So, If you or a same-sex attracted loved one is feeling a bit too emotionally and psychologically healthy, and would like to do irreparable harm to yourself or that same-sex attracted loved one, remember, now more than ever, Exodus International is here to help...

_________
Edit: Tuesday June 2, 2009 @ 6:45 AM:
See second "(sic)" at top, and corrective grammar to reflect this.

Jeff Buchanan of Exodus, traumatized by insufficient hatred

In a post entitled “Prop. 8 Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Mr. Buchanan makes the following assertions, implications, and observations.

Most of them worse than baseless.
~~~To begin with:

~Carrie Prejean, “assaulted” for anti-gay views
~Sean Penn, “ugly” for admonishing anti-gays
~Google maps, “insidious”

And now for the more memorable moments of the article...

“But we must ask ourselves - as the church, what should our response be? The answer for me comes in looking back at how the early church responded to similar opposition.”

“Today rather than facing the lions, the church now faces the merciless jaws of litigation.”

“The attitude against the church is the same but the venue for persecution has been modernized.”

"The interesting thing about fear is that it desensitizes us to the needs of others by causing us to be preoccupied with our own concerns."

Funny, I was just using that last part to describe people like you. I wonder who read who’s mind...

Of course, he’s not talking about himself, he’s talking about the churches who are fearful of being vocally anti-gay.

Shrilling right along..

"Will the only message they hear be one that directly opposes God's divine plan and creation?"

Mr. Buchanan, how do you get from 3% of the population to 100% of the "message"? Please show your work.
~~~He then laments over the possibility of having grown up in “today’s culture,” and shudders at the thought of living a life “more harmonious with my proclivities.”

Proclivity: a natural or habitual tendency or inclination, esp. toward something discreditable

And now to use it in a sentence...

The homosexual had a proclivity for anonymous sex.

And now to use it in another sentence...

In the effort to dehumanize gays and lesbians, the man used the word "proclivities" to describe their relationships.
~~~God’s divine plan: Adam and Eve, from whence we all came. Thus, Adam and Eve had children, and those children had children, and so on.

It appears that God's divine plan included procreating with members of one's immediate family.

More on God’s divine plan:

Genesis 2:19-20:

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

So, God’s “divine plan” included incest and almost bestiality.
~~~"It is the church's high calling to proclaim it ["redemptive message on homosexuality"] to those who need to hear it no matter what the cost may be."

IOW, it's a cause worth dying for, but all you have to do is speak up about it.
~~~And to give credit where credit’s due:

Jeff Buchanan is a pastor and the Director of the Exodus Church Association(www.exoduschurchassociation.org), a national network of more than 120 churches helping those dealing with same-sex attraction to live a life that reflects the Christian faith.

X-Rated Exodus...

Michael Airhart of Truth Wins Out has an article up from the 12th: Politicized Churches Supplant Exodus’ Shrinking Ex-Gay Network:

"Exodus International today announced the reformation of its church network as the Exodus Church Association."
----
By the time I read the article and clicked on the “Exodus Church Association” link, the site had been shut down. So I Googled it and found the cached home page, where I found an article called:

"Caught in the Middle: How to Talk about Homosexuality
Written by Jonathan Inman"
----
The site is back up now, but without a link to that article, at least not on the home page, fortunately though, it’s on the Exodus website. I have no idea how old this is, or who Jonathan Inman is, but this article is just one contradiction after another. It’s essentially a litany of suggestions on how to condemn we gays and our pro-gay advocates, without appearing insulting.

As usual, the attempt to not be insulting is more insulting than the insults themselves:

When talking with people who believe homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle option, suggesting that homosexuality is sinful can appear stupid and rude -- if not homophobic, unloving and abusive…

…We must bring the gospel of God's grace where it is most needed: to the vocally anti-Christian pro-gay activist, or to the mild-mannered clergy who says the love of Jesus means affirming homosexuality as God's gift…

He begins each segment with a title and a Biblical quote. For example:

Patiently Listen

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." (James 1:19-20)

...Don't just listen for opportunities to find fault or critique...When a factual claim is made, politely ask to have it substantiated with reference to a verifiable source.

I started dissecting the whole thing for a post (which may or may not come to fruition), when I ran across this little gem...

Mercifully Pursue

"Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear -- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." (Jude 22-23)

Now that, takes the cake. Out of all the verses dealing with mercy in the Bible (24 according to my “Holman Concise Topical Concordance”), he chooses the one that could not be more ironic for the “ministry” of Exodus.

(Caution: racy satire below)

In other words:


_________
Edited to add caveat, Wed May 20, 2009 @ 3:58AM