Posted on 06/17/2006 6:20:30 PM PDT by wagglebee
In yet another frontal attack on “ex-gay” ministries, a well-known homosexual activist held a press conference at the National Press Club last week to launch a new organization that he has dubbed “Truth Wins Out.”
Wayne Besen, who insists that people are born “gay” and cannot overcome homosexual desires, staged his event on the same day (June 7) that the U.S. Senate was voting on the Marriage Protection Amendment.
Joined by five other men who claim to have undergone “ex-gay” counseling and who say they reverted to homosexuality, Besen assailed the “right-wing” and Christian ministries in particular.
Besen took special aim at Exodus International, a nonprofit umbrella group of ex-gay ministries, in order to stop what he called their false claims of healing. Exodus supports “reparative therapy” for unwanted homosexual desires but focuses on the message that Jesus Christ can heal any sinner, including those who struggle with homosexuality. Over the years, Exodus has reported thousands of success stories.
Contending that “ex-gay” organizations are not only ineffective, Besan said they actually hurt people. He claimed that he is dedicated to protecting homosexuals as they “really are,” that is, normal members of society with a slightly different lifestyle. Besen spent much of his time assailing Christian conservatives instead of defending homosexuality.
He laid out a three-part campaign to:
Besen’s bitterness against the “right-wing” was quite apparent. He referred to Christian social agendas as “faith-folly” and said that the “rich right” had lots of money to promote its propaganda. He noted that Exodus International had a traveling staff of 12 people.
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus, had this response:
In regard to the “rich right,” I think that all one has to do is look at who gives to pro-family organizations. I would venture to say that only a small percentage of those that give are “rich.” More often than not, our givers are just average people, the mainstream, who give because they believe. By contrast, the funders of the gay-rights movement are the Shell Oil Company, Mitchell Gold, Sharon Stone, billionaire Tim Gill, etc.
Not sure I understand the Exodus 12-person travel-team comment. We have a staff in Orlando of 12 people.
The name “Truth Wins Out” appears to be a reaction to Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out conferences, which tour the country and feature “ex-gays,” therapists and family members who promote the message that homosexuals can change.
Speakers at the “Truth Wins Out” press conference focused on “ex-ex-gays,” a PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) mom and a doctor. “Ex-ex-gay” is a term for people who claim to have been homosexual, were counseled into being “straight,” but then returned to their “real” selves and homosexual lifestyle.
The speakers included Mark Perriello, who said he first realized he was “gay” when he was in the eighth grade. He went through extensive therapy and programs. He said he became an “ex-gay” and even joined the 700 Club and the Christian Coalition before temptations finally became too much. When he came out again, it was as an ex-ex-gay activist. He worked for a “gay national political action committee” and now works as a consultant on how corporations and nonprofits can reach homosexual audiences.
Stuart Stotsky, M.D., discussed the emotional impact of “ex-gay” therapies. Stotsky asserted that not only were these programs inefficient, but they actually hurt the participants and their families. He claimed that there are “no published studies” showing the efficacy of reparative therapy, ignoring the recent survey of hundreds of former homosexuals by the liberal Dr. Robert Spitzer of Columbia University (“Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?” Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 403-417.)
Nick Cavnar, a “veteran of several ‘ex-gay’ ministries,” said he lived “100 percent straight” for 30 years while being “100 percent homosexual” at the same time. He and his wife had three children who are now grown. An articulate speaker, Cavnar was there to show how successful a “gay” man could be in embracing a homosexual identity, and to encourage others to do the same. He said he had found real happiness at last, but said little about the impact on his wife, other than that “she disagreed with my decision completely” to end their marriage.
After the press conference, Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute, talked with Mr. Cavnar.
“He was very friendly,” Knight said. “I asked him if he had it all to do over again, would he have chosen to go into homosexuality earlier and not have the experience of being a husband and the father of his three kids. He got quiet for a moment and said that many things had ‘brought me happiness.’ He said the one regret he had was the pain he had caused his wife, who had been a homemaker and was now left without a husband in her mid-50s.
“I think that this illustrates a profound difference in human outcomes. Had Mr. Cavnar continued to fight his homosexual temptations, his wife would not be an ex-wife. And had he not fought his homosexual temptations during the marriage, these three kids of his wouldn’t exist today. That would have been an enormously high price to pay.”
Knight also talked with Besen.
“I asked Wayne this question: If he could do it, would he like to see ‘ex-gay’ counseling made officially unethical by the mental health profession and therefore criminalize the practice? Wayne answered that, no, the practice should not be criminalized.
“He said he thought that Americans ought to be able to seek any counseling they want, but that he would require reparative therapists to inform potential clients that 1) they have no chance of actual change, and 2) this kind of counseling could damage them somehow. In other words, it would become impossible for therapists to offer help to people who wanted to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction. That’s not exactly freedom of choice.”
The conference was an emotional roller coaster, ranging from a young man tormented emotionally and even physically by his mother and who spoke of “virtual incarceration” at an “ex-gay boot camp” in Tennessee, to a PFLAG mother crying tears of pride for her homosexual son.
As an observer, and a Christian, I could not help but feel compassion for the speakers and the difficulties they had endured. However, I was hard-pressed to find any encouraging substance in their speeches. Their stories were of defeated, hopeless men who claimed they had fought the fight, but in the end, even if it meant hurting people in the process, it was easier to just do what they “felt” like. Sadly, this mindset is all too common in America today.
After the speakers finished, Mr. Besen declined to take any questions, inviting the press instead to talk to him and the other participants privately.
Read these testimonies of “ex-gays” who have left homosexuality and live successful lives:
Kim Larsen and Stephen Bennett
Roger DeRaad
Valerie Pegues
A brief summary on the freedom from sin that Jesus Christ offers to all men and women.
If people are "born" homosexual, then why are they always trying to recruit more homosexuals?
HA Ping.
Better yet, why are they always against any medical studies to reverse what is, after all, a 'genetic disease'?
Excellent question.
Perverts.
They might go along with it if it involved slaughtering embryos.
The other side of that is: if it can be proven that a "gay gene" really exists, parents who don't want to give birth to a "gay" child could simply abort it. How quickly would the homosexual community and lobby become pro-life?!
If people were born homosexual, then EVERY set of identical twins (male or female) would be either both heterosexual or homosexual/lesbian. Find just ONE set of identical twins that has one twin that is heterosexual and the other homosexual and that destroys their "born that way" argument.
I never understood people who on the one hand say, "It's my choice, I can do whatever I want" and then they say, "I can't help it, I was born that way." Of course, anyone who questions the contradiction is called "intolerant."
These gay activists simply do not believe in human freedom. If someone wants to try and pursue change of orientation, who is this jerk to tell them they can't try it. If it does or doesn't work in a particular case, what is it to him? And given how complex sexuality can be, how can one generalize that no one anywhere can ever experience a change in orientation or at least a shift to some extent?
In all fairness, if someone wants to go against nature and become a homosexual they're all in favor of it.
I think the most accepted school of thought among psychologists and sociologists is that ones sexuality is determined during childhood and that once it becomes established it's next to impossible to change. That's why the recidivism rate among child molesters is so high.
Thanks for the ping.
In yet another frontal attack on “ex-gay” ministries, a well-known homosexual activist held a press conference at the National Press Club last week to launch a new organization that he has dubbed “Truth Wins Out.”
I have a name idea for his group; how about "Biology Wins Out!"
--any other ideas?
Gay groups are desparately afraid that it will be unquestionably proven that being 'gay' is just an ethical problem and they are basically just unethical in their persuit of unbridled hedonism.
I haven't watched a lot of National Press Club events, but this is the first that I know of that ended with no questions. It sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
This is such a complex issue, far more complicated that being 'born' homosexual, or it being a 'choice'.
My own opinion is that 'homosexual orientation' manifests from numerous circumstances, which would enable some to be cured through therapy, and others not.
Here are some possible suggested 'varieties', thrown into the pot for concideration:
1. 'homosexual orientation' is formed while in the womb - in this case it isn't genetic, but would be unlikely to be curable through therapy (these might be cases where physical features and manerisms attributed to homosexuals are present).
2. 'homosexual orientation' is 'learned' because of sexual abuse during childhood - therapy might work, since this isn't necesarily a 'chemical' formation as in the womb, but it has been imposed during vulnerable formative years.
3. a homosexual practitioner who is simply prone to sexual addiction, and does it because it's 'interestingly perverted'
4. 'homosexual practitioners' who have been encouraged into it during teen years, and decided they like it
This provides a real variety of 'types' of homosexual.
(More in my profile.)
I believe it to be blinkered to say that every homosexual can be cured of homosexual desires -- just as saying that homosexuality cannot be cured is also equally as blinkered.
It really isn't so simple.
This said... all of these cases are disorders and deviant perversions of nature. Even if cases were proved to be incurable, or individuals chose not to accept therapy, it doesn't make acting on their sexual desires with others a right or good thing.
There is such a thing as abstainance, or private mastabation, where society isn't 'polluted' by the disorder. The offer of cure is a very positive thing, for those who might benefit from it. For others, they need educating to accept that they have a disorder, and that indulging it with others is a dangerous and destructive path.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.