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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
(Smoking Gun: Peter LaBarbera Part of Slimy E-Mail Chain)
AUTHOR URGES MAGELLAN TO DROP ANTI-GAY POLITICAL 'THERAPIST' FROM ADVISORY BOARD
E-Mail Chain Shows Coordinated Campaign to Cow Magellan Into Reinstating Dr. Warren Throckmorton
NEW YORK - Author Wayne Besen today called on Magellan Health Services to reconsider its decision to reinstate Dr. Warren Throckmorton to its National Professional Advisory Council. Evidence suggests that Magellan cracked under intense pressure from a coordinated right wing pressure campaign led by some of the most infamous anti-gay activists in America.
Throckmorton, who recently produced a video on ex-gays called, "I Do Exist", had been removed from the Council in March because of his controversial and unorthodox view that some homosexuals could become heterosexual through therapy.
Shortly after his termination, Throckmorton joined forces with Concerned Women for America and the Illinois Family Institute to turn up the heat on the nation's leading behavioral health and employee assistance company. In April, Magellan inexplicably reinstated the right wing doctor as a result of getting squeezed by the far right, according to a story broken by activist Mike Rogers on his website Raw Story Q.
"Magellan got it right the first time when they rid the board of a right wing political operative posing as a legitimate therapist," said Wayne Besen, author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. "Throckmorton is cynically using his position on Magellan's Advisory Council to gain credibility and legitimize his backwards and dangerous anti-gay views. Magellan should reverse course and not offer a platform for an extremist to further his political agenda."
Erin Somers, vice president of public relations and communications at Magellan denies that Magellan buckled after withering criticism from neo-puritan groups and the right wing media. However, she failed to adequately explain why Magellan reversed course.
Somers told The Advocate magazine that Magellan agrees with the American Psychiatric Association that homosexuality is not a mental disorder or an emotional problem.Yet, in a bit of double talk, she said, "Individuals have the right to explore a variety of different kinds of treatment troubling for issues them."
"I'm perplexed that Magellan holds the position that homosexuality is not a mental illness, yet, the group refers people to therapists who do hold these discredited, outdated beliefs," said Besen. "I would like to meet with Magellan and introduce them to ex-ex-gays - people who have been gravely damaged by the type of therapy that Throckmorton promotes. Magellan should not be in the business of subsidizing suicides, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse and all the other noxious side effects that are often associated with reparative therapy."
The smoking gun revealing the existence of a pressure campaign was obtained when right wing operatives inadvertently included Besen on an e-mail chain discussing their plan to go after Magellan.
"All I can say is, what a bunch of dolts," said Besen. "Although disturbing, watching these keystone cops in action is rather amusing."
It started when Besen e-mailed Throckmorton to ask why he was eliminated from the Advisory Board. Throckmorton hinted at the formation of an organized campaign against the health care group to reinstate him when he replied, "you will hear more about the Magellan situation in due time."
Almost immediately following this initial exchange, Throckmorton wrote an e-mail to Peter LaBarbera of the Illinois Family Institute, Bob Knight of Concerned Women for America and professional ex-gay agitator Stephen Bennett, referring to the Magellan situation by saying, "Just thought I would keep y'all aware that the blood is in the water."
The e-mail chain also personally attacks Besen and threatens a smear campaign by investigating his personal life. One e-mail by LaBarbera to Throckmorton says Besen is "committed to wickedness" and claims that the group has damaging information about one of Besen's former boyfriends. "Did hear though that there's a new Web site by Wayne's boyfriend that contains some revealing glimpses into the promiscuity of gay male life. Stephen Bennett has the info." Throckmorton responds to that e-mail by writing, "Yes, Stephen called and let me know."
"It is sickening that these groups would scrape the depths of the gutter and try to launch a smear campaign against me," said Besen. "However, it is also flattering because this failed attempt to kill the messenger shows how they have been unable to counter my message or discredit my well-documented work. I have repeatedly embarrassed them by exposing their ex-gay poster boys as frauds and they are left with nothing but ugly, personal attacks."
Besen is a nationally recognized advocate for gay and lesbian rights. He has been a guest on leading news and political talk shows. He made international news when he photographed "ex-gay" poster boy John Paulk cruising a gay bar in Washington, D.C. Besen again made headlines when he helped uncover Jerry Falwell's HIV positive ex-gay leader Michael Johnston's not so ex-gay life.
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8 Comments:
That Peter LaBarbera is such a sleaze. ANd ugly too.
For a long time, I was puzzled by why representatives of the religious right seemed so underhanded and to always follow the morality of "the end justifies the means" (which is Machiavellian, not Christian). Not until I read about Dominion Theology and its pervasive influence within the radical right did any of this begin to make sense. Simply put, Dominion Theology seeks to replace representative democracy with a theocracy based mainly on Old Testament law. More information about this subversive strategy can be found at:
http://www.theocracywatch.org and http://www.yuricareport.com
posted by Anonymous, at
4/30/2005 8:24 PM
That is horrid. It's rancid to hear that a great number of right-wing irrationalists will stoop to the lowest levels to smite someone. It's a quite inconceivable to see that they will abandon their own "morals" to spread their "moral" agenda whilst they give God pretenses to fit their own personal needs. It's ludicrous, but it comes to no surprise to me that the illusion of what was once their foundation is thinning.
God wasn't meant to have pretenses, this "moral" greed is annoying.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/30/2005 11:45 PM
Not a big surprise that persons such as LaBarbera is lurking behind the scenes on this decision. Sandy, "you queers" will stop at nothing to challenge the fear-based lies and rhetoric that prompts comments such as yours. Tim W
posted by Anonymous, at
5/01/2005 12:50 PM
Amazing hypocrisy and double-think. Besen's tactics are absolutely no different than the right-wingers that he criticizes. Besen brings a campaign of person attack to destroy someone's career, and then cries foul when someone tries the same thing to him.
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