Saturday, September 23, 2006
Love Won Out media director Gary Schneeberger said today's ex-gay event in Palm Springs was not aimed at influencing political decisions on gay marriage, domestic partner benefits or gay adoption. But in at least one of the conference sessions the speaker highlighted gay marriage ballot initiatives and told the audience arguments they could use against gay marriage advocates. "National same-sex marriage could also mean a very real threat to our religious freedom," Bill Maier, a Focus on the Family vice president, told the group.
The ease at which these phonies lie is utterly astounding. Has their ever been a more pathologically dishonest organization in the history of America than Focus on the Family?
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Friday, September 22, 2006
In Letter,
National Black Justice Coalition Urges Dr. Joseph Nicolosi To Apologize For His Organization's Divisive Article
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Truth Wins Out called on Focus on the Family today to cancel a Saturday keynote speaking appearance by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, the Executive Director of The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), after a column was discovered on the group's website that appeared to justify slavery.
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) also
wrote a letter to Dr. Nicolosi this afternoon, calling on his organization to apologize for posting the article. NBJC is a national civil rights organization of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people that fosters equality by fighting racism and homophobia.
"In the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professional integrity, the National Black Justice Coalition strongly urges NARTH to issue a public apology on the front page of its website for publishing such an outrageous and offensive article," wrote H. Alexander Robinson CEO/Executive Director in the group's letter. "We also hope that you reevaluate your relationship with Dr. Schoenewolf whose peculiar views have no place in civilized discourse."
The column causing the uproar was penned in 2005 by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D., a member of NARTH's "Scientific Advisory Committee," and re-posted last week by Timothy Kincaid on the website
Ex-Gay Watch. According to Schoenwolf:
"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America. It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."The NARTH endorsed comments were discovered only days before Dr. Nicolosi was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Focus on the Family's Sept. 23 "Love Won Out" conference in Palm Springs. Love Won Out is a traveling road show that purports to teach gay people how to become heterosexual through prayer and therapy.
"This column rips away the veneer of respectability that NARTH has worked to cultivate and has exposed its extremism," said
Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "In light of this divisive article, we can't fathom why Focus on the Family would still allow Dr. Nicolosi to speak unless the group sympathizes with the sentiments expressed by NARTH's leader."
TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that debunks the ex-gay myth, counters right wing disinformation campaigns, and provides accurate information about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
______________________________________________________________
Friday, Sept. 22, 2006
National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality
Attn: Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, NARTH Executive Director
16633 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 1340
Encino, CA 91436-1801
Dear NARTH:
The National Black Justice Coalition is deeply troubled by an article written by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D that has appeared on your organization's website. His comments reflect not only a misunderstanding of history, but a trivialization of the suffering caused by slavery.
As a member in good standing on NARTH's Scientific Advisory Board, we can only assume that Dr. Schoenewolf's statements are a reflection of your organization's beliefs and values. NBJC would like to know how NARTH rationalizes or justifies publishing an essay that stated the following:
"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," wrote Schoenwolf. "It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."Dr. Nicolosi, we are particularly disturbed with Dr. Schoenewolf's comments drawing a parallel between the civil rights movement and the murder of innocent African Americans. Please clarify what message NARTH was trying to impart when Dr. Schoenewolf wrote the following statement?
"The irony is that the Civil Rights Movement has been vehement about pointing out the hysterical lynchings that took place in the Old South, but completely blind to its own hysterical tactics."
It has been exactly one week since Dr. Schoenewolf's article has been uncovered and no action has yet been taken on behalf of NARTH to distance itself from this divisive rhetoric. In lieu of such inaction, NBJC can only conclude that NARTH is in concurrence with such sentiments. Taking the offending article down off your website in the dead of night is no substitute for honestly and earnestly addressing this festering issue.
In the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professional integrity, NBJC strongly urges NARTH to issue a public apology on the front page of its website for publishing such an outrageous and offensive article. We also hope that you reevaluate your relationship with Dr. Schoenewolf whose peculiar views have no place in civilized discourse.
As the leader of NARTH and a prominent speaker on Focus on the Family's Love Won Out symposium, the messages imparted by you and NARTH have an impact on real people. We hope that you consider our concerns and contact us so we can hear NARTH's explanation on how such abhorrent and racially insensitive content found its way onto the group’s website.
Sincerely,
H. Alexander Robinson CEO/Executive Director
The National Black Justice Coalition
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Thursday, September 21, 2006
Taxpayers may find it hard to believe that the must-pass $500 billion defense budget could be
held hostage to a mischievous amendment empowering evangelical chaplains to speak in the name of Jesus at nonreligious military gatherings. But that is the case in Congress, where hard-right Republicans have held up passage of the defense bill in an attempt to license zealot chaplains to violate policies of religious tolerance at secular ceremonies.
Despite the firm opposition of the Pentagon and ecumenical chaplain groups, House Republicans have been defending this egregious pro-evangelical thumb on the scale in negotiations with the Senate.
We expect the Senate, mindful of the nation's multidenominational legions fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, to reject the fine-print travesty. At its heart is religious intolerance - not respect of chaplains' consciences - and a naked attempt to elevate evangelical beliefs to primacy in the ranks. These very abuses caused a scandal at the Air Force Academy two years ago after cadets complained that ranking officers tolerated evangelical chaplains' proselytizing and discriminating on campus.
(New York Times Editorial)
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Confederate flag waving, conservative church-going "macaca-calling" Virginia Sen. George Allen just found out a little surprise only weeks from the election -
he's Jewish.
"It's strange that George Allen wasn't more curious about his own heritage and a lot of people are wondering why," said George Mason University politics professor Mark J. Rozell.
Now this promoter of prejudice has to reconcile his Jewish background with his background of discrimination and name-calling. Indeed, his entire family history and identity was forged by family who denied religious identity to escape persecution.
Allen's mother said she first began concealing her Jewish roots after meeting her future husband, afraid that she would not be accepted by his parents and fearful that her religion could harm his budding coaching career, which started at Whittier College, a school in Southern California founded by Quakers.
There is a word for this, "Karma." Sen. Allen is now a minority and I welcome him to the club.
On the bright side: If Allen wins, Virginia will have the first Jewish Senator that I can remember.
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Speaking on Wednesday from the same lectern Mr. Bush had occupied the day before, President
Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela announced, to gasps and even giggles: "The devil came here yesterday, right here. "It smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of," he said
If there is one thing Americans can't stand is some self-important tin horn twit coming to this country to
insult our leaders. Even people who can't stand Bush do not want to see this rude, obnoxious and disrespectful behavior coming from a foreign leader. Chavez has shown himself to be beneath his position and unworthy of his title.
If his intention was to galvanize support it sorely backfired. Leave it to Chavez and Iran's Ahmadinejad to make Bush look reasonable and earn sympathy. Word to foreign louts: Leave the Bush-bashing to Americans and find the time to attend charm school where you can learn about class.
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With barely seven weeks until the midterm elections, Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Republican-controlled Congress, with substantial majorities saying that they disapprove of the job it is doing and that its members do not deserve re-election, according to the latest
New York Times/CBS News poll.
Unfortunately, the Democrats, according to the poll, have not fully made their case to the American people. All I can say is that this is the Democrats best chance to win in years. If they can't capitalize off of this favorable climate, they (as well as America) are in big trouble.
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006
In today's
New York Times, there was a story about the Pope's stupid remarks that had recently angered Muslims. The article quotes an angry Muhammed el-Qaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar:
"If this person [The Pope] were really someone reasonable, he would not agree to remain in his post one minute," said Muhammed, "but would convert to Islam immediately."
What is this guy smoking in the desert? It is quaint to think you can reason with all people and find common ground. But, when you hear nonsense like this, you instinctively know it is not true.
Falling into that category is Iran's squinty-eyed runt of a president, AhmadJihad. It is becoming increasingly clear that he is going to one day end up hiding in a bombed out rathole, just like Saddam Hussein. War with Iran is a really awful option. But President AhmadJihad is practically begging to be the guest of honor at an American cruise missile party. Every time I hear him talk, all I can think is, "bombs away."
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006
(Weekly Column)In the pastoral foothills of North Carolina, nearly 2000 conservative Christians anxiously gathered this past Sunday in a school auditorium converted into a makeshift revival meeting. The make-up was as thick as the anticipation and the hairdos higher than the choir's soaring notes. The standing room only crowd was whiter than a convention of ghosts and overflowed into an adjacent room with a big screen television. As the music played people held up massive Bibles and hollered and hooted as if they were in a heated competition for the Lord's ear.
The clean cut and wholesome-looking families were not waiting on evangelical titans such as Billy Graham or Rev. Jerry Falwell, but on the somewhat obscure ex-gay leader
Tim Wilkins, who directs Wake Forest-based
Cross Ministries.
The revival was a deliberate response to a provocative new
ad campaign by the organization
Faith In America, which challenges what it refers to as "Religion-based bigotry." Faith in America is directed by
Rev. Jimmy Creech, who was dismissed by the United Methodist Church for performing a commitment ceremony for a same-sex couple, and was founded by North Carolina furniture mogul
Mitchell Gold, who had invited me to attend this event.
Rev. Wilkins confidently strode to the pulpit like an old pro, as a palpably nervous buzz ricocheted through the pews. The consummate salesman, he peddled more goods than a Wal Mart Christmas sale. While the ex-gays say they are too busy to keep reliable statistics or publish peer-reviewed studies, no one has ever accused them of sloth when it comes to penning books or recording DVDs.
In his sermon, Wilkins repeatedly made the stunning acknowledgement that people do not choose to be gay. Instead, he erroneously blamed homosexuality on a wide array of possibilities including the standard pseudo-scientific canards of parental abuse and dysfunction. To his credit, Rev. Wilkins confessed that his "theories" could not be applied to all gay people.
Equally surprising was that Wilkins unwittingly admitted that he was not cured, but merely suppressing his sexuality. He tried to spin this message by reducing the deep, intrinsic identity of "sexual orientation" to a nagging "temptation." However, it was striking how after 30 years of ex-gay ministry and marriage, Wilkins was no more than a wink from a twink away from falling off the hetero wagon.
To drive home this point, he reiterated that he would not watch Brokeback Mountain because he feared that his resistance might melt like butter near a fire. I pointed out that as a gay man I have watched hundreds of heterosexual dramas and not once was enticed to become straight. Watching Pretty Woman, for instance, did not make me want to sleep with Julia Roberts. He had no answer for this.
Wilkins stressed that those who don't become straight or successfully celibate fail because they are not sufficiently obedient to God. From my experience this message is particularly dangerous. People who don't "change" after long and emotionally draining efforts often think they have been rejected by a God who doesn't hear their prayers while He helps others become heterosexual. This can often lead to low self-esteem, severe depression and even suicide.
The most constructive part of Wilkens' message was that he frequently urged the crowd to love gay people and not harshly condemn them. Of course, his cynical reason was that this would only retard their progress on the path to salvation. Looking around, I could see that this notion of basic tolerance was a significant challenge to many in the audience who were brought up in churches where virulent homophobia was the norm.
This message was an improvement only in that audience members were now more inclined to biblically browbeat than actually beat homosexuals. The question is will this newfound "tolerance" wear thin when it becomes clear that the gays targeted for conversion can't change?
Most significant, however, was when Wilkens asked the crowd if they knew someone who was gay. A sea of hands rose and the preacher remarked that when he asked this question ten years ago, less than 10 percent of audiences raised their hands. Today, he said, the number can exceed eighty percent of a congregation.
Here, in the foothills, it was becoming clear that the gay community had gained a foothold. The crowd was not there to gripe about homosexuals, but searching for ways to grapple with a loved one who had come out.
Following the service, Rev. Creech, Gold and I met Wilkens and his small entourage at the Red Lobster for a late night dinner. Although we agreed on little, at least we were amicably talking. It seems that the love that dare not speak its name is babbling with a deep southern accent in the most unlikely of places.
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Monday, September 18, 2006
TWO Calls On Palm Springs Mayor To Hold Focus on the Family and NARTH Accountable At Saturday's Love Won Out Conference
Miami Beach, Fla. - Truth Wins Out expressed extreme disgust with the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality today (NARTH) after a racist column was discovered on the group's website that defends slavery. The comments come only days before the openly gay, African American mayor of Palm Springs, Ron Oden, will appear at Focus on the Family's Sept. 23 anti-gay"Love Won Out" conference, which is headlined by NARTH's Executive Director Joseph Nicolosi.
The shocking opinion piece was penned by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D., a member of NARTH's "Scientific Advisory Committee," in 2005 and re-posted last week by Timothy Kincaid on the website Ex-Gay Watch. According to Schoenwolf:
"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," wrote Schoenwolf. It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."
The NARTH endorsed comments come at a time when the right wing is actively courting African-American groups. This column solidifies NARTH's place as an irresponsible group that specializes in the business of misinformation to further discrimination.
"People who spew racist screeds, like Schoenewolf, are called madmen because what they say is downright mad," said TWO's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "This column rips away the veneer of respectability that NARTH has worked to cultivate and has exposed their extremism. We strongly encourage Ron Oden to hold NARTH accountable for its racism and homophobia when he confronts the group on Saturday. "
Schoenewolf went on to say that the civil rights movement is about victimhood and criticized its tactics by comparing them to lynching.
"The irony is that the Civil Rights Movement has been vehement about pointing out the hysterical lynchings that took place in the Old South, but completely blind to its own hysterical tactics."
These remarks follow a screed written by another NARTH Advisory Board Member, Dr. Berger, who said that gender variant children should be "ridiculed" by their classmates into conforming. Despite promotion of child abuse, Berger remains on NARTH's advisory board. Today, TWO filed an
official complaint with The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
"It is increasingly clear that NARTH is a repository of fanatics who espouse quack-like theories," said Besen."The group's efforts to portray itself as mainstream are continuously undermined by its own crackpot members and the bizarre ideas they espouse."
TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that debunks the ex-gay myth, counters right wing disinformation campaigns, and provides accurate information about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
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