Friday, January 26, 2007
Indiana activist Bil Browning
has said enough. The state legislators are trying to pass a Draconian bill that would outlaw marriage and civil unions. Browning, Managing Editor of Bilerico.com, had decided that this is a declaration of war on GLBT families and is fighting back. He is urging readers to give him tips on hypocritical lawmakers in Indiana. This tactic was effective on the national level for Mike Rogers, who made the hypocrites shake in their boots. According to Browning:
"I'm sick and tired of these hypocritical Hoosier legislators who think that my sex life or relationship status is any of their business. Do I intrude on who they're sleeping with? I didn't, but I'm going to start now. I think we need to shame them into doing the right thing and voting against discrimination. We need to show them that unnecessary intrusion into someone else's sex life is not only unwelcome but unwarranted unless it involves children or animals. We need to burn their hand so they won't touch the stove again."
If you have a tip,send it here: tips@bilerico.com
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As Right Wing Leaders Cover Their Tracks, Personal Responsibility, Law and Order and Accountability Are Tossed Out The Window, Says Truth Wins OutMIAMI BEACH -- Leading right wing groups closed ranks this week to attack Truth Wins Out after it filed complaints with two Attorneys General against The American Family Association and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality for promoting and selling a deceptive video,
"It's Not Gay," featuring failed ex-gay leader
Michael Johnston.
Johnston, who is HIV-positive, offers testimony in "It's Not Gay" that he
became heterosexual in 1998 "through the power of Jesus Christ." In August 2003, Johnston's claims at sexual conversion collapsed in an
embarrassing scandal that included unprotected sex with multiple men. In lashing out to cover their tracks over the hawking of this misleading video, the extreme right abandoned all pretenses of real conservative values.
"There is a double standard where personal responsibility, ethics and accountability don't seem to apply to these right wing organizations," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "The American Family Association and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality have made a mockery of traditional conservatism by cheerleading disgraceful behavior that has placed lives in jeopardy."
Last week, Truth Wins Out filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General after AFTAH promoted "It's Not Gay" on its website. A
similar complaint was filed this week with the Mississippi Attorney General against the AFA for selling the fraudulent video.
In response to the complaints, several right wing organizations,
blogs and news outlets have teamed up to launch coordinated attacks against Truth Wins Out. The first response came from Peter LaBarbera, President of AFTAH. An online article in
WorldNetDaily, a publication where one contributor recently opined that
eating soy might lead to homosexuality, quickly followed.
On Thursday, Concerned Women for America interviewed LaBarbera on its
radio broadcast where he called Besen a "vicious, anti-Christian bigot" and demeaned blogger
Pam Spaulding as "the vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." He also referred to homosexuality as a "cruel addiction" and an "evil pull in the lives of those men and women."
"If you want to talk about the antithesis of Christian values, consider that in his interview, LaBarbera did not once mention or show remorse for Johnston's victims and their families," said Besen. "What kind of Christian or conservative dismisses such pain and gives a free pass to a man who was alleged to have committed criminal behavior that put peoples' lives at risk?"
LaBarbera also said on the broadcast that in fifteen years he had interviewed at least "one hundred former homosexuals." However, LaBarbera conveniently explained that these invisible ex-gays were nowhere to be found because, "most of them don't want to be public."
Perhaps his reticence in introducing more ex-gays comes from the fact that many of the ones he has trotted out in the past have come back to haunt him. Aside from Johnston, LaBarbera was at the Family Research Council when ex-gay poster boy
John Paulk starred in the "Truth In Love" national ad campaign. Soon after, Besen photographed Paulk in a gay bar. While at AFTAH, LaBarbera featured ex-gay leader
Wade Richards in a media event at the National Press Club in Washington. Within a year, Richards announced in the Advocate Magazine that he is gay.
"If there is one person in America who knows that gay people can't change it is Peter LaBarbera," said Besen. "His record of presiding over ex-gay failures is unrivaled. What LaBarbera calls 'relapses' are really 'collapses,' where the people he exploits can no longer live a lie and have to return to who they really are."
"If AFA and AFTAH want to tell the dubious tale of Michael Johnston, that is their right," said Besen. "All Truth Wins Out has asked these groups to do is tell Christians the full story without leaving out the horrifying details. I can't imagine why they are so resistant and why they so afraid of telling the whole truth to their followers?"
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
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A new "ex-gay" is apparently
on the scene and his name is Donnie Davies. He has created a new music video with an unfortunately catchy tune with the lyrics "God Hates Fags." He also has a fundamentalist website to cure gay people.
Is this
man sinister or a satirist? It is hard to tell, but if I had to place a bet, I'd say this was a parody of the ex-gay myth. What do you think?
Whether this is real or a joke, why hasn't Exodus International commented on this matter? Apparently, they have time to
lobby against hate crime legislation, but can't spare a word against real hate. Even if this is a hoax, it really shows the true colors of Exodus.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
(Weekly Column) With George W. Bush's popularity rating vacillating between Richard Nixon and the common cold, he limped on the television set to tell us he was doing a "heckuva job." His words falling on deaf ears and his policies turning a blind eye to reality, the only reason to watch the president's primetime address was to gauge the state of his delusion.
Well, there was the historic moment when Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House, took her seat in back of the president. Next to the sleepy Dick Cheney, who seemed to periodically be closing his eyes, Madam Speaker looked quite alert and spry. Pelosi's ascension, much like the Gina Davis character in the television drama Commander in Chief, is a major boost for Hillary Clinton. The more America gets used to seeing women in power, the easier it will be for Clinton to make her case that America is ready for a woman in the oval office.
The most amusing part of the evening was watching political rivals pretend they liked each other and had intentions of actually working together. Bush and Pelosi looked like parents in the aftermath of a shattered marriage that pledged to smile in divorce court for the sake of the kids.
Interestingly, with Bush's policies tied up in knots, gay couples tying the knot were no longer considered a grave threat to marriage or society. For the first time in years, there was no mention of the odious Federal Marriage Amendment, which would essentially write gay couples out of the U.S. Constitution. This omission alone was reason for GLBT Americans to celebrate and savor the new Democratic led Congress.
Like the dead marriage amendment, Bush also conveniently forgot to mention the damned city of New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, the president made a dramatic speech in the glow of floodlights promising to fix the mess. However, it is now clear that his promises were just a bunch of political jazz and the only sinking city on his mind these days is Baghdad.
On a hawkish twist to John Lennon's hit, Bush asked Congress to give war a chance. But key Republicans, such as Sen. John Warner (R-VA), were already singing a different tune and figuring out how to extricate the nation from Iraq's civil war. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) gave one of the strongest responses to the State of the Union in memory, hinting that the Democrats may thankfully not act like Democrats for a change.
The truth is, the war has long been lost and soldiers will lose legs for the sake of Bush's legacy and die to keep his presidency alive. Some will have their faces burned off so this stubborn president can save face and others will sacrifice their mental health in the name of an insane policy that was doomed since the plot to invade Iraq was hatched.
At the heart of the matter is the harsh fact that there is no Iraq nor are there any Iraqis. The nation has contrived borders formed by Western nations that pay little attention to the needs or desires of the people who actually live there.
In retrospect, it is easy to see that the only way Iraq can survive in its present incarnation is to have the biggest SOB in the region firmly in control. Saddam Hussein was the perfect sociopath to fill this role and he did so with aplomb.
Still, it was instructive that a monster like Saddam, who punished his adversaries with acid baths, had to take extraordinary measures to survive. He had more doubles than a Hollywood action figure, employed food tasters and slept in a different location each night, so enemies could not predict his whereabouts. If this brutal dictator had to run through such machinations to survive, how can America make this land safe enough to rule?
The best we can hope for with Bush's surge is to temporarily take over small patches of real estate. But, the moment we leave the insurgents will move back in. Look, the Iraqi people don't want us there and the American people don't want to be there. It sounds like the beginning of common ground, don't you think?
Finally, the Iraqi misadventure has been a nightmare for minorities. There are ongoing reports that the Shiite militias are hunting down gay people and women have less freedom, as the mullahs are trying to impose Islamic law in the areas they control.
As long as the state of our union is dependent on the state of Bush's delusions, our nation is in deep trouble. In the coming weeks, adults in both parties will have to decide for the "decider" that patriotism comes before parroting his failed strategies at home and abroad.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Group Behind Flyer Promotes Pseudoscience and Is Tied To Group That Justified Slavery
WASHINGTON - Truth Wins Out called on the Board of Education of Montgomery County Public Schools to immediately halt the distribution of a harmful flyer produced by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays. PFOX poses a threat to vulnerable children because it is led by a discredited therapist and linked to a fringe "therapy" group that recently caused a controversy after a key member justified slavery. Mike Rogers, the editor and founder of
PageOneQ, first reported the story.
"It is unacceptable that Montgomery County schools are steering students to a website with strong ties to an organization that believes Africans were better off as slaves," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "There are also concerns that this organization's President, Richard Cohen, has suggested that avenging spirits are the cause of homosexuality. This could surely influence the way some students view their gay peers, leading to increased alienation or harassment."
Students who receive a PFOX flyer will be directed to PFOX's website where there are copious
references or
referrals to the notorious National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. In 2006, NARTH's President, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, announced he would step down after controversy ensued over an article that appeared on the group's website. It was written by "Scientific Advisory Committee" member Gerald Schoenewolf and seemed to justify slavery.
"There is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," writes Gerald Schoenewolf. "Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle...Life there was savage... and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off."
The National Black Justice Coalition and the
Southern Poverty Law Center condemned the article, and the
Los Angles Times covered the scandal on Oct. 15, 2006. PFOX's ties to NARTH are not peripheral, as Cohen has long had an intimate relationship with the group, even serving as a
featured conference trainer at their 2000 annual meeting in Washington.
There is also the concern that students are receiving incorrect information on homosexuality that flies in the face of
every respected medical and mental health organization in America. It is particularly alarming that PFOX relies on Cohen for much of its information, considering he
was expelled from the American Counseling Association in 2002 for malpractice.
"The school board is confusing free speech with false speech and allowing a discredited group to peddle inaccurate information to students," said Besen. "Ex-gay therapy is also considered unhealthy by mainstream experts and the equivalent of allowing the smoking industry to hand out flyers on campus touting the health benefits of cigarettes."
In August 2006, the American Psychological Association clearly said that ex-gay therapy was scientifically unsound and could promote discrimination. According to the APA:
"For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA's concern about the position's espoused by NARTH and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
In Cohen's book, "Coming Out Straight," he attributes homosexuality, is some cases, to ancestral curses and cites a book by Dr. Edith Fiore to back up his claim.
"Generally, the influencing spirits are seeking revenge, retaliating for wounds inflicted upon them," Cohen writes, citing this passage in Fiore's book to justify his theory.
"I'm not sure that this is the message that Montgomery County officials want to send home with students," said Besen.
Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
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