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Wayne Besen
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Tim Hardaway was one of my all-time favorite basketball players until today - when he said he hates gay people. On the court he had a mean cross over dribble. Off the court he is just mean and a despicable human being. On a south Florida radio show he was asked about former NBA player John Amaechi coming out and had this to say:
"Well, you know, I hate gay people," Hardaway said near the close of an interview that mostly focused on his tenure with the Heat and the team's current state. "I let it be known, I don't like gay people. I don't like to be around gay people. Yeah, I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world for that or in the United States for that. So, yeah, I don't like it."
Now it gets weird to the point I question the sexual orientation of Hardaway.
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, you know, I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that is right. I don't think that he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room, and it's just a whole lot of other things and I wouldn't even be a part of that."
Hardaway was asked if his opinion would be different if a top-level teammate acknowledged being gay. "
If he were that great, something would still have to give," he said. "People would feel uncomfortable with that. If you're not gay, nobody in that locker room would feel comfortable with that person on your team."
Sorry, but that is not a normal heterosexual reaction. Hardaway, it seems, has some serious issues he needs to work through.
At the very least, Hardaway made an ass of himself today and lost many fans, including myself.
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Miami Beach, FLA. -- Truth Wins Out today unveiled a Valentine's Day video that shows why right wing attempts to pressure gay people into "reforming" through marriage destroys families in the name of family values and usually leads to divorce.
"Ex-gay groups notoriously pressure gay people into heterosexual marriage by parading happy wedding photos," said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. "Unfortunately, they never show people the divorce papers, which paint a more realistic picture of these doomed marriages. Ex-gay groups often have little regard for the spouses and children and treat them as collateral damage in their zeal to prove that you can pray away the gay."
Truth Wins Out's new video was released on YouTube and featured a Mormon couple, Barbara and Lester Leavitt, who are ending their marriage after 25 years, having raised four children together. Although Lester always knew he was gay, his church and society sent the message that homosexuality was just a phase that could be overcome through marriage. He fought mightily to be the perfect husband and father, but two years ago he could no longer live a lie and came out to his family.
While Barbara was shocked by his revelation, she always knew deep down that her husband was harboring a secret. She now believes that attempts to coerce or pressure gay people into marriages are terribly misguided and unfair to the unsuspecting spouse.
Despite all the family has been through, Barbara supports her husband. Even though they will soon be divorced, she says his honesty has brought them closer together. Although she is still in pain, Barbara believes that the perfect Valentine's gift is seeing the joy coming out has brought her husband.
If you are gay and Mormon, please contact Affirmation. If you are a spouse in need of support, please visit Straight Wives. Another resource is a book by Carol Lynn Pearson, "No More Goodbyes."
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.
Ex-gay leader Chad Thompson is the number one phony in the entire "ex-gay" movement - and that is quite an honor considering the company he's in. Chadwick wrote the book "Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would," but in a speech at University of California Santa Barbara, he seemed to welcome the elimination of gay people if a gene that determined sexual orientation were discovered.
"I think it would be cool if a gay gene were discovered. Then God would get more glory whenpeople are changed," Thompson said.
Sounds like Thompson would "love" gay people right out of existence if he had his way. In the speech, he also tried to sound loving when he said, "Christian media shows homosexuals as demons...gay media shows Christians as [hateful] people, and both of these lies create tension between the two sides," Thompson said.
Wow, Thompson sounds like the voice of reason, doesn't he? Too bad the lying sack told a Christan audience in Macon last Fall (I was there) that "demonic influence" can not be overlooked when diagnosing homosexuality. Well, Chad, maybe the Christian media is demonizing us because you have personally promoted the idea that we are infested with demons.
Not only does Chad dress like a slob and look like he needs to take a bath - he also speaks out of both sides of his hypocritical mouth. While I respect the sincerity of some ex-gay leaders, Chadwick can't seem to keep his story straight and specializes in telling different audiences what they want to hear...talk about a man who lacks any core beliefs!
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WayneBesen.com has joined a new network of BlogAd users called Gay Politics BlogAds. Advertisers help to pay for hosting and other expanses related to the site.
My former employer, the Human Rights Campaign, has made the first purchase on the new network. I hope you'll take a moment to check out their exciting new radio show The Agenda.
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On Tuesday, Feb. 20 an episode of Montel will air that discusses the ex-gay ministries. Lance Carroll will be featured, who has spoken on behalf of Truth Wins Out. He is an 18 year old who was taken to an ex-gay boot camp. After his parents spent $10,000 on a "cure" that did not endure, he was forced to leave his home. (And Exodus denies it forces kids into these hell houses against their will!) Please check your local listings and watch the show!!
I was exhausted and on my way home from Phoenix, where I participated in a protest against Focus on the Family's ex-gay Love Won Out Conference. One of the few remaining joys of flying these days is reading without all of the earthly distractions, such as cell phones and e-mail. At least until the terrorists figure out how to make a newspaper bomb, and then we will be left with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs while we levitate.
While gliding, I came across several stories worth commenting on:
Smear Campaigns: In order to deny GLBT people equal rights, most homophobes resort to gross distortions of gay life. Without evidence, they accuse homosexuals of the vilest things imaginable and systematically dehumanize our existence. I often wondered about the psychology behind these bizarrely personal attacks that reduce GLBT people to sub-human.
While on the plane I got a rare insight into the psyche of smear by reading a New York Times Magazine article on, of all things "designer dogs." The article discussed the combining of two purebred pooches to produce a new breed. For example, if a Labrador is mixed with a poodle, they get a "Labradoodle." A Boston Terrier and a Beagle makes a "Boggle."
By most accounts, these combo-canines are wonderful pets that are cute and cuddly. However, they have raised the ire of traditional breeders who consider the mutts impure. In their zeal to tar the designer dogs, the purebred Puritans have resorted to mudslinging. Like anti-gay zealots who pretend they love homosexuals, the breeders pretend they are only looking out for the welfare of the dogs. One breeder summed this up by saying, "Who is going to take care of that dog when the fad fades."
However, the real truth quickly became apparent when the same breeder unfairly claimed the "puggle" is an unsuitable pet because it would merge the worst traits of the pug and the beagle. The puggle, the breeder concluded, must be "a shedding, snorting, wanderlust dog that's going to pee all over your house."
Just like the case with minorities, people can't even accept differences in pets and will say virtually anything to support their notion of purity and goodness.
Basketball Outing: Former National Basketball Association center John Amaechi came out of the closet and the Associated Press interviewed basketball star LeBron James about Amaechi. He said that he did not think an openly gay person could survive in the league. However, he also took issue with a player that might remain in the closet.
"With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy," James said. "So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates -- we all trust each other. There is a locker room code. What happens in the locker room stays in there. It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."
It seems like a Catch-22. James thinks an openly gay player wouldn't survive, but if he stays closeted, his secret life is detrimental to team unity. Damned if you do, damned if you don't I suppose.
Ted Haggard: So, Rev. Ted Haggard sang a few hymns and now he is only sexually interested in "hers." The claim is so preposterous that it became the realm of late night comedians. Haggard has done more to erode the sexual conversion movement in one week than ten years of activism. Although this has been written about extensively, Haggard's whistle blowing (among other things) escort, Mike Jones, summed it up best when he told the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force: "It's hard for me to believe that he's 'recovered' in three weeks when he'd been having oral sex with me for over three years."
The Presidential Race: So far, Obama looks great as he deftly handles the hype and is the only major candidate who was correct on the war from the start. Hillary's fancy footwork has her tap dancing around her war vote. But with civil war intensifying, "Taps" might be her theme song as Iraq slowly bleeds the life out of her campaign. John Edwards has also sprinted out of the gate in Iowa, giving a glimmer of hope to his presidential aspirations.
In terms of gay rights, a Rudy Giuliani presidency might be the best bet. As the Iraq war heads inexorably south, the stage will be set for further Democratic gains in the House and Senate. If Giuliani wins, it will be over the loud objections of social conservatives. This could create a situation where a Democratic Congress signs gay rights bills and a Republican president signs them into law. However, Giuliani's kissing up to Bush may be his undoing, just as McCain's call for more troops will likely come back to haunt him. Right wing candidates, such as Sen, Sam Brownback (R-KS), obsessing about social issues in a time of a failing war will look woefully out of touch.
With the news more turbulent than the airplane ride, it made for quite good reading.
Today Soulforce posted a YouTube video of Dr. Judith Stacey, a Professor of Sociology at New York University (NYU), who claims that James Dobson's Focus on the Family and other anti-equality groups have misrepresented her research on lesbian and gay parenting.
In her video statement, Stacey calls Focus on the Family's use of her work "a complete distortion" and clarifies that "there is absolutely nothing in the article we wrote, nor in any of the research that has yet been published, that would warrant any form of discrimination against parents on the basis of sexual orientation." Her comments are excerpted from a 2005 Soulforce video titled Dear Dr. Dobson: An Open Video Letter to Focus on the Family.
