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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
A Wisconsin man, Travis Swanson, claims that last month, his 23 year old boyfriend, Bryce Faulkner, was economically blackmailed by his parents into entering an "ex-gay" boot camp. Swanson believes that Faulkner is in a ministry in Florida, where the ex-gay organization Exodus International is headquartered.
When Faulkner's family found out their son was gay, they reportedly told him to enter an ex-gay program or lose financial support.
"Sadly, Bryce Faulkner is not an anomaly," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "Ex-gay organizations commonly use coercion to recruit new clients and often play on the fears of parents. We hope that he is found and escapes this boot camp before he is brainwashed and emotionally scarred." A Face Book page was set up to help locate Faulkner.
"We will do our best to help find Faulkner and end the psychological abuse that young people face as a result of being forced into such damaging programs against their will."
Faulkner was a pre-med student from Arkansas. He was reportedly about to come out to his fundamentalist family when his mother found email correspondence with Swanson. If you know of his whereabouts, please contact Truth Wins Out.
22 Comments:
What is happening is Bryce Faulkner is bad. But Wayne, cut out the bull shit about ex-gay organizations "commonly using coercion to recruit new clients." That is your opinion. Try to document that statement with fact. You can't. I can say that homosexual groups try to deceive young people into believing they are gay. Of course I can't document this statement though I know of a couple of situations where a guy and gal I know were "brainwashed" by members of a Metropolitan church. They told them they were gay when in fact they were confused for a time about their sexuality. Wayne, let's get over the sensationalism of your commentary
posted by JayJay, at
7/20/2009 8:51 PM
Jay - Jay:
My commentary is very accurate. Ever hear of Lance Carroll? How about Zack Stark? I suggest you look them up on Google before you further make an ass of yourself.
It was just directly reported to me that a middle school child in New England was shipped away to such a program.
Jay Jay - You know damn well what happens in these places. Anyone who has ever gone to Exodus' annual conference knows right away what I am saying is a fact.
posted by Wayne Besen, at
7/20/2009 8:56 PM
JJ, Metropolitan Community Church has saved countless glbt youth from both psychological as well as physical death (suicide). The only brainwashing being done to glbt youth is at those fundamentalist "christian" concentration camps which should all be shut down for child abuse and medical quackery.
posted by Anonymous, at
7/21/2009 9:33 AM
Wayne,this is terrible. I mean if he was doing this voluntarily, I might not think it's a good idea, but hey, it's a (relatively) free country. But this is clearly under duress.
Just a question: how old is Bryce? If he is of age, I hope he sues his parents for false imprisonment. Not sure if kidnapping by your parents is legal or not, but if it is, Bryce should sue them for that, too.
Jay Jay, "ex gay" "ministries" DO coerce LGBT people into joing. They prey upon the guilt felt by some GLBTs. That is a form of coercion.
So far as brainwasing people into believing that they are gay when they are not, I've never witnessed such a thing in any gay group I've been with. However, ex-gay groups lie and tell people that they are straight when they are not.
Wayne is not being sensational--there are thousans of gay and lesbians who say the same thing.
Gary, you are right. The Metropolitan Community Church has indeed saved many GLBT youth from psychological and physical death.
The bottom line is that ex-gay programs don't work. Behaviour can be changed, but sexual orientation cannot.
As for the fundamentalist concentration camps, I agree that they should be shut down because of the abuse and medical quackery that goes on. The people who run these camps should be prosecuted on those charges as well.
posted by Merlyn, at
7/21/2009 2:59 PM
JayJay: What you consider "confused" about one's sexuality is actually a person whose boundaries are wider than a strict self proclaiming heterosexual. It is you who is narrow minded and trapped into a world that does not permit loving of your own gender except on your terms. NOW THAT'S BULLSHIT. Go try controlling other people. You are pathetic and more than welcome to stay in your tiny conceptions of reality for everyone according to Jayjay.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
7/27/2009 11:46 AM
jay jay: By the way Bitch... You could never ever cite one example of Metropolitan church keeping someones whereabouts a secret. You are a liar, a danger and a piece of dirt that openly gay people are not the least bit apprehensive in confronting.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
7/27/2009 11:50 AM
You know, for all their bloviating, I have NEVER heard a rational answer from the miserable souls in the christian fundamentalist crowd. Their arguments are absurd and illogical when it comes to gay people. "Men were made for women," "two men can't reproduce," "if everyone were gay the population would die out." and so on and so forth...etc. etc. etc.
All of these absurd arguments are based on an absurd assumption that somehow, gay men chose to be gay. In the year 1960, this would be a mistake. In the year 2009, it is willful ignorance. When one of these christian morons argues with me about how "men were made for women," (etc. etc. etc.,) I like to say, "I used to believe those same things, until I turned 14 and realized I was queer."
Regarding this story, this young man is GAY. He isn't going to change because he got shipped off to some god-damned "ex-gay" program run by idiotic, moronic fundamentalists who think that locking the kid in a prayer room is going to change who he is attracted to.
To his parents, I say this: what do you love more, your religious beliefs or your own SON?? These religious fools (and that is exactly what they are: FOOLS) don't have the damn courage to pick their heads up out of their fantasy world and see the reality for what it is, regardless of what they prefer. I feel sorry for this young man. I hope that he finds peace in his life, and I hope his parents come to learn that he is not offensive in the eyes of any god because of his sexual orientation. He doesn't have a choice, but his family does. May they see the light before it is too late.
posted by Chris L., at
7/27/2009 6:33 PM
I think you have some excellent points, Chris. I believe that the fundamentalists KNOW damn good and well that "ex-gay" programs do not work, but yanno what? They don't care!! They would rather have a miserable, lonely, celibate GLBT person rather than an out, proud GLBT person who lives their life with joy and honesty.
I just hope that Bryce gets free from this and I hope he sues his parents--he is 23 and they have NO right to force him to conform to their limited view of human sexuality.
posted by Merlyn, at
7/28/2009 1:58 PM
I wonder if this young man's parents really do believe that their son has become "confused" or has been "talked into" becoming part of a "subculture" which is homosexuality. I know there is a lot of misinformation out there, and this is it. "Ex-gay" groups make a profit off those erroneous beliefs, and this young man and his parents are both victims of it. In this day and age, it is a shame that parents could see their gay child as being somehow "brainwashed" into "becoming a homosexual."
I am hoping that this family finds peace and that this young man's parents eventually show enough wisdom to question their beliefs. There must be something in their minds, no matter how deeply buried, that tells them that something is amiss with their belief system, at least as it regards their gay son.
posted by Chris L., at
7/28/2009 4:59 PM
All of this is lies!!!!! Bryce is not being held against his will. He chose to do this. Stop all this non-sense
posted by Anonymous, at
7/29/2009 9:02 AM
