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Foe of ‘Ex-Gay’ Ministries Launches New Group 6/16/2006 Denies that homosexuals can change.
In yet another frontal attack on “ex-gay” ministries, a well-known homosexual activist held a press conference at the National Press Club last week to launch a new organization that he has dubbed “Truth Wins Out.”
Wayne Besen, who insists that people are born “gay” and cannot overcome homosexual desires, staged his event on the same day (June 7) that the U.S. Senate was voting on the Marriage Protection Amendment.
Joined by five other men who claim to have undergone “ex-gay” counseling and who say they reverted to homosexuality, Besen assailed the “right-wing” and Christian ministries in particular.
Besen took special aim at Exodus International, a nonprofit umbrella group of ex-gay ministries, in order to stop what he called their false claims of healing. Exodus supports “reparative therapy” for unwanted homosexual desires but focuses on the message that Jesus Christ can heal any sinner, including those who struggle with homosexuality. Over the years, Exodus has reported thousands of success stories.
Contending that “ex-gay” organizations are not only ineffective, Besan said they actually hurt people. He claimed that he is dedicated to protecting homosexuals as they “really are,” that is, normal members of society with a slightly different lifestyle. Besen spent much of his time assailing Christian conservatives instead of defending homosexuality.
He laid out a three-part campaign to:
Besen’s bitterness against the “right-wing” was quite apparent. He referred to Christian social agendas as “faith-folly” and said that the “rich right” had lots of money to promote its propaganda. He noted that Exodus International had a traveling staff of 12 people.
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus, had this response:
In regard to the “rich right,” I think that all one has to do is look at who gives to pro-family organizations. I would venture to say that only a small percentage of those that give are “rich.” More often than not, our givers are just average people, the mainstream, who give because they believe. By contrast, the funders of the gay-rights movement are the Shell Oil Company, Mitchell Gold, Sharon Stone, billionaire Tim Gill, etc.
The name “Truth Wins Out” appears to be a reaction to Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out conferences, which tour the country and feature “ex-gays,” therapists and family members who promote the message that homosexuals can change.
Speakers at the “Truth Wins Out” press conference focused on “ex-ex-gays,” a PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) mom and a doctor. “Ex-ex-gay” is a term for people who claim to have been homosexual, were counseled into being “straight,” but then returned to their “real” selves and homosexual lifestyle.
The speakers included Mark Perriello, who said he first realized he was “gay” when he was in the eighth grade. He went through extensive therapy and programs. He said he became an “ex-gay” and even joined the 700 Club and the Christian Coalition before temptations finally became too much. When he came out again, it was as an ex-ex-gay activist. He worked for a “gay national political action committee” and now works as a consultant on how corporations and nonprofits can reach homosexual audiences.
Stuart Stotsky, M.D., discussed the emotional impact of “ex-gay” therapies. Stotsky asserted that not only were these programs inefficient, but they actually hurt the participants and their families. He claimed that there are “no published studies” showing the efficacy of reparative therapy, ignoring the recent survey of hundreds of former homosexuals by the liberal Dr. Robert Spitzer of Columbia University (“Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?” Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 403-417.)
Nick Cavnar, a “veteran of several ‘ex-gay’ ministries,” said he lived “100 percent straight” for 30 years while being “100 percent homosexual” at the same time. He and his wife had three children who are now grown. An articulate speaker, Cavnar was there to show how successful a “gay” man could be in embracing a homosexual identity, and to encourage others to do the same. He said he had found real happiness at last, but said little about the impact on his wife, other than that “she disagreed with my decision completely” to end their marriage.
After the press conference, Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute, talked with Mr. Cavnar.
“He was very friendly,” Knight said. “I asked him if he had it all to do over again, would he have chosen to go into homosexuality earlier and not have the experience of being a husband and the father of his three kids. He got quiet for a moment and said that many things had ‘brought me happiness.’ He said the one regret he had was the pain he had caused his wife, who had been a homemaker and was now left without a husband in her mid-50s. “I think that this illustrates a profound difference in human outcomes. Had Mr. Cavnar continued to fight his homosexual temptations, his wife would not be an ex-wife. And had he not fought his homosexual temptations during the marriage, these three kids of his wouldn’t exist today. That would have been an enormously high price to pay.”
Knight also talked with Besen.
“I asked Wayne this question: If he could do it, would he like to see ‘ex-gay’ counseling made officially unethical by the mental health profession and therefore criminalize the practice? Wayne answered that, no, the practice should not be criminalized.
“He said he thought that Americans ought to be able to seek any counseling they want, but that he would require reparative therapists to inform potential clients that 1) they have no chance of actual change, and 2) this kind of counseling could damage them somehow. In other words, it would become impossible for therapists to offer help to people who wanted to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction. That’s not exactly freedom of choice.”
The conference was an emotional roller coaster, ranging from a young man tormented emotionally and even physically by his mother and who spoke of “virtual incarceration” at an “ex-gay boot camp” in Tennessee, to a PFLAG mother crying tears of pride for her homosexual son.
As an observer, and a Christian, I could not help but feel compassion for the speakers and the difficulties they had endured. However, I was hard-pressed to find any encouraging substance in their speeches. Their stories were of defeated, hopeless men who claimed they had fought the fight, but in the end, even if it meant hurting people in the process, it was easier to just do what they “felt” like. Sadly, this mindset is all too common in America today.
After the speakers finished, Mr. Besen declined to take any questions, inviting the press instead to talk to him and the other participants privately.
Read these testimonies of “ex-gays” who have left homosexuality and live successful lives:
A brief summary on the freedom from sin that Jesus Christ offers to all men and women.
Sarah Kuziomko, a communications major at Grove City College, is an intern with Concerned Women for America’s Ronald Reagan Memorial Internship Program.
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