Wayne Besen - Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth

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NOTES FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANS AND LIBRARY USERS

This is an original book title published by Harrington Park Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc. Unless otherwise noted in specific chapters with attribution, materials in this book have not been previously published elsewhere in any format or language.

CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION NOTES

All books published by The Haworth Press, Inc. and its imprints are printed on certified pH neutral, acid free book grade paper. This paper meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Material, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Anything but Straight

Unmasking
the Scandals and Lies
Behind the Ex-Gay Myth

THE HAWORTH PRESS
Titles of Related Interest

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Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture, Second Edition by Raymond Jean-Frontain

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Public Policy Issues: A Citizens and Administrators Guide to the New Cultural Struggle by Wallace Swan

One of the Boys: Masculinity, Homophobia, and Modern Manhood by David Plummer

Straight Talk About Gays in the Workplace, Second Edition by Liz Winfeld and Susan Spielman

Male to Male: Sexual Feeling Across the Boundaries of Identity by Edward J. Tejirian

Trailblazers: Profiles of Americas Gay and Lesbian Elected Officials by Kenneth E. Yeager

Gay Men at Midlife: Age Before Beauty edited by Alan L. Ellis Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context edited by Vern L. Bullough

Acts of Disclosure: The Coming-Out Process of Contemporary Gay Men by Marc E. Vargo

Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century by Marc E. Vargo

Anything but Straight

Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth

Wayne R. Besen

Published by

Harrington Park Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580.

2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

TR: 1.7.03

PUBLISHERS NOTE
The development, preparation, and publication of this work have been undertaken with great care. However, the publisher, employees, editors, and agents of The Haworth Press are not responsible for any errors contained herein or for consequences that may ensue from use of materials or information contained in this work. The opinions expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily those of The Haworth Press, Inc.

Cover design and interior graphics by Jennifer M. Gaska.

Cover and frontispiece: Photographs of John Paulk by Wayne Besen; Gay for Life? cover, Newsweek, August 17, 1998, reprinted with permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Besen, Wayne R.

Anything but straight : unmasking the scandals and lies behind the ex-gay myth / Wayne R. Besen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56023-445-8 (alk. paper)ISBN 1-56023-446-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Church work with gaysUnited StatesHistory. 2. HomosexualityReligious aspects

ChristianityHistory of doctrines. 3. GaysPastoral counseling ofUnited StatesHistory.
4. GaysCounseling ofUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.
BV4437.5.B47 2003
261.8'3577dc21

2002013857

In loving memory of Penrhyn Pen Jorgensen
and in honor of my parents,
Neil and Sydney Besen,
whose support, encouragement, and love sustained me
through this project

Contents

For many years, I have admired Wayne Besens courage and creativity as an activist and now as an author. In Anything but Straight, Mr. Besen examines one of the great heresies of our time. The notion that homosexuals can and should be changed is an insult to God, who loves variety in all things, including sexual orientation. As a proud, gay man who has served the Christian church as a pastor, seminary professor, filmmaker, author, and a lifelong student of the Bible, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God created gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and loves us exactly as we were created. For me, that debate is over. The verdict is in. Homosexuality is neither a sickness nor a sin.

In Anything but Straight, Mr. Besen makes clear that the entire ex-gay enterprise is founded on the tragic belief that homosexuality is a sin and thus all practicing homosexuals are sinful. Also, though many ex-gay ministries do not believe that homosexuality can be cured or that homosexuals can become heterosexuals, most ex-gay therapies begin by asking their clients to seek Gods forgiveness.

Ex-gay therapy continues (often for a lifetime) through a painful, sometimes pathological process of trying to overcome ones sinful same-sex attraction through prayer, Bible study, personal discipline, the support of the Christian community, and (in many cases) getting married and having children. Televangelists love to feature ex-gays (with their wives and families) who are succeeding in the process, but they never share the tragic stories of those whose desperate tries end in failure, guilt, self-hatred, and even death. I know, because I too was a victim of reparative therapies and Ive spent the last ten years of my life working to bring hope and healing to thousands of other ex-ex-gay victims (Dos Equis) across America.

Sadly, most people who decide not to act upon their same-sex attractions still make their decisions out of fear and guilt. These victims of biblical misuse believe sincerely that homosexuality is a sin, and most (if not all) ex-gay ministries, too, are motivated by that tragic untruth. The real evil at the heart of the ex-gay ministries is not the villains, such as James Dobson, Elizabeth Moberly, Joseph Nicolosi, Exodus, NARTH, or even Paul Cameron (a man who has spent his lifetime fabricating false studies used by fundamentalist Christians to prove their antigay hyperboles, half-truths, and lies). The real evil at the heart of the ex-gay movement flows out of misusing the Bible to declare homosexuality a sin.

Unfortunately, the ex-gay movement refuses even to consider the fact that homosexual orientation, too, is a gift from God. Therefore, I stand with Wayne Besen in wholeheartedly condemning the ex-gay movement (in spite of all the sincere and loving people who work within that movement).

The people associated with ex-gay ministries sin when they support ancient antihomosexual bigotry by quoting six or seven biblical texts with no real interest in pursuing their historic or linguistic meaning. They sin when they refuse to consider the current scientific, psychological, historical, pastoral, and even biblical evidence that homosexual orientation, too, is a gift from God. They sin when they ignore the personal witness of tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender people who live deeply spiritual lives. They sin, too, when they make TV commercials featuring men and women who are still in the unfinished process of living their ex-gay lives as examples of the only way to be good, right, and holy.

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