As mentioned in other areas of CR's Range, the same gender coupling crews are pulling out all the stops and getting up a full head of steam in their agenda to force acceptance of their lifestyle upon every facet of American society (and other societies around the world also), with the ultimate goal being sanctioned and accepted "marriage" by law in every state, and by every religous group! In About This Dialog Thing! it is noted that the same gender couplers have been very successful in a number of ways in their "campaign" for acceptance. Below are details of still another "strategy" being effectively used to break down resistence -- could the term "propaganda campaign" be applied here? And is there a "between the lines" message here that says, with a thumb to the nose..."Jesus Christ, we want you to stay out of our lives -- don't you dare try to change us, because we don't want to change -- do your meddling somewhere else!" Be sure to check the Selah Moment before you leave 
HRC UNVEILS NEW REPORT HIGHLIGHTING THE DANGERS OF "EX-GAY" MINISTRIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Wayne Besen Monday, July 24, 2000 Phone: (202) 216-1580 Pager: (800) 386-5997
Former "Ex-Gays," Mental Health Professionals and Community
Leaders Speak Out Against Harm Caused by "Ex-Gay" ProgramsSAN DIEGO - The Human Rights Campaign today released a new report that reveals the grave psychological damage done to many people who go through the "ex-gay" ministries and "reparative" therapy, which seeks to change a person's sexual orientation. "Finally Free: How Love and Self-Acceptance Saved Us From the Ex-gay Ministries," is a landmark publication that features the personal stories of people who have survived the "ex-gay" ministries and have come forward to expose the harm done by these groups, says HRC.
"The extreme right-wing pumps resources into deceptive ads that claim gays can change their sexual orientation, but they unconscionably conceal the damage done to many people who enter these failed programs," said HRC Associate Director of Communications and Finally Free Editor Wayne Besen at the press conference. "Finally Free exposes the 'ex-gay' myth and highlights how false and misleading information put out by these groups can place vulnerable people at risk."
"After five wasted years of lies and deceit, I found the empty promises of 'ex-gay' ministries shallow and without foundation," said Finally Free contributing writer Clint Trout at the press conference. "My mental health was clearly compromised by my attempts to resist my true nature as a gay man. I urge anyone to research the facts before they enter these ministries who lure people with false promises that lead to broken hearts and shattered lives."
Finally Free was released at a press conference in San Diego, the city where Exodus International - the largest "ex-gay" organization - is hosting their annual conference. The publication is intended for use as an educational tool, and to share the truth about the "ex-gay" ministries and "reparative" therapy that the political right does not want the public to hear. Unlike the political right who pay "ex-gays" - as much $65,000 per year - for their testimony, no one was paid for their story in Finally Free. The publication hopes to set the record straight on the astronomical, if not complete, failure rate of the "ex-gay" ministries and "reparative" therapy.
A common thread in each essay in Finally Free is how desperately these individuals tried to conform and reject their sexual orientation, says HRC. Methods of change included all-night prayer meetings, exorcisms, fasting, lipstick application seminars for lesbians and endless, expensive sessions with so-called "reparative" therapists.
Speakers at the press conference were: Trout, Wulfensmith, Steve Kesel, former "ex-gay;" Dr. Heather Berberet, director of educational and support programs, Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center of San Diego; Judy Shaim, San Diego psychotherapist; Joseph Hampton, San Diego youth activist, and HRC's Besen.
In an effort to counter increased acceptance of gay and lesbian Americans, a coalition of conservative Christian organizations launched a national newspaper ad campaign in 1998 saying that gay people could change their orientation through prayer and the help of "ex-gay" ministries. A similar television campaign debuted in 1999 in Washington, and "ex-gay's" - who are paid staff at right-wing organizations - have lobbied extensively to block legislation that would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment.
"Having served extensive time in an 'ex-gay' program, the most change in orientation that can occur has to do only with behavior and not feelings," said Finally Free contributing writer Catherine Wulfensmith at the press conference. "Today, I am happily married to another woman. I have finally found peace in accepting myself for who I am."
"I wholeheartedly agree with virtually every respected medical and mental health organization when I say that the 'ex-gay' ministries can cause untold harm to people," said Dr. Heather Berberet, director of educational and support programs for the Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center of San Diego. "Gay men and women who come out in supportive, nurturing environments are just as likely to be happy, productive individuals as anyone else. Unfortunately, the 'ex-gay' ministries and 'reparative' therapists paint a distorted picture of what it means to be gay, at a great psychological cost to those who are caught in their web of misinformation."
The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national lesbian and gay political organization with members throughout the country. HRC effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support, and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community.
NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign
919 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
email: hrc@hrc.org
Human Rights Campaign
NEW "EX-GAY" DEFECTOR REVEALS CRACKS IN THE "EX-GAY" MINISTRIES
Former "Ex-Gay" Spokesman Tells Advocate Magazine That "Change" Groups
Don't Work
by the Human Rights Campaign
WASHINGTON - A high-profile "ex-gay" spokesperson, Wade Richards, came out
in an interview with the Advocate magazine this week, once again damaging
the already shaky credibility of the "ex-gay" ministries and "reparative"
therapists who say they can make gay people into heterosexuals through
prayer and treatment.
"This is the latest in these ministries long history of failures and
scandals, and once again the 'ex-gay' myth promoted by anti-gay political
organizations has been shattered," said HRC Associate Director of
Communications Wayne Besen. "Wade's experience echoes the opinions of every
respected medical and mental health organization who say these ministries do
not work and can often be harmful."
In the Advocate, Richards discussed how right-wing political
organizations paid to have him traverse the nation to testify how he had
"changed." Earlier this year, he said he was "ex-gay" at a Washington press
conference hosted by American's For Truth About Homosexuality President
Peter LaBarbera. The highlight of his "ex-gay" career came with his May
appearance on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20.
"I've been through so much in my life already," Richards, 21, told
the Advocate. "But the one constant is I'm gay. I just want to spend some
time being who I am."
In addition to Richards coming out, the "ex-gay" ministries have
been setback by the new formation of groups of former "ex-gays" who say the
ministries do not work. According to a Boston Globe article published last
week: "Washington and California, ex-ex gays have created support groups and
others have taken their gripping testimonies to the Internet. Gay rights
specialists say 'ex-ex gays' began coming out again after the Christian
right published ads in leading newspapers in 1998, promoting what they refer
to gay 'conversion' therapy."
Richard's revelation follows the release of the Human Rights
Campaign's report on the ministries and "reparative" therapy, "Finally
Free: How Love and Self-Acceptance Saved Us From the Ex-gay Ministries."
"Finally Free" is a landmark publication that features the personal stories
of people who have survived the "ex-gay" ministries and have come forward to
expose the harm done by these groups.
The "ex-gay" ministries have long been embroiled in embarrassing
episodes of scandal and failure, says HRC. Two men who helped found Exodus
International, the Seattle-based group that is a leader of the change
ministries movement, fell in love with each other while counseling other gay
men. Gary Cooper and Michael Bussee, who had been counselors at the
Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim before launching Exodus, decided they
were hurting other gay men by trying to change people's sexual orientation.
They left their wives for each other in 1979, and wore matching wedding
bands until Cooper's death several years ago.
In 1998, according to a July Los Angeles Times article, a La
Mirada, Calif. family sued Desert Stream Ministries, alleging that a
minister had sexually abused a teenager while the youth was undergoing
religious therapy to turn him from his homosexuality. The family settled its
lawsuit against the ministry last fall for an undisclosed sum. The family is
scheduled to return to court to pursue a separate suit against the minister.
Desert Stream says the minister was fired immediately, but it would not
discuss the settlement, the article said.
Additionally, the onetime leader of Homosexuals Anonymous, Colin
Cook, was ousted for having sex with male counselees.
"While many people are permanently damaged from the 'ex-gay'
experience, others use it as an unpleasant stepping stone on their coming
out journey," said Besen. "National Coming Out Day is October 11, and we
hope Wade's testimony will help people reach a place of self-acceptance on
this special day of celebration and reflection."
The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national lesbian
and gay political organization with members throughout the country. HRC
effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support, and educates the
public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest, and
safe at home, at work, and in the community.
919 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
email: hrc@hrc.org
Human Rights Campaign
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life... Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
John 8:12,34-36 NKJV "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
Deuteronomy 4:1,2 NKJV Another significant issue few have considered!
There has been the free use of the terms "gay and lesbian Christians" in recent years. The use of these terms has been discussed elsewhere on the Range, but there is something in the Christian experience and the miracle of the new birth transformation that seems to have been lost in this issue. And that is what God does in the transformation of a sinner's life (whatever the nature of the sin has been, sexual or a host of other sins ranging from greed, gluttony, and stealing to hatred and murder, etc) -- and that is the new covenant in Jesus Christ -- it is specifically mentioned that God's laws will be WRITTEN in the heart and mind of those who repent and obediently follow Christ as Lord and Savior!
And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
--- Hebrews 10:15-17 (NKJV) Now for THE QUESTION -- how can you continue to willfully disobey the moral laws of a holy God, if under the terms of the new covenant He says He is going to put His laws into the believer's heart and write them into his/her mind? Yes, I already know -- the same gender couplers try to smokescreen the law issue in the OT by mixing the ceremonial and ritual laws concerning clean and unclean foods with the eternal moral laws! And yes, if the prohibition against eating pig meat were a part of the moral law, then Christians would not be eating pig meat today! The promise of the new covenant and details of the "writing" of the laws into the heart of believers, rather than trying to adhere to an external code of conduct, is mentioned clearly in the OT prophets of Jeremiah and Ezekiel -- check it out and see for yourself!
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