Sexual
orientation is a given. The Bible never deals with sexual
orientation. The concept of sexual orientation is a recent
development. Nothing in the life and teachings of Jesus deals
with sexual orientation. Jesus taught acceptance of ourselves and
of others as having equal value to God. If Jesus is the guide to
all Bible study for Christians, no basis exists in the life and
teachings of Jesus to use the Bible as a weapon to attack and oppress
homosexuals or anybody else! See Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
.
for
the oldest and most effective support ministry for Lesbians and Gays
and their families and friends. The PFLAG web site is filled with
resources that are factual and helpful. It provides a much needed
response to the anti-gay religious fundamentalists who betray their
claims to represent Christ by their open homophobia, and their
misrepresentation of the Bible and rejection of scientific facts. DANGER TO GAYS AND LESBIANS IS REAL I
don't think that some people who are committed to the ex-gay fraud
realize how evil some dimensions of the whole movement against
homosexuals really are. Dr. C. Everett Koop, MD, Surgeon General of the
United States, was a strong advocate for AIDS education and effective
treatment until his retirement. After he retired, Dr. Koop
visited many churches and church conferences to appeal for
understanding and help towards gay and lesbian people. After
months of this experience, Dr. Koop was interviewed in "Christianity
Today" and said that he did not go to church much any more. He
said that we need a stronger word than "homophobia" to speak of the
hate towards homosexuals that he had found in the churches. He
concluded that he knew many preachers and church leaders who hated
homosexuals so much that if they had a button that would kill all
homosexuals, they would push the button. The
attitudes that appalled Dr. Koop have been intensified in recent
months. Dr. Koop's thoughts on this issue are included in the
documentary "One Nation Under God", which you can find at Tower Video
and in which I appear along with Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper
(co-founders of EXODUS who woke up and rejected the Ex-Gay Fraud), John
Evans (who helped to begin the first ex-gay ministry in Marin County,
CA, is a close friend of mine, and woke up to the damage being done by
the Ex-Gay distortions of truth and turned against the whole movement
when he saw his best friend commit suicide because he tried to change
from gay to straight and failed), and many others who tell their
stories of damage done to them by the Ex-Gay disaster. The
recent ads promoting the Ex-Gay industry and religious groups that
support it are telling only one side of the true story. Michael
Bussee told me that after he and his partner Gary spent 5 years in
counseling for EXODUS, they knew of nobody who had really changed from
homosexual to heterosexual but that he did know of great emotional
damage, self mutilations, suicides, and attempts that resulted for the
EXODUS ministries. In
any war, truth is one of the first casualties. This is war.
Some feel that it is a "holy war" and will do anything to impose their
false messages of hope and successful sexual orientation change therapy
on the public. We cannot afford to stand by and not resist the
evil that is being launched against us in an ever increasing
bombardment. For my own suggestions about how we as gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender people can defend ourselves, see my material
on "WAR DECLARED"
The following update was added January 5, 1999. HOMOPHOBIC LITERATURE Recently,
I have searched the Internet for the homophobic literature and web
sites that seem to have the most influence on the "Ex-Gay" movement and
other religious/political attacks upon the integrity of GLBT
(gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender)people. One anti-gay publisher,
"Regeneration Books," calls its product "the best Christian books
dealing with the healing of the homosexual." Their financial
profits go to support "Regeneration" and "Exodus International."
Their web site describes and reviews 98 books and videos along with
lists of articles and papers by counselors and therapists. The
use of biased and unsubstantiated statistics is characteristic of every
one of these materials aimed at discrediting, abusing, and destroying
GLBT people. One of the most recent books (1996) to gather up the
traditional lies and distortions of psychology and religion is Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. The
cover of this books declares that this is "the best book on
homosexuality written in our lifetime…" ---Congressional Record, May
1996. My immediate reaction to this strange way of recommending
the book was to remember that every possible argument in support of the
K.K.K., slavery, segregation, child labor, genocide of Native
Americans, the denial of the vote to women, and hundreds of other
similar causes can be found in the Congressional Record! One
of the most blatantly false claims of the book is that aside from men
with HIV and AIDS, the average life expectancy of gay men is 42.
There is no scientific basis whatsoever for this statistic! See
my material on "Statistics" and "Married With Children" in my recent
updates, listed by title and date in Resources and References. Paul
Cameron was one of the earliest psychologists to create medical and
psychological evidence against gays. His attacks on gays have
been refuted by other psychologists and his "research" has been
thoroughly discredited by his professional colleagues. See the
web site about Paul Cameron. Satinover's
book includes detailed mixing of religious beliefs and psychology in
setting forth a persistent argument in favor of the abusive therapies
of the "ex-gay" movement, which The American Psychiatric Association in
their national meeting in December, 1998, declared to be dangerous and
destructive. The APA also concluded that "there is no evidence
that sexual orientation can change." See my material on this and
my reviews of books by John Paulk and Joe Dallas in Psychiatry and Medicine See web sites for HEALING CIRCLE
containing many helpful links at and American Psychiatric Association
December, 1998, stand on reparative therapy of homosexuals. Many
otherwise objective and reasonable Americans have been seduced into
accepting the "believable lie" that homosexuals are sick and can be
cured by a growing army of self serving therapists and religious
promoters. You
don't have to be a medical expert to see the lies and distortions of
reality in this rapidly expanding mountain of printed garbage being
thrown at us. Remember one basic fact: NOBODY knows who is gay
and who is not. No reliable statistics exist about anything
related to homosexuals. Homophobic preachers like Rev. Dr. D.
James Kennedy have used their rich churches and lucrative television
ministries to produce anti-gay videos and to contribute to the "ex-gay"
industry in their publications and in the "ex-gay" ads in the media
last year. We
face a formidable, growing, well-financed, and sustained attack that
has an incredible level of public support that is unaware of the truth. My
survey of this incredible flood of distorted science, religious lies,
and self serving propaganda by the enemies of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender people has been very disturbing. It has been a loud
wake up call to the very real danger that we face. This
blending of religious speculation and prejudice with medicine and
psychology has created for GLBT people a deadly brew of lies and false
hope. One
basic offer of Christianity has always been the forgiveness of
sin. Yet there is no tangible evidence that anybody has ever
received forgiveness from sins. Forgiveness is something that we
accept and believe by faith with no proof whatever that it has happened. Over
many centuries, the churches have created countless strategies and
formulas to make forgiveness seem to be tangible, from the confessional
booth, penance, and absolution, to the sale of indulgences, to the
violently emotional evangelism and the judgmental legalism and extreme
scare tactics of modern apocalyptic prophets. Mixing
this religious concoction with bad science and discredited psychology
in the carefully prepared and packaged medicine of homophobic
advocates, therapists, and writers has unleashed on our people a plague
of self-depreciation, self-doubt, and self-destruction that rivals any
genocide of the past! The
Internet has made these lies and distortions by homophobic writers, and
webmasters easily available to vulnerable young gays, lesbians, and
bisexuals in their search for information and encouragement. We
have to do more. The truth that is contained in my "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" and in the sites by PFLAG, UFMCC, Interfaith Working Group (IWG),
and many others is our best weapon. Be sure to check out the
great IWG "Links", which include my web site and many others with very
important and necessary up-to-date information. Do whatever you can to let our people know that these sites are available. Fight
back with the truth. The truth is out there! The truth is
within you. Tell your story. Find others who face the same
pressures and misunderstandings that you face, and reach out with the
truth and with the compassion in your heart so that you can be part of
healing the real disease: homophobia. It
takes time to learn new and better ways of seeing yourself, your truth,
your world, and the other people around you. I have always felt
that the best way for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people to
move from fear into hope and from self-rejection into self-acceptance
is by taking time to learn new information, to study and think, and to
share in dialogue with others who are working through the same issues. This
process obviously takes a lot of time. It also requires a setting
for dialogue that most of us cannot find. Technology through the
Internet has begun to meet these needs in an explosion of new
connections between millions of people who never even knew of each
other's existence a few months, weeks, or days ago! Where do we
go from here? Both ignorance and truth are packaged and sold on
the Internet in ever increasing waves. What have you found that
is truly informative and helpful to you? Have you made any
progress in starting a spiritual recovery group for yourself? I saw the bumper sicker today: "It's a shame that ignorance isn't painful." Actually, it is. Ignorance is not
bliss. Ignorance is a deadly plague that is killing our people. Rembert Truluck
Jesus asked the judgmental legalists,
"Why don't you understand what I am saying?
It is because you are not listening to me.
You are just like your real father, the devil,
and you desire to do what your father wants.
He was a murderer from the beginning and
does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.
But when I speak the truth, you do not believe me."
(John 8:43-45)
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