Dr George Rekers has resigned from the board of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), following allegations that he received nude, erotic massages from a male prostitute.
Rekers, who has been an anti-gay activist for decades, took a 10-day European vacation with Jo-Vanni Roman (at first identified only as “Lucien”), a gay escort who says they met through the explicit website Rentboy.com. Rekers faced humiliation in the media after denying the accusations, claiming he he hired Roman to help carry his luggage while he recovered from surgery. He said he only found out Roman was an escort partway through the trip, and responded by evangelizing him and warning him against homosexuality.
Stepping down from NARTH, Rekers wrote:
I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me. With the assistance of a defamation attorney, I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever. I am not gay and never have been.
NARTH responded:
NARTH has accepted Dr. Rekers’ resignation and would hope that the legal process will sufficiently clarify the questions that have arisen in this unfortunate situation. We express our sincere sympathy to all individuals, regardless of their perspective, who have been injured by these events. We also wish to reiterate our traditional position that these personal controversies do not change the scientific data, nor do they detract from the important work of NARTH. NARTH continues to support scientific research, and to value client autonomy, client self-determination and client diversity.
Earlier this week, there were premature reports of some websites and organizations (Focus on the Family’s Family Research Council, for example, which Rekers co-founded) deleting mentions of Rekers from their history. Today, Dr Warren Throckmorton reports that the purge has begun.
There are attorneys that would take on defamation cases, but there is no such thing as defamation attorneys. There aren’t enough defamation cases to make it worthwhile for an attorney to dedicate his practice on defamations.
I doubt Rekers would bother with a defamation suit against anyone. The last thing he needs is to have his personal life, and lies, laid wide open in a court of law. He will be surprised what other skeletons others might find in his closets.
If Rekers did seek advice from a lawyer, that lawyer would probably tell him that the best thing he could do for himself is stop talking, stop posting, and just be quiet. This will eventually blow over, and he will remain a footnote in anti-gay history. His anti-gay testifying career is over, but that wasn’t going well anyway. A lawsuit would only drag this thing out well beyond the point when most folks wouldn’t even be able to remember Rekers’ name.
If Rekers is being defamed then why resign from NARTH? Such a resignation seems to make NARTH out to be a ministry rather than a professional organization.
Rekers is reclusive, only 2 posts on his website. No rallying around him from the people he worked behind the scenes for. Oh to be in the Courtroom with him being cross-examined during his defamation lawsuit… abosulutely priceless!
Of course Reckers is not “GAY”, if by “GAY” we mean a self-actualized, self-accepting homosexual man who lives with openness, honesty and integrity. Reckers is clearly NOT that, now is he? Don’t get confused by the word, which has all sorts of cultural and political associations Reckers clearly does not self-identify with.
If we look ONLY at his behavior (because I have no idea what is in his mind and heart), his BEHAVIOR is clearly of a man afraid of homosexuality, and mostly his own, unwanted, hidden, shameful homosexual desires. He makes himself quite wealthy bashing the very thing he secretly is, but distances himself by avoiding a “gay” self-identification. Who cares what label he adopts or rejects. This man, his work, and his life are a sham that harms the lives of gay people and their families, and ultimately our society as a whole.
Defamation?
I don’t he knows what that means. Defamation is defined by lies, and accusations that require you having no situation or actuality that would validate it.
One’s life can be ruined by defamation, but being FOUND to be a liar yourself, and having you be revealed as such and the depth in which YOUR lies and own defamation ruined others is at issue here with Rekers.
HE was the one engaged in defamation. No one has committed any against HIM.
He lied about the qualities of gay parents and their ability for it, even as exemplary gay parents sat in front of him in courts all over the country.
He lied about the quality of life gays and lesbians can actually have, but for the coercive agenda of organizations like the one he represented.
And he lied about the reason he hired this kid in the first place.
It’s laughable for him to throw this pity party as if HE’S the victim.
HE has ruined many lives, and apparently now…his own.
What a cockroach of a human being.
Worthy of being stomped on.