Exodus International and Focus on the Family refuse to say how many ex-gays there are, who they are, or where they are. They offer only a handful of testimonies from individuals who, on cross-examination, reveal they’re still gay (attracted to the same gender) but consider themselves “saved” because now they believe all homosexual attractions and behaviors are sin, no exceptions permitted.
The refusal of the leading ex-gay organizations to offer specific numbers or testimonies of success doesn’t stop ex-gays from blaming the media for a shortage of inspiring success stories.
Says one Mormon ex-gay on the exgaydiscussion group at Yahoo:
There are actually many more ex-gays than pro-gays but the media is hiding that from the public. We must make our voices heard as Christians and ex-gays, otherwise we WILL loose (sic) our rights. Christians are being fired at work for wearing crosses, yet pro-gays are the only ones allowed to speak in the public schools. I am very concerned about what is happening in Canada, because the pro-gays in the U.S. will use it to push their agenda.
If a conservative three to four percent of the population is gay, then there are approximately 11 million gays in the United States.
Compare that to Exodus and Focus on the Family, which claim a few thousand ex-gays whom they refuse to document or bring forward for public scrutiny.
Some ex-gay political activists may blame advocates for tolerance when ex-gays are excluded from public-school classrooms. However, a more balanced analysis finds both antigay and gay-tolerance activists excluded from the public schools. After all, schools argue, the purpose of education is to educate, not politicize.
Nevertheless, there are, perhaps not so surprisingly, Catholic schools with programs that discourage antigay bullying. Despite official Catholic opposition to antigay violence, ex-gay activists have been outspoken in opposition to these private-school programs also.
Data on the presence of gay-tolerant, antibullying advocates in school systems are available from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
In cases where ex-gay political activists are denied access to public schools where antibullying advocates are present, the ex-gay activists need to take responsibility for their refusal to discourage antigay bullying — and their refusal to document the successfulness of the therapies that they promote.