The attorney for one of ex-gay activist Michael Johnston’s alleged victims wrote to XGW today:
I wanted to say that I appreciate your web site and have been following the commentary on Michael Johnston’s “moral fall.” As the attorney who contacted Wayne Besen to help get this story out, I have been very disappointed by the lack of coverage the story has received. No local newspapers in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area have carried the story whatsoever nor have prominent gay web sites and online services such as gay.com and 365gay.com mentioned the story.
In bringing the story public my client had two goals: First, to warn the possibly very numerous number of individuals in the Hampton Roads area that may have been exposed to HIV by Johnston and not know they should get tested immediately in the hope of containing the spread of HIV. Second, to help expose the ex-gay programs for the frauds both he and I believe them to be. Sadly, many of those exposed to HIV by Johnston still may have no knowledge of their need to be tested for HIV and warn their other sex partners.
Also, wider coverage of the Michael Johnston fraud might cause individuals to come forward who are willing to be publicly identified so that prosecutors can consider criminal prosecution against Mr. Johnston. For employment reasons, my client cannot be publicly identified. Therefore, individuals who can testify that Michael Johnston knowingly had unsafe sex with them are needed to allow law enforcement officials to take any action.
It is a safe assumption that the “Christian” Right organizations will not be calling for Johnston’s prosecution. It appears that it was their hope that Michael Johnston could be hidden away at Pure Life Ministries so that no one would be the wiser about his irresponsible and apparently illegal conduct. Wayne Besen and I were blasted in a column linked to townhall.com recently for “outing” Johnston, thus evidencing the “Christian” Right’s anger that their and Johnston’s secret was discovered. The total failure of these “Christian” organizations to make any attempts to warn Michael Johnston’s victims, in my opinion, speaks volumes about the falsity of their claims of “love” and “compassion” for gays. Such claims are just more of their disingenuous lies.
Michael B. Hamar, Norfolk, Virginia
Mr. Hamar and I corresponded a bit after his initial message to me. I questioned why the local and national media might be overlooking the Michael Johnston story and the potentially dire consequences for men-who-have-sex-with-men in the Norfolk-Newport News area. Here are Mr. Hamar’s added remarks:
Personally, I think the mainstream media is simply afraid to touch sex scandals among *conservatives* which, unfortunately, enables these “Christian” Right types to continue to put out deliberately false information unchallenged. I can also say this: my client signed a sworn affidavit and other individuals confirmed Johnston’s identity as well in my presence. I believe they are telling the truth. Moreover, Johnston has done nothing to try to deny the truth of the story and several of his past promoters have issued press releases that did not challenge it either.
Unlike the “talking heads” of the “Christian” Right who in my opinion make utterly disingenuous claims of “love” and “compassion” toward gays — Robert Knight springs immediately to mind — I was face to face with some of Johnston’s victims and I was greatly moved by the fact that their lives had been callously put in jeopardy. All are young, relatively inexperienced and vulnerable in their own way — people’s sons and brothers. They are real living, breathing creations of God, loved by family and friends, and not mere chess pieces in the “Christian” Right’s so-called “culture war.” As a church going, believing Christian, I find it very offensive that Johnston and his backers at Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, etc., call themselves Christians even though their behavior and hate-filled statements are an affront to the true Gospel message.
There has been a bit of local news coverage and discussion at the Virginia News Source.
Mr. Hamar, thank you for writing.
— Mike A.
This state of affairs is appalling. Why the gay press is not pushing this story, I have no idea. Perhaps for gays, this is just another dog bite situation, nothing special here. Thanks Mike for giving us this information.
I have a suspicion that the gay press has become far less interested in the “ex-gay” movement than they were in 1998, or when Paulk was caught in the DC gay bar. Don’t forget, the Paulk situation was pushed by–I believe it was–HRC. Have any gay political or civil rights groups been pushing the Johnston case?
Also, Johnston is–or was–far less prominent than Paulk. The Johnston case was mentioned on the NYTimes gay pride board, and few people knew of him. I had to cite the article on ex-gays from the IndeGayForum web site to let people know who he was.
Checking the new issue of Boston’s BayWindows, there is a NewsBrief on the Johnston case. It’s online at
https://www.baywindows.com/news/450307.html
Scroll down to ‘Ex-gay’ falls off wagon
To my knowledge, none of the gay rights organizations have pushed the Michael Johnston story whatsoever – Wayne Besen, my client and I have been the only ones that worked to make the story public. Why the gay rights groups have shown no interest is very baffling to me given the war developing over gay marriage and the Federal Marriage Amendment. From my past political involvement, I would think anything that exposes the “Christian” Right as untruthful liars weakens their efforts. Your typical elected official wants to back what they perceived to be the more popular view; however, most elected officials are also afraid of having their names tied to false and intentionally misleading information and/or the groups distributing the same. In short, damage the “Christian” Right’s truth and veracity by exposing on a large scale basis the outright falsehood of the facts and information used to justify their anti-gay statements, and the public and numerous legislators will be reluctant to support them. Stated another way, while attacking the “Christian” Right’s religious views can be tricky, showing them to be outright liars on factual, medical and mental health matters is a very different story. The public needs to know that the facts and figures the “Christian” Right knowingly disseminates – e.g., the findings in Paul Cameron’s discredited studies – are false and have been condemned by legitimate medical and mental health care professionals. The public and elected officials also need to be know that the “Christian” Right knows or should reasonably know that such facts and information are false, but continue to use it nonetheless. To me, part of this approach is to expose the ex-gay fraud. Moreover, if the ex-gay programs are exposed as a fraud, condemned by the APA, the “Christian” Right will be deprived of the smoke screen with which it seeks to hide its extreme intolerance.
Actually, I am trying to do my part as well.
One thing that was mentioned on another board suggests to me a reason why gay rights organizations haven’t pushed the Johnston case. It is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, it can help show the fraud of the “ex-gay” ministries. But it does so in a somewhat equivocal way. This is only one person, after all.
On the other hand, it can be read as tending to show the promiscuity and irresponsibility of gay men. Apparently Johnston had more than a few sex partners–and one might seriously question whether they had sex not only with him, but also with more than a few other people. And query whether any of Johnston’s sex partners asked him about his HIV status. From reports I have read, few people do. Um–I hate to say it–particularly in the South.
So touting this case may very well be a double edged sword.
They ought to speak out for the sake of those who may be infected and in the dark about it. That is the most important part of this, IMO.