Like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Exodus regrettably sees far-reaching evil conspiracies behind those who disagree with it.
The organization this morning issued a condemnation of the ‘Law and Order:SVU’ episode about an ex-gay murder.
Instead of merely discussing the humanity or nonviolence of ex-gays, or noting that the episode was overly simplistic (as all television is), Exodus executive director made sweeping generalizations about anyone who is gay-tolerant:
“Truly the oppressed have become the oppressor”, notes Executive Director, Alan Chambers. “The pro-gay contingent is out to absolutely obliterate the truth about biblical sexuality, annihilate those who challenge their views and destroy any opposition to their agenda by any means necessary. That is the epitome of hatred and intolerance.”
Exodus also says:
We also respect each person’s right to self-determination whether they agree with us or not.
This remains a subject of debate, given Exodus’ defense of sodomy laws and its endorsement of discrimination in jobs, housing, education, and religion.
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s reputation was tarnished for a time by her finger-pointing and paranoia, and her failure to clean house. XGW respectfully suggests that Exodus learn from Ms. Clinton’s mistakes.
Addendum:On Nov. 21, Exodus escalated its protest against the L&O:SVU episode, promoting a letter-writing campaign organized by Exodus’ marketing and political-activism partner, Focus on the Family.
Randy says:
Homophobia from time to time is a part of what we confront as leaders in the ex-gay movement. Randy Thomas adds “I have no problem confronting hatred against people who identify as gay. If the gay community really knew how often we defend their right to self-determination I think they would be surprised.”
Not just ‘surprised’; how about ‘totally astounded’ or ‘overcome with disbelieve’. What would really help this situation would be for Exodus to do this confronting in public. Those of us who are somewhat sceptical about the whole exgay venture would indeed profit from seeing Exodus do this OPENLY AND IN PUBLIC. Refering to something we have never seen and strongly doubt exists as proof, is…well… not proof of anything. Instead it serves simply as an example of evading the issue.
Randy says:
There are tens of thousands of well adjusted former homosexuals and thousands of credible reparative therapists. Law & Order SVU could have at least tried to deepen these angles instead of plagiarizing from gay activist literature.
Where are they? The Spitzer study shows that even after strenuous effort, finding 200 ‘well adjusted homosexuals’ was extraordinarily difficult. This assertion flies in the face of what we observe. There are no ‘tens of thousands’ that can readily be found. There are only very small groups of people with an unstable census.
As for the ‘thousands of repartive therapists’, again, where are they? NARTH claims slightly over 1,000 members. If there are so many, one would expect NARTH to have far more members. IMHORandy says:
Homophobia from time to time is a part of what we confront as leaders in the ex-gay movement. Randy Thomas adds “I have no problem confronting hatred against people who identify as gay. If the gay community really knew how often we defend their right to self-determination I think they would be surprised.”
Not just ‘surprised’; how about ‘totally astounded’ or ‘overcome with disbelieve’. What would really help this situation would be for Exodus to do this confronting in public. Those of us who are somewhat sceptical about the whole exgay venture would indeed profit from seeing Exodus do this OPENLY AND IN PUBLIC. Refering to something we have never seen and strongly doubt exists as proof, is…well… not proof of anything. Instead it serves simply as an example of evading the issue.
Randy says:
There are tens of thousands of well adjusted former homosexuals and thousands of credible reparative therapists. Law & Order SVU could have at least tried to deepen these angles instead of plagiarizing from gay activist literature.
Where are they? The Spitzer study shows that even after strenuous effort, finding 200 ‘well adjusted homosexuals’ was extraordinarily difficult. This assertion flies in the face of what we observe. There are no ‘tens of thousands’ that can readily be found. There are only very small groups of people with an unstable census.
As for the ‘thousands of repartive therapists’, again, where are they? NARTH claims slightly over 1,000 members. If there are so many, one would expect NARTH to have far more members. IMHO
Sigh.
I think I’ll issue a press release every time I see an unflattering gay role written into a TV show. I’ll blame it all on a massive conspiracy by anti-gay forces and cast it as a battle of biblical proportions.
Not.
That press release left me in hysterics. No disrespect is intended to anyone, of course, but that was my honest reaction.
Dale, give it up. Randy lies. If he had facts to back up his statements, he could provide them. He never has. The obvious conclusion is that–he lies.
Or he really believes it. I know Randy. He really believes it.
Quote from Randy:
“This show also did harm to well respected, educated reparative therapists by portraying them as bigoted, murderous and void of any conclusive research data and results.”
Um, if I haven’t been on another planet for the last few years, doesn’t every single “reparative therapy” practice or “ex-gay” ministry refuse to keep follow-up statistics? Hasn’t every single leading medical, scientific and psychological association disavowed this quackery?
As for the “thousands” of “ex-gays” never mind the ones who supposedly successfully transitioned to heterosexuality in the near past (e.g., post-1973) – where are the thousands who underwent “treatment” (often including electric shock torture and forced toxic chemical torture) in the 1950s and 1960s? In those days Masters and Johnson claims 30% success rates, other researchers claimed even higher ones. Where are all these people today? Every single other disease that has a successful cure or treatment has a patient advocacy group urging better funding, more research, etc. Hollywood celebrities, including the conservatives ones, are constantly lobbying Congress for their pet diseases (including such rare ones as scleroderma). Yet there is not one single similar effort for the “ex-gay” movement. PFOX is largely made up of parents and other family members, most of whom do not have “ex-gay” relatives.
Well Doom, let’s not forget the brain surgeries done in previous ages. I am old enough to remember this whole shtick as a going concern. And have known quite a few people who were swept up in it. Yes, where are the statistics? The long term follow up?
If Randy truly believes what he says, were are we? How do we dialog with those who see things that are not there? Who quote from studies that do not exist? Looks like we are dealing with typing in tongues.
In terms of dealing with them as individuals, IMO, we have to deal with them lovingly and respectfully, as we should deal with all humans.
In terms of secular law and societal policy, we must oppose them by all moral and truthful means. If that means refuting their arguments,pointing out the weaknesses of their positions, and exposing their misguidedness loudly, publicly, and repeatedly, so be it. Justice and true love are at stake.
Oh — this should be said explicitly — we must make it plain that they have the right to practice their religion as they will, to believe whatever they want. The problem is when they expect the law to enforce and codify their beliefs — that is the evil that needs stopping. But in working to stop it, we must still love them. My opinion.
***Bravo Exodus!!*** This is exactly what we needed. The media has got to learn that Christians will stand up for their values. Exodus did not overstep any limits. Their comments were truthful and just. They spoke truth and are being criticized for it. Exodus is a guiding light for those who are lost. The media needs to start to recognize our rights as Christians. Gays are not the oppressed. Their average income is nearly double that of the typical traditional family and they do not usually have children to support. They are a very powerful and very dangerous group. Their intentions are not “to get equal rights and treatment” but to make this sexual sin another “accepted choice” in our society. Nice try, but it doesn’t work that way. Sin is Sin. Not Choice. I condemn the NBC networks for their portrayal of the preacher as a man bordering on insanity and their trivializing of the ministry of ex-gay groups like exodus (code named regenesis for this episode). Their antics have once again harmed the Christian image and glorified the subversive behavior of the homosexuals. Let us not ignore it, but write letters to the networks. If every sponsor of Law and Order does not receive a letter condemning the show’s lack of morals, we as Christians have not done our job. Praise God for his saving grace.
http://www.exodus-international.org
To Write to NBC, The address is:
Viewer Relations
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Also, make sure you voice your opinions about it on their opinion poll site:
https://www2.rresults.com/1809998/index.cfm?s=10
Thanks for the addres, Stony. That makes it easy for those of us who disagree with you to write NBC and “Law and Order”‘s sponsors to offer our thanks and/or show our support for artistic freedom.
Thanks for the address, Stony. That makes it easy for those of us who disagree with you to write NBC and “Law and Order”‘s sponsors to offer our thanks and/or show our support for artistic freedom.