In a Sept. 10 press release, exgay activist D.L. Foster defends the GOP’s exgay convention entertainer, Donnie McClurkin — and criticizes gay activist Wayne Besen, who has “suddenly found himself at the epicenter of a new career playing CIA with the lives of formerly gay men and women.”
Foster objects to Besen’s book, Anything But Straight, and Besen’s criticism of the new exgay book, “Closing the Closet: Testimonies from Deliverance from Homosexuality,” for which Foster wrote the foreword.
Foster’s criticisms suffer from shortcomings in both grammar and temper:
- “Besen claims that he is ‘skeptical’ of the book because exgays are used in it. He accuses the Rev. Talbert Swan, II of Springfield, Ma[sic], the book’s publisher/editor of producing a ‘knock-off’ version of so-called ‘ex-ex-gay’ testimonials entitled ‘Finally Free.’ Finally Free’s obvious difference from Closing the Closet is that all of the ‘testimonials’ in FF are chocked [sic] full of exgayphobic soundbites engineered by Besen who wrote the forward [sic]. The stories of former homosexuals in Closing the Closet don’t criticize gays at all, they just tell how they came out of homosexuality.”
- “This man is borderline lunatic, he has become so obsessed in his fear.”
- “Exgayphobic homosexuals like Besen is an [sic] fear that the message of exgays when it finally reaches the average American will make sense and people will support the choice for change for homosexuals. What that means says Foster is that the grinding money machine mental health professionals have been making off victimized gays for decades will come to a screeching halt. Besen is simply a cog in that well oiled wheel [sic]. For such professionals who give big money to homosexual rights organizations in exchange for their ‘professional’ opinions about homosexuals, keeping exgays silent and hidden has become an obsession.”
- “‘His totalitarian agenda won’t be successful at trying to silence us. Besen’s tactics would serve him much better in Saudi Arabia, but this is America.’ , [sic] said Foster.”
Foster defends McClurkin, either overlooking or excusing the entertainer’s claim that homosexuals are “trying to killing our children.”
If the intent was to make Besen look bad, it’s possible this press release had the opposite effect.
Foster is one to talk with a quote like this:
“Besen is simply a cog in that well oiled wheel [sic]. For such professionals who give big money to homosexual rights organizations in exchange for their ‘professional’ opinions about homosexuals”
Coming from somebody who makes a living rattling a tin cup with Regina Griggs at PFOX in an attempt to scare donations out of confused gay people or their misunderstanding parents.
Somebody who makes a career out of trying to be an ex-gay spokesmodel with paid appearences, free trips to lobby legislatures and book deals DL Foster is hardly one to cast any stones.