In 1988 Michael Johnston became ex-gay.
Almost immediately he became visable in the conservative anti-gay Christian movement. The following year he started his own ex-gay vehicle, Kerusso Ministries through which he put himself as an example in churches, schools, and on religious programming on radio and television. Eventually, by 1999, his profile had reached the place where Jerry Falwell used him as an example to Soulforce that gay people could become heterosexuals.
Johnston was the darling of anti-gay religious powerhouses. He was awarded by the Southern Baptists and helped write the Assemblies of God’s position paper on homosexuality (for those unaware of the AoG’s positions, let’s just say that they are not charitable).
But Johnston’s purposes were not limited to religious appeals to convert gays to his brand of Christianity. He also participated in the political anti-gay campaigns attempting to use sexual orientation as a criterion to deny fellow citizens equal treatment under the law.
Johnston was the face to a campaign called Truth in Love* in which he and his mother appeared on television telling the country that he had “walked away from homosexuality” but not before he contracted HIV. Johnston was also featured in the American Family Association’s 2000 video It’s Not Gay** and served on the steering committee for the National Campaign to Protect Marriage.
Johnston was not inconsequential in his ex-gay and anti-gay advocacy. He founded Americans for Truth (currently Peter LaBarbera’s AFTAH) and the National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day – coinciding with National Coming Out Day.
Johnston was at the top of his game when reality kicked in.
In June 2003 a reader reported to XGW that Kerusso Ministries seemed to have disappeared and that references to him on AFA and Family Policy Network seemed to have disappeared. Then in August of that year an attorney contacted Wayne Besen and told him an amazing story.
Johnston had been going by the name Sean and had been cruising men online. More surprising, he had been organizing unsafe sex parties and lying about his HIV status.
Besen interviewed the witness and verified the story before releasing the news to the media which, so closely following John Paulk’s gay bar sighting, caught attention. Religious conservatives who had once championed his testimony now scrambled to explain that though they knew Johnston was struggling, they were unaware of his deliberate exposure of HIV to unsuspecting others. The ex-gay leadership downplayed Johnston’s involvement and distanced themselves as best possible and those who couldn’t simply went on the attack against “homosexual activists”. But this scandal took its toll on the credibility of certain anti-gay efforts.
Johnston immediately disappeared into Pure Life Ministries, a rural Kentucky residence program and that was the last we heard of the ex-gay ministry’s most lauded success story.
Until now.
As Wayne Besen noted on his website, Johnston has now returned to public life as part of Pure Life, his refuge at the time of his scandal. He now serves as the Director of Donor Relations for the ministry. Pure Life describes the refurbishment of his once bright star this way
Since coming to Pure Life Ministries, God has accomplished a wonderful transformation in Mike. Through a series of spiritual breakings and heart-wrenching repentance, God has systematically stripped off the many masks he has worn over the years and brought down the heavily fortified walls that protected his heart from others for so long. For the first time in his life, Mike has gained a genuine understanding of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus and God has given him a fresh vision of helping others find real freedom; this time not for the purpose of self-promotion but to glorify Christ.
We will be watching with interest to see to what extent Johnston can recover from his scandal. The political operatives that drive the public face of the ex-gay movement may be hesitant to take a risk with a proven liability. Or, alternately, it may be that the depths of despicable behavior to which he sunk during his “fall” will only further titillate his audience and demonstrate greater evidence of his redemption.
* “Truth in Love” (often in capitals) has become a code term for extremist religious anti-gay activism, often accompanied with unapologetic theocracy advocacy.
** This video remains available from AFA without any explanation or clarification that their star witness was later shown to be a fraud.
Thanks for the update, Timothy. I’ve wondered when or where Michael Johnston would resurface. If his rehabilitation is genuine, then good for him. I was recently in contact with someone who apparently was at Pure Life during the same time frame as Johnston with no lasting, helpful affect.
Not impressed here. To whit: ” For the first time in his life, Mike has gained a genuine understanding of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus and God has given him a fresh vision of helping others find real freedom “
How many times have we heard this?
I would be more impressed if I had a better feeling that “Director of Donor Relations” did not decode to “seeker of funding from right wing sources for coercive and ineffective treatment,” and if he resolves to honestly not be co-opted back into the anti-civil rights movement.
That would be the miracle.
As the attorney who contacted Wayne Besen in 2003, on behalf of a client, I find it somewhat unbelievable that Michael Johnston is yet again claiming to be “cured.” His promoters must be desperate to find individuals willing to claim to be “ex-gay.”
I’m more curious about Johnston’s victims.
How are they?
His promoters might be desperate but why is Sean…err…I mean Michael Johnston so desperate too? Fame? Glory? or….?
I can’t fathom why Mr. Johnston considers himself as an ex-gay or recovering-gay. He still is as gay as the fellow on The Apprentice (West Coast Version) wearing the pink swimming suit.
I think I’m finally understanding the term: self loathing.
(Off topic: Is there a “safe” sex party? Aren’t they pretty much all unsafe?)
For some reason, I have always wondered what happened to Michael Johnston. Out of all the exgay scandals, I always felt pity for him, and I don’t know why.
Any pity I had for him evaporated the second I found out he was back to his old tricks.
If one of the hallmarks of social conservatism is personal responsibility, shouldn’t Mr. Johnson return to South Carolina and face the potential legal penalties of deliberately lying about his HIV status and putting partners at risk? Or is it okay to put gay men at risk, since they’re going to hell anyway?
Give me a break…he ain’t cured or better or whatever you want to say. You can’t pray gay away…what a bunch of freaks!
Bill, that sort of language isn’t allowed.
Sorry, you can disagree that Johnston is likely to become heterosexual through prayers, but let’s avoid the “freaks” language.
In the following quote on the AFTAH website page about Mr. Johnston, AFTAH scolds Mr. Besen and others by saying…
“They are downright cruel in hoping for and exploiting failures in the ex-“gay” movement.”
First of all I don’t see Mr. Besen and others ‘hoping for’ failure. Rather I see them noting failure when it happens and calling the ex-gay movement to account, particularly when the failure involves a prominent spokesperson in the movement. Second, AFTAH is completely hypocritical on the issue of exploitation. Their complaint is that people are using Mr. Johnston’s failures to further agendas yet they are perfectly okay with exploiting his successes for their own agendas. A definite case of the pot calling the kettle black.
By the way, the placement of gay in quotes in AFTAH’s comment is amusing in its childish attempt to manipulate the reader.
You can’t pray gay or pray anything else away. It takes work and sole searching. I have witnessed people who have turned their life around and those who have returned to the lifestyle. One gay friend admitted that he like having sex with men because it makes him feel powerful over them. While another admitted that he deeply desired acceptance from men and sexually was the way he got it. He finally realized that what the gay lifestyle was doing to him and his body was destroying him as a person. After several years in his journey he is now free, but for awhile he realized that he could not go back to the same places or he may have slipped back into his old ways and end up back where he started. Like any addict, it takes work to change. Further, being a position of leadership, one must work diligently to stay and be humble. Some leaders begin to think they are super-human when they are not. The devil is always working to set traps for them to destroy their ministry and damage their reputations so that others will not follow their lead. We are all subject to temptation and have a proclivity toward sin but with God’s help and our working in conjunction with Him, we can and will overcome but not without being tested. Jesus was tested, and so we will be. God bless you.
Carla, my dear,
You certainly seem to know a lot of gay men who tell you the motivations of their heart. And even more interesting, they seem to all align with what is taught by ex-gay ministries. Even more fascinating is that your language is the language of ex-gay ministries – a unique dialect – which makes me think you are not disclosing fully your reasons for being here.
Please know, Carla, that those involved in ex-gay ministries are very welcome to participate at this site – and frequently do. But we find disclosure to be so much more honest, Carla. Don’t you?
Now I may be mistaken about your involvement in ex-gay ministries, Carla, and if so I apologize. But if you are involved, I would appreciate you sharing that with us. Then we are able to measure your claims against what we know to be verifiable and true.
To others who may not be in the ex-gay ministry or know the language and what it says and, more importantly, doesn’t say…
Carla’s comment sounds caring and compassionate. And it is loaded with terms that sound, but don’t quite say, that she knows people who once were gay and now are not. She also sounds like she is talking about personal friends, but again not quite.
In her comment Carla contrasts two groups: those who have “turned their life around” and those who “returned to the lifestyle”. You will notice that neither of these have any mention of change to their orientation.
Next ther was a bit of preaching about “why” gay people are gay – and I give credit for the clever way that Carla slipped the “acceptance from men” manta in as though this were just something someone close to her shared.
But then we are back to “now he is free” and we too can “overcome”. Wow, that sounds like he’s heterosexual – or at least no longer homosexual. But look at what is missing.
He’s not “free” from his same-sex attractions and he has not “overcome” his orientation. No. He’s free from “the gay lifestyle”
Now those of us who live a fuller life than is admitted by Exodus, et al, know there is no such thing as a “gay lifestyle”. But what Carla means is that these persons no longer have gay friends, no longer call themself gay, and try really really hard to convince themselves that they are not, in fact, homosexual.
Many people who participate at this site know this experience well. Many lived it both as ex-gay and as closeted people. And for those who wish this to be their life, I wish you well. Some of you may find that this is the best way for you to find peace for a time until you are able to align your values and your orientation.
But I don’t want you to read Carla’s comments and think that she’s telling you that she’s seen gay people become straight. Because behind all the ex-gay-speak, she’s not telling you that at all.
And the reason Carla didn’t come out and say that she knows people who once were homosexual and now are heterosexual is because I sincerely doubt that she does.
While I find Michael Johnstons “conversion” back to christianity suspect. As previously stated, I would believe it more if he were to leave the confines of Pure Life Ministries (and Kentucky) and experience being heterosexual in the real world. Perhaps even returning to Virginia or the Carolina’s where he proffered his last dip into unsafe sex and drug use, which of course has nothing to do with sexual orientation. There are many of us out here who have been living with HIV longer than Michael who have not found it neccessary to use drugs or have unsafe sex as a result of our sexual orientation (NOT LIFESTYLE). I am gay regardless of whether or not I have sex.
Keith, I agree with you that Johnston ought to show true repentance for his actions. However, I am sure Johnston does not want to return to Virginia because what my client says Johnston did is a felony under Virginia law, punishable by time in prison.
As for Carla’s comments, she definitely sounds like someone on the payroll of an ex-gay organization. Especially, when she refers to “the life style.” Most of my gay friends (as is the case of myself and my partner) lead pretty ordinary lives, don’t use drugs, don’t have HIV, and are remarkably like our straight neighbors.
Those gays I that I do know who are more prone to living the crazed, drugged out “life style” described by ex-gay ministries, generally are (1) survivors of ex-gay conversion attempts and psychologically damaged as a result of the “cure” attempts, or (2) come from far right evangelical Christian homes and were discarded by their loving “Christian” parents. Perhaps if people like Carla accepted medical and scientific facts and left gays to live their lives as God made them, fewer people would live the “life style” she decries. Just a thought..