Arthur Goldberg, the ex-gay leader exposed earlier this year as a convicted Wall Street felon, will speak at a conference in Northern Ireland in November.
Arthur Abba Goldberg was jailed in 1989 after being convicted of fraud. He later founded JONAH, the Jewish ex-gay ministry originally known as Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, but whose recent name change made it the confusing Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing. Goldberg appears to have deliberately hidden his identity, and stepped down from the highly anti-gay NARTH when the story became public in February. He subsequently blamed everyone but himself for the fiasco.
Evidently none of this has affected his standing among some conservative evangelicals, including the Northern-Ireland-based Core Issues, who have made him their main speaker at a November 1 event named for Goldberg’s anti-gay, ex-gay polemic Light in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Power to Change. (Actually, the book had the word “Torah” in the title, too.)
Goldberg will be joined by “gender wholeness” counselor Baxter Peffer, erroneously referred to as Baxter “Beffer” on the Core Issues website.
Core Issues joined Goldberg in hitting the headlines in February when gay activists criticized it for hosting a conference by Mario Bergner, an ex-gay Anglican priest who claims to have been miraculously healed of the “symptoms” of AIDS.
Update, October 15: The Core Issues website now says the event has been postponed, due to the untimely death of Matthew Davidson, the son of Core Issues director Mike Davidson. Hat tip: XGW commenter William.
1989, is nearly a generation ago. Of course, that AB is still looking for fresh fodder for his anti gay schemes is what his character is all about.
It’s the fact that there are so many people who are willing to believe it, from so many people who have nothing they have to show or prove, is very disturbing.
I was reading the link from Andrew Sullivan’s site regarding anti gay backlash. Dr. King had something to say about backlash from segregationists, as the civil rights push was gaining ground.
He was right of course. The historical context of faith based oppression, not just race or gender based…is so recent.
We have much more opportunity to have to take things on faith, and see for ourselves what is right, and what legacies major changes in social issues like the freedom of formerly oppressed groups has wrought.
Goldberg is part of the old guard, and the leadership of the FRC and so on, are younger….but they are the SAME sort of person.
There is little diversity in their makeup, or agenda. They’ve rearranged the deck chairs to SEEM less aggressive or bigoted in spirit, but their aim hasn’t changed.
They are casting themselves farther and farther away from AMERICA in this endeavor. Africa, places like Ireland that still have a strong Catholic influence, or perhaps more isolated Jewish people.
Where these past issues regarding fraud or other criminal raps, haven’t been heard of.
I really do hope that the overall economic downturn will uncover a change in people’s priorities and where to focus their concern.
When it’s all said and done, gay people are in the same situations, and can’t be blamed for being the power structure that caused them.
What I’m most worried about though, is how the backlash will maintain a climate where gay people are seen as having wealth, while others are poorer. Where gay people are seen as having a sinister agenda, and that whatever gains gay people make, will come at the expense of others.
Especially where there are NO federal or Constitutional protections that could weaken the backlash to begin with.
The anti gay are making strange bedfellows. They’ll hook up with anyone, as long as they believe in the same more superficial thing like this, and not actually have any ethics to achieve it.
One would need to be as big as a whale to swallow something as hugely indigestible as Abba Goldberg and his shtick.
Oh. Oh. Oh. Now I know why the ‘Jonah’ reference… ah, clever. Mmm, subtle.
(I’m not even going to start on the trippy Mario Bergner.)
Dave — can you lot please find a way to end their charade while in the UK? They’re obviously spreading their manure into new pastures, given declining fortunes in the US of A, and I’d be more than pleased not to see them venture to the antipodes after failing in your neck of the woods; as if we were the last place on Earth before utter oblivion. We have more than enough cranks here already, as you may safely guess.
Alas, I’m not in the UK any more, so no vigilante action for me!
I think the anti-gay lobby on both sides of the Atlantic are just getting desperate as it becomes increasingly difficult to get away with discrimination. I think organizations like Anglican Mainstream and Core Issues are probably just upping their game as a last-ditch attempt to protect their bigotry.
They’re turning to places like African Nations, South America, and South East Asia to push their snakeoil. Places that could be considered “modern,” but don’t have the enlightened social views that Western countries possess – or at the very least, are exposed to.
@Emily K : I’m not so sure that Western nations really do have “enlightened social” views on the whole.
which is why I said “are at least exposed to.”
I don’t think you’d find a “Will and Grace” on the air in Kenya, for example. But I’d love to be proven wrong.
@Emily K : I was thinking in broader terms – y’know, current hatefulness toward Muslims and immigrants, Arizona, etc. etc. etc.
We claim that we’re a very “democratic,” unprejudiced society, but we’re a lot closer to a super-closed mentality than we like to believe. (I also think our country is – possibly – at its most conflicted/divided moment post-Civil War, though that might well be an incorrect assessment on my part…)
In other words: which I deplore the villianization of LGBTQ people in this country, you are one of several minorities who are being attacked and victimized. I fear that LGBTQ people could well be turned on in the way that Muslims are being turned on at this time… which all reminds me of the remnants of pre-WWII anti-semitism that I saw/heard about when I was young. (I’m a gentile, though, so what little I do know comes from Jewish friends who were open enough to discuss it… not many.)
@Dave Rattigan
Interesting to see that Anglican Mainstream have lost no time about advertising this conference on their website.
@William Yep. That’s where I first saw it, actually.
They’re really fighting to keep anti-gay sentiments alive in the UK.
Did anyone notice they refer to him as “Arthur Godberg” at one point in the brochure?
I see that according to the Anglican Mainstream website, “Due to a bereavement, this event has been postponed. Proposed new dates will be posted when possible.”
@William Thanks for that, William.
Yes. The death of the influence of the ex-gay movement.
@Emily K
Good one, EK!
As I understand it, the bereavement concerns the unexpected death of the son of one of the organizers. Regardless of who is suffering the loss, I’m sure no one here wants to make light of such a tragedy.
i didnt mean to sound callous. i take joy in no human’s death, especially one gone before their time.