Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, has announced that they will no longer sponsor the annual Day of Truth (DOT) event which has been used for the past few years to counter the Day of Silence. The DOS was first proposed by Maria Pulzetti, and organized by other students at the University of Virginia in 1996. In 2000, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) proposed that it become an officially sponsored project.
Chambers confirmed to XGW that the activist component of the DOT contributed to a polarizing debate rather than a relational dialogue. “As a tool, it seemed to emphasize the divide rather than building a bridge,” he said. “We want more than that.”
The first DOT was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2005, and has been held on the day after the DOS each year since. The ADF is a conservative activist legal organization which claims to have established the DOT “to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.”
There have been several legal actions associated with the DOT, with the Tyler Chase Harper
Tyler Chase Harper
incident perhaps the most notorious. Harper was suspended for wearing a T-shirt that read “Be Ashamed” and “Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned,” and on the back read, “Homosexuality is Shameful” and “Romans 1:27.” The ADF unsuccessfully defended Harper in a lawsuit claiming his religious freedoms were compromised.
In response to groups who were calling for complete boycotts by students on the DOS in 2007, Dr. Warren Throckmorton started the Golden Rule Pledge as an alternative. With a Facebook group and then a dedicated website, his idea has gained momentum. DOS participants are encouraged to carry cards which say:
Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today.
DAY of SILENCE – What are you going to do to end the Silence?
The Golden Rule Pledge proposes this as one way to respond and reply to the question above:
This is what I am doing. I pledge to treat others the way I want to be treated. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Luke 6:31.
The Golden Rule pledge has not been without its own critics — from both sides. However, it has given the children of moderate conservatives a way to participate on the DOS and attend school during that day.
In 2009, the ADF turned over responsibility for the DOT to Exodus International. In what has turned out to be their only year doing so, Exodus sponsored that years event. It is not known if the ADF will attempt to keep the DOT active or offer it to another group.
We applaud Exodus’ decision to shutter this event. While we realize this does not signify a major change in their own policy or beliefs, we do respect the reasons given. We also challenge the ADF to take this as a signal to let it die here and now.
Read more on CNN’s Belief Blog
Thank you for sharing this story. It is good news.
It’s progress, however small.
I believe Exodus’ full demise will be from small lacerated underpinnings like the baseless pie-in-the-sky DOT, toppling the entire house of cards. It would be much more worthy of positive notice, if Chambers drew a close to such shenanigans before someone had gotten hurt.
This progress is likely due to Exodus’ financial duress.
For what it’s worth, I asked questions of Alan off the record in order to get a sense of why they are doing this. I don’t think the money is a significant part of the reason — at least I am pretty certain that if Alan thought better of the project they would commit the resources. I sensed they didn’t have the heart to defend it because they just didn’t believe in it.
I can also state with certainty that recent tragic events played no role in the decision to drop the DOT. As I said in the post, there is no reason to believe this goes beyond dislike of the DOT — they have not changed their core beliefs. But they do appear to be sincere about the reasons for dumping it. I also suspect there will be a backlash for them from the far right wing for doing so.
They’ve suddenly realised it’s a dud and that it “seemed to emphasize” a divisison that they don’t want to be a part of???
Hogwash.
If one of those backlashing right-wing types offers to fund it tomorrow…
… Alan will re-start it in a heartbeat.
What a tortured soul he must have.
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On anther note, it may be useful to link to the very last post here at XGW. It contains at least one of the key criticisms of ‘Golden Rule’ type pledges. Namely, you’ve got to specifically name the problem.
I’ve met far too many in my day that think “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” allows for them to ruthlessly “correct” people who they imagine are going to hell. It’s what they claim they would want to happen to them if they also strayed.
Part punishment, part example to the mob, and part wonderful opportunity for the targets to come to their senses and confess their awful sins.
(Think of those who oppose the death penalty in Uganda, but allow imprisonment, and you’ll know the type I’m talking about.)
@grantdale
Perhaps they thought better of it after Exodus itself was responsible for the event, I really don’t know. I just hope that the ADF does not end up shopping it around to an even more extreme group which will continue it.
I had some pretty heated exchanges with Warren from the very beginning concerning the GRP. We have never endorsed it and I still think the best way to show support would be to simply join the DOS. However, I’ve remained mostly neutral in public because I suspect that it’s possible the GRP could be a step in the right direction for many who would otherwise be at the mercy of conservative parents and possibly have to boycott the day entirely.
One thing that drives me nuts is the hollow rhetoric used by opponents of the DOS, claiming that it shuts down dialog, and that they wish for alternatives which will “generate discussion,” etc. This is absurd, as the DOS is obviously designed to spur discussion by drawing attention to the issues which need to be discussed. This even shows up in the Exodus blog post about the end of DOT.
Students are free to discuss this whenever they wish, the silence is not rigid and is only there as a conversation starter. Now look up at the verbiage that is placed on the cards given out that day, and tell me what about it could not be used equally by anyone who truly wanted to stop the bullying and harassment? Evangelicals and their kids should be at the head of the line on this, joining the DOS. That might actually show some integrity and genuine care for others, a true display of the Golden Rule.
I’ll take this turn of events with a grain of salt. I might also add, that I tried VERY hard to extol to Dr. Throckmorton the damaging and contradictory message he was sending. And he wasn’t very nice about it.
Now, I see…he’s altered his position, close to exactly what I explained to him AND his supporters five years ago.
I can’t get impressed with this tiny change, while an epidemic of suicides like this was forming.
Why should I be?
Lives could have been saved a long time ago, and now that the tragedies are crisis proportions, with anti gay bigotry at it’s obvious root, looks too much like CYA at this point.
It seems that many of us are happy at the smallest of gestures from the opposition. They don’t have to do much for us to back off, feel a bit of contrition or sense of being gentler with them. I’m sensing that they’d like us to forget and let the spotlight cool for a while as they regroup to form another strategy of fund raising and so on to continue they way they always have.
Perhaps the support for their cause IS waning, but then again…they are under the umbrella of a strong lobby as it is.
The DOT is DIRECTLY linked to a counter strategy against the very support that bullied gay children need to prevent these awful tragedies. And as we speak, all kinds of media…while discussing it, are still diluting the strongest and most pernicious reasons for it happening.
Anti gay bigotry.
Even the Rutgers campus paper actually scolded that gay people shouldn’t use the issue for their cause.
A lot of THAT is happening, from an elder of the LDS to Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber and NOM. Linda Harvey’s commentary along the same lines, she indicts the gay community, as do so many others for being selfish about these events.
People are annoyed that gay people have something to say about this at all, regardless of how legitimate the reason and the fact that it is gay AND straight kids who the most affected by all of this.
We’ve been trying to tell them, and now that this is more in the forefront of national discussion, we’re getting foreshadowed by a few known anti gay Christians shifting their stance just a tiny bit.
They can’t hide right now, that’s all.
When the most brutal and horrific lynchings were uncovered, the Klan would distance itself from the incident and some of their highest leadership would say they didn’t condone violence. That it’s not something they’d encourage or support.
In the public light they’d say that.
But away from less sympathetic ears, it was something else again.
I see that pattern here. It’s always going to be something more graphic that will bring out a broader range of interests.
Some will CYA, some will express token sympathy, but still manage to get THEIR agenda into the forefront.
Alan and Co are so late to this…they might as well not have bothered. I’ll be impressed when they are willing to sacrifice having Exodus at ALL, rather than accept the sacrifice of ONE child on their anti gay altar.
@Regan DuCasse
One must decide what is more important; the satisfaction gained from scoffing at motives or timing, or the acknowledgement that today without the DOT is a good thing for kids. Personally, I don’t give a damn why they stopped supporting it, just that they did. And while it could have been a year earlier, it could also have been two years later.
Focus on the important stuff.
Hear, hear.
David, I sent a message to Throckmorton directly acknowledging his latest article about focusing on the children and their needs.
And I have done nothing BUT focus on the important stuff. For years. If I’m skeptical about this latest turn, you don’t think it’s fair skepticism?
Ever since the discussion on these suicides started, the determination to take the anti gay equation out of it is evident and strong.
But someone who has worked AGAINST the interests of gay men and women all THEIR lives, if you think it’s appropriate to hail these gestures so highly, then fine.
No need to scold ME for being frank about what I think about it.
Even as it looks like the popularity or influence of their activity is waning, it’s not based on sacrifices they were willing to make before. But on evidence so clear as to the connection of these tragedies and the messages they send, it couldn’t be ignored.
And perhaps they are going through an economic downturn like most businesses are that rely on the discretionary income of others.
Our own President made all kinds of promises and gestures, and got our support and votes and financing.
And it’s not hard to see, he’d rather we’d just go away.
It takes so little to get our support and gratitude. If you believe that Throckmorton and so on ARE making a sacrifice or are suffering some serious discernible issues because of their change, I’d like to know.
I can be reasonable. But this has been an incredibly depressing situation with these teen suicides.
“Focus on the important stuff.”
You think I don’t know what that is?
Oh and Dave Roberts, I did this acknowledgment BEFORE your scold.
Just so you know.
@David Roberts
tell me what about [GRP] could not be used equally by anyone who truly wanted to stop the bullying and harassment?
Actually, I agreed at the time that it could be (on at least one level).
In support of DOS people, a GRP-type of card could have been swapped in silence; as example. If the bible verse had been removed, that GRP card could have also been used as a suitable “Agree! And here’s my personal commitment.” by anyone. I may have even gone further and had the Golden Rule in all it’s forms written on the one card.*
My problem was that GRP was promoted as a counter to DOS at the time, not an act of support or solidarity, in the same way that “Day of Truth[sic]” was and “take you kids out of skool” was. And I know that Warren, for one, has moved from that place in recent years.
(This concern for the way it was being used to undermine DOS was quite apart from the wider problem that avoiding the underlying issue of anti-gay animosity was always going to be a failing technique for ending anti-gay bullying.)
*wow… the idea of seeing the GRP in hindi, and thai, and arabic, and etc etc etc… now there’s an opportunity for some cross-cultural exchange on many levels 🙂
@grantdale
Just a point of clarification, I was actually talking about the DOS there, not GRP. I personally think the ultimate “Golden Rule” moment would be for the conservative evangelical kids to participate directly in the DOS.
Ok understand David, you had us confused when you threw the GR mention at the start of and then the end of a long talk about Exodus and Day of Truth[sic]. etc. Forgive us.
Completely unrelated: Why do you suppose Alan Chambers decided to speak to you about this announcement when he, and others beneath him, have chosen to ignore XGW, and others beneath us, on so many other issues? Such as, Uganda. I thought XGW was persona no grata with Exodus?
Just asking, of course.
Ultimately I really don’t care if this ‘appears’ as a ‘step’ in the right direction by Exodus. Even if it were true, it would simply take them from a position of malevolent to malevolent-1.
And malevolent-1 is a long way off target.
We’ve all seen Alan Chambers do this sort of thing before.
Obviously, I’m not the only one who is skeptical. To be honest with all of you, part of my work with the Museum of Tolerance and other young people’s workshops, were role playing exercises and questions that opened the conversation regarding the applied treatment of another person, rather than expecting proscribed behavior that required control and dominance and the difference.
Some of the most avowed people of faith, yet those who were as committed to their belief regarding gay people, had a hard time understanding also, their lack of commitment to the GR, AND how much they believed all the stereotypes and mischaracterizations of gay people that were not now, nor ever were stated in their religious texts.
I have found it extremely difficult to find people willing to even discuss the GR and the fact that their negative treatment of gay people has negative results. I don’t know how anyone who considers themselves deeply engaged in their faith, resist that reality that when you DO treat (especially gay) people badly, the results are the same. But there is contradiction in agreeing on that treatment.
We know that there is denial, as well as that it’s deserved, or that the negative results are because of a character flaw in gay people.
If such a basic in understanding of the GR and how it’s benefits can be disseminated is lost, then I don’t think Exodus or anyone else can truly be effective in changing this trend that harms children so much.
The message they are sending to the young is superficial, contradictory and hypocritical…and inconsistent in application.
They are resistant to the most important factor for the GR to work in the first place.
To build trust between us, I don’t think it’s wrong to require a lot of work on their part to gain it from us.
After all, look at how much gay people are UNFAIRLY distrusted. And not for anything they’ve done to anyone, but how others have been taught to distrust a gay person no matter how honest and truthful. Starting with whether they can change orientation.
Sometimes I can’t believe how intractable people are about that.
There is an article about Seth Walsh and his family in the LATimes today. He is the 13 year old Tehachapi resident who hanged himself, and died after 9 days in a coma.
He DID identify as gay, and his family essentially accepted this and were supportive. My heart is breaking and breaking over their description of him.
But what’s ALWAYS been very telling, are the comment threads that follow articles, blog comments and so on that have anything to do with gay people.
Whether the article was supportive or anti gay. As I said, the discussions following these tragedies are committing more to erasing the anti gay issue at the root of all of it, and gay people called selfish for pointing it out.
I have to wonder if people like Dr. Throckmorton, and Alan Chambers…ANYONE in the TVC, FRC, AFA and so on…understand or will account for what they do?
I know that some of them don’t really read how people respond in comment threads other than their own.
And some websites make it impossible for a dissenting voice to enter the discussions.
But I have personally been on the receiving end of cyberbullying and character assassination on comment threads in TownHall, for example. And simply for being honest enough to state that I’m a straight person who is supportive of equality and why.
Mentioning the GR and the importance of treating people equally and respectfully, is what to garner the results by. Not by judging the negative results, brought on by negative treatment.
No sale.
I got negative treatment as well.
It is undeniable how willing people are to be nasty, when they know face to face confrontation is impossible.
And in fact, note how our opposition avoids that very thing, blaming it on being scared of gay people.
Such as in the case of the Prop. 8 trial. And without visual proof, NOM is spinning that case as if Judge Walker is corrupt and his decision was illegal.
I don’t think the likes of Exodus, NARTH wants to confront the damage they’ve helped exacerbate and just how deeply it goes.
Their work has been VERY effective.
And a precious, sweet , interesting and loving soul like Seth Walsh is destroyed.
I have worked more than half my life to save the Seth Walsh’s of the world.
And people like Alan Chambers prefer the Christian definition of saved.
I never had children because I know my temper and passion. I am a very protective person by nature. And sometimes I don’t want to be all nice and polite to those responsible, and who don’t even have the stones to own the harm they cause.
But plenty of stones to throw at us for trying to actually do something to change things for the better.
Perhaps some of you can remember a time when you got punished for defending yourself, OR found yourself capitulating to being bullied because you’d suffer no matter what you did.
The adults around me were impossibly ridiculous in this lack of moral standards of how to respond to the abused. Perhaps many of you had this same confusion too when you were young.
I see this manifested in the adult world too. Where it feels nothing much has changed, and there is reluctance to examine this to it’s necessary depths.
Seth Walsh…a good hearted cutie pie that deserves better, even in memory, than I see certain individuals are willing to give him.