The Task Force in the News - March 10

Task Force in the News
Media Highlights
March 10 – March 20, 2006
Roberta Sklar, Director of Communications
Quote of the Week:
“It’s a very proud and happy day for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. We see this
[merger with the Institute for Welcoming Resources] as a critically important step in reclaiming the
language of faith and moral values from those on the right that attempt to hijack faith and moral values.”
– Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
San Francisco Chronicle
March 14, 2006
Institute for Welcoming Resources joins forces with The Task Force
1. Religious denominations’ gay caucuses unite with secular task force
Associated Press March 15, 2006
2. Religious group merges with gay rights task force
San Francisco Chronicle March 14, 2006
3. Protestants join secular task force on rights
Los Angeles Times (Religion Notebook) March 15, 2006
4. Faith group joins forces with gay activist group
365gay.com March 13, 2006
5. Gay Protestant coalition merges with Task Force
The Advocate March 15, 2006
6. NGLTF merges with pro-gay church network
Bay Windows March 16, 2005
7. Gay group unites with religious coalition
PlanetOut.com/Gay.com March 14, 2006
8. Taskforce enforces task of welcoming Welcoming
GoodAsYou.org March 14, 2006
9. Gay group finds God
PinkNews.co.uk March 14, 2006
Youth in the Crosshairs
10. ‘Ex-gay’ ministries shift their focus to young people: Task Force study
says groups cause depression, family rifts
Washington Blade March 17, 2006
11. Caught in the Right’s crosshairs
TWN (South Florida) March 9, 2006
12. Advocates sharpen their legal tools against youth-targeted quack
cures
This Way Out (International Lesbian & Gay Radio Magazine) Week of March 20, 2006
Winter Party Festival
13. Winter Party Festival breaks record in 2006
CBS-4 TV, Miami March 10, 2006
14. Winter Party 2006: Festival gay mostrou sua verdadeira vocação:
fazer festa
MixBrasil (postings from March 2, March 4 and March 8, 2006)
Other highlights
15. Clinton attends gay fundraiser amid flap over marriage
Associated Press March 10, 2006
16. Romney eyes gay adopt exemption
Boston Herald March 14, 2006
17. 60 Minutes: Science or stereotypes?
(Anything But Straight – Wayne Besen)
Falls Church News –Press March 16-22, 2006
18. AFA’s Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses,
repeated misinformation on average gay incomes
Media Matters for America/MediaMatters.org March 16, 2006
19. Michigan to host second annual benefit for NGLTF
Between the Lines News March 16, 2006
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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS’ GAY CAUCUSES UNITE WITH
SECULAR TASK FORCE
March 15, 2006, Weds. 3:29 PM EST
This wire story was picked up by major news outlets including Forbes.com and the Washington Post.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ An alliance of gay caucuses in seven U.S. religious
denominations is becoming a program within a major secular group, the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, a recent announcement said.
The alliance, known as the Institute for Welcoming Resources, represents caucuses in
the American Baptist Churches, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Community of
Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United
Church of Christ and United Methodist Church.
The statement said the task force will provide resources to increase religious support for
equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. It called the institute's 1,300
local congregations valuable allies against ''those who try to justify anti-gay bigotry'' on
religious grounds.
The task force plans to assign religious field organizers around the United States to
educate congregations and seminaries, and to reach ''progressive people of faith''
beyond the seven denominations.
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RELIGIOUS GROUP MERGES WITH GAY RIGHTS TASK FORCE
1,400 ‘welcoming’ congregations are represented – hopes for 10,000 in 5 years
By Wyatt Buchanan
March 14, 2006
[This story, which first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, was picked up by the Scripps Howard News
Service. Scripps newspapers include the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel and the Ventura County (Calif.) Star. They also offer contributing writers from other
newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Raleigh News and Observer, the Minneapolis StarTribune and The Sacramento Bee.]
The gay rights movement has found God.
After decades of working to change secular institutions, the national movement, which has largely
convinced society that homosexuality is neither a mental disorder nor a crime, is focusing on what its
leaders say is their last, and biggest, challenge: convincing believers that it's not a sin.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the country's oldest gay rights organization,
announced Monday that a religious organization representing 1,400 Protestant congregations that
unconditionally welcome gays and lesbians has merged with the task force.
Over the next five years, the task force wants to increase membership in the Institute for Welcoming
Resources to 10,000 congregations.
"It's a very proud and happy day for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement," said
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is based in
New York. "We see this as a critically important step in reclaiming the language of faith and moral
values from those on the right that attempt to hijack faith and moral values."
The merger means organizations working for acceptance of gays and lesbians in several denominations - including the Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran churches -- will be part of the task force.
"This is the first of its kind in terms of scope and collaboration," said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, who
heads the Institute for Welcoming Resources, which is now part of the task force.
The move comes two months after the first national Black Church Summit in Atlanta, which created a
network of clergy to counter discrimination against gays and lesbians in African American churches
across the United States.
And last summer the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., the nation's largest gay rights
organization, started a religion and faith program.
Voelkel said the "welcoming" movement is "accepting LGBT people as full human beings welcome in the
congregation."
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When they join the welcoming and affirming network, congregations must do three things, Voelkel said.
First, they have to sponsor conversation among congregants about gay and lesbian issues in society and
scripture. Then, church members will write a public statement welcoming and affirming gays and lesbians,
and finally a church council or the entire congregation will vote on the statement.
With the backing of the task force, which is known for its grassroots organizing, Voelkel will work to
expand the number of congregations taking those steps.
The impetus for political organizations formally embracing religious causes was the November 2004
election, when voters in 11 states passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, with
backing from many churches and religious groups.
"We saw anti-marriage legislation in so many states passing, with basically glee, that we realized we
formally needed more religious outreach to churches, clergy, synagogues and mosques," said Sylvia
Rhue, director of religious affairs for the National Black Justice Coalition, an African American gay rights
organization.
That resulted in the Atlanta summit in January, attended by 44 clergy members from across the country,
including the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York and Bishop Yvette Flunder of San Francisco's City of Refuge
United Church of Christ in the South of Market neighborhood.
"In the past, we were trying to fight religious wars with secular tools," Rhue said. "Now, we're fighting with
religious tools."
The place of gays and lesbians in religious institutions has been gaining prominence in recent years,
most notably with the election of Gene Robinson as a bishop in the Episcopal Church in 2003 in New
Hampshire. The California Diocese of the Episcopal Church, which serves San Francisco, San Mateo,
Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties, could reopen that debate if it selects a gay man or a lesbian
for its next bishop in May.
The United Methodist Church voted down expanding the roles of gays and lesbians nationally at its 2004
churchwide conference, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church did the same at its church assembly the
following year. Last year, the Roman Catholic Church banned the ordination of priests who have "deepseated" homosexual tendencies, though there is a range of interpretation and the leader of the U.S.
Conference of Bishops said seminarians with "homosexual inclinations" can make good priests.
In Santa Rosa earlier this month, a Presbyterian minister was cleared of charges that she violated church
teaching by officiating same-sex weddings. And leaders of Conservative Judaism will vote in December
on whether to end the movement's ban on gay rabbis and same-sex union ceremonies.
This activity shows that the religious right is not the only religious voice on gay and lesbian issues, said
Jay Johnson, programming director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at
the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
But many gay and lesbian leaders did not believe faith communities would support them, he said.
"I think there's been a long-standing impression, and in many cases a well-deserved impression, that
religion is the enemy of LGBT people," said Johnson, who said it is more difficult to come out as Christian
to his gay friends than vice versa.
About 50 "welcoming and affirming" churches recently formed a network in the Bay Area, joining similar
networks in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Arizona.
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A leader of Focus on the Family, one of the country's most influential conservative religious organizations,
predicted that denominations that become known for welcoming gays and lesbians will see their
membership shrink.
"People have left these denominations in droves over this issue," said Peter Brandt, director of public
policy for the organization. "This will result in the continued erosion of scriptural integrity as well as
membership."
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BELIEFS | RELIGION NOTEBOOK:
PROTESTANTS JOIN SECULAR TASK FORCE ON RIGHTS
By: Kelly-Anne Suarez, Times Staff Writer
March 15, 2006
A coalition of Protestant congregations advocating equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people joined forces Monday with the secular National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force.
Matt Foreman, task force executive director, said the merger with the Minneapolisbased Institute for Welcoming Resources aims to bolster support for gay rights among
Christian denominations with "new resources, training and strategies."
Founded in 1973 and based in Washington, the task force is the nation's oldest gay and
lesbian civil rights group.
The institute says it represents 1,500 congregations with 1 million members.
LOAD-DATE: March 15, 2006
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FAITH GROUP JOINS FORCES WITH GAY ACTIVIST GROUP
By 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
March 13, 2006 6:30 pm ET
(Washington) A national umbrella group for LGBT welcoming Protestant church programs is joining forces
with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The announcement was made Monday at a join press conference in Washington of the NGLTF and the
Institute for Welcoming Resources.
"The more than 1 million individuals in the 1,300 congregations supported by IWR are some of our
movement's most valuable allies in the fight to reclaim 'moral values' from those who try to justify anti-gay
bigotry as 'deeply held religious beliefs,'" Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman told reporters.
IWR works with the welcoming church movement in seven mainline Protestant denominations: the
Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Community of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the American Baptist
Churches.
Through the movement, congregations decide — through a formal vote — to offer an unconditional
welcome to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities and their families.
With new resources and expertise resulting from the merging of operations IWR expects to place faithbased field organizers across denominations in strategic locations around the country.
"Those of us in the welcoming church movement see it as our job to proudly claim the witness and
language of our faith traditions," said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, executive officer of IWR.
"Unfortunately for those of us who are Christian, some of that language has been hijacked by the radical
right and used to attack and abuse LGBT folk. We are determined to change that." Voelkel, a minister in
the United Church of Christ, will continue to lead the IWR program as a member of the Task Force staff.
The IWR will produce new resources for welcoming congregations, seminaries and other settings; train
clergy and lay leaders to work for LGBT equality; and exchange lessons learned between faith-based
organizing in the mainline Protestant churches.
Working with faith leaders is not new for the Task Force, Foreman said.
Since 1998, the Task Force has convened the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, an interfaith
collaboration of more than 40 faith organizations from across the spectrum of American religious
traditions. National Religious Leadership Roundtable members act as spokespeople, educators and
citizen advocates in order to change the public dialogue on religion and LGBT issues.
In addition to the denominations represented in the IWR, the National Religious Leadership Roundtable
includes Episcopal, Metropolitan Community Church, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Missionary Baptist,
Unitarian, Quaker, Mormon, Seventh-Day Adventist, Eastern Orthodox and spiritualist representation.
©365Gay.com 2006
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GAY PROTESTANT COALITION MERGES WITH TASK FORCE
March 15, 2006
A coalition of Protestant gay advocacy groups is being merged with the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. The Institute for Welcoming Resources announced Monday that it is becoming a project of the
Task Force, which in practice means that institute director the Reverend Rebecca Voelkel and a part-time
support person will become Task Force staffers, enabling them to take advantage of the organization's
resources.
The institute has been a joint project of Welcoming Congregations in seven mainline Protestant
denominations for the past 15 years. Welcoming Congregations includes those that have formally
adopted statements welcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to full inclusion in the life
and ministry of the church. The seven denominations that support the institute include the Presbyterians,
the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and others, with 10 million to 20 million
adherents in the United States.
But only some 1,400 congregations with perhaps a million members are Welcoming. Voelkel said Monday
that the members have set the ambitious goal of increasing the number of Welcoming congregations to
perhaps 11,000 by 2011.
Task Force director Matt Foreman emphasized the importance of what he called an unprecedented
joining of LGBT secular and faith-based organizing. He said that the "awful results" of a divide
between secular and religious progressives has been that "people on the right have been able to,
by default, portray themselves as speaking for all people of faith." (Sirius OutQ News)
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NGLTF merges with pro-gay church network
By Ethan Jacobs ([email protected])
March 16, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) announced March 13 that it has merged with the
Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR), an umbrella organization for the welcoming ministries programs
of seven mainline Christian denominations. IWR, formerly a freestanding coalition, will now function as a
program of NGLTF, and the Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of IWR member the Reconciling
Ministries Network of the United Methodist Church, said the change will allow IWR to improve its outreach
by drawing on NGLTF's organizing work.
"I see this as a way to help us get to a grassroots level in a more broad way than we've been able to
together," said Plummer during a telephone press conference.
Matt Foreman, executive director of NGLTF, said the merger will help NGLTF counter the arguments of
LGBT rights opponents espousing the rhetoric of "moral values." He said particularly after the 2004
election, in which 11 states passed anti-same-sex marriage ballot initiatives that were strongly supported
by conservative Christian advocates, there has been a call from the LGBT community to take up the
language of faith.
"We see this as a critical step in reclaiming both the language of faith and moral values from people on
the right who have tried to co-opt faith and moral values," said Foreman.
In addition to the Reconciling Ministries Network the IWR also includes the More Light Presbyterians
(Presbyterian Church USA), the Open and Affirming Program (United Church of Christ), Reconciling in
Christ (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Gay and Lesbian Acceptance (Community of Christ),
the Open and Affirming Ministry (Disciples of Christ), and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists (Baptist Church). The member organizations work to build inclusion within their respective
denominations, and they are not officially endorsed by those denominations. All together the IWR
member organizations consist of about 1300 congregations made up of more than one million
congregants.
IWR conducts trainings on expanding the LGBT welcoming church movement and organizes Witness Our
Welcome (WOW) conferences for LGBT-friendly people of faith, in addition to creating educational
materials and maintaining a database of welcoming congregations.
Plummer said NGLTF's support would allow them to reach more LGBT people "in the wilderness" who
are looking for a church home by connecting them to IWR's database.
"If LGBT people can go to the Task Force and find safe spaces and be able to connect where they are in
their region, I think the task of coming out as spiritual people will be easier for them," said Plummer.
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GAY GROUP UNITES WITH RELIGIOUS COALITION
By Christopher Curtis (PlanetOut Network)
March 14, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced Monday a merger with the Institute for Welcoming
Resources (IWR), an umbrella organization for Protestant gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender church
programs.
The task force claims the move is "an unprecedented joining of LGBT secular and faith-based
organizing."
"The more than 1 million individuals in the 1,300 congregations supported by IWR are some of our
movement's most valuable allies in the fight to reclaim 'moral values' from those who try to justify
anti-gay bigotry as 'deeply held religious beliefs,' " said task force executive Director Matt
Foreman in a prepared statement.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the task force wants to increase membership in the Institute for
Welcoming Resources to 10,000 congregations in five years.
IWR works with seven Protestant denominations: the Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ,
United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Community of Christ, Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) and the American Baptist Churches.
"Those of us in the welcoming church movement see it as our job to proudly claim the witness and
language of our faith traditions," said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, executive officer of the Institute for
Welcoming Resources. "Unfortunately for those of us who are Christian, some of that language has been
hijacked by the radical right and used to attack and abuse LGBT folk. We are determined to change that."
Voelkel, a minister in the United Church of Christ, will continue to lead the IWR program as a member of
the task force staff.
With the task force's help, IWR expects to place faith-based field organizers across denominations in
strategic locations, train clergy to work for LGBT equality and exchange lessons learned between faithbased organizing.
A leader of Focus on the Family, one of the country's most influential conservative religious organizations,
told the San Francisco Chronicle that denominations known for welcoming LGBT members will suffer
shrinking memberships.
"People have left these denominations in droves over this issue," said Peter Brandt, director of public
policy for the organization. "This will result in the continued erosion of scriptural integrity as well as
membership."
Said Voelkel: "We are confident our becoming part of the Task Force will help us grow this critical
movement and take us to a new level of participation and effectiveness."
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Taskforce enforces task of welcoming Welcoming
March 14, 2006
In what they are calling an "unprecedented joining of secular and faith-based organizing efforts," the
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce has announced that they're joining forces with the Institute for
Welcoming Resources, an umbrella organization of more than 1,300 lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender welcoming congregations, seminaries, and campus ministries. Regarding the importance of
the merger,Taskforce Exec. Director Matt Foreman says, "The more than 1 million individuals in the
1,300 congregations supported by IWR are some of our movement's most valuable allies in the
fight to reclaim 'moral values' from those who try to justify anti-gay bigotry as 'deeply held
religious beliefs.'"
To which we'd only like to add, "Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Traditional Values
Coalition, Concerned Women For America, Exodus International, Family Research Council, and all
groups who misuse the term "pro-family" -- that means you."
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GAY GROUP FINDS GOD
14-March-2006
PinkNews.co.uk writer
America’s oldest gay rights group has announced plans for a partnership with Protestant congregations, in a move which
leaders say will be their biggest challenge yet.
The move by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is an unprecedented joining of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) groups with secular and faith-based organisations. Their work with the Institute for
Welcoming Resources is aimed at increasing the number of people of faith supporting equality for LGBT people.
"We are extremely proud the Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR,) an essential leader in the effort to win support for
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in key denominations, is joining forces with us," said Task Force Executive
Director Matt Foreman.
"More than 1 million individuals in the 1,300 congregations supported by IWR are some of our movement's most valuable
allies in the fight to reclaim 'moral values' from those who try to justify anti-gay bigotry as 'deeply held religious beliefs.'"
IWR works with the welcoming church movement in seven mainline Protestant denominations: the Presbyterian Church
USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Community of Christ,
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the American Baptist Churches.
Through this movement, congregations decide, through a formal vote, to offer an unconditional welcome to people of all
sexual orientations and gender identities and their families. To date, more than 1,300 congregations, with more than 1
million congregants, have adopted statements that explicitly welcome LGBT people to full inclusion in the life and ministry
of their congregations.
"Those of us in the welcoming church movement see it as our job to proudly claim the witness and language of our faith
traditions," said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, executive officer of IWR.
"Unfortunately for those of us who are Christian, some of that language has been hijacked by the radical right and used to
attack and abuse LGBT folk. We are determined to change that." Voelkel, a minister in the United Church of Christ, will
continue to lead the IWR program as a member of the Task Force staff.
The place of homosexuality in Christianity has been a hot issue over recent years with controversial protests and debates
over the ordination of gay priests, gay marriage and gay adoption.
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‘EX-GAY’ MINISTRIES SHIFT THEIR FOCUS TO YOUNG PEOPLE
Task Force study says groups cause depression, family rifts
By Phil Lapadula
Figure 1March 14, 2006
Justin Flippen first became aware he was different in the sixth grade.
By the time he was finishing high school, Flippen, who grew up in a Southern Baptist family in Coconut
Creek, Fla., realized that his attraction to other boys was not a passing phase.
As a spiritual young man active in his church choir, he
decided to bring his "gay problem" to his parents’
attention.
With their support, Flippen decided to begin one-onone and group counseling with Worthy Creations, an
"ex-gay" ministry affiliated with Coral Ridge
Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. A counselor
there told Flippen, whose parents were divorced, that
he was gay because he didn’t bond properly with his
biological father as a small child, Flippen recalled.
"The counselor said that because I lacked an everyday
presence of my biological father in my life that I didn’t
bond with him and, therefore, developed a same-sex
attraction," Flippen said.
Justin Flippen, whose parents are divorced, said a
counselor in an ‘ex-gay’ ministry told him his homosexuality
was caused by a failure to bond with his biological father.
Flippen said the therapy made him depressed to the point
of contemplating suicide.
Flippen, who was 17 at the time, said he was "puzzled
that not all boys who came from divorced families
struggled with homosexuality." He said he was also
confused because he thought he had a good relationship with both his stepfather and his biological
father.
His biological father frequently took him on trips including once to the Grand Canyon, he said.
‘Abandoned by God’
After a year and a half of "reparative therapy," Flippen said, he began to feel deeply depressed and
"abandoned by God" because "there was no progress and I still felt the same."
"At one point, I even contemplated suicide," Flippen said.
Flippen’s story is typical of what many gay youth experience when they become involved with exgay ministries and attempt to change their sexual orientation, according to a just-released study
by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute.
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The study, "Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism," examines the ex-gay
movement’s new focus on targeting gay youth.
"Over the past few years, the ex-gay movement has adopted a new approach-—-targeting lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender youth with both ‘preventive’ measures and conversion," the study states.
As evidence of the ex-gay programs’ increasing focus on youth, the study cites a teen program launched
in 2002 by Exodus International, one of the largest ex-gay organizations. It also mentions Groundswell, a
traveling ex-gay conference for youth that Exodus launched in 2005.
Stark case makes waves
The study includes a detailed account of the case of 16-year-old Zachary Stark, who said on an internet
blog site that his parents forced him in the summer of 2005 to attend Refuge, an ex-gay program in
Tennessee.
The study also describes the ordeal of another teen, 17-year-old D.J. Butler, who said at a news
conference that his father drove him to the Refuge facility in handcuffs.
Media attention on the Stark case led to a state investigation of Love In Action, the Memphis facility that
treated him, for allegations of child abuse and providing mental health services without a proper license.
In the summer of 2005, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities visited
the Love in Action facility where Stark stayed and determined that because it was providing room, board
and personal care services to two or more mentally ill people, it qualified as a "mental health supportive
living environment" under state law and was subject to state licensing.
Love in Action claimed in response that it is a ministry and should not be subject to regulation by the
state. A federal judge in Memphis denied a motion that would have allowed the facility to continue to treat
mentally ill people without a license. The facility continues to operate live-in programs as a ministry for
gays seeking to become straight.
The study also describes the work of Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder of the National Association for
Research & Therapy of Homosexuals, who published "A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" in
2002. The guide describes Nicolosi’s experience providing "conversion therapy" to a 5-year-old
"prehomosexual" boy named "Stevie."
In an interview, Jason Ciancotto, one of the study’s authors, contended that such therapy can be very
harmful to children and teens who are "still trying to figure themselves out."
"These programs can be very damaging to a young person whose sexual identity has not formed or is in
the process of forming," Ciancotto said.
Do ex-gay groups cause family rifts?
According to the study, ex-gay ministries harm both teens and adults by causing depression and
damaging relationships with family members and friends.
"They play this game of blaming the parents," Cianciotto said. "Conversion therapy primarily focuses on
supposed dysfunctional relationships with same-sex parents."
Cianciotto said the groups also focus on child abuse and molestation as alleged causes of homosexuality.
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But those theories have been widely rejected by psychological and psychiatric experts, he said.
Bruce Weiss, executive director of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League in Washington, D.C.,
said many of the young people he works with consider themselves bisexual or are not completely sure
about their sexual orientation.
"Youth is a period of searching," Weiss said. "We simply provide them with a safe place for them to be
who they are or find out who they are. We don’t try to tell them who they are, which I think is far different
from what the ex-gay ministries are doing."
Dr. Douglas Haldeman, a clinical psychologist in Seattle, said he has seen firsthand "the wreckage of the
ex-gay ministries." He said he has treated hundreds of patients who dropped out of ex-gay programs.
He believes ex-gay programs can cause "much deeper psychological damage" if an adolescent or child is
subjected to them.
Groups that push the theory that a lack of proper family bonding causes homosexuality, such as Focus on
the Family, whose web pages focus almost exclusively on a child’s relationships with his or her parents as
the alleged cause of homosexuality, may actually be creating rifts in families, Cianciotto said.
He said that many gay youth already have strained relationships with their parents because of the gay
issue. Many of them run away or are kicked out of their homes because their parents don’t accept their
sexual orientation. Cianciotto worried that ex-gay groups may actually exacerbate the homelessness
problem among gay youth.
"Up to 40 percent of homeless youth in New York and San Francisco identify as gay or lesbian," he said.
The Task Force study also documents the failure rate of ex-gay ministries. It includes the research
findings of two psychologists, Dr. Ariel Shidlo and Dr. Michael Schroeder, who studied 202 individuals
who underwent conversion therapy.
Shidlo and Schroeder found that only 26 of the participants [13 percent] reported believing that they had
successfully changed their sexual orientation. But of those 26, only eight reported that they were not
experiencing "slips" back into same-sex attraction.
Homosexuality ‘wasn’t God’s will for my life’
Cordy Campbell, a volunteer leader with Worthy Creations who described himself as an ex-gay,
conceded that conversion therapy "is very hard work." But he insisted that people can leave behind being
gay and learn to lead happy heterosexual lives.
"People want a quick fix, and it’s not a quick fix," he said.
According to Campbell, Worthy Creation’s drop-in group draws about 30 people per week. Campbell said
that he sees "people quit all the time after just a few meetings." But he said some people had been with
the group for three or four years and "are doing great."
He said the group doesn’t keep records on its retention rate.
Campbell said he was "in the gay lifestyle" from the age of 12 until he was 45. He said after he became a
born-again Christian, "I felt like it wasn’t God’s will for my life."
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Campbell said he believes a poor relationship with his father, who was an alcoholic, caused him to be
gay.
Campbell said he also became disillusioned with being gay.
"I saw a lot of tragedy in that lifestyle," he said. "I saw a lot of depressed people, especially older people.
It’s a lifestyle for young people."
Campbell said he got tired of sitting on bar stools and talking to depressed gay men. He said he worked
with a man who committed suicide after his boyfriend left him.
"The relationships don’t last," he said.
Campbell, who said he is a recovering alcoholic, now dates women but is not currently in a relationship.
He said he wants to be a "man among men."
Wayne Besen, author of "Anything But Straight," a book that challenges what he calls "ex-gay myths,"
said the ex-gay ministries "are not bulging with members."
He said ex-gay ministries such as Exodus International exaggerate their numbers.
"[Exodus president] Allen Chambers pulls numbers out of thin air," said Besen, who also writes
occasional op-ed columns for this publication. "In 2003, he claimed that there were thousands of
members. By 2004, he said he knew of tens of thousands. Last week, it was hundreds of thousands. The
ex-gay ministries are apparently the next Starbucks."
After a year and a half of ex-gay therapy, Justin Flippen said he finally decided to accept who he is.
Flippen, who now serves on the board of directors and the worship ministry team at the Metropolitan
Community Church’s Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale, said he had an epiphany one day while
driving down I-95. He recalled a passage in the Bible in which Jesus is overwhelmed by sorrow because
of the burden of his role on Earth. But he finally accepts it.
"Just as Jesus was born to be the Messiah, I was born to be gay," Flippen said.
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March 9, 2006
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ADVOCATES SHARPEN THEIR LEGAL TOOLS AGAINST
YOUTH-TARGETED QUACK CURES
Week of March 20, 2006
When you're a gay, lesbian, bi or trans teenager and your parents are forcing you into some kind of
supposed "reparative therapy," the sense of utter helplessness can be overwhelming. Most queer or
supportive adults feel pretty helpless, too, when they hear the horror stories about 5-year-old children
being subjected to phony "cures," about teens being dragged off to questionable camps, about young
people committing suicide because they fail to change. And according to a recent report issued by the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, the danger is growing as the "ex-gay"
movement increasingly targets youth. But the advocacy group LAMBDA LEGAL is proving that young
"reparative therapy" victims -- and their families -- are not helpless under the law. Lambda's Deputy
Director Hayley Gorenberg discusses some of the strategies they could pursue [www.lambdalegal.org; 1800-LGBTeen].
********************************************************
On the air since April 1988, "This Way Out" is the multi-award-winning internationally distribed weekly gay and
lesbian radio newsmagazine.
The program currently airs on over 150 local community radio stations around the world, via satellite in the U.S. on
the Public Radio Satellite System and Pacifica's KU band, For lots of other information about "This Way Out" please
visit www.thiswayout.org, email [email protected], or write to P.O. Box 38327, Los Angeles, CA 90038-0327.
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WINTER PARTY FESTIVAL BREAKS RECORD IN 2006
Last Year 5000 Partiers Attended Winter Party
Several Events This Year Surpassed Attendance Numbers
Posted Mar.10, 2006
(CBS4 News) MIAMI BEACH A record was broken as 5,400 revelers from different corners of the world converged for the
2006 Winter Party in Miami Beach this weekend, turning the beach on 13th Street and Ocean Drive into a virtual ocean of
dancers enjoying an outdoor party under the Florida winter sun.
But this event is not just one big dance party. It has become a Miami tradition to raise
money for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the nation’s largest Gay,
Lesbian and Transgender activist group, fighting for equal rights and political
empowerment.
Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the Task Force says diversity is what sets apart
Winter Party Festival from similar fundraising events. “It’s evolving into a complete
festival,” said Foreman.
That is where the name “Winter Party Festival” comes in, as the organization has strived to make this a week with enough
variety for the whole family and all sectors of the gay community to enjoy.
This year’s Festival, which started Wednesday, March 1st and ended Monday March 6th, provided a growing number of
cultural and social events in addition to several outdoor and nightclub dance parties for participants of all ages to enjoy.
Events included Gay Day On The Greens - a golf event, a family picnic at a Broward Park, and a night with the Miami City
Ballet.
“We want Winter Party to become a place for every part of the community,” Foreman said. “We don’t want to leave any
community behind, including ‘circuit’ guys because we all face the same kind of discrimination.”
By the term ‘circuit guys’ and ‘circuit parties’ Foreman refers to the stereotype portrayed
by similar fundraisers that place emphasis on the dance or 'circuit' events that are
oftentimes associated with drug usage. The organization hopes to reach out to groups
that range from single gay men to same-sex couples with children, all while promoting a
safe and positive atmosphere. The task force included pamphlets to educate attendants
on the dangers of drug usage, especially the crystal methamphetamine crisis that has
plagued the dance community. The term circuit comes from the traveling 'tribe' of people
that tour these events around the country.
“This is my fifth Winter Party and Winter Party is magical for me,” said Kathy Honer, a business owner from Atlanta.
Honer, who is straight, travels with her gay friends every year to participate in several of the events and escape the winter
weather up north for a weekend.
Two-thirds of the more than $300,000 raised by the party goes to the Dade Community Foundation, which then grants out
to other community groups. A final tally on the money and attendance at other events that culimated Monday is still being
done.
The rest of the money goes to the National Task Force, whose latest efforts include creating a better understanding
between the religious and gay communities.
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One of the more recognized organizations that the Task Force donates money to is Pridelines Youth Services. The
organization provides counseling for young people who often face the ugly reality of running away from home, domestic
violence and even suicide as they come out of the closet. Their services include a crisis hotline for youths.
Not everything is as easy as breaking the Winter Party record for the NGLBTF. It has also fought its share of controversy
at the local level.
“We were the biggest outside campaign contributor in 2002 for the Miami-Dade Human
Rights Ordinance,” said Foreman.
The Take Back Miami-Dade effort tried to repeal the ordinance passed in 1998, which
protects residents of Miami-Dade from job and housing discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
The Task Force gave $50,000 in grant money to the Save Dade Campaign to help
identify voters and get campaign efforts underway to prevent the repeal of the ordinance. The group succeeded.
Now Foreman says organizers are looking ahead as they try to create even more variety and recognition for the festival
next year.
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March 8, 2006 – web posted
Winter Party 2006
Festival gay mostrou sua verdadeira vocação: fazer festa
Por Paco Llistó, enviado especial a Miami*
Foram cinco dias de uma vasta programação. O 13º Winter Party, festival cultural dirigido à comunidade GLBT que este
ano recebeu cerca de 10 mil pessoas, mostrou que sua verdadeira vocação é fazer festa.
Infelizmente, por mais que se tenha tentado ampliar o line up, as atrações culturais foram pouco procuradas. Os eventos
esportivos, como o torneio de vôlei e a festa com o DJ Tony Moran, foram cancelados pela organizadora, a ONG National
Gay & Lesbian Task Force, uma das mais influentes dos EUA. “Essa foi a nossa primeira tentativa. Infelizmente, não
tivemos uma resposta muito grande do público. É algo novo para as pessoas”, afirmou Charles Robbins, Diretor de
Desenvolvimento da Task Force, em entrevista ao Mix Brasil.
Apesar do fiasco, a entidade promete que não vai desistir da idéia de incluir
esportes e cultura na programação do ano que vem. Será que vai dar certo? É
uma grande incógnita. Pelo o que foi visto desde sexta-feira nos clubes, praias e
piscinas de Miami Beach, são mesmo as festas que atraem o público e não as
atrações culturais. Uma prova disso foi o Women´s Wine Tasting, que contou com
a participação de apenas 7 pessoas.
Festas, festas e mais festas
A primeira grande festa do Winter Party 2006, a “Cruising: The Uniform Party”, aconteceu na sexta-feira no gigantesco
clube Space. Era para ser uma festa do uniforme, mas poucos se arriscaram a vestir seus fetiches. Uma grande
aglomeração de homens descamisados e musculosos dançou ao som de house e drag music. Para nós brasileiros,
acostumados a festas como a X-Demente carioca, não houve nada de novo (o clima é diferente, claro, às vezes histérico,
outras vezes conservador, mas a sensação é de que se está em casa).
No sábado à tarde, a “Love Boat Pool Party”, que aconteceu em volta da piscina
do Surfcomber Hotel, também lotou de barbies. Durante mais de cinco horas,
homens musculosos e raríssimas mulheres se divertiram ao som do DJ Joe
Gauthreaux.
Clima parecido se repetiu no domingo, com a festa-clímax “Beach Party”. Em uma
tenda montada na praia, ao longo da Ocean Drive, cerca de 5 mil pessoas de
todas as partes do mundo se divertiram sob calor implacável. A combinação de
praia, sol e gente bonita funciona, é só atentar para o Winter Party.
Novo curso
Com o slogan “Charting a New Course” (Traçando um Novo Curso), o Winter Party Festival também tem uma função
importante: a de ajudar algumas organizações gays. O que foi arrecadado com os eventos do festival vai para entidades
que lutam pelos direitos da comunidade GLBT em Miami.
“Estamos orgulhosos de que 100% do que for arrecadado nesses eventos vai ficar
para a nossa comunidade. Também estamos orgulhosos de que eles produzem
dinheiro real para grandes causas. Até agora foram US$ 1,3 milhão e essa
quantia tende a crescer”, disse Matt Foreman, diretor da National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force.
Na opinião de Foreman, o Winter Party também é uma “grande oportunidade de educar os participantes sobre os perigos
de substâncias ilícitas, de reforçar a importância crucial do sexo seguro e de promover valores como auto-controle,
respeito mútuo e amor”. “Oferecemos materiais educacionais e camisinhas aos nossos convidados e ao público em geral”,
explicou.
Em 2007, o evento promete ser ainda maior. Se depender dos patrocinadores (este
ano o Winter Party foi apresentado por Bacardi Limón), isso deve acontecer. Essa
talvez seja a principal diferença do festival em relação ao que acontece aqui no
Brasil: a garantia de que ano após ano a comunidade GLBT vai contar com
patrocínio para organizar eventos representativos. Enquanto isso, Miami Beach
continua linda.
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March 4, 2006 – web posted
Quinta-feira morna
2º dia do Winter Party Festival tem show com cantores e
comediantes e festa com novos DJs
Por Paco Llistó, enviado especial a Miami*
Fotos: Divulgação
Quinta-feira foi um dia morno no Winter Party Festival. Duas diferentes atrações se destacaram na
programação do evento que acontece em Miami: o show “Forces of Nature” e a festa “Anchors Aweigh! The
DJ Showcase”, que aconteceu no belíssimo Shelborne Hotel, em plena Collins Avenue.
“Forces of Nature” apresentou artistas de diferentes vertentes. No palco, os ilusionistas Kevin and Caruso
fizeram uma repetição de truques já conhecidos. Quem conquistou o público foi mesmo a drag Daisy Lee,
que funcionou como uma espécie de mestre-de-cerimônias. Misto de Marcelona com Léia Bastos, Daisy
conseguiu arrancar risadas da platéia vazia.
O show começou a esquentar com Ada de Luque. De voz firme e afinada, acompanhada de piano e
atabaques, a cantora lírica cubana apresentou hits memoráveis como “Summertime”, imortalizado na voz de
Janis Joplin, e “Besame Mucho”.
Mas os destaques ainda estavam por vir. A próxima atração foi o Miami Gay Men’s Chorus, cujos
componentes elevaram o ego da platéia ao cantar a ufanista “This is my Country”. Billy Porter, estrela da
Broadway, apresentou músicas de seu novo álbum, “On the Corner of Broadway and Soul”. Ovacionado
diversas vezes, Porter agradeceu carinhosamente o público e disse que o teatro foi o responsável por salvar
sua vida.
Encerrando o “Forces of Nature”, subiu ao palco a comediante Kate Clinton, versão anciã de Ellen
DeGeneres. Politicamente incorreta, deliciosamente irônica e cruel, Clinton fez piadinhas sobre Bush e até
sobre “Brokeback Mountain”. “Gostei mais de ‘A Marcha dos Pinguins’”, brincou. Disse que tingiu o cabelo de
loiro para se parecer com Brad Pitt e ficar mais próxima de sua musa, Angelia Jolie. “Por ela eu adotaria uma
criança”, bradou. Ficou um gostinho de quero mais.
Mais tarde…
A noite ainda era uma criança. Por volta das 22h, a grande maioria dos turistas e habitantes
de Miami Beach circulava pela Lincoln Road. Perto dali, na Collins Avenue, o Shelborne Hotel
recebia a festa “Anchors Aweigh! The DJ Showcase”. Vazia, a festa terminou cedo, por volta
das 3h. Nos pick-ups, apresentaram-se os DJs Dwayne Minard, de Toronto, Luke
Johnstone, de São Francisco, e John Millier, de Atlanta. Rolou muita house e techno para
um público bem morno.
As pessoas que desistiram da festa saíram para se jogar no Laundry Bar e no Score Bar. No primeiro, as
meninas eram maioria. No segundo, a animação foi até bem tarde. É por esse motivo que Miami conquista
seus visitantes a qualquer hora do dia. E, se o Winter Party não esquentou até agora, aguardem a Beach
Party que acontece no domingo. Essa sim deve repetir o sucesso de sempre. Até porque praia e música
compõem uma ótima mistura.
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March 2, 2006 – web posted
Winter Party 2006
Festival cultural dirigido ao público gay esquenta
ainda mais Miami
2/3/2006
Por Paco Llistó, enviado especial a Miami*
Fotos: Divulgação
Nem parece inverno. Miami, especialmente Miami Beach, está
fervendo com a 13ª edição do Winter Party Festival, evento que
promove, até o próximo domingo, uma série de atrações culturais
e esportivas, além de festas em clubes e praias que prometem
reunir os melhores DJs do mundo.
Sob clima agradável, as imediações da Lincoln Road, conhecida
como a 5ª Avenida de Miami Beach, está ainda mais gay. Nos
cafés e lojas de grife espalhados pela rua já e possível notar uma
movimentação acima do normal. Ali perto, o Surfcomber Hotel
recebe todos os convidados do evento. Foi lá que aconteceu nesta
quarta-feira, 1/3, uma colorosa recepção com patrocinadores. O
local também sediou a primeira atração oficial, o “Movie Under the Stars”, que exibiu o
filme “Guys & Balls”, sobre time de futebol americano totalmente gay. Sentado à beira da
praia e acomodado em confortáveis espreguiçadeiras, o público se divertiu com a história
de jogadores gays de um pequena cidade alemã.
Produzido pela National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, uma das mais fortes organizações
gays dos Estados Unidos, o Winter Party Festival deve reunir até o próximo domingo
cerca de 10 mil pessoas. Para se ter uma idéia, o mercado do pink money movimenta em
Miami Dade-County, que inclui a cidade de Miami e Miami Beach, US$ 5 bilhões todos os
anos – turistas de outros Estados são responsáveis por trazer mais de US$ 1 bilhão à
Florida. Uma quantia que comprova a opulência desta rica cidade americana, conhecida
por sua famosa arquitetura art déco, por suas gigantescas mansões localizadas em Lake
View e também por ser a mais forte e eclética representante da cultura latina nos EUA.
Segundo Matt Foreman, diretor executivo da Task Force, o Winter Party Festival “constrói
um movimento saudável em direção ao fortalecimento da cultura gay e lésbica” e
funciona mais ou menos como uma Parada, já que Miami não possui evento semelhante.
A intenção dos organizadores é atingir também o público da América Latina,
principalmente os brasileiros. “Queremos receber pessoas de todo o mundo porque o
Winter Party é feito para todos aqueles que gostam de conhecer novas culturas”, explica.
Os destaques da programação são mesmo as atrações culturais e as festas, claro. Mas
este ano, pela primeira vez, foram incluídos eventos esportivos, como um torneio de vôlei
gay e um piquenique no Miami Beach Golf Club. As festas começam nesta quinta-feira e o
grande destaque deve ser a Beach Party, que acontece domingo em plena praia e é
famosa por reunir um mar de musculosos. Afinal, a meca barbie é e continuará sendo
Miami.
Toda a programação pode ser vista no site
oficial do evento. Acompanhe nos próximos
dias toda a cobertura do Winter Party
Festival.
* O repórter Paco Llistó viaja a convite
do Miami Visitors Bureau
2005 ® Mix Brasil - Todos os direitos reservados
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CLINTON ATTENDS GAY FUNDRAISER AMID FLAP OVER
MARRIAGE
By BETH FOUHY
AP Political Writer
March 10, 2006, 4:16 PM EST
NEW YORK -- Ticket sales for a major gay and lesbian fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
remained brisk Friday, organizers said, even after the leader of the state's largest gay rights group urged
activists to boycott the event over Clinton's opposition to gay marriage.
Some of Clinton's most dedicated gay supporters acknowledge they are disappointed with her position,
saying there is little evidence that supporting gay marriage bears huge risks for any politician.
The fundraiser for Clinton's re-election campaign on Friday night was the focus of a controversial memo
written last month by Alan Van Capelle, head of Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay rights lobbying group.
In the memo, Van Capelle called Clinton "a complete disappointment" on the gay marriage issue and said
attending the fundraiser would hurt the interests of gay and lesbian voters.
"It will send a message to other elected officials that you can be working against us during this critical
time and not suffer a negative pushback from the gay community," Van Capelle wrote.
Organizers of the fundraiser insisted Van Capelle's comments did not depress interest in the event, held
at a loft in Manhattan's trendy meatpacking district owned by dress designer Diane Von Furstenberg.
About 150 people were expected, with ticket prices starting at $500 per person.
Still, the widespread publicity generated by the leaked memo illustrates the extraordinary spotlight on
Clinton as she moves toward a possible presidential run in 2008.
"In the 2008 cycle, I don't think any candidate can come out and say, 'I am for gay marriage,"' said Ethan
Geto, a longtime gay activist helping to organize the Clinton fundraiser. "Take Hillary Clinton and compare
her to any national Democrat with presidential potential. She's staked out very progressive turf here."
Clinton opposes gay marriage but supports civil unions, which confer many of the same legal and
economic benefits to gay and lesbian couples. She supports the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, a
1996 federal law signed by her husband that defines marriage as "a legal union of one man and one
woman as husband and wife." But she opposes a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Empire State Pride Agenda spokesman Joe Tarver said reaction to Van Capelle's memo had been
overwhelmingly positive and reflected a simmering frustration among many gay activists that Democrats
take their support for granted while being timid on their issues.
"Since all this broke a couple weeks ago, support for our work has only grown stronger," Tarver said.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Chairman Jeffrey Soref said he understood the frustrations,
even though he backs Clinton and is on the host committee for the fundraiser.
"A lot of Democratic consultants and advisers tell candidates they need to duck gay issues and
stay away from marriage, but there's not a lot of evidence to support that," he said, citing the lack
of political backlash in Massachusetts, where gay marriage became legal in 2004. Every Massachusetts
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lawmaker on the ballot who supported gay rights that year won another term in the Legislature.
"I really think candidates need to re-evaluate how they talk about this, and what they say to the
gay community," Soref said.
But Danny O'Donnell, an openly gay state assemblyman and brother of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell, said
it came down to a choice between practicality and "a purist, litmus test" approach to politics.
O'Donnell and his partner, John Banta, are one of several couples who have sued New York State for the
right to marry. The state's top court is expected to resolve the matter later this year.
"Does she take the position on gay marriage that I would like her to take? No, but she's better than most,"
O'Donnell said. "When gay marriage comes, and it's coming - the ball is rolling down the hill - I'm sure
she'll accept it."
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ROMNEY EYES GAY ADOPT EXEMPTION
By Brian Ballou
March 14, 2006 Tuesday All Editions
Gov. Mitt Romney is poised to file a bill allowing Boston's Catholic Charities to sidestep the state's antibias laws and bar gays from adopting via the agency. Romney indicated yesterday he may file his
religious exemption bill soon, possibly within days. ``I've asked for something very narrow,'' he said of the
scope of the bill.
“Catholic Charities has done very special work over the years and there are many, many other agencies
that can work with gay couples on adoptions. Our responsibility to the children comes first. We want
(Catholic leaders) to be true to their religion,'' Romney said.
Boston Catholic Charities announced last week it is pulling out of the business of adoption. Its leaders
cited a conflict between the anti-bias law and Catholic teachings against placing kids with same-sex
couples. The move sparked debate in other states, but so far there have been no similar exemptions, said
Carol Peck, director of family services for Catholic Charities U.S.A., based in Virginia.
There are 104 licensed Catholic Charities in the United States that do adoptions, she said. In 2004, the
latest year for which statistics are available, those organizations facilitated 4,229 adoptions.
“It's such a complex and murky issue from state to state and it's really difficult to say which way this is
going to go or how many agencies are going to be affected,'' Peck said.
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C.,
criticized a directive from the Vatican instructing a San Francisco Catholic Charities to not place children
for adoption in homosexual households.
“These Draconian anti-gay policies are coming from the top and are completely different policies
than what comes from the grass roots. For a long time there's been a chasm between the grass
roots and the hierarchy, and this is another example of it,'' he said.
The San Francisco archdiocese allows gay couples to adopt, but its archbishop said he would
“`reconsider'' that stance given the directive.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) said he thinks Catholic Charities “found themselves bound by a
policy with which they don't agree,'' but added that those who protest gay adoption fundamentally
misunderstand the issue. “They act as if it's a choice between a child being offered to the Cleavers to live
with Wally and the Beaver and being sent to live with Boy George,'' Frank told the Herald.
Denise St. Clair, associate director of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy in Ohio, said, “We
are concerned because there are thousands of children that need help and eliminating an entire category
of adoptive parents is just not good public policy.'' She added, “Even in Ohio, where it appears that a bill
proposing to ban gay and lesbian adoptions is dying away, that doesn't mean that it won't return.''
Kim Atkins and Jay Fitzgerald contributed to this report.
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Anything But Straight---Wayne Besen
March 16 - 22, 2006
60 Minutes: Science or Stereotypes?
Gay men are limp-wristed and may have a Queen Gene, according to a controversial segment on
CBS's 60 Minutes, "The Science of Sexual Orientation." The show suggests that gay men are
prissy and prance and wear lavender pants while they lisp and dance. Which can certainly be
true, in some cases, but is this just crass stereotyping masquerading as science?
The segment featured two sets of twins. The first pair - Adam and Jared - was nine years old.
Jared was tough as nails and had a collection of G.I. Joes, while Adam painted his nails and
dreamt of pantyhose.
Steve and Greg, the second pair of twins, were adults. Steve, who is straight, grew up playing
sports, while gay Greg "liked helping out in the kitchen."
The idea of studying identical twins is to show that upbringing has nothing to do with the outcome
of sexual orientation. Indeed, one has to be a dolt with an agenda to still believe the outdated
myth that homosexuality is caused by bad parenting.
"Psychologists used to believe homosexuality was caused by nurture - namely overbearing
mothers and distant fathers - but that theory has been disproved," reporter Leslie Stahl
authoritatively said. "Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and
hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than just sexual
behavior; it's physiological."
Identical twins with differing sexual orientations suggest that there are other factors at work.
"There's also the environment that happens to us while we're in the womb," said Northwestern
University researcher Michael Bailey in the segment. "And scientists are realizing that
environment is much more important than we ever thought it was."
Michigan State University's Marc Breedlove drove home this point by showing Stahl how he can
take a rat that scurries and make him sashay with a shot of hormones or castration.
"I wouldn't call these gay rats," explained Breedlove, who has the perfect name for a vermin sex
researcher. "But I would say that these are genetic male rats who are showing much more
feminine behavior."
The show also pointed out that for every older brother a man has, his chances of being gay
increase by one-third. Additionally, Bailey addressed the lie that gay men are more promiscuous
by nature. He said both gay and straight men are "shallow" and tend to focus on looks, but gay
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men simply have more opportunity.
"They're [gay men] just more successful at it, because the people they're trying to have sex with
are also interested in it," Bailey said.
I applaud this dose of truth, because anyone who has spent five minutes around straight men,
know that they are just as frisky as their gay counterparts. The only people who deny this are
uptight fundamentalists. And they are really no different, except they have hang-ups and feel
guilty after the sex.
Whether Bailey has hit the scientific jackpot or is a crackpot is open for debate. Many people
bristle, for example, when he claims that gay people walk and talk differently. True, one's gaydar
does not have to be finely tuned to figure out Richard Simmons or Clay Aiken is gay. Oh, wait, is
Clay gay?
Before Bailey makes such broad assumptions, however, he should put on football pads and
collide with former NFL player Esera Tuaolo. This might rattle him out of his one-dimensional
mind-set and lead him to expand his research to include gay and lesbian people who are not
borderline transgender.
There are also critics who rightfully question Bailey's potentially dark motives. He once told The
New York Times that if it became possible for parents to determine sexual orientation in the
womb than, "selecting for heterosexuality seems to be morally acceptable....Selection for
heterosexuality may tangibly benefit parents, children and their families and seems to have only a
slight potential for any significant harm."
"His research is highly questionable," said Lisa Mottet, a transgender rights attorney with
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Bailey's work is simply not credible." NGLTF
has criticized his research on transgender people and bisexuals calling it shoddy and
filled with unscientific assumptions.
Still, the 60 Minutes segment, as a whole, was very helpful to the gay rights movement. It
brusquely dismissed the inane pseudo-science of our opponents. But in the process of
neutralizing the right, it neutered gay men. While we are cheering the segment, Bailey should
know that most of us aren't using pompoms.
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AFA’S Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses,
repeated misinformation on average gay incomes
Thursday, March 16, 2006 4:03pm EST
Summary: In response to gay rights organization Soulforce's Equality Ride -- a bus tour aimed at
confronting religious schools and military academies that ban the enrollment of GBLT students -the American Family Association's Don Wildmon proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the
homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront these people ... for what they're
doing."
On the March 8 edition of the AFA Report, Donald E. Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American
Family Association (AFA), responded to the Equality Ride, a seven-week bus tour of 32 young adults
organized by gay rights organization Soulforce "to confront nineteen religious schools and military
academies that ban the enrollment of GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] students." Wildmon
proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront
these people ... for what they're doing." In a discussion with Ed Vitagliano, news editor of the American
Family Association Journal, Fred Jackson, AFA news director, and Rusty Benson, Journal associate
editor, Wildmon also repeated misinformation about average gay incomes -- while falsifying his own -claiming, "[T]he average homosexual makes four times more than I do." The AFA Report is broadcast
daily on the AFA-operated American Family Radio.
From the March 8 broadcast of American Family Radio's AFA Report:
[audio can be downloaded at http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/afareport-20060316.mp3]:
WILDMON: What does -- what does [Equality Ride co-director] Jacob Reitan say? He's
one of the spokesmen. "We must cut off the suffering at its source. The source is religionbased opposition -- the religion-based oppression -- and it's taken place for centuries." In
other words, we must get rid of the Christian faith. Let's go to these Christian schools.
What if we had organized a tour and said, "We're going to the bathhouses in -- in 24
cities -- the homosexual bathhouses -- and we're going to confront these people, you
know, for what they're doing," etc. -- etc. -- how would the media play that?
JACKSON: And demand that these bathhouses give us a forum to have our say.
WILDMON: Make them and bring 'em out there and give us -- set us up and -- yeah.
JACKSON: Yeah. Well, we know where the media would have its sympathies in that
case. Of course, and it wouldn't be done, anyway. But these people, it just reinforces as
you say, Don, what you just said. They regard Christianity, they regard biblical teaching,
as the source of their problems. And what they're demanding is no less than you
Christians stop teaching that homosexuality is a sin.
WILDMON: Stop -- stop -- stop preaching from the Bible.
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JACKSON: That's right.
[...]
BENSON: Yeah, I mean, this is -- this is what you call -- what? -- chutzpah. This is -- this
is -WILDMON: That's a Jewish word, right? Be careful.
[...]
WILDMON: The spokesman [Equality Ride spokesman] says, the source for our -- "We
must cut off the suffering." That is, the homosexual suffering. You know, I saw yesterday
how much -- how much money the homosexual community has. I mean, good gracious,
the average homosexual makes four times more than I do, Ed. Goodness gracious!
VITAGLIANO: Right.
WILDMON: I mean, we could take a professional homosexual salary all four of us -VITAGLIANO: We could live pretty well on it.
WILDMON: -- and split it up four ways and all of us would get pretty good raises. I mean,
they're not -- these people are not in poverty or hurting or denied or anything else.
Though Wildmon did not state specifically "how much money the homosexual community has," according
to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, the AFA has, for many years, based its statements on
average gay incomes on a discredited 1988 survey by the Simmons Market Research Bureau, which
listed the average gay income as $55,430 -- well above the mean income for heterosexuals ($32,286).
According to the Ontario group's website, the survey's findings were reported in a 1991 Wall Street
Journal article and subsequently repeated by anti-gay conservative groups such as the Heritage
Foundation, Focus on the Family, and the AFA.
The survey's findings, however, did not reflect a representative sample of the national gay population.
The Simmons survey polled only readers of popular gay-oriented magazines and those who filled out
sign-up sheets for the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.
As the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Inc. (NOGLSTP)
noted, "People who buy and read newspapers and magazines tend to have more education and higher
incomes. Gay events attract people who can afford to travel or pay an entrance fee." Indeed, as
NOGLSTP also noted, a 1989 study by Simmons found that readers of African-American-oriented
magazines like Jet, Ebony, and Essence earned 41 to 82 percent more than the average AfricanAmerican.
A December 1998 study commissioned by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Policy
Institute titled "Income Inflation: The Myth of Affluence Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual
Americans," by M.V. Lee Badgett, a University of Massachusetts associate professor of
economics, paints a decidedly different picture of gay incomes than does the Simmons survey.
Relying on U.S. Census Bureau statistics, exit polls conducted at 300 polling stations on election day in
1992 and 1996 -- which inquired about sexual orientation and family status -- sexual partner questions in
the National Opinion Research Center's 1988 General Social Survey, and four other sources, Badgett
concluded that gay men earn as much as 25 percent less than their heterosexual counterparts. Further,
she reported that gay and lesbian households earn only 4 percent more than heterosexual households.
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Yet even if the Simmons survey were accurate, Wildmon's assertion that "the average homosexual earns
four times more than I do," would not be. According to the AFA's 2004 990 filing -- the Internal Revenue
Service's return for organizations exempt from income tax -- Wildmon paid himself $58,010 plus $13,787
in benefits and a housing allowance of $39,200. He paid his son, Tim, who is president of AFA, $79,000.
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MICHIGAN TO HOST SECOND ANNUAL BENEFIT FOR NGLTF MARCH 17
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
Originally printed 3/16/2006 (Issue 1411 - Between The Lines News)
DETROIT - On March 17, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will be the focus of a fundraising
reception at Detroit's Scarab Club.
During the event, NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman will join openly lesbian U.S. Rep.
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) on the dais. Baldwin will be honored during the event for her
service to the LGBT community and the country.
"Tammy Baldwin is a figure of national prominence, [and] one of only a couple openly gay members of
Congress," said John Allen, one of two Michigan members of NGLTF'S board of directors. "Having
someone of her stature representing us in Michigan is something we can all aspire to."
"She's a big supporter of the Task Force and we just thought folks would be interested in what she has to
say," he added.
Allen stressed that much of the money donated to NGLTF by Michigan donors benefits Michigan LGBT
organizations.
"The Task Force doesn't take the money and run," Allen said. "They are very active here in Michigan."
Allen cited donations of technical assistance and funding that the Task Force made to help fight the antifamily Proposal 2 in 2004 and the Task Force's recent grants to the Triangle Foundation as examples of
the national organization's support of LGBT causes and organizations in Michigan.
This year, according to Allen, NGLTF has already signed on to the efforts to stop the California-funded
ballot proposal to strike down affirmative action programs in Michigan, and NGLTF is working with the
Ruth Ellis Center "on a study of best practices in the child welfare area as it relates to gay and lesbian
young people."
"Some of the most important work being done in our community is being done by the Task Force," said
Sean Kosofsky, director of policy for the Triangle Foundation. "They have always been committed to local
and state victories, and that's why Michigan people should support this event."
In addition, according to Allen, Michigan sent "in excess of 50" people to last year's Creating Change, a
nationwide conference of LGBT organizers that is sponsored by NGLTF.
"Every year people who are active in all areas in Michigan go out and hone their skills and charge their
batteries at Creating Change," he said.