Under Alan Chambers leadership Exodus International has reached out to the Christian church and urged it to learn how to compassionately help individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions. Chambers, the President of Exodus International explained, “All too often the controversial nature of this issue grabs the spotlight, but there are hurting people living in the shadows who need practical help and compassionate encouragement. We want to put an arm around this often hidden group of men and women and help others better understand these issues so that the isolation and rejection many of us experienced will no longer be typical of Christian churches across America.”

The other sessions at the Love Won Out conference are geared to the layperson and provide information on the causes and therapies of homosexuality. The new session for Spouses Only is in response to the “increase in the number of spouses married to a husband or wife conflicted by their attractions. Often these hurting men and women are unable to share their heartache within many churches for fear of rejection. Love Won Out wants to change that.”

Exodus International has posted a You Tube video explaining the importance of the Christian church to those wanting to overcome their same-sex attractions.

Editor’s note: Love Won Out conferences are unique in that they provide truth and answers on homosexuality that the universities intentionally ignore to appease the gay political movement.

Burbank, CA — The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed the Walt Disney Company to accept a shareholder resolution requesting the inclusion of ex-gays in Disney’s sexual orientation policies and corporate diversity programs. Disney had opposed the ex-gay resolution and asked the SEC for permission to exclude it from stockholder consideration.

“Like many corporations, Disney implements mandatory diversity training for employees that emphasizes gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders, but fails to include ex-gays,” said Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). “It is a serious omission both for the ex-gay community and their supporters.”

“Employees who support the ex-gay community are not welcomed to express their views and fear they would be forced to undergo sensitivity training because they support former homosexuals,” said Griggs. “Ex-gays are forced to remain closeted because they are not protected by diversity policies and are subjected to open disapproval by others in the workplace. The inclusion of ex-gays will cost Disney nothing to implement and would provide true diversity and respect in the workplace.”

The resolution cites a recent judicial decision issued by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In that case, brought by PFOX, the Court ruled that former homosexuals are a protected class that must be recognized under DC’s sexual orientation non-discrimination laws. The Court held that sexual orientation does not require immutable characteristics.

“Disney should treat ex-gays and their friends with the respect they deserve,” said Bobbie Strobhar, the stockholder who submitted the shareholder resolution. “We need more of these resolutions nationwide to assure tolerance and safety in the workplace for the ex-gay community and their supporters.”

First posted January 13, 2010 on the PFOX website

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) accused the American Psychological Association (APA) of irresponsibility for adopting a resolution that urges licensed medical health providers to “Avoid Telling Clients They Can Change from Gay to Straight.” NARTH pointed out that the six individuals on the Task Force that produced the resolution were “on record as opposing sexual orientation change efforts through psychotherapy” before they were appointed. The report produced from the bias Task Force “irresponsibly ignores fifty years of scientific and clinical evidence,” was “unscientific and lacks objectivity and impartiality” according to NARTH’s professional viewpoint.

The bias Task Force ignored the scientific and clinical evidence by demanding “an impossibly high standard of proof for reorientation therapy which [the] APA does not demand for therapies dealing with other difficulties such as alcoholism, obesity, and other behavioral addictions.” By setting its own impossibly high standard of proof the Task Force justified its dismissal of over a century of documented sexual orientation change through psychotherapy. Then in a hypocritical display of bias the Task Force pushed “’gay affirmative therapy’ – a virtually untested model – as a way to offer psychological care to those with unwanted homosexuality.” Gay affirmative therapy encourages a person with homosexual attractions to accept homosexuality as a lifestyle even when the client desires to change their sexual orientation. It is part gay political indoctrination and part support therapy.

NARTH charged the Task Force report of making false claims to support its recommendation of gay affirmative therapy. The report stated as scientific fact the gay propaganda “that homosexuality is normal and that homosexual relationships are equivalent to heterosexual relationships and families. …The evidence for these ‘facts’ either is not cited or nonexistent. The political decision to remove ‘homosexuality’ from the DSM-II, APA resolutions, and opinion pieces by gay activists do not prove such assertions.”

One part of the Task Force’s report affirms the psychotherapeutic principle that clients have the right to determine their own direction of treatment, then later in the report the Task Force recommends violating that principle if the client wants to change their sexual orientation from gay to straight. “This selective use of standards shows significant bias.” The hypocrisy and disregard of client autonomy by the Task Force was reprehensible.

Since the 1973 political decision by the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the DSM-II, gay activists have been the dominating power influencing decisions on homosexuality in both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. NARTH was formed in 1992 by medical professionals who wanted to help individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions change their sexual orientation. The founders of NARTH had watched the clinical science on homosexuality erased from textbooks by political maneuvering. NARTH professionals not only draw from past clinical research on homosexuality, they have advanced it.

NARTH Response to the APA Task Force Report

What do the 2009 Miss USA Pageant and the 2009 actions of the American Psychological Association have in common? The answer lies in the actions of the gay activists these organizations empowered.

For some politically correct reason the Miss USA Pageant chose a gay activist to be one of their judges in 2009. They either foolishly believed that the gay activist would be objective or they didn’t care if he wasn’t. What happened was a disgrace to the Miss USA pageant. The gay activist, Perez Hilton, used the pageant as a political forum and discriminated against one of the finalists because of her religious belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman.

Perez Hilton admitted he gave Carrie Prejean, Miss California, a zero after she answered his question on marriage, and most analysts agreed that score of zero cost Miss Prejean the Miss USA crown. The gay activist later wrote a blog on Carrie Prejean calling her a B_tch and a C___. Perez Hilton also defaced a picture of Carrie Prejean on his website by drawing a white outline of a penis on her face.

These outrageous and discriminatory actions by Perez Hilton were very costly to Miss Carrie Prejean and offensive to all who share her beliefs, but in comparison they were only a rip tide of discrimination compared to the tsunami created by gay activists empowered by the American Psychological Association.

Biased task force

The American Psychological Association (APA) has long empowered gay activists within its organization, and APA publications on homosexuality preach gay viewpoints. Since 1980 the APA has taken direction from gay activists through their Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns. In 2007 this committee of gay activists was empowered to review, suggest, and forward the names of APA members to serve on a task force to review the current scientific research on the therapeutic success of changing sexual orientation.

Although the sexual orientation of the task force members was not made public, from their published writings it appears the six person task force had at least four members that could be considered gay and lesbian activists. Historically, gay activists have sought to discredit ex-gays, because the very existence of ex-gays undermines the gay rights movement. Ex-gays are proof that sexual orientation can be changed and that homosexuality is not a condition individuals are born with. Many ex-gays also see their former homosexuality as a disorder.

The gay dominated APA task force recommended that medical professionals not inform their clients that sexual orientation can be changed. It was passed by the APA as a resolution in April of 2009. Brazenly, a professional organization of psychologists had once again chosen to support the agenda of the gay political movement over the interests of the individual client.

The detrimental effects of the APA resolution are that parents will continue to be uninformed of information that can help direct their children into a heterosexual identity. Adolescents confused over their sexual identity will not be guided into heterosexuality , but told to experiment with sexual orientation or led toward a gay identity. The client desperate to change his unwanted same-sex attractions will not even be told that it is possible for him to change his homosexual attractions to heterosexual attractions. The public should be outraged!

Brief history of sexual orientation change

Sexual orientation change from homosexual to heterosexual through psychotherapy has been documented for over fifty years. The documented success rate of clients who sought to change their homosexual orientation has varied with the skill of the psychotherapist, but seemed to average around 30 percent for psychotherapists treating homosexuality as a disorder based in the clients childhood. A 30 percent success rate is similar or better than the success rates of treating smoking or alcoholism with psychotherapy. Alcohol, nicotine, and sex stimulate areas of the brain and nervous system with pleasure, so it makes logical clinical sense that psychotherapeutic changes in those behaviors would have similar success rates.

An early pioneer of sexual orientation psychotherapy, Edmund Bergler, M.D., reported in 1956 that he had successfully helped one hundred homosexual clients change their sexual orientation to heterosexual. Irving Bieber, M.D. and nine other medical professionals published a ground breaking study in 1962 that documented 27 percent of the homosexual clients in the study shifting to exclusive heterosexuality. Lawrence Hatterer, M.D. recorded in 1970 that 49 out of the 200 homosexual clients he treated were no longer homosexuals. Charles Socarides, M.D. stated in 1995 that his success rate of helping motivated homosexuals change their sexual orientation was about 35 percent. Both Bergler and Socarides treated homosexuality as a disorder of psychic masochism stemming from unresolved issues in early childhood development. These psychiatrists and their clinical results were hostilely protested by gay leaders in the 1960s and 70s.

In the new millennium Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D. has developed psychotherapeutic techniques that have a 30 percent success rate of changing homosexual orientation to heterosexual in motivated clients. The Christian ex-gay ministries of Exodus International also claim a 30 percent success rate in helping individuals overcome homosexuality. In response to gay activists who charged that the Exodus ministries were harmful to homosexuals, Stanton Jones, Ph.D. and Mark Yarhouse, Psy.D. conducted a longitudinal study on sexual orientation change achieved through the Exodus ministries. Their results published in 2007 found no meaningful evidence that the attempt to change sexual orientation through the Exodus ministries causes harm. Nicolosi and Exodus also report that half of those who are unable to change their sexual orientation still benefit from their effort.

Institutional bias

The chairperson of the APA task force was lesbian psychologist Judith Glassgold, Psy.D. She recently co-edited a book with another task force member Jack Drescher, M.D., an outspoken gay psychiatrist. Their book argues that psychologists should use psychotherapy to urge homosexual clients to become activists for gay causes. In the book Judith Glassgold summarized her professional philosophy, “psychotherapists must abandon the practice of seeing mental health issues as individual problems and more willing to see these issues as the consequences of social injustice.” (Activism and LGBT Psychology, page 37)

In reality the APA and most other medical professional organizations have already adopted the Glassgold position on homosexuality. Beginning with the American Psychiatric Association’s removal of homosexuality from its list of diagnostic disorders in the 1970s, professional medical associations have overwhelmingly put the interests of the gay community over the interests of the individual homosexual client and clients with sexual identity confusion. The former disorder status of homosexuality was based on clinical evidence and the medical associations have purposely ignored the clinical evidence to appease gay activists.

The continuing collusion between the APA and gay activists, and the disregard of those with unwanted same-sex attractions has disgraced the American Psychological Association. But unlike the Miss USA Pageant, the collusion is not a random act of discrimination. It is institutionalized malice that impacts every corner of the nation.

(Thomas Coy has been working on a master’s thesis researching the treatment of homosexuality and produced the award winning independent documentary, Real Hope, Real Truth, Real Answers, on the Christian ex-gay movement.)

Related Article: NARTH response to the APA Task Force resolution

The reasoning articulated by Exodus leaders emphasized that organizations seeking to help individuals overcome unwanted same-sex attractions would be hindered by the criminalization of homosexuality, because they could not legally offer a safe and compassionate environment under the proposed law. If homosexual behavior and knowledge of such behavior is criminalized and prosecuted, as proposed in this bill, church and ministry leaders will be unable to assist hurting men, women and youth who might otherwise seek help in addressing this personal issue.

Full text of letter

The documentaries intimate window into Exodus International and the Christian ex-gay movement continues to surprise viewers. Most are not even aware that a Christian ex-gay movement exists and are stunned to learn it has been ongoing for over thirty years.

The documentary captures the hope this movement offers. Homosexuality is revealed as the behavioral condition it is and shown not to be a condition that a person is born with. That evidence alone gives this documentary academic value, because most Americans believe the politically correct deception that homosexuality is a condition a person is born with.

Ex-gays tell their stories throughout the documentary and some struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions tell of their experience at the conference. The gay political propaganda that ex-gay conferences are hateful toward homosexuals is exposed as the lie it is.

Producer Tom Coy believes the 49 minute length of the documentary and its accurate portrayal of the Christian ex-gay movement makes this documentary an ideal educational tool for classrooms, small groups, and individual awareness. Permission to show the documentary in these group settings has been given in advance and is noted on the DVD cover and in the opening statement of the documentary.

Last year Real Hope, Real Truth, Real Answers won the Best Documentary award at the 2008 International Christian Film Festival in Irvine, California and received an Honorable Mention at the Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival in Houston.

Preview the documentary

Buy the documentary

TEACHERS BE AWARE! Your dues money will be used in efforts to legitimize same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions.

CITIZENS BE AWARE! The National Education Association is going to use its political resources to attempt to overturn state constitutional amendments and laws that limit marriage to one man and one woman.

In a carefully worded business item brought to the 2009 NEA Representative Assembly, the NEA Board of Directors put the NEA on the front line of gay political efforts to undo the will of the American people, which has consistently upheld the ideal of marriage as between one man and one woman.

Part of the adopted business item reads “NEA will support its affiliates in opposing state constitutional and/or statutory provisions that could have the effect of prohibiting the state and its political subdivisions from providing the same rights and benefits to same-sex couples as are provided to similarly situated heterosexual couples. . . “

The NEA also gave itself the authority to use its resources to aid the gay political movement at the federal level in efforts to make homosexuality equal to heterosexuality. The authorization reads, “NEA will take such actions as may be appropriate to support efforts to (a) repeal any federal legislation and/or regulations that discriminate against same-sex couples, and (b) enact federal legislation and/or regulations that treat same-sex couples and similarly-situated heterosexual couples equally with regard to social security, health care, taxation, and other federal rights and benefits.”

In a related political move the NEA Resolutions Committee denied the request of the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus to add “ex-gays” to a list of groups the NEA recognizes as worthy of respect, understanding, acceptance, and sensitivity in a diverse society. The list currently includes “gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.”

The NEA has also repeatedly ignored the request of the Ex-Gay Educators Caucus to include ex-gays on the NEA Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification Committee. Currently, no ex-gays serve on any official committee of the NEA.

Ex-gays pose a serious problem to the gay political movement. Their very existence is empirical evidence that sexual orientation, particularly homosexuality, can be changed. Much of the success of the gay political movement has been based on the premise that sexual orientation is like a person’s race and cannot be changed. Ex-gays prove that sexual orientation is not like race and that sexual orientation is a behavioral pattern.

Ex-gays also undermine the gay slogan “gay is good.” Many of their testimonies tell of a gay life that was anything but “good.” Some ex-gays left the gay life because all it brought was despair. Other ex-gays unintentionally lost their homosexual desires through therapy that unraveled their childhood wounds of rejection.

By strictly partisan politics the NEA works with gay political organizations like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), while ignoring the ex-gays in its own ranks. The ex-gay perspective believes that students who are confused about their sexuality and think they might be a homosexual need to know they have choices other than becoming gay identified.

The only way the gay bias of the NEA will change is if more conservative teachers become active in the democratically run organization. The Conservative Educators Caucus is currently the major voice opposing the liberal agenda of the NEA leadership.

Exodus International has partnered with Focus on the Family in the Love Won Out conferences from their beginning in 1998. Recently, Exodus announced it was merging with the outreach ministries of the Presbyterian and Reformed faith communities as well as The United Methodist Church. Exodus believes those new partnerships will help equip churches with a biblical perspective of sexuality and gender, which was also the original mission of the Love Won Out conference.

Love Won Out press release

Exodus International press release