Lawyer for Alleged Victim of Ex-Gay Activist Speaks – Ex-Gay Watch

Contents:

• MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
• FOLLOWUP ON EX-GAY MICHAEL JOHNSTON
• FAMEWATCHER SEARCH PRIMARY MENU SKIP TO NTENT HOMECELEBRY HAIR TRANSPLANTCELEBRY PLASTIC SURGERYCELEBRY LEATHER JACKETBODY SHAPER SEARCH FOR: CELEBRY TEEN BOYSMICHAEL JOHNSTON GAY REAL LIFE? TEEN WOLF ACTOR
• NEWS ABOUT FALLEN LEAR DON’T CHANGE TTH OF EX-‘GAY’ MSAGE, IENDS SAY
• LAWYER FOR ALLEGED VICTIM OF EX-GAY ACTIVIST SPEAKS
• HOW CHRISTIANS TURNED AGAST GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• EX-GAY LEAR’S FALL PROV COUNSELG IS INEFFECTIVE, RIGHT? WRONG!
• WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
• EX-LLEGE WRTLER GUILTY OF FECTG, EXPOSG GAY SEX PARTNERS TO HIV AT MISSOURI UNIVERSY

MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE

The followg year he started his own ex-gay vehicle, Kesso Mistri through which he put himself as an example church, schools, and on relig programmg on rad and televisn.

He was award by the Southern Baptists and helped wre the Assembli of God’s posn paper on homosexualy (for those unaware of the AoG’s posns, let’s jt say that they are not charable). Johnston was the face to a mpaign lled Tth Love* which he and his mother appeared on televisn tellg the untry that he had “walked away om homosexualy” but not before he ntracted HIV.

The ex-gay learship downplayed Johnston’s volvement and distanced themselv as bt possible and those who uldn’t simply went on the attack agast “homosexual activists”. Joseph Nilosi, a clil psychologist California who was then print of the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), the untry's largt anizatn for practners of ex-gay therapy.

FOLLOWUP ON EX-GAY MICHAEL JOHNSTON

I left the office wh a py of Nilosi's most recent book, Healg Homosexualy, and a worksheet that tegorized different emotns unr the brics of "te self" and "false self. My mother might not have so easily found rmatn about ex-gay therapy had the Christian right not planted this stake the culture ad appeared 23 years after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA) classified homosexualy as a mental illns. A small group of therapists ntued to practice talk therapy that enuraged patients to see homosexualy as a velopmental disorr, but they remaed on the ge until the Christian right took up their e.

Instead of fire-and-brimstone nunciatns om the pulp, the ex-gay movement allowed the Christian right to uch s nmnatn of homosexualy a way that seemed passnate. Foc on the Fay lled s new ex-gay mistry Love Won Out and talked about healg and rg for ex-gay movement turned the rhetoric of gay rights agast self: Shouldn't ex-gays be able to pursue therapy and live the liv they want whout facg discrimatn? Together wh the late Charl Soris, a psychiatrist who led the opposn to classifyg homosexualy as a mental illns, Nilosi formed NARTH 1992 as a "scientific anizatn that offers hope to those who stggle wh unwanted homosexualy.

FAMEWATCHER SEARCH PRIMARY MENU SKIP TO NTENT HOMECELEBRY HAIR TRANSPLANTCELEBRY PLASTIC SURGERYCELEBRY LEATHER JACKETBODY SHAPER SEARCH FOR: CELEBRY TEEN BOYSMICHAEL JOHNSTON GAY REAL LIFE? TEEN WOLF ACTOR

Nilosi remas NARTH's most visible are no reliable statistics for how many patients have received ex-gay treatment or how many therapists practice , but the late 1990s and early 2000s, ex-gay therapy enjoyed a legimacy hadn't sce the APA removed homosexualy om s diagnostic manual.

Whether or not the Christian right's alliance wh the ex-gay movement had nstuted a D-Day the culture wars, had succsfully challenged the prevailg ia that the bt choice for gay people was to accept themselv. I read one of Nilosi's books, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexualy, that he tri to posn himself as a supportive father figure, typifyg the sort of relatnship that he believ his patients never had wh their own father.

What translated to the larger culture was: The father of the 1973 revolutn the classifitn and treatment of homosexualy, who uld not be seen as jt another biased ex-gay csar wh an agenda, had validated ex-gay therapy. Richard Cohen, the founr of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays)-tend as the ex-gay unterpart to PFLAG (Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays)-was expelled om the Amerin Counselg Associatn for ethics vlatns. Among them were Alan Downg, the lead therapist of JONAH (Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy), who ma his patients strip and touch themselv ont of a mirror; NARTH member Christopher At, who was nvicted of "unlawfully, tentnally and knowgly [g] peratn of" a client; and Exod-affiliated Mike Jon, who asked a patient to take off his shirt and do ph-ups for movement also suffered several high-profile fectns.

NEWS ABOUT FALLEN LEAR DON’T CHANGE TTH OF EX-‘GAY’ MSAGE, IENDS SAY

" In 2007, Exod -founr Michael Bsee apologized for his role startg the as a rponse to the rurgence of ex-gay therapy, mastream profsnal anizatns also took a harr stance. The group no longer talks about "Freedom om Homosexualy"-s motto-but about the nobily of ntug to stggle agast same-sex has also begun to distance self om NARTH. But the sprg of my sophomore year, the disparate parts of myself I had managed to hold together-the part of me that thought beg gay was wrong, the part that slept wh men anyway, the part of myself I let the world see, and the part that suffered silence-me undone.

While took years of unselg to disabe myself of the ias I had learned while unrgog therapy wh Nilosi, was the first time I enuntered profsnals who were affirmg of my sexualy, and the first time I allowed myself to thk was all right to be gay. He looked like he do his Facebook pictur: solid and short, wh a shaved head and large brown had iated penncy-and-neglect proceedgs agast his parents at age 16 to pe ex-gay therapy. The Amerin Fay Associatn nfirmed that Michael Johnston, the ex-gay HIV-posive head of Kesso Mistri, had closed his mistry after numero unsafe sexual enunters wh other men.

And he is playg the role of Corey who may or may not turn out to be Magaze, which clud Michael Johnston to ’s Hot List, tells more about Michael’s biggt actg gig to date:A small role on the upg season of MTV’s Awkward led to a veted spot on the fifth season of Teen Wolf (premierg June 29), MTV’s homoerotic, howl-at-the-moon teen drama. ”Johnston’s myster character will be troduced alongsi an unspecified new supernatural threat to the show’s ma characters, and he’ll cross paths wh Mason, a cheeky gay human played by Khyl Rhambo. “There’s some hope that we’ll start out as iends, but maybe more will happen, ” teas ’s Michael wh Teen Wolf lead actor Tyler Michael Johnston Gay Real Life?

LAWYER FOR ALLEGED VICTIM OF EX-GAY ACTIVIST SPEAKS

Bee, spe the sire of Exod lears and the relig right to see the natn’s homosexuals ma prosecutable on sodomy charg, appears they do not wish for their own activists to be held acuntable to the same laws.

(BP)–News that a proment member of the ex-“gay” movement has fallen to sexual s should not overshadow the succs of the movement self, Christian lears upg book, “Anythg But Straight, ” as well as several homosexual newspapers are reportg that Michael Johnston, who appeared before Southern Baptist Conventn msengers 2000, fell back to homosexualy after sayg he had been eed om the liftyle through his fah reports — nfirmed by his iends — say that Johnston had unprotected sex wh men durg the past two years but failed to tell them that he was HIV-posive. Johnston, founr of the now-funct Kesso Mistri, has sce repented and is unrgog Christian unselg, his iends the news is beg touted the homosexual muny as another sign that homosexualy is geic, the foc stead should be on the thoands of former homosexuals who have experienced eedom through Christ, the head of Exod Internatnal said.

Ben, former spokman for the Human Rights Campaign — the natn’s largt homosexual rights anizatn — has wrten “Anythg But Straight: Unmaskg the Sndals and Li Behd the Ex-Gay Myth. “The extreme right wg touted the ex-gay mistri as a knockout punch to the gay muny, but has stead bee a punch le ls than three years, ” Ben said a prs release about the Wilks, director of Cross Mistry, another outreach for homosexuals, said that Ben do not unrstand fully the goals of such mistri.

HOW CHRISTIANS TURNED AGAST GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

“Ben, like many, mistakenly believ that the goal of such mistri is to make homosexuals to heterosexuals, ” Wilks, a former homosexual, said a statement to Baptist Prs.

“… [Instead, ] the ultimate goal for the person wh unwanted same-sex attractns is, as wh any sner, to bee a follower of J Christ, which turn brgs eedom om homosexualy and rtor his te inty Christ. “Homosexual activists will surely charge that this latt fallg ‘prov’ that homosexualy … nnot be changed, and that ex-‘gay’ mistry is a failure, ” LaBarbera wrote an Aug.

”Christians who believe homosexuals n change pot to Scripture, where 1 Corthians 6 the Apostle Pl lists several groups of people — such as fornitors, adulterers and homosexuals — before ncludg, “Such were some of you … but you were jtified the name of the Lord J Christ and the Spir of our God” (NASB) Christians aren’t the only on fdg tensn between God’s law and homosexualy.

EX-GAY LEAR’S FALL PROV COUNSELG IS INEFFECTIVE, RIGHT? WRONG!

The total failure of the “Christian” anizatns to make any attempts to warn Michael Johnston’s victims, my opn, speaks volum about the falsy of their claims of “love” and “passn” for gays. Unlike the “talkg heads” of the “Christian” Right who my opn make utterly disgenuo claims of “love” and “passn” toward gays — Robert Knight sprgs immediately to md — I was face to face wh some of Johnston’s victims and I was greatly moved by the fact that their liv had been lloly put jeopardy. A small role on the upg season of MTV's Awkward led to a veted spot on the fifth season of Teen Wolf(premierg June 29), MTV's homoerotic, howl-at-the-moon teen drama.

"Johnston's myster character will be troduced alongsi an unspecified new supernatural threat to the show's ma characters, and he'll cross paths wh Mason, a cheeky gay human played by Khyl Rhambo. He was referred to extensively by Jerry Falwell as an example of succs, and helped the Southern baptist and Assembly of God to wre strong anti-gay posn papers.

How Christians Turned Agast Gay Conversn TherapyObama's ll to ban the practice reflects a tectonic shift wh the muny that once champned Kelly/RtersThroughout the 1980s and 90s, the Christian right poured money and mcle to promotg the msage that homosexualy was a curable disorr. Mistry lears promised her that if she ntued prayg, readg the Bible, attendg meetgs, and of urse, refg to intify as gay, her sexual orientatn would eventually change and she uld even marry a man. Acrdg to Kenh Lew, his book, Psychoanalysis and Male Homosexualy, some began to view same-sex erotic behavr ls as s than as a mental-health disorr as early as the 19th century.

WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.

This was te of other “sful” behavrs as well—for example, dnkenns morphed to alholism and mon posssn beme schizophrenia or a personaly shift was spurred on by the work of Sigmund Frd the early 1900s, even though the inic nrologist was psimistic about eher the possibily or sirabily of changg homosexual orientatn to heterosexual.

By the start of the Amerin cultural revolutn the 1960s, many mental-health profsnals, clergy, and policians supported the ia that homosexualy was a mental-health disorr that uld be cured through some batn of prayer and “therapy, ” which clud electroshock therapy, masturbatory rendng, and givg patients nsea-ducg dgs while forcg them to view homosexual eroti. Women’s liberatnists energized the femist movement, the nflict Vietnam provoked an anti-war movement, a growg awarens of elogil gradatn brought on the environmental movement, and an creasgly mobilized LGBT muny morphed to a powerful gay-rights 1974, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn voted to remove homosexualy om s list of mental health disorrs.

) After reviewg such studi, major medil anizatns—the Amerin Medil Associatn, Amerin Amy of Pediatrics, Amerin Counselg Organizatn, Natnal Associatn of Social Workers, World Health Organizatn, and others—systematilly repudiated the practic as science was discredg nversn therapy, high-profile ex-gay lears were eher apologizg and fectg to the other si or beg exposed as ds. John Plk, a man who had been a vol and visible supporter of gay nversn for more than a and claimed to be happily married to a former lbian, was photographed a Washgton, D. Three years later, was disvered that Michael Johnston, founr of “Natnal Comg Out of Homosexualy Day, ” was havg unprotected sex wh men he’d met onle spe beg HIV-posive.

EX-LLEGE WRTLER GUILTY OF FECTG, EXPOSG GAY SEX PARTNERS TO HIV AT MISSOURI UNIVERSY

In 2006, Ted Haggard, a fiery opponent of gay rights and then print of the Natnal Associatn of Evangelils, admted to havg gay sex wh a male prostute after unsuccsful attempts to change his orientatn through unselg. A few years later, John Smid, former executive director of the ex-gay advocy group “Love Actn, ” apologized and said he “never met a man who experienced a change om homosexual to heterosexual. ” The nam are only a the send of the 21st century, the scientific foundatn of reparative therapy had erod, every major medil associatn had repudiated , the movement’s lears were fallg away, and viral horror stori om former participants were poppg up across the the ath-knell sound July of 2013 when Alan Chambers, print of Exod Internatnal, Ameri’s largt ex-gay Christian mistry apologized to the LGBT muny and shuttered his anizatn.

Julie Rodgers, the ex-gay mistry survivor om Texas, now serv on the mistry staff at Wheaton College, one of Ameri’s most proment evangelil universi, where she has spoken agast ex-gay therapy. Even the opn edor at the school newspaper for Liberty Universy, found by the late Jerry Falwell, edorialized agast 2011—roughly half a century om gay nversn therapy’s heyday—only 24 percent of Amerins said they believe works. The gay-oriented web se today broke the story that Johnston, former head of an ex-gay anizatn, Kesso Mistri had a moral lapse and is now out of his mistry and a rtorative program.