Thursday, June 20, 2013

The straight enemy of my gay enemy was not my friend

http://exodusinternational.org/

I know, this is the second time I have written today.  It's just that, as Cinderella's Godmother sang so beautifully on the Tony's last week, "Impossible things are happening everyday."

Yesterday I would never have dreamed about putting that address on my Blogspot about Mormon Men of the Priesthood who are gay. Today is a completely new universe.
The first page of Exodus (exodus from a homosexual lifestyle -- for those of you in the not-know)  speaks of true stories from real life ex-gays. Frankly, I often read them with hope and courage and conviction and a lot of doubt.  There was no way I was going to change my sexuality with out divine intervention, and divine intervention was not what they were peddling. 

They were peddling Sports.  And they were peddling prayer and scripture reading.  to change ones sexuality. 

Now I believe in prayer and scriptures.  To some extent, I believe in sports (as long as one of the colors is not red)

The man leading the movement has finely come out with the truth of the Homo matter.  He can change his behavior.  He can keep his junk in check.  He can have a family and a wife without a little something something on the side and be truly worthy to call himself a moral man (for Mormon me, this would include a temple recommend righteously obtained and maintained) And he can still be gay.

He keeps himself in check -- like real men have been doing for hundreds of years with temptations of one kind or another. He sacrifices something that may be good for something he knows can be better.

So go ahead and read an essay or two on the site and know that the essay with the most truth, the most honesty is the one that Brother Chambers wrote today.

 
Exodus Int’l President to the Gay Community: “We’re Sorry”
Leader of 37-year old ministry admits grave errors
Irvine, Calif. (June 19, 2013) — Exodus International, the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality, issued an apology to the gay community for years of undue suffering and judgment at the hands of the organization and the Church as a whole.
The apology (http://exodusinternational.org/apology) dovetails with the ministry’s 38th annual conference in Irvine, Calif. – and the Thursday, June 20, airing of the television broadcast “God & Gays” on Our America with Lisa Ling. On Ling’s program, Exodus President, Alan Chambers, sits down with gay and lesbian people hurt by the Church with the goal of reconciliation.
“It is strange to be someone who has both been hurt by the Church’s treatment of the LGBTQ community, and also to be someone who must apologize for being part of the very system of ignorance that perpetuated that hurt,” said Chambers. “Today it is as if I’ve just woken up to a greater sense of how painful it is to be a sinner in the hands of an angry church.”
Chambers also said: “I am sorry for the pain and hurt that many of you have experienced. I am sorry some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents. “I am sorry I didn’t stand up to people publicly ‘on my side’ who called you names like sodomite—or worse. I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know. I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him, I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.
“More than anything, I am sorry that so many have interpreted this religious rejection by Christians as God’s rejection. I am profoundly sorry that many have walked away from their faith and that some have chosen to end their lives.
“You have never been my enemy. I am very sorry that I have been yours. I hope changes in my own life, as well as the ones we announce tonight regarding Exodus International, will bring resolution, and show I am serious in both my regret and offer of friendship. I pledge that future endeavors will be focused on peace and common good.”
Portions of the Exodus Freedom conference, June 19-23 at Concordia College, are open to the media. Live streaming is available for the main sessions. The event draws men, women parents, teens, pastors and ministry leaders for four days of teaching and support. Many attendees are attracted to the same sex, and desire to live in congruence with their faith. Others attend looking for help in coming alongside those with same-sex attraction.
Exodus President, Alan Chambers, is available for interviews. For press credentials or to set up an interview, contact Amy Tracy at 407/808-9831 or 719/355-9075. For additional information and a schedule of activities, please go to http://www.exodusfreedom.org.
A preview of “Our America with Lisa Ling” can be seen here (http://exodusinternational.org/2013/06/sneak-peak-lisa-ling-special-report-god-gays-with-alan-chambers-video/).

"Giving people options isn't dangerous" states ex, ex-Exodus leader now admits

A  Christian ministry that advised those with a same sex orientation who, are "seeking freedom from unwanted same-sex attraction," has decided this week to shut down shop and board up its windows, it announced today.  Exodus International, who opened for business in 1976, has voted from within its board to shut down shop. 
"Exodus presented itself as an institution in the conservative Christian world that helped gay men and women out of being gay with claims that it could cure being gay.  "But we've ceased to be a living, breathing organism," stated ex-Exodus President Alan Chambers in a statement posted on their website. 
Yes, a straight man picked this jacket
in 2009 to wear for a press release
The announcement came after an open apology to GLBT groups made on the same site hours earlier.
 
"For quite some time we've been imprisoned in a worldview that's neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical."
"It is strange to be someone who has both been hurt by the church's treatment of the LGBT community, and also to be someone who must apologize for being part of the very system of ignorance that perpetuated that hurt," continued Chambers. "Today it is as if I've just woken up to a greater sense of how painful it is to be a sinner in the hands of an angry church."
"Exodus is here for people who want an alternative to homosexuality," Chambers stated in a release to The Associated Press in 2007. "There are thousands of people like me who have overcome this. I think there's room for more than one opinion on this subject, and giving people options isn't dangerous."
Today his statement is slightly different.  Now he says that he "conveniently omitted my ongoing same-sex attractions.
If I may take this opportunity to say, editorially, that I FREAKING TOLD YOU SO! AND SO HAVE THOUSANDS OF GAY MEN AND WOMEN FOR DECADES!!
Here are some of the points he made in his press release:

Now, I can gag at adds like this. 
I can come out of the closes as an ex-gay ad gagger.
  • I was afraid to share (my homosexual feelings) as readily and easily as I do today. They brought me tremendous shame, and I hid them in the hopes they would go away. ...The days of feeling shame over being human in "that way" are long over, and I feel free simply accepting myself as my wife and family does."
  • Saying he was "deeply sorry" to the LGBT community, Chambers said he understood "why I am distrusted and why Exodus is hated." However, he also said that he wouldn't apologize for his personal beliefs against same-sex intercourse and same-sex marriage.
  • I am sorry for the pain and hurt many of you have experienced. I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt when your attractions didn't change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents.
  • I am sorry that there were times I didn't stand up to people publicly 'on my side' who called you names like sodomite - or worse. ... I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart."
  • The announcement  from Exodus and Chambers also made reference to reducefear.org as a potential new ministry. The website says it is "under development" and had made a request foe interested visitors to provide their names and email addresses.
 

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Sign of the times

I know you are wondering what this sign on a boardwalk in Somewhere, USA has to do with gay men, Mormons, gay Mormon men or anyone who has ever loved a gay guy with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

I will let you know when I have made the correlation.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Hunting Mormons

Someone in New York noticed that the billboard near their office building alternated between the two surprisingly different ad campaigns, and was caught somewhere between.  See for yourself.  Warning: Shirtless males forward.  The last two have been manipulated for humor, for those with a sense of it.
Manhunt
 
 
Mormons
 
Manhunt
 
Mormons
 
Oh wait, Mormons?
 
No, no, Manhunt. Right? Must be a glitch.