EX Gay Ministries to close, founder issues apology

EX Gay Watch reports

Exodus International, the North American umbrella network of ex-gay ministries, announced tonight that it is shutting down and relaunching as a new ministry. Its remaining member ministries — those that have not already joined the hardline ex-gay rebel group, Restored Hope Network (RHN) — will continue to operate, but not under the Exodus International umbrella.

“We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change – and they want to be heard,” Tony Moore, Board member of Exodus. The message came less than a day after Exodus released a statement apologizing to the gay community for years of undue judgment by the organization and the Christian Church as a whole.

 

Exodus is believed to have suffered financial difficulties since it purchased its $1 million headquarters building, just before the Florida real estate market crashed in 2008. That building was purchased through the Worthen Legacy Group, a shell organization that is named after Exodus co-founder (and now RHN supporter) Frank Worthen.

Exodus lost additional support in 2009 following its involvement in a Uganda conference which precipitated that country’s kill-the-gays legislation; Exodus later repudiated its involvement, but the leaders of what is now RHN have not repudiated their own involvement. The final blow to Exodus may have occurred when Exodus president Alan Chambers appeared at a Gay Christian Network conference in 2012 and admitted that 99 percent or more of “ex-gays” have not changed their sexual orientation. Upon that honest statement, several key member ministries rebelled and left Exodus to form RHN.

The announcement of the Exodus shutdown continues:

“Exodus is an institution in the conservative Christian world, but we’ve ceased to be a living, breathing organism,” said Alan Chambers, President of Exodus. “For quite some time we’ve been imprisoned in a worldview that’s neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical.”

Chambers continued: “From a Judeo-Christian perspective, gay, straight or otherwise, we’re all prodigal sons and daughters. Exodus International is the prodigal’s older brother, trying to impose its will on God’s promises, and make judgments on who’s worthy of His Kingdom. God is calling us to be the Father – to welcome everyone, to love unhindered.”

For these reasons, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to close Exodus International and begin a separate ministry. “This is a new season of ministry, to a new generation,” said Chambers. “Our goals are to reduce fear (reducefear.org), and come alongside churches to become safe, welcoming, and mutually transforming communities.”

The shutdown and reorganization of Exodus accomplishes several objectives:
It insulates the current leadership from more than a decade of bad news involving scandals at Exodus member ministries.
It likely frees Exodus leadership from serious real estate and financial obligations.

It insulates now-severed Exodus ministries from new complaints of psychological warfare that are being aired by the ministries’ former patients, in a TV program that will air at 10 p.m. June 20 on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
It frees member ministries to go their own way, to join the new organization, or to join hardline antigay activists at RHN, an ex-gay network that refuses to hear reports of abuse by its member ministers, supports antigay laws, and contends that anyone can change one’s sexual orientation through widely discredited antigay therapies.

Chambers underwent a personal transformation over the past year, and this week offered an apology for member ministers’ past abuses — an apology that by most accounts seems sincere.

Closing the organization so soon after the apology may give moderate Exodus leaders a chance to start over, free from the baggage of impenitent and allegedly abusive members — or it may allow those unapologetic members to escape ongoing confrontation with the consequences of their alleged abuse.

The closure of Exodus forces remaining ex-gay activists to make clear choices: Do they follow the new ministry’s model of reluctant grace and self-denial; do they affiliate with RHN’s political and religious extremism; or do they seek out the religious and personal freedom that — critics say — both Exodus and RHN have denied to them?

 this is momentous news given our prevailing conditions here in Jamaica and the war of words between atheist LGBT activists and religious voices sadly the Christian LGBT section is silent hence a prevailing view that there is a secularist agenda behind the agitation for the decriminalization of buggery. 

The apology dovetails with the ministry’s 38th annual conference in Irvine, Calif. and the Thursday airing of the television broadcast “God & Gays” on Our America with Lisa Ling. On Ling’sprogram, 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.”

meanwhile locally:

While our church leaders continue to suggest reparative and supposed spiritual healing for homosexuality even in the face of a report of a deacon and a pastor caught having sex in a church in Manchester just days ago, A community in Manchester was left in a state of shock when a male pastor and a deacon were caught having sex inside the church.

A church member who spoke to THE WEEKEND STAR said that the men were discovered having sex when a young church brother, who had been suspicious of the pastor's 'undercover activities', one night came across his vehicle at the church.

His suspicions were further fuelled by the realisation that there were no scheduled meetings that night, and that the grill to the front of the church was also closed.It was said that the church brother decided to 'screechie' into the church from a window at the side of the building.

On entering the church, the young man was hit with the sight of the men in a sexual act. The church brother at first kept his discovery to himself but with the knowledge of the incident so overbearing he eventually told a church officer who convened a meeting with the pastor and other church officers.

The pastor is reported to have admitted to the incident, and has since resigned while the deacon has stopped attending the church.

"The act itself is bad but to do that in the church is just disgraceful," the very disturbed church member said.Efforts by THE WEEKEND STAR to get an official comment from the church were futile. Meanwhile the Montego Bay Ministers Fraternal (audio below) and others are planning a march on Sunday June 23, 2013 two days before the Supreme Court case by Javed Jaghai challenging the buggery law and his own issues with a former landlord who evicted him due to his sexual orientation

also see:

St James Ministers’ Fraternal says Buggery Law repeal will cause Jamaica's destruction

Church defends Buggery Law

Church claims future victimization if buggery is decriminalized in Jamaica

Clearly the latest move by the church groups if we are to go by the Jamaica Observer's report on a planned march and prayer scheduled for next Sunday to pray that buggery is not repealed in the upcoming challenge by Javed Jaghai and AIDSFREEWORLD alongside Maurice Tomlinson that the church groups do not understand or have misunderstood what is being agitated for, they seem stuck on the old message of a repeal instead of decriminalization. Apart from the promised buggery review by government to see if a repeal is in order the court challenges in question seek to test the constitutionally of the law itself while JFLAG for the most part is asking for the law to be decriminalized however the media has not been reporting the matter properly it seems and many are still walking away with the thinking that it is a full repeal that is being asked for hence the frenzy now on and fear mongering by said religious groups and louder anti gay voices. One thing is clear is that the church is mobilizing while our community is still yet not awake to come as a united force.

Here is the Observer report:

THE leadership of Prayer 2000 — a partnership prayer ministry — has called on all churches across the island to participate in a 'peaceful prayer march' next Sunday, ahead of the hearing of an application challenging the constitutionality of the buggery law by the Supreme Court on June 25.

The claim was filed by United States-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World on behalf of Jamaican Javed Jaghai. The group is asking the court to determine if the anti-sodomy law breaches rights guaranteed under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms which was passed into law in 2011.

The initiative, dubbed, "Jamaica Mercy Cry", will see churches from the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, Portland, St Thomas, St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, and in Eastern St Mary gathering outside the Houses of Parliament on Duke Street in downtown Kingston at 2:00 pm.

Meanwhile, churches from the parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James, Trelawny, St Ann, and in western St Mary will gather on the grounds of the Trumpet Call Ministries Church in Montego Bay at 6:00 pm the same day.

President of Prayer 2000, Rev Dr Naila L Ricketts, in an invitation circulated to churches last week, said the pending action marked a very serious crossroads in the nation's history.

"Our constitutional rights to preach the truth of God's word is also threatened and, should the law be repealed, what you and I preached may be termed "hate speech" and will make us criminally liable before the courts in Jamaica," Rev Ricketts warned.

"The removal of the buggery law may result in the legalisation of same-sex relationships and marriages, which "would have far-reaching effects for us as a nation," he contended.

"In the sight of God we will position ourselves as a covenant-breaking society without natural affections. For you as pastors and leaders, you may lose your freedom to preach the undiluted Word of God, you may no longer be able to stand with scripture on this moral issue of same-sex relationships - which the Lord clearly outlines, is an abomination to Him," the Prayer 2000 president stated.

"It is a direct attack at the institution of marriage. This will open the way for homosexual curriculum to be taught to our children from an early age in our school system; that same sex relationships is "normal" and that it is a viable alternative for everyone," Rev Ricketts added.

Noting that the voice of the church must be heard now, he said "the only way to stop our laws from being changed is for the church and the people to rise up in peaceful prayer to protest this direct attack on our freedom".

He added: "We must do this now, let us all take a stand or bear the consequences of our lack of action and muteness. This is a final clarion call for all pastors, leaders, believers to stand up and to let our Parliament and Government know that we will not accept this in our nation."

"We are calling all denominations, all churches and all believers to gather in your numbers and demonstrate your support at any of the two locations on Sunday, June 23," he said.

"This is our final chance, our final opportunity to make our voice be heard. We need the masses to gather and pray and march for our freedom. We need each and every one of us to stand and be counted," he said.

Prayer 2000 was created and mandated to sufficiently raise the awareness of the need for prayer throughout the society in order to facilitate the transformation and revival of the country.

The partnership includes a cross section of individuals from numerous denominations.

ENDS

here is what a supporter of JFLAG put together on their behalf to try to simplify what their new position is as they have rescinded the call for a full repeal for over two years.

my scan of a Gleaner caption

JFLAG as I have always said faces a credibility and poor communication problem especially in the crisis communications arena that maybe due in some part to the media's blocking in the early days when press releases were not published when sent out but now when it should matter most there is fidgeting taking place, it came as a surprise to some in fact even in the LGBT community that they no longer were agitating for repeal but for decriminalization even when it was suggested as a strategy some twelve plus years ago after the original parliamentary submission in 1998.

The church now claims what has happened in other countries where supposed religious voices are legally persecuted for either opposing or speaking out on homosexuality will eventually lead to their speech labelled as hate speech. Recent court cases in the UK have been sited as benchmarks for this so called inevitable abuse of Christians. Case in point: Espeut, West says “Homophobia” was invented to abuse Christians as hate speech  sometimes I wonder if persons do not speak their own doom into reality, what a lovely way to give the very secular and supposed anti-Christ all the ammunition they need?  

Then there is the business of associating moral nihilism agendas by the lobby and supposed missing moral compass so anything goes, Dr Wayne West's brainwashing of local leaders has worked and is now having a major effect. Also see: The False Dichotomy of the religious right on the lgbt advocacy's Godlessness the conflation with a Godless LGBT lobby while gay Christians are for the most part silent so the impression is left on the church that all voices who speak openly are secular or atheists when the false dichotomy of whether God exists or not is now mixed into gay rights on privacy and consent which are the crooks of our struggle. I warned about this in my small way via this audio entry done September 2012 when I saw some cracks in the debate after a television appearance by Javed Jaghai on CVM TV where he rubbished the Bible, the response since then from churches has been loud:

Yet these same religious voices have no problem masking hate speech and skewing studies and data to label and stigmatise vulnerable groups. Case in point from the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS ad both in full paged expensive print and electronic versions, loads of money for that but kids who are hungry?

Amending the law as postured by JFLAG et al has no language as far as I have seen to mute or future mute, demean or silence as it were church groups, in fact the reality is they get much space for their rhetoric albeit loaded with falsities and misnomers. It is about privacy and consent between adults. There is also a concern about non consent between same sex persons and the protection of children even as carnal abuse and other statutes presently protect them.

Following the Jamaica Society for a Healthy Society's recent public relations campaign with an HIV is a gay disease tinge is discussed on Nationwide Radio hosted by the not so tolerant George Davis, the illogical posturings by Mr West and his team is exposed by Mrs Narcisse:

There needs to be some clearing of the air and more listening on all sides here or we may go down a road we needn't have gone. We want the law decriminalized, NOT REPEALED.

Peace and tolerance

H

Thugs caught lovemaking forced to flee for their lives

“Thugs” is used in this sense to describe a hyper-masculine Jamaican man, there has always been a fascination with that type in the same gender male loving world outside of objectifying them with all other kinds of colloquial expressions over the years to describe them in the continuing search for identity I imagine. Word such as “Heaviots” “thuggy thug” “shotta or shottaz” (burrowed from dancehall implying gangster gun culture and its projected male strength) and newer classifications such as “dawgy” (a derivative of dawg (dog) from African American gang culture projecting masculinity or machismo) and “Fiyah” (fire) usually used to describe a male when one is not familiar with his name socially or an obvious Rastafarian male or previously metaphorically associated with anti gay male culture (“fiyah bun dem” – fire burn for them) have now come to represent the section of the MSM group. Male homosexuality in Jamaica has long been associated with effeminacy or feminine behaviour in men whether forced feminization (ballroom and drag culture/tranvestitism, preoperative trans-womanhood, female cisgender imperative) or unforced (innate) but we have seen a steady emergence of very masculine, typical hegemonic elements or hyper-masculine types and aesthetics creep into the culture and image and as such perceptions to me have been changing. Such change has reflected in public discourse, the subject matter in dancehall music and what I term the metrosexual revolution in male dress with several forms of attire that were once viewed as taboo and frowned upon now openly accepted including the openly done lightening or “bleaching” of the skin and the wearing of soft colours such as pink once viewed and to some extent still viewed as a female only shade.

Unlike their counterparts in a previous incident some years ago in the Denham Town area of Jamaica’s Capital Kingston that made tabloid news and was hot on the grapevine and where they used “street force” and their position of power in their community to avoid a community mobbing against them and another case in 2013 of a St Catherine gang leader who was charged for buggery after allegedly forcing new male recruits into becoming passive partners before enrolment and female common law partners for also allowing him to perform anal penetration on them two men in a St Catherine community in their mid to late twenties were not so fortunate in June 2013. Another such case was reported in Kingston earlier this year as well where a reputed gangster had to also leave his community and is now overseas supposedly cooling out as he was allegedly found naked in a series of photos that surfaced on the internet in the company of another nude man. He apparently had a male lover who took shots of themselves after a loving romp at this lover’s home but some reason the shots found their way to a popular blog then Facebook (since removed) allegedly due to a fallout between the two so an unwelcomed outing was the revenge tactic used to embarrass the thug and he now is paying a price. The accused exposer in the mean time is alleged to have been threatened several times by other men close to the situation and the exposed thug and is still in fear of his life, he has not ventured out much to any LGBT events and he plans and monitors his movements carefully so as to avoid being seen and informed on by the exposed thug’s cronies who seem to be everywhere on the lookout.

How the thugs who were caught

The lovers in St Catherine were reportedly caught after the grandmother of one of the men arrived unannounced at the home of one of the men bearing a message from a relative and ground provisions that she would normally carry as she attends a local church nearby as a member of the choir, reports from trusted sources suggest that the two men have arrived at the house earlier that morning from a street dance some miles away held the night before and are frequent patrons on the party scene in the area but many are shocked at the discovery of the two as lovers and speculation has been rife ever since as is usual in cases like this to determine that they were lovers all along at they were seen together quite often in a kind of Sherlock Holmes search for origin of their relationship. Jamaican men under normal socialisation circumstances are very homosocial and indeed do spend more time with each other than they even do with their opposite gender spouses save and except for sex which never usually lasts long according to some. Profiling such as was hinted to in the speculative behaviour of the community members in shock of the news is also not new, we have a way of “sizing up” individuals in this manner especially owing to the fact that the men do not match the stereotypical identity of being gay, the effeminate aura as hinted to in the introduction. With the shedding of the barriers that differentiate supposed easily identified gay men aesthetically as opposed to a heterosexual one such as low wearing pants complete with exposed anal crevices or boxers visible it is hard to “tell” who is or isn’t so hence the prolonged rehashing of persons’ activities to determine if they the speculators missed something in not seeing or suspecting the outed individuals were gay all along.

The men were said to be passionately making love complete with erotic sounds and were kissing allegedly when the grandmother of one made the discovery, a door apparently was ajar when she arrived unannounced and stood in shock (according to reports of her account afterwards) as the men kissed and caressed each other, it is also reported that one “sucked the nipples of the other” and he moaned as if he was a woman, the grandmother is also reported to have commented that not even in her day did she experience such feelings (probably referring to the eroticism between the two men of the moment in time when she arrived for emphasis) and was repulsed by what she stumbled upon. She reportedly barged in and among other things “plead the blood of Jesus” on them as they scampered to find their clothes, it is also reported that her grandson pleaded with her not to share her discovery but that was not to be, the out of area lover tried to leave in a hurry on his resident bro’s bicycle but that was not to be just yet as the elderly woman made an alarm thus attracting community members. Persons were said to have arrived armed with machetes and other devices thinking it was a robbery or untoward event at first while others looked shocked according to one of my sources, a video is said to have been taken by someone in the melee who had a phone of the elderly woman and persons verbally condemning the men as they left hurriedly on the aforementioned bicycle with one as a pillion being towed as stones, bottles and anything that they could find were hurled at them. Persons also seemed angry with themselves following the men eluding them. The seeming delay in the negative response from the community was beneficial in a way as it seems dotted with unusual pauses however maybe due to the disbelief by persons in earshot of the news and the men involved, under other circumstances where men were caught in the act the action would have been far more decisive and maybe more physical damage would have been the outcome especially in a rural community such as this one where this took place.

Because the men made good their escape it seems whatever remaining possessions were stolen including a phone that fell from the pocket of one of them, burnt or trampled on in anger I suppose as the mob could not get to personally inflict their version of jungle homo-purging justice even as the grandmother is incessantly quizzed and gladly provides information about what she stumbled on interspersed with raucous laughter and disparaging remarks including the infamous “battyman fi dead” ode and “dem a get too bright” (they are too open) with it from her captive audience. I am not surprised at this response in as far as the comments allegedly made are concerned rural areas tend to be behind when it comes to anti gay rhetoric and sentiments and since visibility of even perceived homosexuals is rare or persons therein regularize themselves so as to avoid scrutiny the fallout tends to be less than urban or more developed residential areas, I wonder what would have happened if the elder woman saw the men actually in a copulative or penetrative position? it may have be a worse situation since buggery is the crooks of the hardened anti gay positions and homo-negativity indeed homophobia.

Thankfully they were able to escape and use the delay window provided so to do but it raises some concerns I have had for some time regarding the dormant homo-purging sentiments lodged somewhere in our psyche and expressed in episodes of mob violence, it is that the national pressures on the economic front and feelings of sluggishness and non improvement can also be an added factor to that psychologically embedded rage that any “target” of least or less resistance that presents itself can become the punching bag to release those feelings? There are hardly any public instances or examples of LGBT persons who are targets of abuse in whatever forms resisting or retaliating so the perception of us as weak is strengthened with every story such as this one despite the “victims” displaying full masculine traits publicly but somehow weakened by the grandmother’s description of some feminization in their lovemaking actions hence they are no longer “man enough” and deserve expulsion.

Another incident that I can reference took place also in St Catherine nearing the dam head area in December 2012 by a man made irrigation canal an offshoot from the Rio Cobre River where two nude swimmers were also caught allegedly partner-masturbating did not get such a delayed response from irate persons for the most part squatters along the river who were summoned by the person who first saw them and if it weren’t for the arrival of police who were called and the men taking evasive action by swimming across the channel and making their way into thick prickle filled bushes it probably would have ended up far worse with ghastly consequences. The men were covered with cuts and bruises from making their escape. Nude swimming by men is now taboo these days at certain water sources nearing suburban zones, one tends to find that practice more so as one gets into deeper rural terrain. Instances of MSM outdoor sex in particular and persons being caught have not escaped the notice of this blog and is something worth exploring in a socio-anthropological context, the psychology behind the need for gay men in particular in cruising is interesting. There has always been a vibrant outdoor cruising population just observing from my own experience and it seems the practice continues. The University of Technology, UTECH student abuse case in November 2012 comes to mind.

A homosexual tolerance study was released some time ago in 2012 as done by Professor Ian Boxill of the University of the West Indies endorsed by JFLAG/AIDSFREEWORLD suggesting that tolerance was on the rise but recent homo-negative events including alleged beatings, more forced evictions leading to displacements and lesbian-negative atrocities to me suggest otherwise and the recent actions by religious groups. I still subscribe to the thinking that the nation’s psyche has embedded in it those hardened feelings and the right moments every now and again present themselves breaking the perceived supposed public tolerance restraint towards perceived homosexual(ity)s especially when unfortunate homo-paedophile action cases are conflated with consensual adult male homosexuality and seeing homosexuality as predatory behaviour. The legal challenges on now and their proponents and claimants must take into account that the change of the law or amendments won’t change the culture overnight, deeply engrained ideologies, religious imperatives, false dichotomies that LGBT rights agitation is anti-Christian by themselves bordering on moral nihilism and that those persons do not start a process then if it doesn’t produce the desired results simply hop on a plane to another country as many have asylum cases or citizenship changes in progress then leave the rest of us to face the music, the fight is going to get physical as blood is the ultimate price for freedom, it is not a matter of if it’s a matter of when. As visibility increases there are going to be instances similar in nature to the ones included in this entry and we must be prepared and forearmed.

The whereabouts of the two love makers is not fully known their last sighting was in Kingston by a friend, I presume they’ll have to lay very low for now, live it down and just try to adjust to their new reality, they may never be able to return home as I presume by now the other party being a non-resident but known elsewhere may have had his name mired in mud by now owing to the grapevine culture and might be better safer if he remains out of sight from his original jurisdiction. I understand all too well the feeling of being out of kilter from one’s own home and rejection or vilification by family and others, it is more egregious when said siblings or relatives castigate one with strangers. My own temporary displacement and legal woes in November 1996 is testament to those feelings and the long road it took for me (no formal LGBT agencies/psychosocial support around at that time) to reconnect with family and friends some today still maintain a distance but I have been able to return home prior to the passing of both parents (fences mended) and in my home. There is no place like home no matter what others think. The residents in my area have adjusted but there will always be a cloud I am aware but the only way to live down stigma and homo-negative perception is to exist; show them day by day that I am no different than anyone else if only separated by my sexual orientation and that we are not here to “homosexualize” others or condition children as imputed in the fear of us out there.

I hope I can meet the guys one day and talk to them about their experiences and recovery; too often we get the ghastly event details but not the road to recovery after their lives are interrupted.

Peace and tolerance

H

also see

Should we care about dancehall acts & rumours of gaydom?

Outdoor sex and the issues to being caught

So thugs do love too ...... After being caught in the act

Gang leader wanted for Buggery