Sunday, July 17, 2011

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Rudy Giuliani


'I think the Republican Party would be well advised to get the heck out of people's bedrooms and let these things get decided by states. We'd be a much more successful political party if we stuck to our economic, conservative roots. I think it's wrong [gay marriage], but there are other things that I think are wrong that get decided by democratic vote. I see more harm, however, by dwelling so much on this subject of gays and lesbians and whether it's right or wrong in politics." - Rudy Giuliani, speaking today to CNN.


reposted from Joe

Via Boxturtle & Towleroad:Trailer Trash

From Towleroad comes this photo shot by a Reddit user at the DMV in Salem, Oregon.

Via Lester & Charlie: Pray Away the Gay!

Could you say that louder, God?

Something funny is going on at Bachmann & Associates, the Christian counseling clinic that's run by 2012 GOP hopeful Michele Bachmann and her awfully "funny" husband. According to undercover video and accounts from former clients, the Bachmanns want homosexual men to pray the gay away.

The Bachmanns have long denied that their clinic advises gay patients that, with prayer, God will magically make them straight. Bachmann's husband, however, is already on record as calling gays "barbarians" -- and Michele herself said in 2004 that to be gay is to be "part of Satan" and advocated a return to derogatory gay stereotypes on television, a return to a "kind of tittering, making fun." But trying to turn gays straight? That, apparently, is too much for them to own up to.

An undercover video made by a gay rights advocacy group and aired on ABC News, however, exposes the lie. In it, counselors at the Bachmanns' clinic (which received $137,000 in federal Medicaid funds over the past five years) are clearly advising a patient that prayer can "re-orient" him and make him attracted to women. In a moment of extra-special creepiness, the counselor focuses specifically on being attracted to a woman's breasts.
Some news reports have called this "reparation" therapy foisted on gay men by the Bachmanns and their ilk "rather controversial." Perhaps they would also say it's "rather controversial" to insist that the Moon is actually the head of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Or maybe they should just call it what it is: hogwash.

So what else are the counselors at Bachmann & Associates up to? Michele won't say, merely stating that they offer a variety of services but can't comment because of client confidentiality. But what do YOU think? What else are the Bachmanns hoping people will "pray away" at their Christian clinic?



Via JMG: CBN On British "Ex-Gay" Sting

Joe covered the below incident when it took place in 2009. CBN is looking for a fresh angle in light of the Bachmann situation.




reposted from Joe

The (Gay) Edge Of Glory

Via AmericaBlogGay: Leader of discredited ex-gay movement compares it to Weight Watchers

Michele and Marcus have put a spotlight on the discredited ex-gay movement. And, Alan Chambers, who identifies as ex-gay, is jumping in front of the tv cameras to defend that movement. Via ABC News, Chambers compared being gay to being obese: 

In an interview with ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross, a leading figure in an "ex-gay" movement claims many evangelical Christians have been able to change their sexual orientation through faith, prayer, and therapy.

"Does counseling help people who are struggling to live through the filter of the faith over their sexuality? It definitely, absolutely does," said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International. Chambers says that the group's efforts to promote therapy to turn gays away from homosexuality have been unfairly criticized.

"We can look at other organizations who help people dealing with other life struggles. For instance, Weight Watchers, which has tremendously benefited my life. Should we go after Weight Watchers and tell them 'Don't say that there's anything beyond obesity' for people who are struggling with obesity and want an alternative to that?"

Obesity? I'm trying to imagine the Weight Watchers-like point system Chambers uses. Something like one point for not checking out guys, two point for not checking Manhunt or Grindr...and it would only go up from there...

Watch as Chambers make his outlandish claims after Dr. Jack Drescher explained,"This so far outside the mainstream it's practically on Mars" -- and has Chambers bleached his hair?:

Apparently, Alan still "struggles." From Ex-Gay Watch:

Yet this is the same Alan Chambers who says he still struggles daily with his attraction to men. His fundamental orientation is unchanged. This is what he said of his “same-sex attractions” in 2008:

And so every single morning — this is a ritual for me — I wake up and I say, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without You. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me. I choose to submit my will to the Lordship of your Son, Jesus Christ. And I choose better. I choose to follow You, I choose to allow Your Holy Spirit to walk before me, to guide me, to speak for me.”

NOTE FROM JOHN: It's interesting that ABC failed to note that the head of Exodus recently told - who? - ABC that it's not possible to change your sexual orientation.