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This letter was addressed to me and my readers and I will like to share the way it was sent:
Dear Adamfoxie* Readers
Wow. The head of the biggest “gay cures” organisation in the world has just announced they will shut themselves down. And they’ve apologised to gay people everywhere.
Today we applaud the thousands who have spoken up against gay cures, including allout members like you and orgs like Truth Wins Out, GLAAD, Soulforce, FundaciĂ³n Causana, FederaciĂ³n Argentina LGBT, Gaylesta, and so many more who exposed Exodus and led critical fights to ban gay cures for years.
Two years ago, when All Out members started working for an end to so-called "gay cures", the plan was to expose, isolate, and then eliminate organisations that claimed they could “cure” gay people.
Now one of the biggest gay cures organisation in the world has declared itself out of business, and apologised for all the harm it has done. Amazing!
All Out members did a lot with our partners in the last 2 years to help discredit “gay cures” so much that now the biggest gay cures organisation in the world just called it quits:
- In France, Health Minister Marisol Touraine replied to our 76,000-strong petition by condemning "gay cures" in a public statement, and put a plan to get rid of them in the French national plan against homophobia.
- In Argentina, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism denounced religious "cure" sessions after our campaign made national news.
- Our petition, in partnership with Change.org, helped pressure Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to announce an investigation to shut down over 200 illegal clinics forcing young lesbians into "cures". Then 66,000 All Out members signed a thank you card to encourage him to stay vigilant.
- Two weeks ago, more than 130,000 All Out members got Apple to take away an anti-gay app from their store, while increasing the pressure on Google to do the same.
- Right now, All Out members are also mobilizing in Brazil to stop a bill that would make it legal for doctors to try to ‘cure’ people of being gay.
All Out and our parnters have been fighting for years because “Gay cures” prey on people who are deeply worried they might be gay, convincing them that they have a serious illness. That can lead desperate people to depression or suicide.
Exodus International offered these “gay cures”for nearly 40 years - but has now admitted they were wrong to ever try to change people’s sexuality.
Here is part of Exodus International’s President Alen Chamber’s apology:
"Please know that I am deeply sorry. 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 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 that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine."
There’s no question that there’s more to do. Google still thinks it’s okay to make a “gay cures” app available from their store. In Brazil, some politicians are still pushing to make “gay cures” legal again. And there are still smaller “gay cure” organisations that haven’t yet woken up like Exodus International.
But this is a big win, and a massive blow for people who still peddle “gay cures”. We’ll keep at them together. All 1.7 million of us, from every country in the world, working to build a world where no one has to sacrifice their family, freedom, safety, or dignity because of who they are or who they love.
With love and hope,
Andre Banks, and the rest of the team at All Out.
PS: Have you signed the petition asking Google to remove the dangerous "gay cure" app from its store? It's at 150,000 names and growing fast! Click here to sign or if you've already signed, click here to share it on Facebook.
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In memory of the death of this organization I will post something we(adamfoxie*) reposted a year ago. It also refers to a death and the cause I personally believe it was of AIDS. This is of someone who said:
 Anthony Falzarano, the shrill “ex-gay” activist who founded Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and once derisively referred to hate crime victim Matthew Shepard as a “predator to heterosexual men” has died. A staunch proponent of spiritual warfare, Falzarano once told CBS News, “AIDS comes from the devil, directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to us this morning that they indeed had an Anthony Falzarano there in their morgue. Since Anthony and his wife, Dianne, are the only ones listed there by that name, we are taking this as confirmation that this is the same Anthony Falzarano who has participated in ex-gay and anti-gay activities since the 1990′s.
Prior to his “transformation” he claimed to be a former prostitute and the late Roy Cohn’s houseboy. Falzarano’s entry into the “ex-gay” scene in the early 80′s has always been a little murky. In one version of his tale, God told Falzarano to go straight before the AIDS crises hit. In another version, after many of his friends had passed away, God told him to become “ex-gay.” In yet a third version, one of his sexual conquests felt guilty after their encounter and introduced him to Christ. Obviously, these colorful versions are contradictions and they can’t all be true.
(Box Turtle Bulletin has more on this aspect of his life. And for the complete story, please get my book,Anything But Straight)
Falzarano put the bite in soundbite and was media friendly, clever, and opportunistic. In 1998, he started the wretched organization PFOX with an $80,000 grant from the virulently anti-gay lobby group the Family Research Council. This is the same year that 15 religious right organizations unveiled the high-profile $600,000 “Truth in Love” campaign. Falzarano regularly appeared at Family Research Council press conferences and in the media during this tumultuous time period when the “ex-gay” industry was in its heyday. Falzarano also told me that he was one of Dr. Robert Spitzer’s subjects in his recently renounced study.
Falzarano departed PFOX after a bitter dispute with the religious right. In a media conference at the National Press Club, he claimed that conservative political groups who sponsored a high-profile 1998 ad campaign, had no use for “ex-gay” organizations other than for public relations purposes.
“Many of us in the ex-gay movement feel we are being used,” said Falzarano. “The [anti-gay coalition] is not coming close to the needs of homosexuals. We did that very successful newspaper campaign last year…the Christian Coalition did not send us a dime. All we’re asking for is possibly some money to pay for postage stamps.”
Falzarano was kicked out of PFOX and at one point refused to vacate the group’s office, which led to a stand off. Eventually he departed and started a rival organization, Parents and Friends Ministries. However, the group quickly hit a snag when it tried to host a three day “Healing for the Homosexual” conference at The Catholic University of America. The school cancelled the event after the university said that Falzarano applied for use of school facilities under “false pretenses.”
According to the Washington Times, CUA spokesman Victor Nakas said Falzarano misrepresented the intent of the conference in newspaper ads–giving the impression it would deal with ministering to victims of child abuse – when he signed the contract.
“We do not rent space when people come to us under false pretenses,” Nakas said in the Timesarticle. “When we found out the purpose of the conference was different than he had applied for, we contacted him on May 17. We do not rent space to people who misrepresent themselves. If the conference had been described to us as it was in the ad, it’d be a completely different story.”
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