Bay Windows - National News, August 26, 1999
Scott A. Giordano, Bay Windows Staff

Most notably, one of the nation's prominent anti-gay activists, former Bostonian Anthony Falzarano, was fired on Aug. 7 from an ex-gay organization he co-founded in 1996 called P-FOX (Parents, Family and Friends of Ex-Gays.) That incident followed Falzarano's being barred from a July 26-31 conference held by the nation's largest ex-gay organization, Exodus International, in Wheaton, Ill. In addition, Falzarano reportedly has accused religious-Right organizations of spending millions on ex-gay advertising campaigns while not financing the work of ex-gay ministries themselves.

"[Falzarano and the P-FOX board] had a falling out, and he is now relieved of his responsibilities and is doing his own thing. ... It was on Aug. 7 when [Falzarano] was officially let go. I don't want to get into the details," said Earle Fox, executive director of Transformation Ex-Gay Ministries (TEM), another ex-gay organization co-founded by Falzarano in 1978 and which later branched out to include P-FOX, which operates out of the TEM's Washington, D.C. offices.

Falzarano didn't respond to repeated phone calls from Bay Windows, but leaders from Exodus International confirmed that Falzarano was barred from its recent conference, without discussing the specifics behind that decision.

Exodus International is an umbrella organization with more than 100 ex-gay ministries in the United States, Canada and about 20 other countries. North American Director Bob Davies also confirmed that only three out of hundreds of religious-Right organizations had contributed money to Exodus International in the last five years, while others have spent millions on advertising campaigns featuring people from Exodus and promoting that group's mission while providing no money to the organization itself nor its affiliated organizations.

At the center of the ongoing controversy is the Right's ongoing media campaign, titled "Truth in Love," which kicked off last summer with full-page newspaper advertisements and later TV ads that feature ex-gay people speaking about how they successfully "converted" to heterosexuality. Co-sponsored by a coalition of 18 religious-Right organizations, the ads' main sponsor is the Florida-based Center for Reclaiming Christ for America. Exodus International is among the co-sponsoring organizations, even though leaders from that group say they provided no money for any of the ads.

Calling the alleged rift between the Right and the ex-gay movement "an interesting observation," Davies said that Exodus is now re-examining its ties with the religious Right and its participation in the ongoing advertising campaign, but he stopped short of saying whether an actual rift has occurred.

"I think what is happening is that we at Exodus International are beginning to realize and to formulate our own identity apart from what other people say we are and what they want us to be. That is what we are in the midst of," Davies said. "I won't name names, but there are some organizations that agree with us in terms of our position on homosexuality being a sin, but they have really failed to show what we consider the biblical compassion necessary to communicate that position in a way that the gay and lesbian community can really hear it and understand it. We are no longer prepared to sit by idly and allow other organizations to speak about this issue, especially when they claim to be representing us.

"Many of our leaders have been in the gay community and felt the wrath of the religious Right and are extremely sensitive to the way our messages are communicated, especially to the gay and lesbian community," Davies added. "What has been happening is that people have been building their arguments by using Exodus indirectly. What the religious Right has tended to do is to say there are thousands of people who have come out of homosexual behavior, and then they go into their own presentation of what they are trying to make in terms of fund-raising letters and building their case on the fact that they exist. I think Exodus is going to take a closer look at that in the coming year or two. Where they build their arguments upon us, we want to take a closer look at what they are saying."

The Right's true intentions?

Gay activists have long accused the religious Right of aligning itself with the so-called "Ex-Gay Movement" in order to take a softer approach to promote its anti-gay political agenda.

That theme was suggested in a report published last fall by the Somerville, Mass.-based Political Research Associates (PRA;) the Policy Think Tank for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and a pro-gay religious group called Equal Partners in Faith (EPF.)

"The growing prominence of the ex-gay movement is the result of a strategic shift within the Christian Right: the new packaging of an old message. The claim that [gay and lesbian people] can be 'cured' has more to do with the Right's political objectives and its bitter opposition to equal rights than with genuine caring," reads the preface for the report, titled "Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy."

Wayne Besen, associate communications director for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC,) predicts the Right is about to outuse its ties with the ex-gay movement.

"The religious Right has always seen the ex-gay movement as the latest fad they can use to deny gay people equality. When that outserves their use, they will find themselves another bandwagon to jump on," Besen said. "The tension that exists right now shows that is already starting. Clearly, the novelty [of the ex-gay movement] is wearing off. Now the religious Right is faced with the question of whether to pump money into something they know doesn't work or to stop supporting the ex-gay groups, and that will force it to look like they never believed in them to begin with."

HRC Communications Director David Smith said it sounds like Anthony Falzarano has been caught in the crossfire and has been alienated by both ex-gay and religious-Right leaders.

"It's our understanding there are some people within the ex-gay movement that are really upset with the mean-spirited political tone that some people have been using to promote the notion of gay people changing their sexual orientation. ... I think Anthony has been caught up in all of that as one of the more meaningful mean-spirited people and has fallen out of favor amongst many of the ex-gay ministries who hold that view I just described," Smith said. "Anthony has gone off the deep end lately. It's my understanding that he also has alienated people at the [Family Research Council] as well because of his comments that the FRC has not contributed enough money to P-FOX."

Those alleged comments were mentioned in a recent article from Wired Strategies, which also reported that the FRC had helped finance a recent P-FOX conference and had set up a matching fund for donations from $100-$75,000.

Right's lack of commitment?

Davies would not speak about why Falzarano was barred from the Exodus conference, but he did partially agree with the statements attributed to Falzarano in other publications that some religious-Right groups are not doing enough to financially support the ex-gay movement.

"I can't comment on specific reasons why individuals are barred from the conference, but the general view is this: Basically, we have a code of conduct that individuals are required to sign in order to attend our conference, and if individuals violate that code, they are barred from subsequent conferences," Davies said, then responding to Falzarano's statements that the Right lacks commitment to the ex-gay ministries.

"We have been supported by organizations that are publicly labeled as the religious Right. ... The majority have not ever directly supported us financially, but I can think of three organizations that have financially supported us in the last five years in a fairly small measure," Davies said. "[The religious-Right organizations] have their agenda, and basically, they will use any strategy they can to promote their viewpoint and their message. That is standard operating procedure. ... It's smart and strategic. ... It gets down to a basic discussion of what their motivations are in terms of promoting these discussions to begin with. I know that I have wondered that myself."

Davies estimates that the Right's ads touting "reparative therapy," or the conversion of gay people to heterosexuality, resulted in about 150 million people calling ex-gay ministries nationwide, yet the Right have failed to follow up with the campaign by helping the ex-gay ministries to meet the needs of those people who call.

"I have made a request to some of these organizations [that sponsored the ads] in the last year, asking them to consider supporting us financially because of the dramatic increase in costs that are associated with last summer's ad campaign," he said. "We got 3,900 phone calls in a six-week period and our phone bill was almost $1,800. To pay for the ads is great, but we pay the bills. My challenge to [the religious-Right] organizations is that it's wonderful these ads have gone out, but now we need help paying the bills."

Neither Robert Knight, from the Family Research Council, nor Janet Folger, from the Center for Reclaiming Christ for America, responded to phone calls at press time.

Political intentions?

Even Davies questions whether the Right's ads are politically motivated. But he adds that Exodus agreed to have its name attached to the newspaper ads and several of the TV ads because their messages related to the non-political purpose of Exodus.

"I don't know what [the Right's] agenda is; I do know what my agenda is. Specifically, my agenda is to get out the message that freedom from homosexuality is possible through the power of Jesus Christ. If we have other Christian organizations that want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote our message to the American public, we will look at that as an opportunity," he said. "But I anticipate that Exodus and our leadership will continue to evaluate our relationship with other organizations, especially if we see that there are organizations that continue to communicate in a way that we feel is unacceptable. If we see that happening, then we are going to have to decide what we will have to do to begin to distance ourselves from their specific rhetoric regarding homosexuality."

Michael Johnson, an ex-gay man who was featured in several of the Right's ads and who heads Kerrusso Ministries, said there has always been some division within the ex-gay movement about how political the ex-gay groups should be.

ex-gay movement: the purists who believe we shouldn't have anything to do with politics and only minister, and another group that believes it wants to help people and working with those in the political scene will help us to get our message out to more people. I don't perceive there is any great rift developing. It's an ongoing discussion that will probably continue to go on," Johnston said.

Johnston personally believes the best way to help people is through a combination of ministerial and political work.

"[Kerrusso Ministries is] one of the first organizations to engage the public policy issues. I did that because I felt that those who are hurting and those we need to reach out to from a ministerial perspective are those who have driven off the moral bridge. I also believe we need to warn people who have not gone off that bridge by speaking to the public policy issues on a larger social level. Otherwise, we don't help society in the long run," he said.

Johnston also noted that at least a few of the ads' co-sponsors also have contributed directly to the ministerial work at Kerrusso Ministries.

"I know that the American Family Association has partnered with us in outreach that is specifically ministry related and ... I know that Coral Ridge Ministries has worked with us on a couple of projects. There is some back and forth going on. I think to assume that these ads were not ministry-related would be a mistake," Johnston said.

The center of the storm

The advertising campaign is an obvious instigator of the ongoing debate about the ties between the ex-gay movement and the religious Right. The religious-Right coalition first unleashed its media campaign last summer ù placing full-page ads featuring "ex-gays," including Johnston, in the nation's largest mainstream newspapers. That same coalition then produced TV ads and attempted to have them aired in Washington, D.C. and in Orlando, Fla.

Using Mother's Day as a hook, the religious Right's first 60-second TV ad featured Johnston and was titled "MOM." The TV spot followed a stream of photographic stills of Johnston from childhood to adulthood while viewers heard a voice-over by his mother, Frances Johnston, speaking about loving her son and urging people to find out the truth and leave the homosexual lifestyle before it's too late and they acquire HIV/AIDS as her son did. "MOM" was declined by the Washington, D.C. affiliates for the ABC, CBS and FOX networks, but it did air on a minor United Paramount Network (UPN) affiliate.

The Right then targeted Orlando, in conjunction with the Florida city's "Gay Days," held the first week in June, in which thousands of gay men and lesbians visit for a Gay Day at Disney and other area amusement parks. All the Orlando-based major network affiliates also decided not to air the Right's ads, but the city's minor television stations ù WOPX, the local affiliate of PAX-TV, and Christian stations WTGL and WACX ù opted to air the ad.

Michael Johnston is acting as a spokesperson for the ongoing campaign; he recently told Bay Windows that two new ads have been produced and the Right had selected another city to air one of its ads but declined to offer any specifics about when or where the ad will run and which one it will be because he feared it would mobilize the "opposition."

Davies told Bay Windows he had seen two of the ads, one which features ex-gay husbands and wives who speak about leaving the homosexual lifestyle and closes with the toll-free phone number of Exodus International for people to call for more information. When asked by Bay Windows why Exodus would allow its name and number to be associated with the ads if the group is trying to distance itself from political associations with the religious Right, Davies said he did not feel the ad was political in nature and that it effectively promoted the messages of Exodus.

"The reason that we [allowed our number to be used] is because virtually all the individuals who are in that ad are Exodus related. It's a series of husbands and wives who are ex-gay and give testimony to the fact that they have changed, including an Exodus minister and his wife. We felt like that message was totally consistent with our philosophy and everything we represent, and we were comfortable with them listing us if viewers wanted more information," Davies said. "In some ways, we are making a decision based on the actual ad product and the way the ad is presented. If it is using all of Exodus people, then it makes sense to us to allow our number and name to go on the ad."

Unlike last summer's newspaper advertisements, Davies said the TV ads he has seen do not show the names of any organization other than Exodus. "No other organizations appear anywhere from beginning to end, unless they have changed it since I saw it several months ago," he said.

Although no details about another new ad have been released to the public, Davies said he saw one of the new ads that was produced and decided not to allow the Right to use his group's name and number in that ad because it "was not consistent with the Exodus theme." When asked about the specific objections, Davies only said he felt the ad lacked "a compassionate approach, but I am not at liberty to describe the ad to you in more detail because they may be trying to find other agencies to sponsor it."

Although Davies claims Exodus had no involvement in preparing the ads, he said the group was asked to approve the ones in which its name appeared. It's unclear how much involvement Exodus had in selecting those featured in the ads.

"I'm not sure of the strategy on who set up the couples," said Davies, who said it's possible the Right selected people who were featured in the Exodus newsletter, while saying he fails to remember if he was asked for suggestions. "I don't exactly know how [those featured in the ads] were selected. Not that I remember, did I have a part in the selection process. ... I just can't remember right now."

Kerrusso said he was aware that Janet Folger had contact with Exodus prior to the ad's development, but he wasn't sure whether Exodus played a direct role in selecting those who were featured in the ads.

"I don't have an answer for that, whether Exodus participated in the decision-making process, but I suspect [those who] were selected were because they had been in the public and had experience dealing with the media. That was true for me as well," said Johnston, who believes the ads are not political in nature but they be politically motivated by some.

"Anyone who sees the ads will have to conclude that they clearly are not political in nature. That is not to say that some who worked on the ads may not have had political motivations. That is true with any social cause. You will always have some who will do it for political reasons and some who will do it for ideological reasons," he said.

"And if you really have a political motive, I'm not sure it's a bad thing," Johnston added.

The aftermath

At this point, Davies said he does not regret the Exodus name being featured in the advertisements the group has approved, but the controversy surrounding the ad campaign will force him to question future decisions on whether to include the group's name.

"We had seen the ads and approved the ads and didn't think through the implications and that was something we should have paid more attention to because what I have found is that a lot of attention was focused on the co-sponsoring organizations and the claims of the rest of the ads were almost lost because everyone wanted to talk about who was sponsoring the ads and why," he said. "We've been around for 25 years, but we are still feeling our way forward and we make decisions that we see a year later are not the best. But they were the best we were capable of making at that time."

When asked if he ever questioned the Right about their motivations behind the ads and their use of Exodus, Davies said, "We really didn't," and admitted his error.

"I made the decision to allow our name to be listed because I didn't think about it at that point. I felt like, later, that was not the best way to deal with it because there was misperceptions that Exodus had financially contributed towards the ad and that was an error," he said.

Davies would not elaborate on the Falzarano developments, and would not say whether Exodus would work with P-FOX at this time.

"As far as working with P-FOX in the future, they are a young organization that is still developing. Once they have developed their mission clearly in writing, we will look at that and say whether we will agree and work with them or not. ... We are waiting for them to build that foundation and make their presentations. I will say that we are very excited about P-FOX and think it's a wonderful idea, and we are actively hoping to work with them in the future," Davies said.

But Besen believes the ex-gay leaders and the religious Right are a time bomb just waiting to explode.

"The FRC and other groups have never cared about the people in these ex-gay ministries," Besen said. "They try to overlook the realities of these ministries and the suffering they cause people because, for the Right, it's all about presenting a false image of love to the public. They turn a blind eye to the horror stories and fail to address what real people are going through. There are those within the ex-gay ministries who resent the involvement by far-Right political groups, and they are embarrassed and humiliated by the representation they are receiving. ... They are all sitting on a powder keg that is ready to blow."

This isn't the first time that ex-gay ministries have found themselves at the center of a controversy. First founded in 1976, the Seattle-based Exodus International drew media attention in 1978 when two of its founders, Gary Cooper and Michael Busee, left the ministry after falling in love with each and later having a commitment ceremony.

In talk-show circuit interviews from the early '90s, the couple said they were not aware of one person who successfully changed their sexual orientation as a result of the ex-gay ministries. They further said the ministries caused people self-hatred and internalized homophobia that led some to emotional breakdowns and others to attempt suicide.
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