Another 'ex-gay' refusing to take responsibility for his own actions

(Edward) Delgado speaks about his life of homosexuality as a Southern California teen, when he’d had 10 male sex partners by age 19. He said a suggestion by a friend to read the New Testament led to a religious awakening, which has allowed him to live happily as a straight man.

Delgado said the homosexual lifestyle leads to promiscuity, abuse, alcoholism and drug abuse.

“The things that I speak are not a lie, because I’ve lived these things,” he said.

The faces are different but the narrative is always the same. You can always predict what these paid "ex-gay folks" will say.

The latest model, Edward Delgado, was speaking at the University of Alabama Fairbanks as a part of a series of lectures. Delgado, who was invited by Campus Bible Ministries, is a "ex-gay" who is now a deacon at Dimond Boulevard Baptist Church and has been married to a woman for 16 years and has two sons.

Well good for him but pardon me for yawning. Naturally some students and faculty members were upset at his comments, as they should be.

Granted, I'm all for his first amendment rights to speak and I'm all for the group who invited him.

But I would have taken another direction altogether when it comes to protesting his visit. I would have taken the opportunity to question him directly and publicly because Delgado's narrative is so repetitive.

I'm sure you have heard it all before:

"I did a lot of drugs, I drank like a fish, I had sex with everything but the trees. But it's not my fault. It was the homosexuality in me."

Almost every supposed ex-gay who has resurrected themselves as a preacher or a religious right spokesperson has told the same narrative. And don't get me wrong, I think that if they stopped with the bad behavior of drug abuse, alchoholism, etc, it's a good thing.

But for once, can they ever take responsibility for their own actions? I mean maybe their sexual orientation had nothing to do with their decision to take that drink, snort that drug, or bend over for anyone with a pulse.

Maybe they themselves made the individual decision to engage in bad behavior just like many lgbts across the nation make the decision not to do these things.

Delgado can believe what he wants but I resent his implication that being an lgbt is to blame for his personal choices. For him to do so impugns the reputation of myself and the many lgbts who are living our lives sans the bad behavior of alcoholism, illicit drugs, and promiscuous sex.

For once, I would like to see people like Delgado questioned on this. Forget protesting their appearances because to do so only gives them power. It makes their message more palpable in terms of "oooh what he has to say gets so many people angry so I want to hear it."

To expose "ex-gays" like Delgado, we shouldn't discourage their right to speak. We should encourage them to speak with as much detail as possible. And we should question them as much as possible.