Eleven years ago, an 'ex-gay' leader walked into a gay bar and changes lgbtq equality

While everyone is celebrating the fact that DADT will be officially repealed tomorrow, today marks another anniversary of something in regards to the gay community which is near and dear to my heart.

From Box Turtle Bulletin:

John Paulk

An Ex-Gay Leader Walked Into A Bar: In 1998, the supposedly “ex-gay” John Paulk and his “ex-lesbian” wife Anne were the centerpieces of a massive publicity push by Focus On the Family to promote the pray-away-the-gay therapy offered by Exodus International. They appeared on 60 Minutes and Oprah, as well as in full-page newspaper ads and on a 1998 cover of Newsweek. Their 1999 book, Love Won Out, became the title for a series of promotional ex-gay conferences put on jointly by Focus and Exodus International. Paulk was an employee at Focus, serving as manager of the organization’s Homosexuality and Gender division, and he had also served as Board Chairman of Exodus International since 1995.

John Paulk busted

On September 19, 2000, Paulk traveled to Washington, D.C. on Focus business when he walked into a dark and seedy gay bar known as Mr. P’s in the heart of D.C.’s Dupont Circle gayborhood. A few of the patrons there, employees at the Human Rights Campaign, recognized him immediately and watched as Paulk ordered a drink and struck up conversations with other bar patrons. One of the HRC staffers called Wayne Besen, who was also working at the HRC at the time and who had already written about the ex-gay movement. When Besen finally arrived at the bar 20 minutes later, he found Paulk on a barstool chatting with patrons. Besen confronted Paulk and tried to photograph him, but the bar’s bouncer, citing house rules prohibiting photography, stepped in and asked Besen to leave. Besen waited outside the bar and when Paulk finally came out the front door, Besen snapped another photo as Paulk was leaving.

Desperate bigot rails against DADT repeal and other Monday midday news briefs

Rob Reiner Previews ’8′: Proponents Of Proposition 8 ‘Made Our Case For Us’ - And in other headlines, water is wet.

Peter Sprigg says Prop 8 witness proves gays can change; proves why his side does so poorly on (and fears) witness stands - And speaking of which, Peter Sprigg shows his tremendous degree of ignorance. Uh Peter, you do know that you all lost that case, don't you?

NOM Still Promoting Bogus Link Between Pedophilia And Homosexuality - Ugly habits are so hard to break, isn't it, NOM?

Spiritual community split about gay marriage vote - Meanwhile in North Carolina . . .

Wash. Times Op-Ed Demands Congress "Take Our Military Back" From LGBT Activists - The desperation of bigots is sometimes so much fun to watch.

SC veterans celebrate the end of DADT

An awesomely moving video courtesy of SC Equality:

NOM creating false division between NC NAACP and the black church community

On its blog, the National Organization for Marriage has the following:

Local TV Surveys Battle Lines in NC: Black Church vs NAACP

Now under this headline is a video which is talking about the anti-marriage equality amendment vote in North Carolina (the video is from NOM's youtube site, thus the false headline):



The segment in question which NOM is using for its headline featured a reporter talking to only one pastor - Patrick Wooden of the Upper Room Church of God - who supports the amendment. He made a claim that the "average African-American on the street" supports the amendment.  Wooten also claimed that African-Americans in NC overwhelmingly supports the amendment.

The report then points out that the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP put out a statement opposing the amendment.

That segment of the video starts at 30 seconds and ends at 1:05. There is nothing else in the video which talks about the black church, the NAACP, or the black community in general.

From that very brief segment of the video, NOM is trying to sow division between the NAACP and the NC black church community.

It is a sloppy attempt for a multitude of reasons. Aside from the fact that the video in question doesn't even mention a division between the black church and the  NAACP, one should also remember that the president of the NAACP, William Barber, is a minister himself.

In addition, hundreds of clergy in North Carolina have voiced a letter opposing the amendment. And how many of them are from black churches you ask? Quite a few. As a matter of fact, a wide variety of churches and denominations (Jewish, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) have been very vocal in opposing the anti-gay amendment.

NOM is discovering that in NC it won't necessarily corner the market on church support, so to speak.

And is probably the reason for the phony claim on NOM's blog.  I think the organization recognizes that the NAACP jumping into the situation is putting a dent in its usual game plan of exploiting the black church and the black community in general.

One more thing. Keep on eye on Wooden because I'm sure that NOM will be trotting him out in front of the cameras. Wooden has a  history of nasty behavior towards the gay community (which I am sure he will say that was done in love), including saying the following in 2004:

"We have to block the use of euphemisms when we talk about homosexuals. They are not gay. We've got to use terms like 'deviant' and 'abomination.' "

Know Your LGBT History - Gay documentaries, past and present

You want an example of how far the lgbtq community has come? Check out documentaries looking at our lives.

The Homosexuals (sounds sinister, doesn't it?) was a CBS documentary which premiered in 1967. I will just break it down in two words - it stunk.

From Wikipedia:

Three years in the making, "The Homosexuals" went through two producers and multiple revisions. The episode included interviews with several gay men, psychiatrists, legal experts and cultural critics, interspersed with footage of a gay bar and a police sex sting.

As you can tell, it was not a fair documentary to our community. In all honesty, though, we are talking about 1967. Harvey Milk hadn't even come on the scene yet. And the Stonewall Riots were two years away.

Still, as the following clips shows, there is a reason why Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out called this documentary "the single most destructive hour of antigay propaganda in our nation's history."



If you closed your eyes, Wallace would remind you of Peter LaBarbera or Peter Sprigg.

Now take a look at a clips from a documentary which will be premiering next week to commemorate the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell:




The phrase "as different as night and day" is a cliche, but in this case, it is a very apt cliche to use.

We have come a long way, haven't we? And we haven't even finished accomplishing what we are going to accomplish in this world. Don't let the haters get you down. Always fight and never give up.


Past Know Your LGBT Posts: 

Boehner's DOMA problems, Rick Perry's prayer event lies, and other Friday midday news briefs

Boehner Claims Homosexuality Is A Choice In Effort To Preserve ‘Defense Of Marriage Act’ - More and more, the case for DOMA is becoming a repeat of the case for Prop 8. I hope that the outcomes will also be similar.

Perry's Prayer Rally, The AFA, And Champion The Vote - Rick Perry lied when he said that his prayer event wouldn't be political.

New York Clerk Could Face Lawsuit for Marriage License Refusal - The religious right no doubt wants this. I say bring it on!
  
New analysis shows startling levels of discrimination against Black transgender people - And folks, this does not look good.

NC's leading 'protect marriage' group: Homosexuality is 'unnatural', 'biologically destructive', caused by 'abuse or acquired taste', 'changeable' - Ugh, I say. Ugh!

Social Security Ends ‘Gender Matching’ For Employee Records - Let's end with a bit of good news.

Why Americans for Truth is an anti-gay hate group

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality is one of the so-called "pro-family" organizations labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Of course the leader of this group, Peter LaBarbera (otherwise known as "Porno Pete") takes offense to this label. He said the following in a recent interview:

"They're treating pro-family groups like pariahs," the AFTAH founder compares. "It's a very dirty tactic, because we're not about hate; we're about loving people enough to tell them the truth . . ."

LaBarbera at the time was whining about how the media wasn't covering the fight between groups like his and the gay community as he thinks it should be covered, but let's look at his claim about "telling the truth."

The following are LaBarbera's idea of "telling the truth":

This is a badly doctored photo of openly gay Congressman Barney Frank. LaBarbera posted it on his site to accompany a ridiculous claim that gay TSA agents are getting their thrills by groping men.

No doubt Labarbera claims that it was a joke, but it's  a rather tasteless attack on the gay community and its par for the course for LaBarbera.

Other things LaBabera has done to earn his organization's hate group status includes:

1. attempting to smear GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) days before its annual Day of Silence event via a fake controversy involving pictures on a facebook page not even associated with GLSEN.

2. Smearing gays via a CDC report on an increase on HIV while intentionally downplaying the part of the report which clearly places the blame on this increase on homophobia (while at the same time implying that the report "dispels the homophobia causes AIDS propaganda")