Monthly Archives: June 2013

New Jersey Gay Activist Lies May Have Sealed Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act’s Fate

Garden State Equality and Brielle Goldani’s Lies To Advance Legislation Catching Up

It is now crystal clear that Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Garden State Equality and Brielle Goldani’s lies are catching up to them. On May 30, CBS New York reported:

New Jersey Senate has put off a vote on a bill banning licensed therapists from trying to convert gay minors into heterosexuals. The postponement was made Thursday so some unspecified changes could be made to the legislation. It will be heard next by an Assembly panel.

Interestingly, the report failed to include some key facts that have been leading up to this decision. While the story mentions an Assembly panel hearing, it fails to report the fact that the same hearing was scheduled for May 15 and was also postponed, presumably due to “unspecified changes,” which is code for “we’re backing away from this toxic bill and we don’t want to tell you why.” Voice of the Voiceless (VOV) previously reported:

May 15 was supposed to be the nail in the coffin for New Jersey opponents of SOCE, who were attempting to push this legislation through a partisan legislature and put pressure on Republican Governor Chris Christie to take sides in an election year. After successfully moving the bill out of the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee, activists had secretly scheduled an Assembly hearing for May 15. In fact, Gay City News reported on May 8 that Dr. Jack Drescher, a prominent New York gay psychiatrist, was scheduled to testify on May 15 before the New Jersey Assembly in favor of the bill.

But now, gay activists in New Jersey are running away from their fraudulent statements on March 18, and legislators are following the same course. Below is summary of their lies:

Lie #1 – Transgender Brielle Goldani said she was tortured in 1999 in a Columbus, Ohio “conversion therapy torture camp.” No one has been able to corroborate her story, including the Ohio Secretary of State, Attorney General, and her home church in New Jersey, whom she said paid for the camp. Additionally, mental health practitioners who have been working for decades in Ohio have never heard of a camp called “True Directions,” except of course, in Draq Queen RuPaul’s 1997 film But I’m a Cheerleader.

Lie #2 – Garden State Equality claimed there were an additional six “conversion therapy camps” after the Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act Press Conference in May. After multiple e-mails and phone calls to their office, Executive Director Troy Stevenson failed to produce any evidence or provide any names, as he promised he would. Not surprisingly, the New Jersey mainstream media has failed to hold him accountable to produce the names of these so-called “conversion therapy camps.”

Lie #3 – This week VOV discovered yet another allegation from Troy Stevenson of a “conversion therapy camp” in Oklahoma. Apparently, this “conversion therapy camp” caused Troy’s childhood friend to commit suicide. Who knows how much truth is in this story. If this boy did commit suicide, that is obviously a tragedy. Any loss of life at any time is a tragedy, and we grieve for this boy and his family.

But what is really concerning is Troy Stevenson and Brielle Goldani’s attempt to use half-truths and downright fabrications to advance their political agendas in New Jersey. Just how far will these activists go? How many lives will they exploit in order to score cheap political points for Senator Barbara Buono’s campaign against Governor Christie? How many children in New Jersey will be told they are born gay and their same-sex attractions did not result from childhood sexual abuse from the likes of Pedophile Jerry Sandusky?

It appears, at least for now, that the New Jersey Senate is backing away from this toxic legislation. But who knows what Troy Stevenson and Garden State Equality are up to next? Who knows how many more unsubstantiated allegations of “conversion therapy camps” will come next without a news media to challenge them? Below is the e-mail I sent to Stevenson this week, asking him once again, to provide evidence of his allegations. To date, he has not responded.

Christopher Doyle, M.A. is the Co-Founder and Acting Director of Voice of the Voiceless, the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info

 

 

Mr. Stevenson,

I wanted to follow up once again to the e-mail I sent you below, as well as ask you a question in response to your personal story of a conversion camp in Oklahoma (see below).

You have yet to provide, as promised, the names of the six Ohio conversion camps. We can only conclude that these camps do not exist. If they do, please give us names so we may investigate. Also, please give us the name of this conversion camp in Oklahoma.

It is to your benefit to be transparent about these allegations you and your organization have continually made against those of us who work in this field. I am happy to work with you and Garden State Equality to end any abusive practices, if they exist. However, all we have heard to this point is unsubstantiated allegations and half-truths from your side.

Thanks,

Christopher Doyle
Co-Founder
Voice of the Voicelesss

 

Personal – I’ve never told anyone this.

Posted by Troy Stevenson, Executive Director, on March 18, 2013 (Image)

Right now, I’m on the train to Trenton with members of the Garden State Equality team. We’re getting ready to testify in front of the Senate Health Committee to talk about “gay cure” and “conversion” therapies and why they are so harmful for LGBT youth.

As I was going over my prepared remarks, I realized that there is a story I’ve never shared before that I’m ready to tell — because this issue is deeply personal to me, and it’s important for legislators to hear it.

When I was 15 years old, I met a young man from the rival high school in my home town in Oklahoma. He was the first person I felt I could truly connect with, the first person I came out to, and the first person I ever kissed.

But that first kiss was interrupted. The football team caught us behind the school after practice. We ran for what we felt was our lives, and what may very well have been in Oklahoma in the early 1990s.

We made it to our homes safely, and my first call was to my friend to make sure he was OK.

But he wasn’t OK. He described the “conversion” camp his parents sent him to when he told them he was gay. He described things that I couldn’t imagine, indignities that I won’t repeat. He said, “I will never go back.”

That was the last time we spoke. The next day I found out that he took his life. There is no doubt in my mind that the thought of returning to that torment was more than he could take.

It took me another decade before I was brave enough to honor his memory and honor my true self-identity by coming out of the closet once and for all. I became a better person, an advocate, and stronger than I knew I could be. I found a new home, here in New Jersey, and I am proud to lead an organization that works every day to fight for the equality, fairness, and acceptance that I never felt as a young person.

I’ll be telling this story to the legislators later this morning, but I wanted you to hear it first from me directly.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do and for the role you play in this organization, our community, my chosen home.

–Troy Stevenson
Executive Director, Garden State Equality

New Transgender Children’s Cartoon on Hub Network Sparks Controversy

New Transgender Children’s Cartoon on Hub Network Sparks Controversy

SheZow! Raises Questions on the Appropriateness of Exposing Kids to Transgenders

The new kid’s cartoon, SheZow! Transgender Superhero premiered last Saturday, June 1, 2013 on the Hub network, co-owned by Discovery and Hasbro. The cartoon’s plotline follows a little boy who discovers how cool it is that he has the power to become a superhero girl. The cool factor of SheZow! is hiding the real story of gender identity confusion that will be forced on our children unless this is stopped dead in its tracks.

When a single profound idea like “gender bending” is accepted into society through its children, once grown up they will have incorporated this idea permanently into what is considered “normal” without stopping to think about the ramifications such choices may entail. For example, those suffering from Gender Identity Disorder (GID) will live with the manifestations of the idea that there are no consequences to simply changing one’s biological gender at will, and may never question as to why they could be confused or unhappy with that choice.

Let me be clear, this should not be stopped with hate, bigotry, or bullying, but through a powerful kind of love that simply and unyieldingly says “no.” As every child learns (hopefully) when he or she grows up to be a parent, sometimes real love does indeed say “no.” The reason we need to say “no” to our children watching SheZow! is because it is our kids who get hurt the most when adults force political agendas on them. In this case, children will be hurt by adults who are attempting to make cataclysmic changes to human nature through creating “marvelous” new ways for children to be “educated” and have “fun” by “gender bending.”

Every good parent, and every good therapist for that matter, knows that children need a balance of “yes” and “no.” Without this balance they tend to develop emotional difficulties, and worse, tend to be blamed for it since the parents in society are usually perceived to be right.

Without the love of “no,” children will grow up to have emotionally unhealthy boundaries. Their inner selves will be insecure and unmoored, and their relationships will be messier with each succeeding generation. They will unconsciously visit the same dysfunction onto their children who also hope at the bottom of their hearts that their parents will love them completely and perfectly, and will therefore largely accept what they were taught.

I believe that if cartoons such as SheZow! are accepted, two things will happen with children. First, some sensitive children will accept the message that this is “cool” and will blame themselves for their gender confusion issues later in life. Second, other children will naturally balk at cartoons such as this and will express anger toward their peers or their parents. However, these children, because they are powerless, will find ways of unconsciously acting out their anger and confusion onto their peers and parents because adults tend to have all the power. However, I also believe that some children will figure it out and work to change society.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Right now, today, this year, we adults have the power to love our children so much that we will protest and speak up to the companies that air these absurd cartoons, and simply tell them our children are going to be strong, healthy and secure in their gender identities. We can show them that by boycotting or banning these cartoons we will throw out the idea of “gender bending.”

The political organizations that have, with full consciousness, partnered with profit-seeking companies such as Discovery and Hasbro, know exactly what they are doing by creating SheZow! They know our children will tend to believe what they see and hear in the entertainment world.

Because of this, we as parents and responsible adults must love our children enough to tell them “no” and hold companies accountable that try to destroy their innocence. If you would like to let your voice be heard, visit the One Million Moms webpage that is speaking out against this issue at: http://onemillionmoms.com/issues/shezow-transgender-superhero

David Pickup, M.A. is a Licensed Psychotherapist and has counseling offices in Los Angeles, CA and Dallas, TX. He is a Guest Contributor with Voice of the Voiceless, the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info