Wayne Besen, David Roberts, and Other Ex-Gay Haters Throw Tantrums on Blogosphere
It was bound to happen. Now that the New Jersey bill to ban therapy for minors with unwanted same-sex attractions has been successfully branded the Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act, anti-ex-gay/gay activists are throwing tantrums on the blogosphere.
In a May 7 post, Toby Grace whines that “Brielle Goldani is now living a nightmare because of her courage and willingness to testify to the New Jersey Senate committee holding hearings on bill S2278, also known as “The Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act . . . Ms. Goldani says she has been essentially driven into seclusion by harassing phone calls at both home and work and stalking on social media sites. Troy Stevenson, director of Garden State Equality, characterized it as a “re-victimization,” and points out that, while there may be no camp with such a name in Ohio today, that in no way means there was none 15 years ago.”
To be clear, Brielle Goldani’s fraudulent testimony on March 18 has been thoroughly discredited in articles published byWorldNetDaily.com and Townhall.com. To sum it up, no one can corroborate Goldani’s story of being tortured in a camp called “True Directions,” which only exists in a 1999 movie starring Drag Queen Ru Paul. The Ohio Secretary of State and Attorney General’s office confirmed that no such camp has ever existed, as well as several licensed mental health practitioners in Ohio who have been working in the sexual orientation field for decades. Additionally, the top official in the Assemblies of God church network in Ohio denied such a camp has ever existed, as well as Goldani’s church in New Jersey, who she said paid for her (him at the time) to attend the so-called “conversion therapy torture camp.” Re-victimized? Sorry, one would have to be victimized in the first place to be re-victimized, and Goldani clearly has not.
But that hasn’t stopped the gay activists in New Jersey from doubling-down on their discredited conspiracy theories of “gay conversion therapy” camps. Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Garden State Equality, claims there are an additional six camps in Ohio doing similar work as True Directions. Really Troy, six camps that use aversion therapy such as forced IV injections and electroshock therapy intended to zap the gay out of youngsters? The scene in New Jersey is quickly turning into a full-fledged circus with these unsubstantiated allegations, and the activists are getting nervous. So much so, that they cancelled the May 15 Assembly hearing where they intended to bring in “prominent” gay psychiatrist Dr. Jack Drescher to put a nail in the coffin for sexual orientation change effort (SOCE) therapy and send the Jerry Sandusky Victimization Act on its way to Governor Chris Christie’s desk.
Clearly on the defense, anti-ex-gay activists are sooooo angry that their lies are being called out. David Roberts of Ex-Gay Watch complained last night on Facebook that therapists like me who are against children being victimized by pedophiles like Jerry Sandusky, and then lied to by gay activists that their same-sex attraction isn’t caused by sex abuse, are using this bill for political purposes and to “further our profits.”
Even better, Wayne Besen at the hilariously-named Truth Wins Out claims that ex-gay advocates are desperate and relying on “junk science” to make the connection with Jerry Sandusky and the New Jersey bill. If we were so desperate Wayne, why did your fellow anti-ex-gay activists in New Jersey cancel the May 15 hearing? Why not go forward and push this bill through the Assembly committee just like they did with the Senate hearing? Could it be that all their lies are coming back to haunt them? Could it be that THEY are desperate to create distance from these lies and the Sandusky-branded bill?