Author Archives: VoV Contributor

Grandpa Goes to Washington Tour: “I’ve Encountered Angels and Demons Along the Way!”

WARNING: This is NOT Your Usual Road Trip

In the first five days of Doug McIntyre’s 10 Day Road Trip to Washington, DC, he has encountered both angels and demons. In a phone interview yesterday, McIntyre told Voice of the Voiceless about some of his experiences so far.

“When I got into Dallas, I found an evening service to attend and it just happened to be a gay-affirming church. The pastor of the church must have saw my truck and assumed I was another anti-gay bigot, and condemned me three times during the service. So much for tolerance! He and Wayne Besen should really get together and write some more lies about me…heck, maybe MSNBC will bring them on! Networks such as MSNBC that use unreliable sources such as Besen need to reevaluate their policies for securing ethical and truthful commentators. Besen’s Truth Wins Out hate group is one of the biggest sources of lies available to the LGBT community, and it only adds more hatred towards former homosexuals. I wouldn’t be surprised if this pastor was ill-informed from the likes of Besen.”

Early this week, Dr. McIntyre rolled into Atlanta to meet with DL Foster and the Overcomer’s Network, and was shocked by the kindness of a complete stranger when he got into Georgia. “I was in a parking lot and a man introduced himself to me and then asked me to come to his shop in a couple of hours. When I arrived, he had designed two t-shirts for me for free and told me how great he thoGrandpa2ught my tour was and said he wanted to bless me! I have had amazing experiences like this every day. In every city I stop, I am encountering compassionate, God-fearing people who are just as outraged as me and concerned for their children and grand children.”

On Wednesday, Dr. McIntyre had a meeting with some former homosexuals in Charlotte, NC. “They shared their stories and told me about some of difficult experiences they have come out of,  and I offered them support and advice as they continued their journeys. They were all very much in support of what (we) are doing. These folks are an inspiration – they are so brave to not follow what the world says you should do, but are listening to their own consciences and taking a different path.”

To watch some of the footage of Dr. McIntyre’s tour, click here and visit his website.

To read more about his 10 Day Tour, read the LifeSiteNews article here or The Christian Post article here.

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

 

 

A Military Perspective on Ex-Gays, SOCE Therapy, and Peaceful Co-Existence

During my short time in the military, I have learned a few very important lessons. One of these lessons is the need for a healthy amount of strength and confidence in defending what I think and believe in.

I have discovemilitaryred a type of respect in standing firm for my beliefs and convictions, while also allowing others to do the same. This is an approach greatly needed within the Ex-Gay community as we begin to make our voices heard. There has been much publicity surrounding Exodus International recently shutting their doors. Not only has Exodus International disbanded its network of ministries, but key members have gone on record apologizing for the “damage they had done to the gay community.”

To be fair, each person must listen to the dictates of their own conscience, and if these leaders feel they need to apologize, then by all means they should do so. However, we as ex-gays need to be careful in trying to right legitimate wrongs accrued during our culture war, that we don’t cross over into become passive and placating, and therefore shy away from difficult conflict where it is needed.

Gay political activists claim that Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) therapy causes harm to its clients. On the one hand, there may be some truth in that statement. Any kind of treatment, whether medical or psychological, comes with a measure of risk of side effects or all out failure. No treatment is guaranteed to be 100% effective, 100% of the time.  When it comes to SOCE, just like any other treatment, it is the responsibility of both the clinician and the patient to consider the options carefully, weigh the risks involved, and proceed with realistic expectations for treatment outcome.

The mental health profession has a long history of asserting a client’s right to self-determination, which is the right to determine the direction they want to take with their life, free from undue influence by their counselor or outside influences. Yes, SOCE may have potential negative outcomes, but it is the client’s right to accept the possibility of those outcomes.

We as ex-gays, friends and family of ex-gays, and/or mental health professionals need to step up and take a stand for those who wish to explore the options open to them. Our being gay or ex-gay does not infringe upon each others’ existence outside of the political arena, and people on both sides need to realize that we can support and defend our own civil rights without denying others’ civil rights. Should we accomplish this, we will be working towards a peaceful co-existence.

Nathan Ruark is an Advisory Board member of Voice of the Voiceless. He carries the rank of Specialist in the Michigan Army National Guard where he works as a radar repairer, and holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology from Grand Valley State University. He has volunteered with Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) programs for the previous 10 years and publicly advocated for SOCE rights for the past 4 years.

Archbishop of Canterbury Selects Gay Activist Group Stonewall for Bullying Education

At the July sitting of the Church of England’s General Synod, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rev. Justin Welby, announced that there was going to be a major effort to stamp out homophobic bullying in the Church of England controlled schools. Associated with this announcement is the fact that the Archbishop, along with some Catholic schools, has approached the gay rights group Stonewall. Many people will applaud the Archbishop’s initiative, but there will is a concern with the involvement of Stonewall, whose position on homosexuality is at odds with the traditional teaching of the Church of England.

Stonewall was started in the UK in the 1980s and has grown to be seen by many as the moderate voice of the gay rights lobby. Most recently, they have run the billboard campaign “Some People Are Gay – Get Over It” and were involved with the “Schools Out” project to tackle homophobic bullying. So far so good, but they were also the major mover to have Core Issue Trusts “Ex-gay and Proud” campaign removed from the side of buses in London, claiming this was “offensive.”

Some_People_Are_Gay._Get_Over_It_Double_Decker_Bus_Ad_-_London_UK

Stonewall’s Public Campaign: “Some People Are Born Gay. Get Over It!”

Stonewall disagrees with the evidence, and nominated Bishop of Winchester Michael Scott-Joint for the “Bigot of the Year” award for taking this position during a debate on gay marriage in the House of Lords. The church of England is also against gay marriage, and is officially exempt from having to offer gay marriages under the new legislation in England. Yet the director of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, is not only pro-gay marriage but also against the Church of England being exempt. So much for religious freedom!

So why did the Archbishop turn to Stonewall? For the simple reason that they, and the gay rights movement, are often the only people tackling homophobic bullying. Unless we get more courses like Acception (www.Acception.info) which includes students that are not only gay but also have unwanted SSA and seek change, we will not be able to reclaim the ground that we have lost to organizations like Stonewall. Until then, we can only  ask whether focusing on homophobic bullying is appropriate for the majority of Church schools, which are for pupils aged 8 to 11, as there is sadly no other alternative. 

Phelim McIntyre, N.L.P.M.P. is a professional counselor and life coach specializing in issues concerning masculinity, including sexual orientation, based in the South of England. He is an ex-homosexual, having come out at the age of 13 and now overcoming SSA. He has now been straight for over 10 years.

 

Former Homosexuals Exist in South Africa, But Who Are They?

_60149039_saflag Discussing the subject of Homosexuality, to say the least, it is one of the most controversial and politicized subjects to be discussed in our day. However, a discussion that is needed and very seldom, if ever discussed is the matter of people coming out of homosexuality, and those who live with unwanted same-sex attraction. These are referred to as former homosexuals.

People with political driven agendas want us to believe that former homosexuals do not exist, because, according to them, people are born gay and cannot change. Persons who do not identifying themselves as gay, are often labelled as people with internalized homophobia, liars, pretenders, frauds, fakes and more. The truth is that we do exist. We are right here in South Africa. We are here to stay, and people will have to get use to it.

Who is a former homosexual?

It is important that we first define what we understand a gay person to be. The term “gay” is a social-political term. It refers to that population of people in society who believe they are born homosexual and identify themselves as such. To them homosexuality is innate. They believe they are born homosexual and cannot change.

Not so with former homosexuals. Former homosexuals do not believe that homosexuality is innate, have left the homosexual life and believe change is possible. Many have experienced complete sexual orientation change, but some still have same-sex attractions. Therefore, it may be difficult for them to identify as heterosexual. However, they do not identify as “gay.” They are stuck in the middle, especially for those who choose to live lives of chastity but have remaining same-sex attractions.

Talking about change, needs more clarification, seeing that there are very often contradicting opinions about sexual orientation change. Change should not be seen in strictly categorical terms, where change is an all-or-nothing-experience. NARTH points out:

“When change is viewed in absolute terms, then any future experience of same-sex attraction (or any other challenge), however fleeting or diminished, is considered a refutation of change. Such assertions likely reflect an underlying categorical view of change, probably grounded in an essentialist view of homosexual sexual orientation that assumes same-sex attractions are the natural and immutable essence of a person.  What needs to be remembered is that the de-legitimizing of change solely on the basis of a categorical view of change is virtually unparalleled for any challenge in the psychiatric literature.”[i]

Change should rather be seen as something occurring on a continuum.

“This is in fact how sexual orientation is defined in most modern research, starting with the well known Kinsey scales, even as subsequent findings pertinent to change are often described in categorical terms. NARTH affirms that some individuals who seek care for unwanted same-sex attractions do report categorical change of sexual orientation.  Moreover, NARTH acknowledges that others have reported no change. The experience of NARTH clinicians suggests that the majority of individuals who report unwanted same-sex attractions and pursue psychological care will be best served by conceptualizing change as occurring on a continuum, with many being able to achieve sustained shifts in the direction and intensity of their sexual attractions, fantasy, and arousal that they consider to be satisfying and meaningful.”[ii]

 To read more, click here.

André Bekker is an Advisory Board Member of Voice of the Voiceless and a Theological Counselor with New Living Way Ministry in South Africa, ministering to people with Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction, their families, and loved ones.

World Magazine Covers Ex-Gay Pride

Threats stall event for ex-gays

 

Enlarge Image

MatStaver


Mathew Staver, answers reporters questions outside a federal courthouse in Richmond, VA (Associated Press/Photo by Christopher Breedlove/Liberty University).

WASHINGTON—Organizers of a reception for ex-gays have postponed the event after homosexual activists phoned and emailed a dozen threats.

Voice of the Voiceless (VoV), a group formed this year to defend the rights of former homosexuals, had planned a reception later this month at the Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington, D.C., to celebrate July as the first-ever Ex-Gay Pride Month. The group has rescheduled the event for September at an undisclosed location.

“I don’t want this event to be one of these things that we make public and then all these extremists show up and get the press and get their 30 seconds of fame,” said Chris Doyle, president and co-founder of VoV.

Doyle told me the Huffington Post and other liberal news sites inaccurately tied VoV to FRC, which sparked the controversy. He said he doesn’t usually shy away from controversy—“we deal with this fairly regularly”—but he didn’t want protestors to steal the spotlight or intimidate the guests and speakers. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, is one of the scheduled speakers at the event, where he will accept the first Ex-Gay Pride Freedom Award.

Doyle called it “unfortunate” that gay extremists want tolerance only for people who agree with them: “Those who preach tolerance the most afford it the least.” Click here to read more . . .

 

Enlarge Image