Ex-gay movement takes a hit

The ex-gay movement, which claims to turn gays straight through the power of Christ and outdated psychiatry, took another palpable hit last week when its most visible poster boy, John Paulk, was spotted in a Washington gay bar. \nIn 1998, Newsweek magazine featured on its cover the movement's greatest "success" story, Paulk, an ex-homosexual, with his wife, Anne, an ex-lesbian. Together, they've appeared not only in Christian media but on shows such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "60 Minutes." But Paulk appeared alone in Mr. P's, the gay bar he later told Newsweek he'd entered just to use the bathroom. \nAccording to witnesses quoted by Southern Voice, he remained there for at least 40 minutes, chatting up other patrons and buying them drinks. Southern Voice also reported he was recognized by staffers for Human Rights Campaign, the conservative GLBT political lobby, who confronted him and took his picture.\nIn an interview with Southern Voice, Paulk now claims, predictably enough, to have had no "sexual, homosexual intention" as he sat at the bar buying drinks for other men. Maybe not. But if he was just passing the time, why did he lie about his last name (HRC Staffer Daryl Herschaft told Southern Voice Paulk said it was "Clint"), and why did he flee in a panic when he recognized another HRC staffer, Wayne Besen, who specializes in the ex-gay movement? As the Bible says in Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion."\nFocus on the Family, Paulk's Christian-Right employer, accepts Paulk's account of his evening in Mr. P's. They have as much to lose as he does, after all, since they are also boosters of ex-gay group Exodus International. Paulk is chair of the Exodus board. Few beyond the most dedicated and wishful heterosexual supremacists are likely to believe Paulk's transparent excuses, which are reminiscent of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart's when he was caught purchasing the services of a female prostitute some years ago.\nUnfortunately, quite a few gay men and lesbians are dedicated and wishful heterosexual supremacists who will no doubt continue to believe the ex-gay movement's bogus promises despite its many scandals and failures. Ex-gay leaders have often been caught seducing the men they were supposed to "heal." Two of Exodus' male founders left their wives for each other in 1979 and denounced the movement they'd helped to build. The latest public repudiation came a few weeks ago, when Wade Richards, who'd proclaimed his ex-gayness on ABC's "20/20" only last May, joined the growing ranks of ex-ex-gays.\nI've gone into detail here because I don't expect as many people, gay or straight, to hear in the straight media about Paulk's lapse as heard about his grandiose claims of change. Corrections don't make the cover of Newsweek, and besides, Paulk's excellent adventure in Mr. P's ended ambiguously: he didn't get laid that night. (The HRC staffers inadvertently played the role of "True Love Waits" enforcers. Damn.) I hope the next time someone tries to tell you homosexuals can "escape" homosexuality through "reparative therapy," you'll ask them, "What about John Paulk?"\nIt's easy to laugh at Paulk's public discomfiture. I'd rather remind you of the pain that drives so many gay people into the ex-gays' clutches. Paulk was apparently desperately unhappy before he met and married Anne. Although it may not have been true of Paulk, some gay people deliberately seek out what they consider the degrading aspects of gay life, even when they have access to other options. Is it because they still believe gay people don't deserve happiness? \nI don't know, but the anti-gay Christians must bear some responsibility for their misery. If it were true, as the ex-gay movement claims, that homosexuals would be unhappy even if prejudice were eliminated, it would still not justify the bigotry that the Christian Right continues to foster so energetically.