In a hilarious blow to the credibility of an ex-gay organization, a billboard purporting to depict "identical twins: one gay, one not" actual features the same model twice. He is gay, and both of him were born that way.
Last night on U.K. TV, doctor/TV presenter/hunk of stuff Christian Jessen underwent various kinds of reparative therapy people seek to rid themselves of homosexuality in the one-off special Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay. Now listen to me, 'cause I am about to fuck you up with some truth in the form of the spoiler to end all spoilers: It didn't work. Ingesting a drug so that he threw up as he was presented with naked men didn't work. Being fed subliminal messages about his penis' ability to remain erect inside of a vagina didn't work. Being told by evangelist teenagers that homosexuality is caused by demons didn't work (although it did make him cry).
Last night's episode of Our America with Lisa Ling explored the damage the just-shuttered gay "reparative therapy" organization Exodus International caused during its decades in business. It was cathartic to watch the grief-stricken face of Exodus president Alan Chambers (an ex-gay himself — his wife sat next to him the entire time) as people shared their stories of how close his organization came to ruining their lives. He deserves all the chiding he gets and then some, and he seems to realize it. Though the apology he read to these recovering ex-gays was basically an early draft of the one he shared with the world earlier this week (at the time of filming, he intended to keep Exodus running with a different agenda) he also welcomed their criticism.
Noted homophobe and ex-gay who "was never gay-identified" David Pickup made an appearance on CNN this afternoon to mansplain to everyone that reparative therapy—designed to "cure" gays of their homosexuality—is still valid because it totally "worked" on him. Pickup (his real name, by the way) is the newest spokesman for National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) after their previous leader George Rekers was caught vacationing with male prostitutes.
According to a lawsuit filed by a lesbian named Amanda Booker, police officers in Bartow County, Georgia, took her to the house of an evangelical "ex-gay therapist" to "attempt to convert Ms. Booker from being a lesbian," rather than taking her to court-appointed rehab.
