Box Turtle Bulletin

NARTH Helps Promote 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference

Well, sort of. They sent out an “action alert” to their email list yesterday begging its members to sign up for their own conference taking place in November in West Palm Beach, Florida. That email, complete with breathless exclamation points and red-alert lettering, reads:

Action Alert!
Gay Activists To Challenge NARTH by holding Counter-conference in Florida!

Soulforce and a host of gay activists are going to hold a counter-conference in West Palm Beach, Florida on the same weekend NARTH will be holding the 2009 NARTH Convention and Training Institute.

Fresh off their victory in getting the American Psychological Association to accept their recommendations in the form of a Gay & Lesbian task force report, gay activists want to convince the public that any attempts to reach out to those struggling with unwanted homosexual attractions are misguided and dangerous.

Their goal – Silence NARTH!
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The choice is yours. We urge you to register for the most important NARTH Conference ever held. Do it today!

TO REGISTER – CLICK HERE
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The Soulforce Agenda (read it for yourself):

Aggressive outreach to confused youth – “queering our kids”.
Accuse those who question their agenda of genocide.
Attack the ex-gay movement (Exodus, Courage, etc.)
Finding ways to get even more media attention.
Hijack psychology to justify their political agenda.
And much. much more!

Yeah, like we’re going to “silence NARTH!” Puhleeze. Drama much? And isn’t it interesting how the last six red bullet points at the end mirror what NARTH, Exodus, Courage, JONAH and many, many others want to do?

Anyway, they followed that with a list of workshops that we will be presenting at the 2009 Anti-Heterosexism conference November 20-22 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in West Palm Beach. BTB contributors will present two of those workshops:

Media Access: Getting Through the Noise
Gabriel Arana
Even with the rise of blogging, reaching people on a large scale requires access to major media organizations. This presentation will give you the tools to effectively maneuver the media world and gain access to the print and online publications, PR reps, and journalists that will help you broadcast your story and become a more effective advocate.

Heterosexual Interrupted: What the Ex-Gay Movement Really Means By “Change”
Jim Burroway
The Ex-Gay movement claims that there are no homosexuals, just heterosexuals with a homosexual problem. This “Ex-Gay 101” workshop explores the heteronormative narrative which our culture expects young people to follow as they date, marry, and have families. When that narrative is interrupted, the ex-gay movement is there to explain what went wrong and how to fix it. But for many ex-gays and their families, the fix is not what they hoped for.

The NARTH email only contained the workshop titles and presenters, not these descriptions. But yeah, Gabriel’s and my names have now officially appeared on a NARTH action alert. Best of all, they spelled our names right. I would like to thank NARTH for helping to get the word out, even though they left out BTB contributor Daniel Gonzales, who will also be there facilitating a pre-conference institute, “A Gathering for ‘Ex-Gay’ Survivors.”

This conference that has NARTH so shaken up will be a very valuable opportunity for former ex-gays, allies and others to come together to examine the role that heterosexism and heteronormative attitudes play in ex-gay and anti-gay industries in particular, but also in the larger culture as well as in our own day-to-day dealings with peers, friends, families, co-workers, and even ourselves. These attitudes don’t just fuel much of the antipathy toward gay people, but on a more personal level they can also sabotage our own efforts to live normal, healthy and productive lives.

I’m very excited at the prospect of meeting so many people there to share information and ideas, and to have a chance to explore this very important topic in greater depth. I hope you can make it as well. Early registration with a substantial discount is open through October 5, and Soulforce has arranged for special rates at the Crowne Plaza. I know that some BTB readers have already emailed me to say they will be there. I hope many more of you can come as well. I hear Florida is wonderful in November.

The 2009 Anti-Heterosexism Conference is sponsored by Soulforce, Truth Wins Out, the National Black Justice Coalition, Beyond Ex-Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin, and Equality Florida.