Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyPosts for December 22nd, 2009
December 22nd, 2009
Led by religious leaders, Ugandan protesters marched to demand that the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill be passed. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
Several hundred people demonstrated in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Tuesday against gays and lesbians, and expressed support for the country’s impending tough anti-homosexual law.
The protesters, led by born-again clerics, cultural leaders, and university undergraduates, marched to the parliament where they presented a petition.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
Today ninety-six Congressmen, 22% of the House, requested that the Pentagon provide documentation on discharged gay servicemen. (press release)
Today, ninety-six members of Congress sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting all 2009 “don’t ask, don’t tell” discharge data in an effort to ready their arguments for the impending 2010 debate on the gay ban. The letter was authored by Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), a member of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee and was signed by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), lead sponsor of the bill to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Members are requesting up-to-date information on the number of service members discharged in 2009 under the Obama Administration as well as information about their job specialties, years of service and branch in which they served.
It seems that this Congressional caucus will not be allowing discharges to be conducted without scrutiny or notice. (letter)
To increase transparency on the effects the DADT policy is having on our military and by extension our national defense, we request that the Office of the Secretary of Defense provide data on the current number of DADT discharges since January 1, 2009 to the present, no later than January 15, 2010. In addition, we request monthly reports thereafter to Congress detailing the number of enlisted service members and officers discharged under the policy including their job specialty (MOS), time in the service and branch of the military.
This is an effort to pressure the White House and the military to begin the process of fulfilling the President’s campaign promise to reverse this discriminatory policy. Clearly, if the President chooses not to take the lead on this issue, a sizable number of delegates in his own party are willing to embarrass him.
December 22nd, 2009
An Australian father decided that his son was too gay and that he was going to indocrinate him into heterosexuality:
During a family barbecue around Christmas time in 2007, the dad allegedly phoned a prostitute and arranged to meet her at a motel on Yaamba Road, North Rockhampton.
The father drove his son to the motel and paid the prostitute in $50 notes.
The prostitute took the boy into a motel room while the father waited on a balcony.
The dad walked in and out of the room to check on his son and told him he wanted to see a used condom as proof that they\’d had sex.
It seems like the cure didn’t exactly fix Dad’s suspicions, because later he called the police with suspicion that the boy was abusing his younger brother.
The police were not impressed with Dad’s home remedy. He’s on trial for rape.
There’s more heterosexual shenanigans here and in our report, “The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing the Myths.”
December 22nd, 2009
Five Republican congressmen have sent a letter to President Museveni of Uganda asking him to oppose the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill: Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh “Joseph” Cao.
That’s good.
They also felt compelled to inform Museveni that they endorse the Manhattan Declaration, a document that defines “Christian” in terms of whether one is an anti-gay activist.
That’s not so good.
Frankly this smells less like concern for the plight of gay Ugandans and more like an opportunity to prove that they both love the sinner (“don’t penalize a single act of homosexual conduct with a life sentence”) and hate the sin (“but boy howdy to we endorse anti-gay declarations”).
Unlike others, this group found it necessary to temper their opposition to an evil bill with endorsements of discrimination, and refused to oppose the criminalization of homosexuality, something that even Rick Warren felt to be within his Christian conscience.
Further, they lied. The Manhattan Declaration was not, as they state, “signed by more than 140 leaders representing every branch of American Christianity.” Liberal and moderate branches were excluded. But, then again, I suspect that Pitts, Smith, Wolf, Franks, and Cao all believe that those who oppose the Manhattan Declaration aren’t really Christian anyway.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
Walter Tróchez, showing his injuries after having been kidnapped by suspected members of Honduras security forces.
We reported on the murder and burial of Honduran LGBT activist Walter Tróchez who was murdered in a drive-by shooting on December 13. His assassination is believed to have been carried out by Honduran security forces. He had been kidnapped and beaten in a six-hour kidnapping ordeal by captors who interrogated him about the resistance to the current Honduran government which came to power in a coup d’etat. He escaped his captors, but not before they threatened to kill him.
The Miami Herald investigates a large spike in anti-LGBT murders in the last six months since the Honduran president was overthrown in a right-wing coup. Human rights advocates say that as many as 18 gay and transgender men have been killed in the past six months, which is as as many as the five prior years.
December 22nd, 2009
An Australian LGBT newspaper reports that a diplomatic representative based in neighboring Kenya has personally protested the Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. According to the Sydney Star Observer:
A Foreign Affairs department spokeswoman confirmed the Head of Mission at Australia\’s High Commission in neighbouring Kenya had made personal representations to the Ugandan Government over the bill. The Head of Mission also wrote to the Speaker of Uganda\’s Parliament, outlining the Australian Government\’s concerns.
Australia doesn’t maintain an embassy or diplomatic mission in Uganda. The Australian mission in Kenya is also accredited to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
Last November, the Australian Senate considered but rejected a motion calling on Uganda to withdraw the proposed legislation.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
December 22nd, 2009
The last few weeks, media outlets have lit up over Uganda’s proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” of 2009. In case you have been living under a rock for the last month, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Ugandan legislators will soon vote on whether the government will execute HIV-positive men, imprison people for three years for not reporting homosexual activity and for seven years for supporting gay rights or providing services to gays and lesbians.
L-R: Unidentified woman, Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, International Healing Foundation's Caleb Brundidge, Exodus International boardmember Don Schmierer, Family Life Network (Uganda)'s Stephen Langa, at the time of the March 2009 anti-gay conference in Uganda.
Last week, while following the story on Box Turtle Bulletin, I was shocked to see a familiar face in several related posts. Caleb Lee Brundidge, a staffer at “sexual reorientation coach” Richard Cohen’s International Healing Foundation, attended a Uganda anti-homosexuality conference organized by the Family Life Network. Brundidge was photographed eating lunch with American holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer and Family Life Network’s Stephen Langa.
I was surprised because I had met Brundidge the month before his Uganda trip. In fact, I asked him out for lunch. Let me explain:
I’m a straight dude who went undercover in so-called “ex-gay” programs. In February, I attended Journey into Manhood, an intense, 48-hour “experiential” retreat designed to help “same-sex attracted men” (SSA-men, in the lingo) become straight. Brundidge was a “Man of Service”, one of the lower-level volunteers who supported the senior staffers, called “Guides”, leading the weekend.
JiM staff employed all sorts of odd exercises intended to initiate us into the elusive world of masculine heterosexuality. To become straight, for example, men reenacted traumatic childhood memories and engaged in the holding-touch therapy pioneered by Cohen. (JiM co-founder Rich Wyler, a Brigham Young University public relations graduate and Certified Life Coach, is listed on IHF’s referral therapist page.)
One exercise, called Clearing, is a conflict-resolution technique where two men stand facing each other while grasping a gnarled wooden walking stick and verbally work out the issues they have with each another. Step 1: Physically describe the person. Step 2: Verbalize the story I tell myself about him. Finally, to resolve the conflict, staffers encouraged us to arrange later one-on-one time to speak with our fellow clear. Most men couldn’t hold back the embarrassed grin as they asked, “Would you have lunch with me today?”
I picked Brundidge for Clearing. I didn’t have an issue with him. Rather, he didn’t look like any of the other men attending the weekend. Brundidge’s long dreadlocks, tattoo-covered forearms and, yes, his dark skin—he’s an African-American man—distinguished him from the clean-cut, tattoo-free Anglo men attending the retreat. Clearing was my chance to speak with the one guy who didn’t look like everyone else.
Our clearing session was awkward. I followed the protocol explained by camp staffers while Brundidge shifted back and forth on his feet and kept looking away. Finally, I asked him to have lunch. He accepted.
OK, there was a personal reason behind my selecting Brundidge for Clearing. See, I love tattoos. At the time, I had two large tattoos hidden safely under my short-sleeve shirt. I wanted a third somewhere on my forearms, but I was freaked out about how visible ink could hinder my future employability. I wanted to know how Brundidge dealt with people’s reactions.
Brundidge found me at lunch and we talked about our ink-work. He told me how people were often shocked to learn he’s Christian. But, he sees that as a lesson they can learn about being quick to judge.
“You can’t choose how people will react,” he told me through bites of food. “You can only be true to yourself and to God.”
Brundidge sure doesn’t look like a stereotypical Christian, and he doesn’t worship like one, either.
He writes techno worship music, he said. He spins bass-heavy praise music at Club Mysterio, which, if you ignore the cry to “Awaken your hearts to God” coming through the microphone, looks like a tame rave. YouTube videos reveal strobe lights, glo-sticks and teenagers writhing to his music. (Brundidge can also be booked for weddings and high school functions, by the way.)
I would learn after the retreat that Brundidge’s involvement with Phoenix-based Extreme Prophetic Ministries included not only throwing raves-for-Jesus, but raising the dead. In another YouTube video, Extreme Prophetic Itinerant Melissa King describes how she and Brundidge took a field trip to several Phoenix mortuaries asking if they could resurrect the deceased. I’m guessing they didn’t have much luck.
I didn’t speak to Brundidge again until last week, after I had learned he traveled to Uganda to participate in the Family Life Network conference.
In his write-up in the summer 2009 IHF newsletter (PDF: 7MB/12 pages), Brundidge gives few details about the trip. He addressed the Ugandan Parliament, the Family Life Network conference and a church. He spoke on the radio and was interviewed by a newspaper. He describes his speech to Parliament as an effort “to help them understand a more compassionate response to anyone who experiences SSA.”
They must have missed that message. How could they get the message when Brundidge himself writes this about the situation in Uganda:
Caleb Lee Brundidge speaking in Uganda
“As I mentioned, homosexual behavior is illegal and punishable by life in prison or even death. They have fear to go [sic]. On the other hand, the word is out on the street to the young people: If you want to make good money, pretend to be ‘gay.’ Why? Gay activists are recruiting impoverished young boys and girls, offering them money to impersonate homosexuals. ‘Just tell people you are gay and we\’ll pay you money.’ In this way, they are trying to skew the data regarding the numbers of people who are homosexual.”
In April, the month after Brundidge and company participated in the Family Life Network Conference, Ugandan legislators began drafting a bill to execute gays.
I e-mailed Brundidge last week, and, after identifying myself as a writer, asked him what he felt about all this. He referred me to the statement on IHF’s website. I pressed him in a follow-up e-mail. After all, didn’t he see how his “gays can change if they want to” message may have influenced the proposed legislation?
His reply, again, was brief:
“I really don’t have anything to say. What I shared is listed on the website on IHF. Thank you for emailing and giving me a opportunity to share. I believe you got a chance to get to know me at JIM so you know my heart is the heart of God. That is Love for all people.”
Up until now, Brundidge was relatively unknown in ex-gay circles. My guess is Brundidge’s race played a factor in his selection to travel to Uganda. Again, from his write-up:
“Upon my arrival, I was greeted by my host Stephen Langa…. He said, ‘Welcome home my brother.’ I was truly home! I saw my mother\’s face in many women.”
Caleb Lee Brundidge and Richard Cohen
I made several attempts to get a comment from Cohen. He didn’t return my calls or e-mails. My guess is he stands to benefit financially from mandatory conversion therapy also being considered in Uganda; Brundidge has facilitated IHF’s TLC seminar and could easily hold similar—or even more intense—events there in the future.
This whole mess in Uganda is an example of how ex-gay ministries play both sides of the field: Brundidge and company speak of love and tolerance and being true to yourself while simultaneously spreading paranoia about gay activists recruiting children. They then feign shock when countries like Uganda draft “kill the gays” legislation.
Leaders of the ex-gay movement still don’t see how they are pawns in the hands of people like Don Schmierer and Scott Lively. Ex-gays and their “people can choose to change” message are used to justify punishing those who choose not to. When will ex-gays wake up and take a stand against the very people who want to see them dead?
I was certainly affected by my lunch conversation with Brundidge. The month after I returned home from JiM, I got a tattoo on my right forearm. Who cares if someone doesn’t like it?
Ted Cox is a free-lance writer from Sacramento, California. He was interviewed earlier this month by Sena Christian at AlterNet about some of his experiences from attending a retreat with Journey Into Manhood.
Click here to see BTB\’s complete coverage of recent anti-gay developments in Uganda.
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