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 lobbyMay 6th, 2013
Long time ex-gay therapist Joe Dallas has announced via Facebook that his Genesis Biblical Solutions (previously Genesis Counseling Center) is no longer affiliated with Exodus International:
SPECIAL MINISTRY ANNOUNCEMENT
After prayerful consideration the Genesis Biblical Solutions Board of Directors has decided to withdraw from the network of Exodus International because of differences in ministry approach and priority. We honor the work of Exodus International, regard Alan Chambers and the Exodus Board with respect and love, and wish all Exodus ministries the best as they continue their important work.
Dallas’s departure from Exodus is a significant milestone in the general re-alignment that has been taking place in the ex-gay movement over the past year. Dallas is a longtime activist within the Exodus alliance, having served as president of the organization from 1991 to 1993. Dallas was a regular featured speaker at the Love Won Out traveling roadshow conferences which were jointly put on by Exodus and Focus On the Family beginning in 1998. He was also a regular speaker at Exodus International’s annual conferences, including as a plenary speaker in 2007, 2010, and 2011. But for last year’s conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, his name was conspicuously absent from the program (although his wife, Renee, was there to present at workshops for spouses of ex-gay “strugglers”).
The general re-alignment in the ex-gay movement was prompted by Exodus president Alan Chambers’s acknowledgment in January 2012 that, “the majority of people that I have met, and I would say the majority meaning 99.9% of them, have not experienced a change in their orientation.” Later that month, Chambers withdrew his organization’s support for the particular from of conversion therapy known as “reparative therapy.” In May, an Exodus board member traveled to Jamaica — where homosexuality is a felony punishable with ten years’ imprisonment — to speak in support of its anti-gay laws. Chambers swiftly responded with a statement opposing criminalization of homosexuality, and that board member quickly resigned. Chambers condemned the Family Research Council for honoring a pastor who called gays “worse than maggots” and that God had an “urban renewal plan for Sodom and Gomorrah,” and declined to oppose a California law that bans sexual orientation change efforts for minors.
All of this together has resulted an a general exodus of several member ministries from Exodus, with many of them joining with the much more hard-core Restored Hope Network. But since last summer, it was unclear which way Dallas would go. The month following last year’s Exodus conference, Dallas’s name appeared on a list of founding members of the RHN, while also maintaining his affiliation with Exodus International. But his ongoing relationship with Exodus appears to have been a difficult one. As Exodus has continued to evolve its message away from being an overtly hostile one for LGBT people, Dallas, as recently as last month, described gay relationships as “bring(ing) the judgment of God” and argued that marriage equality would lead to polygamy.
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JCF
May 6th, 2013
“Joe Dallas”: I guess we don’t have to ask about his porn name, huh? [And as a “Long time ex-gay therapist”, I guess we can pretty much assume it ain’t straight porn!]
Norm
May 7th, 2013
I find it interesting that his business, Genesis Biblical Solutions, was previously Genesis Counseling Center. Was the name change an attempt to avoid the California ex-gay therapy ban?
I can’t find any credentials for Joe Dallas on his website? Is he or was he ever a professional therapist? Considering that he charges substantial rates to counsel clients, what expertise does he offer besides his own personal experience?
Steve
May 7th, 2013
“prayerful consideration” has to be one of the most ridiculous Christianese expressions
jpeckjr
May 7th, 2013
Chambers’ statements, coupled with the change in California law, are threatening the livelihood of people like Dallas who have made lots of money from people wanting to be “repaired.” That it is “very difficult” to be “repaired” only makes it easier to get rich — that kind of therapy just keeps going and going and going. “I’m sure that with just a few more sessions, he’ll be straight.” That’s what happens when scams are exposed.
Timothy Kincaid
May 7th, 2013
Actually, “prayerful consideration” is a very good term, one that concisely explains the process that people of faith go through when making a decision that is difficult – especially one that involves their relationship with other people of faith.
One carefully weighs the pros and cons of a situation and then asks God for guidance and wisdom so as to make the best choice and to do so in a manner that shows grace and humility.
Timothy Kincaid
May 7th, 2013
jpeckjr,
Is Joe Dallas rich? Has he made a lot of money from people wanting to be repaired?
Regan DuCasse
May 7th, 2013
Hi Timothy! I can understand when a person does have a time of ‘prayerful consideration’ over a difficult decision.
We can be rightfully skeptical of the name change of his counseling business. And he DOESN’T have any credentials he should have for it.
We can understand this type of career avenue drying up for Joe Dallas, and whether he’s rich or not, it’s still a dangerous exploitation of a specific vulnerability.
His prayerful consideration apparently isn’t about NOT continuing to do so.
So, it’s not so much a moral dilemma, but it seems to be one of which works best in his own self interests of furthering his personal income.
It’s never right to exploit fear and ignorance. It’s what is called reaping fruit from a poisoned tree, isn’t it?
Steve
May 7th, 2013
Timothy, it can only make sense to a religious fanatic. To anyone else it’s pure hogwash. Normal people *think*. They don’t pray over decisions.
Timothy Kincaid
May 8th, 2013
No, Steve, you don’t include prayer in your decisions. Which is, I suppose, fine for you.
I’ll not deride your lack of faith or demean you by suggesting that while you are in a minority, you aren’t “normal”. I’m sure that your thinking has proven to be adequate for whatever issues you might have faced.
But us “fanatics” (which, I guess, is some 90% of the population in this country) will continue to include prayer or meditation in our process. And we probably aren’t going to lose much sleep worried that you think les of us for it.
Soren456
May 7th, 2013
Isn’t it true that if you operate beneath the umbrella of “Christian counseling,” you need not have credentials?
Richard Rush
May 7th, 2013
Timothy defined “prayerful consideration” as “One carefully weighs the pros and cons of a situation and then asks God for guidance and wisdom so as to make the best choice and to do so in a manner that shows grace and humility.”
So, I have to assume that “prayerful consideration” was a major part of the process of Christians bringing all of the lovingly vicious anti-gay organizations into existence.
Timothy Kincaid
May 8th, 2013
Richard,
I have no idea why anti-gay organizations exist. I don’t really buy into ‘all gays are to blame for every bad gay’ OR ‘all Christians are to blame for every bad Christian’. They both spring from the same seed of stereotype, presumption, and ignorance.
But I do know what prayerful consideration is. I wish more Christians applied it to their lives.
Priya Lynn
May 8th, 2013
After prayerful consideration christians reach the same conclusions they would have without the prayerful consideration.
Priya Lynn
May 8th, 2013
Religious people, that god you’re talking to, its you.
Timothy Kincaid
May 8th, 2013
Priya Lynn, I have no notions about how you come to conclusions.
But I do know with certainty that you know nothing about my conclusions. And I know that when the subject of faith arises, you often give yourself permission to be a total jerk.
I hope I’m never as rude to you about your beliefs about religion as you are with regularity about mine.
Ezam
May 8th, 2013
I guess he couldn’t continue selling the “ex-gay” ideology if he’s aligned to a group that’s increasingly rejecting it.
Robert
May 9th, 2013
Ahhh, the tolerance of Priya Lynn comes to the fore again. Recently, in a different article on religion, Priya claimed that she never noticed any hateful or derogatory comments here against the religous. yeet here she is again, leading the charge.
No, Priya Lynn, when people of faith go through prayerful consideration of things, they don’t just reach the same conclussion they would have without it. I know lots of people who have come to the absolute different conclussion after prayer. And while God is in us all, he isn’t us.
Priya Lynn, you have every right to have your own view on religion, but you can no longer claim to have ANY tolerance. You’ve shown time and again that ANYTHING regarding religion brings out the worst in you. YOU onlky have tolerance for things you already like and approve of. Spew some more hateful comments, they are expected.
Paul Douglas
June 12th, 2013
Timothy, as an Ex-christian, I have to agree with Steve that the term “prayerful consideration” is a ridiculous christianese term that all too often dumps the responsibility of one’s decision making (and the possible offense said decision will give to others) on a poor sky-friend who can’t defend himself.
I used to do lots of prayer, meditation etc.. An enormous amount of my decision making was based on what I perceived “Holy Spirit” was leading me to do. In the last 3 years I’ve come to realize that christianity and “prayer” was my navigational tool for life. From my teen years I never had much self-confidence or self-respect (growing up gay in the 60’s and 70’s did that to a lot of us), and prayer was how I figured out life and how I managed it. It worked too! I made a whole bunch of good life choices and am employed, financially secure, married and healthy today. Then one November day in 2009 I woke up and realized there was no one out there to answer all these prayers and that I would have had the same insights and “heavenly guidance” had I been praying to a milk jug. Turns out my”prayerful consideration” was just taking the onus and pressure off myself and focusing it on Someone Else. When I did that, my rational mind actually ended up often making the fair, just and insightful decisions that I attributed to Jesus for so many years.
I have to agree with Priya: “Religious people, that god you’re talking to, its you”.
Timothy Kincaid
June 13th, 2013
Paul,
I’m sorry that your own personal religious experiences were all just self delusion. But I’ll allow others to draw different conclusions from their own experiences.
M. Oleson
June 24th, 2014
Boy, I have had enough of this whole thing…very confusing to say the least. As a changed, sexual person, one in that process of going straight, the whole field of repairing therapy is surely confusing to many of us succeeding in leaving the gay life. Maybe the kind of therapy does not matter…maybe the results are what matter. I am so glad to be finally free from the past attempts to find love in a way I was not created to find love. Are you now more confused. I think I am not. omo
M. Oleson
June 24th, 2014
As an ex-gay, all of this is very confusing to me, to say the least. I do not know what kind of therapy works or does not, for I only know that it works for me. I am not sure if I have been ‘repaired’ by the right kind of therapy…I only know the results and I like them. I do hope to possibly be married to a woman some day down the road. I see it as very possible now and appreciate the people who have gone before me successfully in being ‘repaired’ to a wholeness they never knew really exixted before. I do not always feel ‘repaired’ or think it, but I do KNOW it. omo
Ben in Oakland
June 24th, 2014
Here,s the question.
Are you still same sex attracted? are you opposite sex attracted?
Or is all of this just “hope”.
Eric Payne
June 24th, 2014
As a gay man, I recognize there’s absolutely nothing about my sexuality that needs to be changed.
I’m dying… a long, slow, drawn-out death. Up until the age of 50, I lived in a-fib; my heart had been incapable of a normal sinus rhythm from my first breat in August, 1959. In September, 1999, I entered CHF. In June, 2001, I had a double bypass and an aortic valve replacement. At that time, my heart was 27% enlarged; my heart was considerably myopathic. In February, 2008, I had a permanent pacemaker/defibrillator unit implanted in my chest. In December, 2011, I was abated — the ability of my heart to create/maintain its own beat was surgically destroyed. Now, the only way my heart beats is the small shocks given it, continuously, by the defibrillator unit.
All these are simple statements of fact.
Here’s another statement of fact: If a person’s natural inclination for emotional fulfillment is toward a person of the same gender! that person is gay. An erect penis is simply a physical response to stimuli, nothing more. If a person has sex with someone of the same gender, but is emotionally attracted to persons of the opposite gender, they are straight. They’re able to engage in what Erica Jong one called “a guiltless fuck,” but they’re still straight.
Priya Lynn
June 24th, 2014
M. Oleson said “I see it as very possible now and appreciate the people who have gone before me successfully in being ‘repaired’ to a wholeness”.
Your referring to your being “repaired” to “wholeness” is telling. If you had truly changed orientation you’d be talking about having changed your same sex attractions into opposite sex attractions. But your choice of words has betrayed you, you haven’t changed sexual orientation but rather have “changed” in some vague unspecified way.
The major mental health organizations say those who positively accept their sexual orientation are happier and better adjusted than those who do not. Suppressing your sexual orientation has not made you whole, it has diminished the happiness you’d feel if you positively accepted who you are. Wholeness doesn’t happen until you stop suppressing yourself in order to meet the approval of anti-gay bigots including your imaginary god.
Ben in oakland
June 24th, 2014
Good catch, priya. We reached the same conclusion.
Timothy Kincaid
June 24th, 2014
M. Oleson,
I wish you much happiness. And if you need to ‘not be a gay person’ in order to be happier, so be it. It’s your life, live it as you see best.
Evidence shows that reparative therapy is ineffective. However, if you believe that your therapy makes you happier, I am glad that you are happier.
That being said, I strongly encourage you to NOT get married to a woman somewhere down the road. Very very very few ex-gay men who marry women are able to fully love them or find full satisfaction.
And, odd as it may seem, it is more difficult to be sexually active and unsatisfied than it is to be abstinent.
Most eventually break up such marriages, or cheat, or go on European trips with a rentboy to ‘lift the luggage’.
So PLEASE, either be content with your celibate endless journey to heterosexuality or find a way to reconcile your orientation. Please don’t hurt an innocent bystander.
Ben in Oakland
June 25th, 2014
And yet another “Jesus changed me” who would have the courage of his convictions…
If only he had any convictions.
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