FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2006

Contact: Wayne Besen,
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org

TRUTH WINS OUT TO COUNTER EX-GAY CONFERENCE IN CARROLLTON

This Conference Is A Masquerade of the Misguided And Sends The False Message That Gays And Lesbians Cannot Be People of Faith, Says TWO

WHAT: Truth Wins Out (TWO) will counter an ex-gay conference in Carrollton and show participants of Living Hope/Lasting Change that they can be loved and accepted for who they truly are.

This symposium is a masquerade of the misguided that shatters families, ruins lives and can lead to suicide, said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. Living Hope should stop using distorted images of gay life, outdated science and slanderous stereotypes to scare people into attending its conference. We also reject the false message that gays and lesbians cannot be people of faith.

WHO: Wayne Besen, Executive Director, Truth Wins Out
      Other Participants TBA

WHERE: Outside the Vista Ridge Baptist Church
      3601 Huffines Boulevard, Carrollton, TX (8:15 AM - 9:30 AM)

BACKGROUND: Living Hope is part of Exodus International, a group of recloseted homosexuals that purports to pray away the gay. Some of their methods include exorcisms, lipstick seminars for lesbians and repossessing mens Calvin Klein underwear because it is deemed too gay.

Two of Exodus co-founders, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, left the group to marry each other. In 2000, Exodus Board Chair, John Paulk, was photographed by TWOs Besen in a gay bar in Washington, DC. So-called conversion therapy is rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization including The American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association. At the American Psychological Associations annual meeting in New Orleans this month, the APA released the following statement:

For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APAs concern about the positions espoused by the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.

TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people. Besen, the groups founder and Executive Director, is the author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking The Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.