Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Myth by Wayne R. Besen, Wayne R. Besen (Editor)

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Textbook (Paperback - New Edition)

  • 311pp
  • Sales Rank: 729,127

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TEXTBOOK INFORMATION

  • ISBN-13: 9781560234463
  • Edition Description: New Edition
  • Edition Number: 1
  • Pub. Date: August 2003
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
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Product Details

  • Pub. Date: August 2003
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
  • Format: Textbook Paperback, 311pp
  • Sales Rank: 729,127

Synopsis

Gay rights activist Wayne Besen examines the phenomenon of the "ex-gay" ministries and reparative therapies, interviewing leaders, attending conferences, and visiting ministries undercover. The resulting exposé provides insight into the controversial movement while providing valuable insight into a plethora of myths and stereotypes about gay life. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Mythby Anonymous

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May 12, 2004: Besides being an independent review of ?Anything But Straight??, this review was written to express what hasn?t yet been addressed in other reviews. When I first purchased a copy of Wayne Besen's book, 'Anything But Straight....' I was hopeful that finally somebody would provide a thorough, accurate picture of what has gone on and continues to go on within the Christian ex-gay and ex-ex-gay movement. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. When I finished the book I was left with the knowledge and feeling that half the story was still missing. If you really want to get a sense of what I'm talking about I encourage you to read and review all of the Christian women's books that have come out on the subject of becoming ex-gay for the last twenty years. Mr. Besen covers authors Elizabeth Moberly and to a certain extent Leanne Payne. But, this is a book written by a man primarily about the male experience concerning ex-gay ministries. The women?s experience is at best underrepresented. But that's not all the story that?s missing! From chapter one until the end of it, the book is littered with commentary, deductions, conclusions, and predictions about Christianity and ex-gays that seem more like opinion or even 'flights of fantasy.' For example, in Chapter 1 the author exposes a man as a phony and mocks him, and goes on to conclude that 'I hope to sit down one day...and laugh about the incident, with him thanking me for helping him come to grips with reality.' Now maybe it's just me. But ask yourself this question. If somebody were to show you ?with your pants down? so to speak with mass media attention how likely would you be to sit down, say thank you and laugh about it? Grandiose moments like this in the book draw more attention to the author than the subject. Another significant part of the story of the ex-gay and ex-ex-gay movement that is left out in 'Anything But Straight' comes from the author pigeon holing ex-gays into ?four types.? No explanation is given as to how these ?four types? are arrived at. So, apparently, they stem from the author?s own biases be they spiritual or otherwise. Ironically, categorizing according to personal bias, is the same thing ex-gay author, Jeanette Howard did in her book, ?Out of Egypt?Leaving Lesbianism Behind.? The result of this in ?Anything But Straight?? is a failure to recognize and explain how understanding faith based choices, & conservative Christian subculture 'work' and are pivotal in understanding the ex-gay phenomenon. For that ?type? is easily, repeatedly identified. To confirm what I?m saying collect your own random stack of ex-gay testimonials from ex-gay ministries around the globe. Overall, while most of us LGBT's are relieved that finally somebody has had the courage to report on the ex-gay group, while ?Anything But Straight?? provides a history of the ex-gay movement, especially, ?reparative therapy?, it does so with a great deal of sarcasm. Mr. Besen makes fun of Christianity from the Holy Spirit to miracles to prayer while he makes fun of ex-gay Christians to the point where you may begin to wonder as I did, if he is capable of separating the two topics from each other. If you?re into ex-gay bashing or Christian bashing this may be the book for you! If you?re not, you may want to consider other reading choices. As an ex-ex-gay, LGBT Christian I could have down without it.

Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Mythby Anonymous

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May 03, 2004: Since 2000 author Wayne Besen's life has been consumed with researching, writing and publicizing his explosive ? and eminently readable ? expos? 'Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.' Besen left his post as Associate Communications Director for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest GLBT rights organization, to work on the book because he felt uniquely qualified to challenge the ex-gay movement. During his five-year stint with HRC he repeatedly squared off against the nation's most prominent ex-gay leaders on such programs as 'NBC Nightly News,' 'CNN's Talk Back Live,' 'The Roseanne Show' and 'The O'Reilly Factor.' As part of his exhaustive research for 'Anything But Straight' Besen made numerous undercover visits to ex-gay meetings, attended ex-gay and right-wing conferences and interviewed many of the movement's most powerful proponents. In the book he reveals many of the ex-gay movement's dubious conversion methods ? which include having gay men pepper their speech with 'heterosexual' words like 'dude' and teaching lesbians to apply make-up. It all seems laughable until the author reminds us just how much clout these ministries have to influence government and society ? particularly now with the debate over same-sex marriage raging. Bottom line: 'Anything But Straight' is an invaluable resource for debunking the specious claims of the ex-gay movement.


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