Ex-Gay/Survivor News Update

Yet again another week with lots of news and stuff about ex-gays and survivors.

• For me the biggest (at least to me personally) is my announcement that I will retire my one-person comedy, Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House.
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• Frontiers, an LA based LGBT-themed magazine did a piece about the Ex-Gay Survivor Movement. Writer James F. Mills reports and comments about the Ex-Gay Survivor Conference and the Survivor Initiative outside of NARTH. (hat tip to Daniel Gonzales)
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• KDW out of Portland, Oregon, reports about Focus on the Family's Love Won Out Conference that will be there this weekend.
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• EDGE Boston published the last of its four part series on the Ex-Gay Movement. Although they need to do some more editing on the piece (they changed Darlene Bogle's surname to Boyle at some point), David Foucher wraps up his series with positive stories and quotes. He highlights lots of Darlene's story with her partner Dee. I am glad he also included an account I shared with him about a recent trip to Montreal.

"I went to Montreal," says Toscano by way of example. "People told me it’s great, you’ve got to go to the gay village. So I went, I walked down Ste. Catherine, and there’s a bar, a sex shop, a bathhouse, a club. Another bar, a sex shop, a bathhouse, a club. I walked the whole block and I realized I’m just not represented there. I thought, ’Where’s the little café where they’re doing a poetry reading? Where’s little spiritual centre where people can talk about faith? Where are the lesbians? Where are the trans people? Does it take a whole village to get off?’

"I didn’t feel part of that community because I didn’t want to hook up with someone," he sighs. "And part of our community’s development requires us to grow and invest in our lives. I know sex is a moneymaker, but there should be more to us. So I think there are issues for our community, and the ex-gay narrative helps bring that out."

• Jim Burroway posted his next installment in his Love Won Out Conference recap. In Part Five, he quotes conference speakers and analyzes their message in his post A Candid Look at "Change". (Also, some of the content at Box Turtle Bulletin is now available in Russian)
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• Barry James Moore, an ex-gay survivor, just published a new article at his site: We are all Naked. In it he explores his own ex-gay journey. (I will highlight this more in an upcoming post.
  

• Some new videos out there. This one is making the rounds at various blogs. The person identifies as someone who no longer identifies as gay and shares candidly about his experiences. I think it helps to understand how some folks view themselves and the issues in their lives. This is not representative of all folks I have known who are ex-gay or whichever term they wish to use. hat tip to Ex-Gay Watch.

• You can also practice your Spanish while you listen to the narrative of Vicente Cervantes, an ex-gay survivor who also was on the Equality Rides earlier this year (and is a performance artist!)