Go Deep With Your Manhood

Over on Good As You, I found another hilarious "ex-gay" video, this one hawking The WorkOUT, a degayifying "Life Coaching" program from the suspiciously named David Pickup. A couple of the best quotes from the clip: "The WorkOUT is a unique program that helps a man who's dealing with homosexual issues go deep." And: "I love helping other men be men." Oh, me too, sister!

The cost of joining the WorkOUT program is $250 a month. That includes a one-hour life coaching session per week (which is conducted "face-to-face" (ahem) or on the phone), plus one hour of "911" phone counselings, for those "Help! I'm buying poppers!" moments. Pickup's counseling appears to all but ignore the usual Christian admonitions against gayness and mostly focuses on "manhood" and "masculinity."

Pickup: "The authors of this site are opposed to any hate-filled effort to judge or disrespect any man, and recognizes that bigotry sometimes comes from the very people who claim to love God." Mostly, he seems interested in men who are unhappy with their gay-ass queeniness and pledges that he can turn them into self-loving butch breeders.

So. Real or satire? A little research reveals that Mr. Pickup has been in a couple of queer-themed movies: Queerspiracy, a 2007 short that played at least one gay film festival, and Deviant Desires, a 2002 flick that appears to be soft-core lesbian porn. With Pickup's film history and the double entendres in the above clip, one is inclined to think that he's pulling a Donnie Davies on us. But on the other hand, on his site he does link all the foul "ex-gay" ministries and he has penned at least one definitely unfunny anti-gay rant. (Donnie Davies was always funny.)

On the other other hand, this gem also appears there: "Dave has a passion for helping men be men. He wants to help as many guys as possible and invites men who have the same desire to join with him. If you are interested in joining the Life Coaching team, please contact David for an interview and training program details."

So I don't know. As someone said about The Daily Show, "The best satire is transparent, sitting back and letting the absurdities of its subject do the talking." Therefore David Pickup is either a (mostly) sharp satirist or an unintentionally funny masculinity-obsessed self-hater. You decide.

An Oopsie For Out Magazine

Matthew over at Boy Culture found an amusing mistake in the new issue of Out Magazine, in which they list "Pastor" Donnie Davies' Love God's Way as "favorite website of the month". I guess the folks at Out don't know that Donnie was outed as a hoax here on JMG in January 2007. Matt notes:

The most embarrassing thing I've seen in a national gay magazine in a while is on page 25—the editors of "The List" don't realize that LoveGodsWay.org, starring ex-gay Donnie Davies, was exposed as a hoax last year. This was such a huge deal on the 'Net that I find it hard to believe no one at Out knew about it. It's tempting to turn this into a new vs. old media argument.

The theme of this month's Out is "The 50 Most Powerful Gays And Lesbians In America."

The top 10:

10. Peter Thiel
9. Marc Jacobs
8. Joe Solmonese
7. Jann Wenner
6. Andrew Tobias
5. Tim Gill
4. David Geffen
3. Anderson Cooper
2. Barney Frank
1. Ellen DeGeneres

Go to Towleroad for the complete list.

Donnie Davies At SXSW

Blogger St.Murse attended the Donnie Davies concert at SXSW yesterday. Check out his review. Donnie and his band Evening Service were on the same bill as the Buzzcocks, a nice little bit of pairing for the homo-interested.

Donnie Davies Plays SXSW

Donnie Davies, perpetrator of the most hilarious hoax in gay blogosphere history, will be playing this weekend's SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, with his band Evening Service. "Stroke the power" and "watch Donnie cock-block the Dark Lord on his own turf." I love the poster, check out Satan's pink jockstrap and hot bod. I wonder if anybody at next week's Black Party will have an outfit like that?

Joey Oglesby Vs. Donnie Davies

Here's the complete video behind the MTV News clip posted a couple of days ago. Homo aroma therapy! "Breathe out the homo!"

Davies Article & MTV News

An article about the Donnie Davies phenomenon in today's Window Media publications (Washington Blade, NY Blade, Southern Voice, etc) features an interview with me. In case you don't get enough of me here.

And here's an MTV News story featuring a hot tub interview with Joey Oglesby and the folks behind the Donnie Davies campaign. There are two screenshots of JMG in the story, but no verbal mention.

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From The "That Was Fast" Department

Author and editor Ted Gideonse is pursuing his PhD in Anthropology and has just submitted this au courant paper: "So if you're a fag, He hates you, too: Donnie Davies, the phenomenology of gaydar, and the feminist call for parody."

"Davies" is a professional comedic actor. His parody of a “reformed homosexual” and Christian bigot, possibly unknowingly, does exactly what Weiss and Butler desire: subversion, disruption of performance, a “[recognition and affirmation of] the power of individual agency in the construction of, deconstruction, and reconstruction of the very terms of corporeality.

And later...

Effeminacy, then, except when done deliberately as camp, as it often is in Western gay culture, is an unconscious habitus-like movement, mimicry of “feminine” behavior. Once they reach adulthood, most gay men are keenly aware of how their behavior is interpreted. In order to pass, we will consciously sublimate whatever seems to be feminine in our movement and our speech; we become “the I that moves forms movement.” This constant policing of our behavior makes us particularly observant of effeminacy in others. Hence “gaydar.

Fascinating stuff. Read the paper here.
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"Davies" Exposed As Actor Joel Oglesby

Thanks to the sleuthing of Dallas JMG reader Bob Stoller, "Pastor Donnie Davies" has been exposed as Dallas-area actor Joey Oglesby (First name corrected from post headline). Here he is. Joey Oglesby recently appeared in a production of Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical. Joey Oglesby is a former member of the Chicken & Pickle Guys sketch comedy duo.

Finally. Our long national nightmare is over. I tip my hat to Joey Oglesby and his crew for a fun diversion. Now we can go back to worrying about the war! I'll post the behind-the-scenes details and the reason for all this drama, as soon as I know it.

NOTE: I left Oglesby's first name incorrect in the post headline because this URL has already been widely linked. My apologies. His first name is JOEY.

UPDATE: I've exchanged a few emails with Oglesby and he is swearing that he is not Donnie Davies. I've asked him for a statement to publish here.

UPDATE II: I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but somebody has reserved the domain ChopsTheMovie.com. What say you, oh sleuths of teh intarwebs?

UPDATE III: Here's a YouTube comedy clip called "Date", featuring Joey Oglesby.

Now that this is finally settled, I'll have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the last week of clues, misclues, speculation and sleuthing. Obviously, there is something bigger coming from Oglesby and crew, but let's offer some well-earned applause right now to a bit of ingenious viral marketing that not only left us scratching our heads over its source, but spawned a considerable amount of discussion regarding the "ex-gay" issue. I'd say that we owe some apologies to actor Todd Quillen, our first suspected Donnie Davies, but having not heard a peep from him or his agent, perhaps they are just digging the entire show too.

Bloggers Respond: Andrew Sullivan, Dan Savage, Pam Spaulding, Good As You, Page One Q, Seed Magazine, Big Ass Belle, Et Cetera, Box Turtle Bulletin, Before I Forget, Boy Culture, aTypical Joe, Newspeak!, Towleroad, Queerty, Raincoaster, Discarded Lies.

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Third Davies Video Out

I'm getting a bit tired of this drawn out drama. Here's Davies' third performance. He cries about being mocked for his weight again, "I can dunk a basketball!" Still, his acting continues to be flawless and the logo is damn funny. Check out the crane shot at the end. This ain't no cheap production.
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10.49.41.18

The above IP was attached to an email sent by Donnie Davies to JMG reader Big Ass Belle. It appears to resolve to Marina Del Rey, California. Davies claims to reside in Texas. Come on intarweb, the answer is out there in teh tubes.

UPDATE: A reader emails to say: "I know Todd Quillen, and I'm happy to say he's not Donnie Davies."

UPDATE II: Here's a video featuring Todd Guillen and his comedy troupe performing a series of mock Iraqi election attack ads. I can't really tell which one is Guillen.


UPDATE III: Good As You thinks they may have nailed Davies. I have NO idea at this point, but here's the pic.

Donnie Davies = Todd Quillen?

UPDATE: The "real" Davies exposed: HERE.

After an almost 48-hour run of speculation that has gripped the gay blogosphere, tenacious and smart JMG reader "Chrome" (a frequent commenter here), wrote to me early this morning with his conclusion that "Ex-gay" Pastor Donnie Davies is actually actor/musician/improv performer Todd Quillen. Quillen's personal site is here, his Yahoo photo album is here.

By cross-referencing the MySpace pages of Donnie Davies and his band Evening Service, Chrome began to find an interesting commonality among the friends of the "friends" of Davies and his band, namely an interest in film, television, acting, and most telling: improv. There appears to be a relationship to the improvisational acting group B.R.O.T.O.R.

What do you think, gentle readers? Has Chrome busted Donnie Davies? I believe he may have. If you believe otherwise and have proof, please email me.

UPDATE: Other bloggers wondering: Bob Mould, Dan Savage, Pam's House Blend, Queerty, Towleroad, Good As You, Blast Off.

UPDATE II: Still no further proof either way, but the chorus of "doesn't look like him" continues to grow louder. I called Quillen's agent in LA and asked for a callback, but haven't gotten one.

UPDATE III: An email sent to by Donnie Davies to JMG reader Big Ass Belle carries an IP (10.49.41.18) that resolves to Marina Del Rey, California. Donnie Davies claims to live in Texas.

UPDATE IV: Ignore Update III. I know bupkis about IP technology.
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More From Donnie Davies

OK, this is driving me slightly mad. Davies' Mona Lisa smile in this latest video make me strongly suspect that he's been having a field day at the expense of the gay blogosphere. But as I've said from the start, satire or not, the entire production has been brilliant pro-gay PR. Today, I'm more leaning towards believing that Davies is the gay LonelyGirl15, but I'm still not sure. Again, brilliance, intentional or not.
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God Hates Fags: The Musical

I really hope YouTube Google MySpace keeps this video up, it's beautiful PR for gay activism. I mean, COME ON, take a swishy bear in a PINK shirt and have him sing about fighting homo temptation? It's GOLD, Jerry! And the line "To enter heaven, there's no backdoor"? Priceless. And check out the list of gay bands to stay away from. This guy's clearly been scoping my LastFM playlist. (HT - Queerty.)

UPDATE: Any bedroom DJs out there that want to do a dance remix of this, I will happily post their mix. Consider it a call to disco arms!
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