MISSOURI: "Ex-Gay" Candidate For Gov Says He's Overcome "Sexual Confusion"

"Through the years, I have publicly spoken about being abused as a child and the confusion this caused me as a teenager. There are literally thousands of Missourians who will understand how heartbreaking childhood abuse can be - though few might be willing to acknowledge it. I have put the childhood abuse, and the teenage confusion behind me. What others intended for harm has resulted in untold good. I have overcome, and will not allow evil to win.  There are people who to this day try to turn politics into a blood sport. This sort of approach discourages many good people from public service. While it is disappointing, I will have no fear of those who wish to tear down others for their gain. I will have no part of it. My faith in a loving and just God has helped to guide my approach with people. There are those who constantly seek to divide us, but I am committed to renewing the Spirit of Missouri and bringing people together with sensible conservative solutions." - Missouri state Sen. Bob Dixon, reacting to this weekend's report that he identifies as "ex-gay."  (Tipped by JMG reader Scott)

RELATED: Dixon's mother, former Missouri state Rep. Jean Dixon, is an anti-gay crusader who used her son's "ex-gay" identity in her battle against a 1989 local production of The Normal Heart. She says she would fight any attempt to stage the play today.

MISSOURI: "Ex-Gay" Runs For Governor

Missouri state Sen. Bob Dixon, who claims to be "ex-gay," has announced his bid for governor.

He didn't elaborate at the time, but it's been a long journey up to this point for Dixon, 46, who reportedly once lived as a gay man until a spiritual epiphany turned him straight. Dixon himself spoke about his history with homosexuality at a Springfield city council meeting in 1991, according to a report in the Springfield News-Leader. Then in his early twenties, Dixon claimed that he'd lived as homosexual for five years until an undefined "religious experience" in October, 1988. Dixon's mother, former state representative Jean Dixon, told the newspaper that her son's "struggles" with homosexuality nearly led him to suicide that same month. Her son's ordeal, she said, informed her opposition to Missouri State University's 1989 production of The Normal Heart, a play that deals unflinchingly with the AIDS crisis. "It had been a heartache I had to deal with, and it was a tough one," Jean Dixon told the News-Leader of her son's gay lifestyle.

According to the Missouri Times, Dixon is willing to consider a bill to include LGBT citizens in anti-discrimination laws. Dixon: "I think the wise thing to do about any legislation is to wait until I see it before me. I think it's a sad day when we have to have laws to tell us to treat people with respect."

RELATED: Democratic Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will be term-limited out of office next year. Attorney General Chris Koster, also a Democrat, is considered the front-runner.

TRIAL VIDEO: Ex-Gay JONAH Witness Explains How Naked Dance Parties With Men Totally Made Him Straight

Via the SPLC:

This is a condensed version of a sworn video deposition presented at a June 2015 trial in New Jersey: Ferguson v. JONAH. Conversion therapy provider JONAH offered Hoffman as a “success story” witness claiming that conversion therapy works to change sexual orientation from gay to straight. A jury unanimously decided that JONAH is liable for consumer fraud for misrepresentations including that its program was effective in changing sexual orientation from gay to straight.

You have GOT to watch this. "It's literally just a fun 'boy' atmosphere where men are just having a lot of fun together experiencing their wild side. By the time the 'wild party' comes along everybody just kind of joins the fun unclothed. After the 'wild party' they are led to the showers."

(Via Equality Case Files)

Christopher Doyle Has The JONAH Sadz

"Because of the lack of respect by Judge Bariso for JONAH’s spiritual practices, it was practically impossible for the jury to hand down a not-guilty verdict. At nearly every point before, during and after testimony was given, the judge undermined JONAH’s freedom of religion. Potential jurors who believed homosexuality is a sin were screened out; defense attorney Charles Limandri was not allowed to discuss JONAH’s 1st Amendment freedom of religious expression in his closing arguments; and Judge Bariso effectively handicapped JONAH’s ability to defend itself by cutting out the ability to argue with a synthesis of faith and science, which would have been a true reflection of their religious counseling program. In order to mount an appeal, JONAH’s attorneys, the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, will need upwards of a million dollars. This is in addition to the three million it already cost for the initial defense, and the nearly four million JONAH might have to pay for the Plaintiff’s legal costs should the guilty verdict be upheld." - Ex-gay crackpot Christopher Doyle, in a money beg posted today on BarbWire.

Maggie Gallagher Has The JONAH Sadz

"The Blaze is reporting that an independent film about same-sex attraction called 'Audacity' had generated 130,000 views for its trailer on YouTube when the trailer was abruptly pulled by YouTube in response to user complaints. YouTube has not specifically said why the trailer was pulled, but its policies include 'commercially deceptive' content as a possible reason. I have not seen the trailer in question, but it occurs to me to ask: are we seeing the first fruits of a new post-JONAH strategy by the gay rights community to shut down speech? The SPLC had announced that 70 other religious nonprofits that help people with same-sex attraction live 'nongay' lives were in its targets. But I wonder, are these the first fruits of their victory?" - Maggie Gallagher, referring to the latest anti-gay film by banana man Ray Comfort. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

BREAKING: SPLC Wins Fraud Suit Against New Jersey "Ex-Gay" Torture Group

NJ.com reports:

A New Jersey jury on Thursday found a non-profit group that provides gay-to-straight conversion therapy guilty of consumer fraud for promising clients they could overcome their sexual urges by undressing in front of other men, pummeling an effigy of their mothers, and re–enacting traumatic childhood experiences.

In the first case in the nation to put the controversial practice on trial, the jury concluded that Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk, the founders of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing in Jersey City and life coach Alan Downing to whom JONAH referred patients, "engaged in unconscionable commercial practices" and misrepresented their services.

The verdict requires JONAH and Downing to refund thousands of dollars paid by former clients Michael Ferguson, Benjamin Unger, Sheldon Bruck, Chaim Levin, and parents Jo Bruck and Bella Levin for the individual and group counseling sessions and the "journey into manhood" weekends in the woods. Downing charged $60 to $100 for group and individual sessions but shared 20 percent with JONAH to help defray its administrative costs.

The SPLC says they will now seek an injunction to force JONAH from operating. They'll also seek legal fees. What a terrible, terrible month for Maggie Gallagher!

Cathie Adams: SCOTUS Can't Make It OK For Men To Penetrate Each OTher

Adams is the former head of the Texas Republican Party.

UPDATE: The clip has been removed from YouTube.

Quote Of The Day - Maggie Gallagher

"By some mysterious providence, three things happened in the past few weeks: Rachel Dolezal was outed as a white woman. Bruce Jenner was lauded as a white woman. And in a New Jersey consumer-fraud case against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), the Southern Poverty Law Center has spent millions to deprive any future New Jerseyans of the basic right even to try to change their sexual orientation. Together they lay down the new moral rules: Apparently, you can change your racial identity, but if you do, you are lying. You can dress up as a woman on the cover of Vanity Fair, and everyone must believe that you are in fact female. But when it comes to sexual orientation, even the attempt to change your identity or behavior must be viewed as an imposition against the laws of nature, if not nature’s God." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for the National Review. Gallagher is the head of the legal group defending "ex-gay" torture against the SPLC's  lawsuit. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Nursing Group Opposes "Ex-Gay" Torture

Via press release:

The Academy concludes that reparative therapies aimed at “curing” or changing same-sex orientation to heterosexual orientation are pseudo-scientific, ineffective, unethical, abusive and harmful practices that pose serious threats to the dignity, autonomy and human rights as well as to the physical and mental health of individuals exposed to them. Based on sound scientific evidence, its commitment to human rights and dignity, and its mission of promoting positive health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, the Academy concludes that efforts to “repair” homosexuality, by any means, constitute health hazards to be avoided and are to be condemned as unethical assaults on human rights and individual identity, autonomy and dignity,” the Academy said in its statement on reparative therapy. The statement cited strong scientific evidence concluding that techniques used in reparative therapies are ineffective by failing to achieve intended results and imparting inherently harmful effects on mental and physical health on individuals being pressured to change.

See the full statement. Also today the group issued a statement opposing employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NEW JERSEY: SPLC Attorney Shreds Head Of "Ex-Gay" Group During Fraud Trial

The SPLC's fraud lawsuit against the New Jersey-based "ex-gay" group JONAH has been underway since last week. Via New Jersey Jewish News:

On the trial’s second day, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Lina Bensman pointed out that Goldberg was a disbarred attorney who in 1989 was incarcerated for six months on federal tax fraud and conspiracy charges while heading a New York underwriting firm. She asked why he had occasionally identified himself as a “doctor,” although he was not a physician and had no PhD. “I am a JD, a juris doctor,” he explained. Goldberg also acknowledged that he used the title “rabbi” on occasion, although he was not ordained. “I was not a rabbi,” he said. “I have no formal religious training other than going to a yeshiva in grade school.”

Goldberg also testified, “I have never been a licensed counselor. I give advice.” But after being shown a signed document projected on a video screen, Goldberg acknowledged he had applied to the American Psychotherapy Association to become a certified relationship specialist and a certified professional counselor. “But these certifications were revoked?” asked Bensman. “Yes, ma’am” he replied. “And the certifications read, ‘I certify I have not been convicted of a felony’?” “That is correct,” he said. Under questioning by his own attorney, Goldberg said he believed that his felony fraud and conspiracy convictions were essentially nullified more than 20 years after his guilty pleas in 1989, allowing him to check “no” on the application.

More about Goldberg from the Village Voice:

In 1987, prosecutors accused Goldberg of orchestrating a massive municipal-bond fraud scheme, essentially selling more than $2 billion in bogus bonds between 1985 and 1986 to finance public works projects in smaller, rural, and often poor communities in the Midwest. Most of the projects were never completed, and Goldberg was eventually charged with 52 counts of bribery, fraud, and conspiracy, among other things, by a federal grand jury. He later pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud in California. The scheme cost the U.S. Treasury millions in lost taxes, and Matthews & Wright Inc. lost its license to sell securities and later dissolved completely.

Goldberg, who testified before a jury on June 8, declined on several occasions to speak on the record for this article. One day at the JONAH offices in Jersey City he confronted a Voice reporter, asking her to leave the building and calling her presence "absolutely inappropriate and out of line." He would later agree to answer a few questions, through his lawyer, via email. "Over 100 people lost their jobs and a good career because of what Arthur did, and that's just pure greed," Goldberg's former colleague says. "And he never apologized to anyone. I hoped he'd get life [in prison]. If I'd run into him on the street, I'd grab him by the throat."

Hit the first link for more about the trial and the second for an excellent and lengthy history of the "ex-gay" movement. Equality Case Files is attending the trial and is posting transcripts of the proceedings. JONAH is being defended by a legal group headed by Maggie Gallagher.

UPDATE: Check out how hate group leader Austin Ruse characterizes Goldberg over at Breitbart:

All his life Arthur Goldberg was a liberal New York Jew, almost stereotypical. He fought for civil rights for African Americans, he fought for better housing for New York’s poor, the whole schmear of respectable liberal causes. And then his son came out as gay and Arthur wanted to help him. When they founded JONAH, neither Goldberg or Berk knew that choice in sexual orientation or choice in psychological counseling would become a third rail in progressive politics. Now they are the target of one of the richest and most powerful left-wing groups in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center — with $340 in the bank and revenues of $50 million a year — is a group with almost limitless money to spend on litigation and it, along with activist Wayne Besen of a group called Truth Wins Out, have spent millions to put JONAH out of business and to punish Goldberg and Berk for trying to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

CANADA: Ontario Bans "Ex-Gay" Torture

Ontario has become the first Canadian province to ban "ex-gay" torture. Via the Toronto Star:

Ontario has passed a landmark law banning so-called “conversion therapy” on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children and preventing medical practitioners from billing OHIP for it. The legislation proposed by New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo won unanimous support from all three parties at Queen’s Park on Thursday, in time for Pride week, which begins June 19. It’s the first law of its kind in Canada and goes further than conversion therapy bans in several U.S. states by including protection for the transgender community. “We’re sending an incredibly strong message . . . there’s absolutely no room in an inclusive society for trying to change somebody’s sexual identity or their gender expression or their gender identity,” DiNovo told the Star. She said LGBTQ children are sometimes forced into the therapy by anxious parents and noted transgender people have an attempted suicide rate of 50 per cent. Susan Gapka, founder and chair of the Trans Lobby Group, called the bill “huge progress” while Health Minister Eric Hoskins, a family doctor, called conversion therapy a “dangerous treatment” and said people have the right “to be who they are.”

In the US "ex-gay" torture is banned in California, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington DC.

NEW JERSEY: Jury Hears Openings In "Ex-Gay" Fraud Suit Filed by SPLC

Via the Associated Press:

The four plaintiffs sued Jersey City-based JONAH in 2012, claiming the group violated state consumer fraud laws by characterizing homosexuality as a mental disorder and claiming it could successfully change patients' sexual orientation. The plaintiffs say they underwent treatment that included being told to spend more time naked with their fathers and participating in role-playing in which they were subjected to anti-gay slurs in a locker room setting. "My clients needed help but JONAH lied and JONAH made it worse," plaintiffs' attorney David Diniello told jurors. "All they got was junk science and so-called cures."

Three of the four plaintiffs were young men from Orthodox Jewish families in Brooklyn, Diniello said, who were grappling with their sexuality in a culture in which "there were no gay people" and there was pressure to marry and have children. The fourth, Michael Ferguson, is a Mormon who sought out JONAH. Attorney Charles LiMandri, representing JONAH, said none of the four asked for their money back at the time. "All four of these men left JONAH on good terms, speaking glowingly" of their experience and referring it to friends, he said. It was only after being contacted by activists that they denounced the organization, he said. "The plaintiffs became aggressors after they left JONAH to destroy JONAH," LiMandri said.

One plaintiff reports that the "therapy" included beating a pillow with a tennis racket while screaming about his mother. (You might remember "ex-gay" nutter Richard Cohen demonstrating this on CNN.) In 2012 plaintiff Chaim Levin told Truth Wins Out that his JONAH treatment included "removing my clothing and touching myself in a locked room" while the counselor watched.

NEW JERSEY: SPLC's Fraud Suit Against "Ex-Gay" Group Begins This Week

Via the SPLC:

Jury selection is underway in the SPLC’s landmark consumer fraud case against a New Jersey provider of conversion therapy, which purports to turn gay people straight. Opening arguments in the Superior Court of New Jersey are expected to begin on either Tuesday, June 2 or Wednesday, June 3. The SPLC filed the suit – Michael Ferguson, et al., v. JONAH – in 2012 against conversion therapy provider JONAH for deceptive practices that lured plaintiffs into the expensive, harmful therapy. The case, brought under New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act, is the first of its kind nationally. “This case is about exposing the lie that LGBT people are mentally ill and that they need to be cured,” said David Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal director. “Groups like JONAH should not be allowed to use bogus therapy, based on junk science, to scam LGBT people and their families out of thousands of dollars.”

More from Mic.com:

According to the complaint filed at the case's inception, customers of JONAH's services typically paid a minimum of $100 for weekly individual counseling sessions and another $60 for group therapy sessions, with some paying as much as $10,000 a year for the services. The lawsuit describes sessions in which unlicensed therapists ordered them to strip naked and touch their genitals while saying negative things about themselves in front of a mirror, group exercises involving the reenactment of childhood sexual abuse and the use of homophobic slurs while the plaintiffs tried to grab a pair of oranges meant to symbolize testicles.

"Stuck in the past": According to every mainstream mental health authority in the United States, JONAH's practices fall so far outside the mainstream as to be unethical, even dangerous. "It's unethical for counselors to be involved in reparative therapy," David Kaplan, chief professional officer and former president of the American Counseling Association, told Mic. "It's not a mental health intervention — it's a religious practice."

Kaplan is such an outspoken critic of conversion therapy that he dislikes even using the word "therapy" to describe the practice. "A lot of us refer to it as 'sexual orientation change efforts.' 'Therapy' connotes a mental health intervention. This is not a mental health intervention. A mental health intervention relates to the diagnosis and treatment of a mental disorder. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder. There's nothing to fix, there's nothing to repair, there's nothing to convert."

Former NOM chairman Maggie Gallagher heads the legal group defending JONAH. Yesterday Gallagher told CBN that "it will be fun to beat the Southern Poverty Law Center."

ILLINOIS: State Senate Passes "Ex-Gay" Torture Ban By 2-1 Margin

The bill now goes to the governor's desk. From the NCLR:

“We couldn’t be prouder to add Illinois to the list of legislatures that have acted to protect LGBT youth, and we applaud the dedication of Equality Illinois and the tireless coalition on the ground. We hope Governor Bruce Rauner will join fellow Republicans like Chris Christie, who signed New Jersey’s conversion therapy ban in 2013. No matter our sexual orientation, gender identity, or political party, we can all agree that children’s lives are worth protecting. We call on Governer Rauner to sign this lifesaving bill and protect LGBT youth and their families from these dangerous and fraudulent practices.”

HomoQuotable - Christopher Doyle

"Undoubtedly, the Left needed to dig up dirt against the Duggar family to discredit the family's conservative, Christian image. But for the liberal media to sensationalize this issue, and some of the articles are just vicious, is simply hypocritical, especially considering they barely mentioned the arrest of Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Co-Founder, Terry Bean, who was accused last November and charged with a felony for sexually abusing a 15 year old boy. Did you see national headlines for weeks about this scandal of a sitting member of the Board of Directors of HRC? Of course not, because the media wouldn't dare implicate the world's largest gay activist organization. Let's be honest, with 19 kids and counting, is it a surprise to any of us that one of the Duggar children would struggle with sexual immorality or addiction?" - Ex-gay activist Christopher Doyle, writing for the Christian Post. By the way, what was the name of Terry Bean's wildly popular reality show? You know, the one that ran for ten years with millions and millions of viewers? (Tipped by JMG reader Scott)

Editorial Of The Day

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Being gay is not an illness. It requires no cure. And anybody who practices “conversion therapy,” purporting to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, is a quack, engaged in medical malpractice. Conversion therapy does not work. On this, the scientific and medical consensus is strong. It can only do harm. We urge the Illinois Senate to support a measure, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, that would bar mental health workers from engaging in treatments designed to change the sexual orientation of minors. The bill passed in the House on Tuesday by a vote of 68 to 43. Biss tells us he is “optimistic” it will pass in the Senate as well, next week, but he’s still rounding up the votes. Conversion therapy is one of those issues on which there are not really two opposing credible views, and to claim otherwise is to create a false equivalency. On the one side are defenders of the practice, their views usually grounded in religious belief, who can cite no credible evidence. On the other side is the full weight of America’s mainstream medical and mental health communities, who come armed with facts. The cure does not work, and nobody needs curing.

The editorial also endorses the federal ban introduced in the US House earlier this week. The federal bill would outlaw all "ex-gay" torture (not just for minors) on the basis of it being a fraudulent practice.

ILLINOIS: State House Approves Ban On "Ex-Gay" Torture Of Minors By 68-43 Vote

Via Equality Illinois:

"Ending conversion therapy is our top priority in the legislature right now. Trying to change the unchangeable, our innate sexual orientation and gender identity, should not be attempted because it risks the health of LGBT youth," said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois. "We thank Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the chief House sponsor of HB217, for protecting the young people of Illinois and advancing this important legislation, and Sen. Daniel Biss, who is now taking up the bill in the Senate," Cherkasov said. The bill passed 68 to 43, with 61 Democrats and seven Republicans voting to protect the LGBT youth of Illinois, including the House Republican leader Rep. Jim Durkin among the "yes" votes. The roll call continues the history in Illinois of all laws that advance LGBT equality succeeding due to votes from both parties.

RELATED: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown yesterday signed her state's ban into law.

US Rep. Ted Lieu To Introduce Bill To Ban "Ex-Gay" Torture As Fraudulent Practice

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

On Tuesday morning, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California will introduce a federal bill to ban commercial efforts to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity — often called conversion therapy. “The public views conversion therapy as quackery, as something that harms people,” Lieu told BuzzFeed News on Monday afternoon, just after landing back in D.C. from California. “Eventually, I believe Congress will catch up to that, but you do need to start somewhere, so that’s why we’re introducing this legislation.” He faces an uphill battle: The legislation, which would label conversion therapy an “unfair or deceptive act or practice” that would be illegal under the Federal Trade Commission Act, is being introduced with less than three dozen co-sponsors — all of whom are Democrats. Lieu does, however, have a powerful ally in his effort. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has signed on as an original co-sponsor of the bill.

While a state Senator in California, Lieu was behind his state's successful ban on the "ex-gay" torture of those under age 18. His federal bill, however, would not limit the ban to minors. Lieu tells Buzzfeed, "Fraud is fraud, whether you practice it on a 16-year-old or a 45-year-old." The SPLC is currently suing an "ex-gay" group in New Jersey on the same grounds.

"I'm Not Not Gay No More" Dude Celebrates One Year Of Being Delivert

Via The Grio:

Andrew Caldwell became an internet sensation last year when he got up to the microphone at a Church of God in Christ conference in St. Louis and declared, “I’m not gay no more!” Today, Caldwell says he has become the target of bullying on social media and has had his good character damaged. “I am tired of people accusing me of various things and trying to damage my character. I’m tired of people trying to take the voice that God has given me and questioning my deliverance,” Caldwell said in a video posted to his Facebook page. “Each and every day, God takes me through a process. And I notice that I don’t switch (my hips) that much, I don’t twerk that much. I don’t do different things — because God can deliver from homosexual[ity],” Caldwell added. “I am delivered, because I am claiming it. I have not touched a man in a year. God took that desire away from me…” Later in Caldwell’s video message, he prays for men and women who are homosexual and begins speaking in tongues.

(Tipped by JMG reader Gerry)

"Ex-Gays" Demand Meeting With Obama

Via World Net Daily:

Just imagine a president, like Barack Obama for example, refusing to meet with a group because of their sexual orientation. Impossible, you say? A petition has been launched at Change.org, a popular online petition-posting site that boasts it is integral to helping people “transform their communities” every day, asking President Obama to keep his word. In his victory speech on November 5, 2008, as reported by the New York Times,Obama said: “And for those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight; but I hear your voices. I need your help, and I will be your president, too.” Which is just fine with the petition organizers, including Janet Boynes of Janet Boynes Ministries, if only he would. The problem for them is that he’s hasn’t met with them, or listened to them, and very likely the problem for Obama is that they are ex-”gays.” Former homosexuals. Former lesbians.

From the petition:

Sadly, Mr. President, you have not carried out your promise. For those of us who have left the homosexual lifestyle, you have never listened to us. Countless people who are participating in the homosexual lifestyle have visited with you at the White House, and you have supported them on numerous occasions. What about those of us whose compelling stories you have chosen to ignore? We also have voices; and when you were first elected, you promised to listen to us. That has not happened yet. Mr. President, when will you take the time to sit down with us and let us share our experiences? We the undersigned humbly ask you for this opportunity.

Despite being promoted by WND, the petition has gotten fewer than 2000 signatures since its posting over a week ago.