Jerry Newcombe of the Christian
conservative Truth in Action Ministries has labeled John Paulk's
rejection of the “ex-gay” movement “blasphemy.”
Paulk appeared on the cover of Newsweek
in 1998 under the headline Gay for Life? Going Straight: The
Uproar Over Sexual “Conversion”. In the article, he promoted
the “ex-gay” ministry he founded, Love Won Out, and claimed that
like himself and his wife Anne, people can and do alter their
sexuality.
Paulk's status in the movement
diminished greatly in 2000 when Wayne Besen publicized spotting him
at a gay bar in Washington D.C.
Recently, Paulk said that he no longer
supports attempts to change a person's sexual orientation from gay to
straight and that he's still gay.
Without explicitly naming Paulk,
Newcombe compared him to an “ex-ex-smoker” who “for whatever
reason, they lit up again, and they no longer try to fight these
urges.”
“What's interesting about this fallen
away man who is currently in the news is that he claims he never was
changed. Fair enough, because only he and God know his own heart.
But what he now says is that you can't change – that is, no one
with such a struggle can change. Excuse me?” Newcombe
said.
“As the wife of an ex-gay once told
me in an interview, 'To say that people can't be transformed is to
say that God cannot transform people, and that's blasphemy. Nothing
less.'”
“Granted, some sinful backgrounds may
be harder to work through than others. But God can and will
transform those willing to submit to His will. He wants us to be
free more than we do.”