George Rekers has stepped down from the
board of ex-gay group the National Association for Research and
Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Talking
Points Memo reported.
Wayne Besen, executive director of
Truth Wins
Out, a non-profit that advocates against ex-gay ministries, was
the first to call for Rekers' resignation as the 61-year-old faced a
growing gay sex scandal.
“Given the sordid and tawdry facts,
he should immediate step down from NARTH's board and apologize to the
LGBT community for his extreme hypocrisy and self-loathing,” Besen
said.
Rekers, a prominent social
conservative, hired a 20-year-old escort off the pageviews of gay
website Rentboy.com to accompany him on a 10-day European vacation,
the Miami New Times first reported. The prostitute, named
Lucien by the paper, but whose real name is Jo-Vanni Roman, claims he
provided Rekers with daily erotic massages.
A
second escort has since stepped forward to claim Rekers paid him for
gay sex.
Rekers has denied he's engaged in
“inappropriate behavior,” saying on a Facebook posting that he
hired his travel companion to privately minister to him.
The scandal has given Florida Attorney
General Bill McCollum's gubernatorial campaign a black eye. McCollum
urged the state to hire Rekers at a cost of $120,000 to testify as an
expert witness in favor of a gay adoption ban. His opinion,
however, was dismissed by the judge as not credible.
McCollum has since distance himself
from Rekers, saying he “wouldn't do it again.”
Rekers reportedly first offered his
resignation Thursday.