At least one of the men featured in
cabler TLC's My Husband's Not Gay is a prominent proponent of
“ex-gay” therapy.
The show, set to premiere Sunday,
features four Utah Mormon men who are attracted to men but do not
identify as gay.
My Husband's Not Gay follows
three married couples – Jeff and Tanya, Pret and Megan and Curtis
and Tera – and a bachelor, Tom, who are all devout members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in Salt Lake City,
Utah.
More than 120,000 people have signed a
petition calling on TLC to cancel the upcoming special.
The program “promotes the false and
dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight
in order to be part of their faith communities,” wrote the author
of the
Change.org petition, Josh Sanders of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate
Ellis called TLC “irresponsible” for airing a show that “gives
the idea that sexual orientation is a choice.”
TLC has shrugged off the controversy –
saying that the show's stars “speak only for themselves” – but
Truth Wins Out, a group opposed to therapies that attempt to alter
people's sexuality from gay to straight, noted that many of the
show's stars are affiliated with the Mormon “ex-gay” group North
Star International.
Preston “Pret” Dahlgren (pictured
with wife) is deeply involved with the “ex-gay” movement, having
been a leader in at least two such ministries. He currently sits on
the board of North Star. Dahlgren's wife, Megan, has been involved
with three groups that promote “ex-gay” therapy, including North
Star.
Jeff Bennion, another star of TLC's
show, is a spokesman for North Star.
North
Star boasts that all seven stars are part of its community.
“TLC's My Husband’s Not Gay
won't air its first episode until January 11, but it's worth noting
that at least one of its stars has a real professional incentive to
use his new, national platform to promote a kind of 'treatment' that
all major professional medical organizations agree is ineffective and
can do serious harm to LGBT people,” Equality
Matters' Carlos Maza wrote.