Wayne Besen, president of Truth Wins
Out, has challenged Lisa Ling on her reporting on “ex-gay” group
Exodus International.
Ling profiles the group in an Our
America segment aired on Oprah Winfrey's cabler OWN.
In a video posted last week, Besen,
whose non-profit advocates against ex-gay ministries, claims Ling was
duped.
In Lisa Ling Screws Up Big-Time On
'Ex-Gay' Segment, Besen challenges Ling's assertion that Exodus
doesn't make false promises.
“Exodus International understands
their client base well – that they are desperate and vulnerable,
and they'll do anything to change, ” Besen says in the video. “So
their technique is to put the truth, which is unappealing, next to a
lie, which offers false hope. Well, guess which one people believe
who want to change desperately. Well, they believe the lie.”
Besen points to a revealing moment on
the show where Exodus president Alan Chambers concedes he struggles
with same-sex attraction, then reverses course with: “You know,
people say once you're gay, you're always gay. You can't break free
from that. That's not true. And as I lived my life through the
filter of my faith, my sexuality changed. That's not a lie. That's
the truth.”
“The final step in Exodus' deception
is to really pray away the gay, the very thing that Lisa Ling and
Exodus deny they do,” Besen adds. (The video is embedded in the
right panel of this page.)