FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 24, 2011
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org
Truth Wins Out Founder Wayne Besen To Discuss ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth in Los Angeles
Besen to Appear at LA Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre on Wednesday
LOS ANGELES – Author and activist Wayne Besen will give a presentation about Truth Wins Out in the LA Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre (located in The Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Pl., Los Angeles CA 90038) on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 from 7-8pm. The event, which is co-hosted by the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and the Los Angeles chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, will immediately be followed by a reception from 8-9:30pm in the courtyard and gallery.
Besen, author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, is a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign who founded Truth Wins Out, the national non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism and the dangerous “ex-gay” industry. He’s also the architect of TWO’s sting operation in which TWO’s John Becker went undercover and proved for the first time that the clinic run by Marcus Bachmann, husband of former presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, practices “ex-gay” therapy.
During his multi-media presentation, Besen will introduce equality supporters to the work of Truth Wins Out, reveal the damage caused by programs that claim to turn gay people straight through prayer and therapy, and discuss why it’s so important for LGBT people and their allies to continue pushing back hard against religious extremism.
“Now more than ever, as the push for LGBT rights picks up across the country, opponents of equality are doubling down with their attacks on our community,” said Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out. “Religious extremism is now the primary obstacle to LGBT equality, and in this presentation I look forward to introducing friends of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association to the unique, cutting-edge ways TWO is fighting back.”
Besen’s presentation also offers a unique, innovative, and entertaining look behind the mask of so-called “ex-gay” programs. In 2000, Besen photographed Exodus “ex-gay” poster boy John Paulk in a gay bar in Washington, DC and helped expose the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’s personal “ex-gay” activist Michael Johnston as a fraud.
“The multi-media show will take the audience on a whirlwind tour of ‘ex-gay’ programs,” said Besen. “Audiences will learn the history of these groups, the bizarre techniques they use, and the political players that finance these ignoble efforts.”
In 2009, Besen was noted in Instinct Magazine’s “Leading Men” issue. In 2006, he was recognized in the Advocate Magazine’s “People of the Year” issue. Besen has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: The Rachel Maddow Show, NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightline and Good Morning America, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and the Advocate Magazine.
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
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