FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Recently Hired Counseling Chief At Air Force Academy Has Spent Two Decades Working In Industry To “Cure” Homosexuality
Burlington, Vt. — Truth Wins Out today called upon the Air Force Academy to terminate Dr. Mike Rosebush, an “ex-gay” charlatan with almost two decades experience working to “cure” homosexuals, as their chief of Character and Leadership Coaching. Before coming to the Academy in 2011, Rosebush served as a vice president for Focus On The Family, as a professional member of NARTH, and was the director of the Professional Counselors’ Network for Exodus International. He also co-authored a handbook on “unwanted homosexual attractions” with NARTH’s Joseph Nicolosi and George Rekers, the longtime “ex-gay” activist who was infamously caught taking rent-boys on European vacations. Rosebush has devoted his life to disproven, harmful junk science, and with such credentials, has no place serving in a counseling role in the United States Military.
“The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell sent a message that the United States Military will no longer be a home for anti-gay bigotry and discrimination,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Hiring a counselor like Dr. Rosebush sends a message that perhaps the Air Force Academy isn’t serious about creating an environment where all cadets are treated equally.”
Rosebush’s former employer, Exodus International, closed its doors this year, acknowledging that “reparative therapy” and other efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation do not work and often do damage. Every major professional medical and mental health organization concurs with this assessment. However, NARTH and Focus On The Family have not taken steps to ackn0wledge this truth, and there is no evidence that Dr. Rosebush has decided to embrace real science and ethical counseling methods. As such, cadets at the Air Force Academy are in danger of being counseled in ways that violate all the accepted tenets of the counseling profession. Though the Air Force Academy claims that Rosebush does not directly counsel cadets, the organizational nature of his job — which seems very similar to his role with Exodus International — puts them at risk just the same.
“All cadets in need of counseling are vulnerable, whether they’re gay or straight,” said Truth Wins Out Associate Director Evan Hurst. “The fact that Dr. Rosebush has so little regard for best practices on issues of human sexuality and so-called ‘reparative therapy’ begs the question — how can any cadets trust such a man to be on their side when that man has proven over the course of his career that his ideology always comes before his clients’ needs?”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
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