FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Former Ex-Lesbian Leader, Yvette Cantu Schneider, Gives the Inside Scoop on Conversion Programs in New TWO Pride Month Interview Series
Three-Part Video and Podcast Series Comes as ‘Ex-Gay’ Industry Launches New Assault on LGBT Community
PHILADELPHIA – Truth Wins Out released a new three-part video and podcast interview series today featuring former “ex-lesbian” leader Yvette Cantu Schneider who apologized for her participation in the “ex-gay” industry and warned LGBT people not to join such “destructive” groups. Cantu Schneider had previously worked as a policy analyst for the Family Research Council, served as Director of Women’s Ministry for the now defunct Exodus International and spoke at Focus on the Family’s now closed “ex-gay” road show Love Won Out.
“I’ve never seen anyone change from gay-to-straight, ever,” Cantu Schneider told TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen during the interview. “I would just implore anyone who is thinking of joining an ‘ex-gay’ group not to do it. Instead of being free to be who you are, you’re being forced to be someone that you’re not.”
Part 1 focuses on Yvette giving people the unvarnished truth about “ex-gay” conversion therapy programs and urging them to avoid wasting their time and money trying to change. She talks about how those who claimed to have been “healed” were constantly in trouble for trying to have sex with clients.
Listen to Part 1 on PODCAST now.
Part 2 focuses on the failed 1998 Truth in Love “ex-gay” ad campaign that promised, in full-page newspaper ads and television commercials, to “change” LGBT people. The ads offered the infamous tagline, “It’s not about hate, it’s about hope.” An integral part of this ignominious campaign, Yvette offers the inside scoop, including the Religious Right’s motivations and cynical lust for money and political power.
Listen to Part 2 on PODCAST now.
Part 3 tells the fascinating journey of Yvette – and how she went from an out and proud bisexual woman to an “ex-lesbian” spokesperson at the highest levels of the Religious Right — and finally to a place of peace and self-acceptance as a vocal opponent of “ex-gay” conversion programs.
Listen to Part 3 PODCAST Now
“It’s critically important to remember that today’s new ‘ex-gay’ conversion campaigns aren’t fresh or inspiring,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Instead, they follow the failed playbook of 1998’s Truth in Love campaign, where virtually every person the public was told went from gay-to-straight, ended up coming out of the closet or was mired in scandal. Given that the extreme right lied to us in 1998, what credibility do they have today to make identical claims of sexual conversion? They ought to be ashamed of themselves for rebranding rubbish.”
Founded in 2006, Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit think tank and advocacy organization that fights against right wing extremism, the “ex-gay” myth and anti-LGBT prejudice and discrimination.
