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Exclusive Op-Ed: Gay Iraq War Vet Who Confronted Alan Chambers Takes On Ex-Gay, Inc.

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Guest author and ex-gay survivor Sean Sala appears in Oprah’s OWN “Special Report: God & Gays,” on “Our America” with Lisa Ling, which airs Thursday. Here, in this exclusive op-ed, Sala shares his experiences with Alan Chambers, the ex-gay movement, and his own faith.

Moments before I was to take my own life, I stared at the closet door in my friend’s room. Behind that door was his loaded gun. In a desperate plea before I was going to end it all, I had flashes of the decade I spent in the Church where I was told I was possessed by demons. Flashbacks of when I was walking into a Sunday service, called a “fag” and was ultimately kicked out of Christian Life Assembly in Carrollton, Texas (under the past leadership and former name) for being gay, and memories of the Exodus International “Living Waters” program where I was told time and time again that I was molested and that is what lead to me becoming gay.

“I’ve never been molested,” I repeated over and over again to the leadership who promised that “thousands had been delivered” from homosexuality. But my questioning and resistance to things that were manufactured within the therapy instantly demonized me. Since I would not “admit” I had been molested I was deemed as “rebellious, insecure and non-deliverable.” Which, in my teenage mind, damaged me and brought me to the point of suicide years later when I was 21. I believe that only the Divine stopped me from ending my life that day.

After coming out to the youth pastor I grew up with, he said to me “just go and indulge with men and come back and repent.” That was his response to my honest and transparent moment about my life. But because the political fallout to him and his effectiveness as a minister was on the line, he basically told me to be a hypocrite in order for the anti-gay church establishment to survive. This happened before Exodus International CEO Alan Chambers finally “came out” and stated that gay “reparative therapy” had caused immense damage, even though just months before he had said in an interview to Lisa Ling that “change is possible, I stand by that phrase.”

Before I came on the “The Great Reconciliation,” I had been involved in national LGBT policy activism for almost three years. In my own work as an activist, I had a growing concern for the anti-gay criminalization laws that were brewing in Uganda’s parliament, along with rumors that other African nations were cooking up genocidal policies against the LGBT community as well. Evangelical Churches in America were a large conduit — psychologically and financially — for these bills of hate to come to fruition. I desperately called my former Pastor who now served as staff of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas — the seventh largest mega-church in the nation. I believed if I could rally mega-churches against Uganda’s proposed laws (although they themselves would never condone being gay) surely they would stand up against genocide?

Well, the moment I contacted the staff of Ed Young, my former Pastor, I was unfriended on Facebook without a word. Multiple emails were never responded to, social media pleas ignored and he has ignored my calls since then. Complete radio silence from Fellowship Church. Not because I asked them to stand up for “being gay” but because I asked them to stand up against genocide. Although I can not say that Fellowship condones genocide, the silence and fear from their end echoes the damage that ex-gay therapy and the larger hatred and second class citizenship of gays has still not truly been addressed in the church. If it’s gay we can not touch it, even if it is to aid someone in need because LGBT people are “evil.”

But the moment my former Pastor found out that I mentioned their Church and their smug attitude towards LGBT Ugandan issues in this expose, I received a phone call. Which I ignored. The tide has turned and they are on the wrong side of history and frankly the wrong side of the Gospel of Christ’s mission. I don’t have time to play PR games with a so called “Church” because now their credibility is on the line, again.

skitched-20130619-182010Image:
A photo from Lisa Ling’s “Special Report: God & Gays.”
Left to right are Sean Sala, Lisa Ling, and former board member of Exodus Michael Bussee.

When I headed into that church basement in Los Angeles to film the documentary, Alan Chambers apologized. For me though, that apology will not be enough until Exodus agrees to shut down. Although I can’t share details of the show until it airs Thursday, I am actively working to assure that the tired, old magician Alan Chambers will never be able to wield more damage than he has already done — especially in light of a recent revelation that Exodus could directly have had a ripple effect that has lead to pending genocide in Africa, as revealed by the Reverend Albert Ogle in a recent article.

The world experienced the “Great Reformation.” America has experienced the “Great Awakening.” Now I believe we as a nation stand at the point of what I call “The Great Reconciliation.” The nation has changed. Supreme Court rulings of equality are pending and the Evangelical Church that once ruled the bias against gays, the moral majority movement, has withered almost to extinction.

Standing is a minority that is spreading like a wild fire, such as churches like MissionGathering Christian Church in San Diego and others. That fire that is spreading? Gays are God’s creation. The nation is embracing it. Pastor Richard McCullen of MissionGathering, he himself a former closeted Charismatic Preacher, has come out and stayed out. Alan Chambers, the man whose eyes I stared into that night on “Our America” says he gets it … but will he? Lisa Ling who sat next to me during the expose said this:

“I am humbled to have been able to be part of one of the most emotional experiences of my life. I was in awe of the courage it took for the survivors to share their stories. My hope is that something really positive comes of it.”

The reconciliation is upon us. Whereas Evangelicals once thought that the world would turn gay, the exact opposite had occurred. Many churches are accepting of LGBT people and those that are stuck to the old ways are waning in relevance.

Chambers now stands in an opportune moment. Will he rage against the silence of Fellowship Church and Ed Young’s cronies who are so anti-gay they can’t even have a conversation about how gays should not be killed in mass numbers? Will Alan Chambers finally end the concentration camp of Exodus? Whatever happens, don’t miss it. Whatever happens, don’t let our poised moment of the reconciliation of the LGBT community and the Evangelical Church wane. This is Our America too and according to Rev. Ogle, He is “Our God, too.”

But Exodus must shut down and you can be a part of that. SIGN THE PETITION

 

_The Great Reconciliation__ Gays take on Ex-Gay Inc. on Our America with Lisa Ling - Google Drive-1Sean Sala is a national gay, social and sexual rights activist. He was the organizer of the 2011 Active Duty Military March in San Diego in which over 250 active duty Military marched in San Diego Pride while Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still national law. He also was an organizer and liaison for the 2012 Active Duty Military March in which he pressured top Military brass resulting in the Pentagon issuing a historical first time blanket certification and approved the United States Military to wear their full uniforms for the first time in a pride parade in US history; where over 450 military personnel participated. He formally was on the national leadership committee of  Servicemembers United the nations largest LGBT military organization, where he participated in a White House Executive office meeting on Southern California and Gay Military issues and sparred in national news against anti-gay Republican Congressman opposed to Gay troops. He also advocated for troops battling PTSD to the San Diego City Council. He has been featured on the ‘Real World,’ MTV sponsored internet casts on gay rights, local, national and international news and an official Library of Congress documentation on the DADT repeal movement. He is a popular blogger and a columnist for San Diego Gay and Lesbian News.

After resigning from Servicemembers United he is in progress of challenging the top ten Mega Churches in United States to denounce Uganda’s Parliament from executing gays and he is the chief organizer of the San Diego rally on March 25th to demand the Supreme Court to rule for full federal marriage equality. He also has formed the “Military Freedom Coalition” to challenge the Transgender ban in the Military. He is also currently working on LGBT issues affecting the continent of Africa.

He served in the United States Navy six years for Naval Intelligence, three combat tours and is an Iraq war Veteran.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article included an image that incorrectly identified Sean Sala, Lisa Ling, and Alan Chambers. We apologize for the error.

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News

Trump Won’t Commit to Accepting Election Results if He Doesn’t Win State He Falsely Claims He Won

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May 2, 2024

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Falsely claiming he won the state of Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election Donald Trump is now refusing to commit to accepting the 2024 results for the Badger State this November.

In an interview with Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Trump appeared to dance around the issue, declaring he would only accept the official results “if everything’s honest.”

“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” Trump told the paper’s Alison Dirr and Molly Beck in an interview Wednesday. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”

“But if everything’s honest, which we anticipate it will be — a lot of changes have been made over the last few years — but if everything’s honest, I will absolutely accept the results,” he said.

The Journal Sentinel reports Trump “offered similar conditions when asked the same question by news outlets in 2016 and 2020.”

READ MORE: ‘No Place for Antisemitism’: Biden Denounces Violent Campus Protests, Hate Speech and Racism

“I’d be doing a disservice to the country if I said otherwise,” he said.

In that interview Trump once again falsely claimed he won Wisconsin in 2020, a state President Joe Biden actually won by more than 20,000 votes.

“If you go back and look at all of the things that had been found out, it showed that I won the election in Wisconsin,” Trump told the newspaper. “It also showed I won the election in other locations.”

Trump’s “Big Lie,” that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him, along with his support for the January 6, 2021 insurrection, have been central to his 2024 campaign.

“Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the last presidential election in Wisconsin and his new comments placing conditions on when he would accept the results of the next election come as Republicans are seeking to persuade GOP voters to restore their trust in the state’s system of elections and embrace absentee voting,” the Journal Sentinel reported. “There’s no evidence to support that Wisconsin’s election was tainted by cheating or fraud in 2020. The results have been confirmed by recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties that Trump paid for, court rulings, a nonpartisan state audit and a study by the conservative legal firm Wisconsin Institute of Law & Liberty, among other analyses.”

READ MORE: Noem Insists 14 Month Old Dog She Shot Was ‘Not a Puppy’ Sparking New Backlash

In October of 2016, weeks before Election Day, during the final presidential debate, Trump was asked if he would make the commitment “that you will absolutely accept the results of this election?”

“I will look at it at the time,” Trump replied. “I’m not looking at anything now, I’ll look at it at the time.”

He then went on to sow doubt about the credibility of the election.

Trump’s refusal to accept election results stretches back more than a decade, even before he ran for president.

After he refused to accept his loss in 2020, ABC News reported “Trump has longstanding history of calling elections ‘rigged’ if he doesn’t like the results.”

“On election night in 2012, when President Barack Obama was reelected, Trump said that the election was a ‘total sham’ and a ‘travesty,’ while also making the claim that the United States is ‘not a democracy’ after Obama secured his victory.

“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!” Trump wrote on Twitter

One month later, in December of 2012, Trump tweeted, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” Ironically, four years later he became president after losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, but winning the Electoral College.

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Antisemitism Is Wrong, But’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pilloried for Promoting Antisemitic Claim

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‘No Place for Antisemitism’: Biden Denounces Violent Campus Protests, Hate Speech and Racism

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5 hours ago

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May 2, 2024

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President Joe Biden made rare, unscheduled remarks from the White House Thursday morning, denouncing the recent violent protests on college campuses, and telling Americans there is “no place” for antisemitism anywhere across the nation. He also denounced “hate speech” and “racism,” while declaring his support for the right to peacefully protest.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students,” President Biden declared. “There is no place for hate speech, or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place for racism in America. It’s all wrong. It’s un-American.”

“Violent protest is not protected,” Biden said strongly. “Peaceful protest is.”

Stressing “the right to free speech,” and the people’s right “to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard,” President Biden also declared the importance of “the rule of law.”

READ MORE: Noem Insists 14 Month Old Dog She Shot Was ‘Not a Puppy’ Sparking New Backlash

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” the President also said, praising the ideal of peaceful protests, which he said are in the “best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.”

“But,” he added, “neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society and order must prevail.”

America is a “big, diverse, free thinking and freedom-loving nation,” Biden said, denouncing those “who rush in to score political points.”

“This isn’t a moment for politics, it’s a moment for clarity.”

“It’s against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest,” he warned. “Threatening people, intimidating people. instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. Dissent is essential to democracy but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish a semester and their college education.”

READ MORE: ‘Antisemitism Is Wrong, But’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pilloried for Promoting Antisemitic Claim

“Look. It’s basically a matter of fairness. It’s a matter of what’s right. There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked.”

“I understand people have strong feelings and deep convictions in America. We respect the right and protect the right for them to express that. But it doesn’t mean anything goes. It needs to be done without violence. Without destruction, without hate, and within the law. And I’ll make no mistake. As President, I will always defend free speech. And I will always be just as strong standing up for the rule of law. That’s my responsibility to you the American people. My obligation to the Constitution.”

The President also responded to reporters’ questions, including saying he saw no need to call up the National Guard.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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Noem Insists 14 Month Old Dog She Shot Was ‘Not a Puppy’ Sparking New Backlash

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7 hours ago

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May 2, 2024

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Embattled South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem, under fire the past week after an excerpt from her new book revealed her boasting about shooting to death her 14-month old puppy she “hated,” has repeatedly defended her actions as proof she can do hard things that need to be done.

Governor Noem, who has been considered a leading contender to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, appeared on Fox News Wednesday night and blamed the “fake news” for publishing excerpts from her book, which she has not claimed were inaccurate.

She also insisted the 14-month old wirehaired pointer named Cricket was “not a puppy,” appearing to suggest that made the killing justified, as she again promoted her book so Americans can “find out the truth.”

“Well, Sean, you know how the fake news works,” Noem told Hannity (video below). “They leave out some or most of the facts of a story. They put the worst spin on it, and that’s what’s happened in this case. I hope people really do buy this book and they find out the truth of this story, because the truth of this story is that this was a working dog, and it was not a puppy. It was a dog that was extremely dangerous. It had come to us from a family who found her way too aggressive. We were her second chance and she was, the day she was put down was a day that she massacred livestock that were a part of our neighbors, she attacked me and it was a hard decision.”

READ MORE: ‘Antisemitism Is Wrong, But’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pilloried for Promoting Antisemitic Claim

“The reason it’s in the book is because this book is filled with tough, challenging decisions that I’ve had to make throughout my life,” she added.

Noem’s dog shooting, which she recently said took place 20 years ago, has been strongly criticized by the left and right.

Earlier this week two people close to Donald Trump, his former Senior White House Counselor Steve Bannon, and his son, Donald Trump Jr., “questioned Noem’s judgement Monday on Donald Trump Jr.’s show ‘Triggered,'” USA Today reported, noting also that “both men laughed” about it.

“Bannon called Noem ‘a little too based,’ using a slang term popular on the right to describe someone who, among other qualities, speaks and acts without fear of being politically correct, and Trump Jr. said shooting the dog ‘was not ideal.'”

The Guardian, which broke the news of Noem’s dog shooting last week, reported Tuesday “apparently even [ex-president Donald] Trump sees the bad optics in having a ‘puppy killer’ as a running mate.”

RELATED: ‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say

Meanwhile, criticism, which had been subsiding over the past few days, returned after Noem’s remarks on Fox News.

“She honestly think boasting about killing a dog who was too happy makes her tough,” observed former Lincoln Project executive director Fred Wellman. “I have served with women in combat. They endured horrible conditions. Got blown up. They were tough. Her two examples of tough are killing animals and keeping her state open as hundreds of thousands died. That’s not tough. That’s psycho.”

Calling Noem “broken,” former Republican and former U.S. Congressman Denver Riggleman said: “She wrote the book. She allowed those words to be published. Her ghost writer seems to have despised her. Exposed her. And Kristi liked it… thought it was ‘cool’.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., responding to video of Noem on Fox News, commented: “Here’s donald trump’s leading contender to be vice president defending her butchering a puppy and hawking her crummy book on rightwing propaganda tv. This is the republican party.”

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold offered this criticism:

Jared Ryan Sears, who writes “The Pragmatic Humanist” at Substack, said, “Yes, the issue is the debate on whether or not a 14 month old dog should be called a puppy and not the fact that you murdered it because you refused to train it and could not think of any other possible solution than shooting a young dog in a gravel pit.”

“Keep hawking that book,” he added.

Watch Noem’s remarks below or at this link.

RELATED: Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’

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