Back in May Jari Ramirez, the host of a popular gossip television show in the Dominican Republic didn't necessarily stun too many people when he admitted he was gay. Ramirez said that he knew he was gay from a young age and that part of his comfortability with being gay stemmed from his parents' acceptance. He also said that he had never been with a woman and would never be with one "because he did not consider himself to be a hypocritical person like many who are married with kids but have a man as a lover."

Jump ahead four months and Ramirez is singing a different tune. Earlier this week Dominican gossip web portal Mas VIP ran an exclusive interview under the following eye-grabbing headline: "Jari Ramirez says he is sorry, gets tired of men and accepts God." In the interview Ramirez now says that he recently came to a very difficult moment in his life in which he had to chose between God and witchcraft (hm, witchcraft?!).

...Jump ahead four months and Ramirez is singing a different tune. Earlier this week Dominican gossip web portal Mas VIP ran an exclusive interview under the following eye-grabbing headline: "Jari Ramirez says he is sorry, gets tired of men and accepts God." In the interview Ramirez now says that he recently came to a very difficult moment in his life in which he had to chose between God and witchcraft (hm, witchcraft?!).

You don't have the exact wording of this particular spell, do you?

I always wonder how somebody previously Gay can turn to a happy heterosexual, but they are not even claiming such a wondrous thing.

The damn thing (religion) should be banned from public space due to all the harm it is bringing to people.

Five former leaders of "ex-gay" ministries Down Under have publicly condemned converstion/reparative therapy, according to the Sydney Star Observer.

The Aussie leaders said they were inspired to make their comments by the recent apologies of three former "ex-gay" leaders at an "ex-gay" survivors conference in Los Angeles.

"There was not one person that I met or worked with who, in any genuine way, achieved the fundamental transformation from homosexual to heterosexual," Paul Martin, former leader of Exodus in Melbourne, told the Observer.

Anthony Venn-Brown
Author of 'A Life of Unlearning - A Journey to Find the Truth'
"When we choose to live authentically, we chip away at others prisons of pretend"
Download Chapter 1 'The Confession' FREE www.anthonyvennbrown.com/book.html

LOS ANGELES – Truth Wins Out called on PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs to resign today for faking a hate crime incident at a the Arlington County Fair in Virginia. Griggs claimed that a gay activist at the PFOX booth physically attacked an “ex-gay” volunteer. She said that police intervened and ejected the assailant from the event. Ex-Gay Watch editor David Roberts investigated her claims and found that Griggs’ story appears to be a complete fabrication.

“Once we started checking with people who would know, the evidence was overwhelming that it could not have happened the way they claimed,” said David Roberts, Editor of Ex- Gay Watch. “Fair officials, the police, eyewitnesses - they all report that no physical attack took place, police were not involved, and no one was escorted off the property. PFOX claimed all those things, and Focus on the Family and other Christian media repeated the claims.”

Earlier today, Jay Fisette, a member of the Arlington County Board commented on the alleged “hate crime” reported by Regina Griggs, Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays. Griggs claimed that a man was physically assaulted at a booth at the Arlington County Fair because he was an ex-gay PFOX volunteer. A subsequent investigation by Ex-Gay Watch found the allegations to be without merit. Fisette weighed in on the widening controversy:

“The alleged incident is a fiction. It makes for a good story, and possibly helps some with fundraising, but remains untrue. Both the Arlington County Police and the County Fair Board state they have no awareness or record of such an incident. Having spent quite a bit of time at the County Fair myself, I’m not sure the PFOX booth received much attention at all over that weekend.”

"I’m not sure the PFOX booth received much attention at all over that weekend.”

In his fight against being gay, Hufford enlisted the services of Christopher Austin, a counselor at the Irving Church of Christ South MacArthur who operated Renew Ministries.

Austin set about to cure Hufford’s homosexuality, allegedly using a procedure that could, at best, only be described as unorthodox and, at its worst, criminal.

The counselor’s novel approach to curing homosexuality involved private sessions to make the client more comfortable with people of his own sex, according to Hufford. This progressed from routine counseling, to nude sessions to fondling and finally oral sex over a year’s time, he said.

[...]

In explaining how he could have been duped into participating in such a bizarre treatment program, Hufford noted that counselors can exercise enormous mental control over their clients. But Hufford said he finally was able to see through the ruse, and he filed criminal charges against Austin in late 2001 and a John Doe civil lawsuit against Austin and the church in early 2002.

Hufford said the stress of the lawsuit and the criminal investigation overwhelmed him, and he wound up dropping the lawsuit and the criminal charges. Dallas County criminal records show sexual assault charges against Austin were dismissed in 2004.

In the process of finally accepting his sexual orientation and coming out in 2003, Hufford revealed in a Dallas Voice story that he was the John Doe who had filed the lawsuit and criminal charges against Austin.

Hufford said in the interview that he had come to accept his sexual orientation, and that he had forgiven Austin.

But that story apparently led to others coming forward who claimed they had also participated in Austin’s “cure” for homosexuality, and the counselor’s luck apparently had run out.

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out thanked the Arcus Foundation today for rewarding TWO with a $40,000 grant that will greatly assist in the organizations efforts to counter the ex-gay industry. The gift was from The Arcus Gay & Lesbian Fund, which seeks to advance social justice by supporting efforts to promote human rights and policy change for GLBT equality.

“Truth Wins Out is grateful for the generous support it has received from the Arcus Foundation,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “This gift significantly increases our capacity to enlighten Americans about the ex-gay myth. This timely assistance will allow us to educate the public and help people who have been harmed by these dangerous organizations.”

Jon Stryker founded the Arcus Foundation and its Executive Director is noted GLBT advocate Urvashi Vaid. The Gay & Lesbian Fund focuses on impacting religious and values-based beliefs to promote greater acceptance of the GLBT community. It also concentrates on efforts to address and promote racial justice in GLBT communities and further the inclusion of issues of sexuality within racial justice movements as well as expand GLBT human rights in communities of color.

“What I found was that homosexuality was for the young,” said Chambers on the national television show. “There was a time when I wasn’t going to have hair anymore. There was a time when I wasn’t going to work out every day, and lay out in the sun, and be as much a commodity as I was when I was eighteen.”

“What I found was that homosexuality was for the young,” said Chambers on the national television show.