Ex-Gay Watch

-John Shore ponders what Jesus might do if invited to a gay wedding.

-The mayor of Turin, Italy performs a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple.

-Andrews Air Force Base disinvites Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council from a speaking engagement.

-Catholic Charities ends spousal benefits for its employees in Washington DC so that it won’t have to offer them to same-sex couples.

-The LGBT Center at UC Davis resolves to leave recent anti-gay graffiti in place as a reminder that intolerance still exists.

-Washington, DC begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

-Free Republic provides Paul Cameron with a platform to disseminate his latest “research.”

-The UK’s House of Lords votes to lift a ban that prevented churches from performing wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.

-Yet another anti-gay politician is outed in a scandal.

-Same-sex couples can now marry in Mexico City.

-A gay prostitution scandal unfolds in the Vatican.

-Slovenia becomes the latest country to consider legalizing same-sex marriage.

-Senator John Kerry calls for an end to the ban on blood donations from gay men.

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has officially responded to Ex-Gay Watch on the matter of Arthur Abba Goldberg, the former NARTH Executive Secretary.

Goldberg, who is co-founder and co-director of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), was revealed last month to have been jailed and fined in 1989 for his part in a multimillion-dollar business fraud.

Goldberg responded to the reports by shifting the blame, and was duly followed by NARTH President Julie Harren-Hamilton, who attacked the gay media and bloggers for exposing Goldberg’s criminal past.

Last week, XGW reported that Goldberg was no longer listed as Executive Secretary of NARTH. Now NARTH Vice-President of Operations David C Pruden has spoken on the record about the situation.

In a statement made to XGW, Pruden revealed that NARTH knew nothing of Arthur Abba Goldberg’s conviction for felony prior to last month’s investigative report. He also confirmed that Goldberg had resigned from the board of NARTH. The full statement reads:

In the past two weeks incidents that took place more than twenty years ago in the career and life of Arthur Goldberg first came to our attention. He has never taken the members of the NARTH Board into his confidence concerning these events and this information came as a complete shock to NARTH members and to our organization.

After years of dedicated service to NARTH Mr. Goldberg has announced his resignation from his NARTH Board position. With his resignation this now becomes a personal matter and all future questions or concerns should be directed to Mr. Goldberg. He has assured us that he plans to make a public statement on his own web site and since none of the issues concerning his past were in any way associated with NARTH, and in fact preceeded the founding of NARTH,  we would feel it inappropriate to make further comments. We wish for Arthur and his family the very best at this difficult time.

This confirms what seemed evident all along: Arthur Abba Goldberg deliberately concealed his criminal past.

Despite the statement that this is now a “personal matter” for Arthur Goldberg, however, NARTH still has some questions of its own to answer. The overwhelming question is how Goldberg was able to such an entrusted position at NARTH without disclosing his conviction for fraud. Does NARTH not have safeguards in place? Does NARTH not require such disclosures? As a professional organization, does it not independently confirm these things before appointing someone to such a position?

Even if no such disclosure is required (which would be remarkable), how is it that Goldberg’s criminal history went undetected, when even before last month’s exposé a simple Google search for “Arthur Abba Goldberg” would have immediately turned up dozens of official documents and newspaper reports from the time of his conviction? Pruden earlier told us that it was common knowledge at NARTH that Goldberg’s middle name was Abba – yet no one seems to have made the connection.

Goldberg may still have a lot to explain – but NARTH must also explain what appears to be astonishing negligence.

John Smid was the director of Exodus member ministry Love in Action (LIA), a residential ex-gay program in Memphis, Tennessee, for 22 years.  This included the Refuge youth program which gained notoriety in 2005 when a teen, Zach Stark, created what became a plea for help on his MySpace page.

This event and the protests that followed were a significant turning point in the effort to shine a light on the actions of such ministries.  But we should not forget that most of those who would later recognize harm from their time at LIA had already been through the program by the time the events of 2005 unfolded.

In 2007, three former Exodus leaders offered a public apology to those “who believed our message that there is something inherently wrong with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.”  Today we find that Smid is offering his own apology.

Some people have spoken out about being wounded through their experience with Love In Action. ” I want to say I am very sorry for the things that have wounded you or hurt you by my hands of leadership at Love In Action or anything I have done personally that has harmed you. Please forgive me.

Concerning Exodus International he writes:

I believe I could have done a better job of letting people know that Jesus loves them purely because He does, unconditionally. I am sorry for not being a better vessel of the Love of Christ to those who deeply need to know of His love. I realize I was often more concerned with telling people how to live than I was with imparting God’s grace so that they would want to live!

Concerning the Refuge program responsible for the ordeal over Zach:

I really wanted to help the young men in our program but in some cases the design of our program caused more harm for some of these kids that it did good. I am very sorry for the ways that Refuge further wounded teens that were already in a very delicate place in life.

And Smid asks those who were hurt by or through him to contact him.

If you have been wounded by me or harmed through the hands of my leadership; please come to me and allow an opportunity for me to personally apologize with the hope that we can both be released from the bondage of unforgiveness.

These are just snippets and the entire thing should be read in order to properly evaluate a response, should you have one.  There is also a section addressed directly to Ex-Gay Watch readers.  Obviously, those who have been hurt through LIA will be most interested in what Smid has to say, but there can be no doubt that it is important.

Readers will have to determine for themselves what this means exactly.  Smid is involved in a new ministry, one he says will have no part of the old “change is possible” mission.  While his goals seem similar at this point to those of Andrew Marin, the latter does not have the baggage of the former.  But making such a public apology would seem an important start.

One more piece of the puzzle is illustrated by the short video below from Smid’s website.  It was produced by Morgan Fox, organizer of the Zach Stark protests.  Fox also appears in the clip, apparently at a place of reconciliation with Smid.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you think?

Warren Throckmorton gets to the heart of Sodom and Gomorrah in his latest blog post:

The real sodomite is the arrogant person, the overfed and apathetic person who ignores the poor and others in need. The sexual sins of Sodom are second rate compared to the sins of pride and greed. Ban Sodomy, anyone?

Sodomy, viewed from God’s perspective, is practically the American way. I guess we have been exporting sodomy to Uganda.

You might think Throckmorton is getting liberal. In fact, he is merely being consistent with Scripture (Ezekiel 16:49-50):

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.

Throckmorton suggests conservative Christians should direct their (considerable) anger towards greed, selfishness and indifference, instead of the gays:

The sins of Sodom mark the American church in ways that are very uncomfortable to confront. Defined biblically, I hope we can unite against sodomy. Defined biblically, we have all been sodomites, have we not?

We agree.

Arthur Abba Goldberg is no longer listed as a NARTH officer on the organization’s website.

There is no indication whether Goldberg resigned or was forced to leave. Either seems likely after last month’s revelation that the champion of reparative therapy and co-director of Jewish ex-gay ministry JONAH was a convicted felon. In 1989, Arthur Abba Goldberg was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and fined $100,000 for his part in a mail fraud scam.

He appears to have deliberately concealed his identity since becoming a leader in the ex-gay movement, and when his past finally caught up with him, he tried to blame everyone but himself for his predicament.

NARTH President Julie Harren-Hamilton (who confusingly appears as both Julie Harren and Julie Hamilton on the NARTH website) gave a weak defense of NARTH and its officers following February’s reports, but without naming Goldberg.

Update: 03/03/10: NARTH’s Vice-President of Operations, David Pruden, has confirmed that Arthur Abba Goldberg is no longer a board member of NARTH.

(Pure Passion, February 22, 2010)

Jayson Graves is a board member of Exodus International who co-hosts a TV show called “Pure Passion.” A show that highlights those who’ve overcome “sexual bondage.”

Unless you’re a “practicing” gay, of course, then you get AIDS and die. Not because of a virus, mind you, but because of your “sinful behavior.” At least according to this Christian program.

Jayson Graves (intro): Welcome to Pure Passion. My name is Jayson Graves and I’m your host for today’s program.

Did you know that the US Center for Disease Control has a fact sheet they’ve issued, which says that in 2006, 54% of HIV infections among males age 13-29, were caused by homosexual contact. As well, that demographic is the only one that is seeing an increased rate of HIV infection in this country. Sadly, there were over 56,000 people in the US who were newly infected with HIV that same year, most of them being homosexual men.

The CDC fact sheet went on to say that 77% of HIV positive homosexual men, between the ages of 15 and 29, do not know they’ve been infected.

Another study shows that HIV positive, practicing homosexual men, are 9000% more likely to develop anal cancer.

Even in Canada, the HIV / AIDS rates have risen sharply, 51% of infections are now found among homosexual men.

On today’s program, we’re going to talk with a man who has AIDS. These are always sobering stories, but it’s important that we become informed on the subject.

So let’s hear Dan’s testimony, and let it be a witness not only to the consequences of sinful behavior, but, also to the power and love of God, to cleanse us, and forgive us, from all unrighteousness.

Even on the Exodus website: “In brief, AIDS is better seen as a reaping of consequences than as God’s wrath on a specific group.”

Exodus then leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not AIDS is God’s punishment.
–
Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin crunched some numbers and estimates that there is a “5.9% incidence of gay people (men and women) who are living with HIV/AIDS”
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Instead of expressing any desire to help find a cure for the disease, as Christians, Exodus exploits the 6% of us who are suffering and dying, to suggest to their audience that gay people are warehouses of infectious disease.

-The Alliance Defense Fund goes even further off the deep end.

-Sen. Joseph Lieberman becomes chief sponsor of the effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-A West Virginia couple is denied an apartment on the basis of their sexual orientation.

-The Minnesota House holds hearings on a trio of marriage equality bills.

-Bruce Carroll of GOProud argues that the recent CPAC conference was a watershed event for modern conservatism.

-College wrestling star Hudson Taylor speaks out for LGBT rights.

-The West Virginia House shoots down a Republican effort to force a vote on a same-sex marriage ban.

-Media Matters debunks the myths surrounding Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler rules that the state will begin recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages.

-The National Organization for Marriage latches onto another anti-gay beauty pageant contestant.

-Hockey legend Brian Burke becomes a gay rights activist to honor the memory of his son, Brendan.

-The California legislature to review an outdated law that mandated research into a ‘cure’ for homosexuality.

-Religious right leaders expand their anti-gay crusade to Mexico City.

Click here to view the embedded video.

An interesting report featured last night on ABC Australia’s Hungry Beast.  The ex-gay featured could be a spokesperson for Exodus International, he is that spot on.   It’s also interesting that one of the gay men describes having been introduced to gay clubs through an affair with this team leader in an ex-gay program.  This tracks with a statement by Peterson Toscano (if anyone remembers that, please post in the comments).

Hat Tip: Anthony-Venn Brown

Ex-lesbian Lisa Miller has been on the run from the law with her daughter Isabella since her refusal to show up in court on January 1st, where she was to relinquish custody to her former partner, Janet Jenkins. Their whereabouts are still unknown, and organizations who once led the cheers for her illegal actions went silent. Still, despite her actions, Miller was not immediately found to be in contempt of court. That changed today.

A Vermont judge has ordered the arrest of a woman who has refused to turn over her 7-year-old daughter to her former lesbian partner.

Family Court Judge William Cohen found Lisa Miller of Forest, Va., in contempt of court during a hearing Tuesday and issued the arrest warrant.

Miller was ordered to surrender custody of her daughter on Jan. 1 but failed to do so and has since disappeared. Their daughter is now considered a missing person.

Jenkins has asked the public to please help her find her missing daughter.

Anyone with information regarding Isabella’s and Lisa’s whereabouts should call the Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office at 540-586-4800.

NARTH President Julie Hamilton has responded to this week’s report that NARTH Executive Secretary and JONAH co-founder and co-director Arthur Abba Goldberg is a convicted felon.

On the NARTH website, Hamilton makes a number of assumptions and seems blind to the actual issues raised. She says that activists, “unable to silence NARTH’s message, resort to attacking NARTH’s members.”

I can only speak for Ex-Gay Watch, but when the story broke, it never occurred to me that Goldberg’s exposure was ipso facto a way to discredit NARTH as a whole. It discredited Goldberg, certainly, and by extension JONAH. It is primarily NARTH’s own response that will reflect on the organization – though admittedly, the omens in Hamilton’s article are not good.

Goldberg exposé part of coordinated strategy against NARTH?

Hamilton ties in the Goldberg story with a protest staged against NARTH in Florida last November:

[A] journalism student leading the November protest shouted into a megaphone that they had been unsuccessful in stopping the work of NARTH through counter conventions, so they would instead begin to target the individual members of NARTH. Following these threats, there have indeed been attempts to discredit both NARTH members as well as non-members who do similar work.

Again, I speak only for XGW in saying that we know nothing of the group shown in the video, or the identity of the media student speaking through the megaphone. TWO organized speaking and protesting events at the same conference, but XGW is not aware of a connection to the group in the video.

NARTH members being targeted?

Hamilton continues:

In one recent report from England, a journalist posed as a client seeking help for unwanted homosexual attractions. He set up two unsuspecting therapists, claiming to want help from them, secretly recorded their conversations, and then contacted their professional organizations to seek action against them. That same journalist is reportedly assisting others to disrupt and discredit an event in Ireland this week.

She is referring to Patrick Strudwick’s report in The Independent earlier this month. During his investigation, Strudwick encountered prominent reparative therapist and NARTH representative (as well as disciple of Richard Cohen) Paul Miller, who encouraged sexual arousal as part of therapy sessions, and made inappropriate self-disclosures about his own sexual habits and homosexual attractions. The NARTH President’s response is to blame Strudwick for his tactics, while saying nothing of the behavior of its own members.

Hamilton then turns to the Goldberg story:

In another report, activist groups investigated the background of a NARTH board member in order to publicize his past wrongdoing in an attempt to discredit the organization.

XGW repeats: The report discredits Arthur Abba Goldberg in the first instance, not NARTH. It is this weak, defensive and myopic response that reflects badly on NARTH itself.

“It doesn’t discredit the science”: NARTH misses the point

NARTH does not rise or fall based on the actions of individuals. NARTH is a scientific organization upholding the research behind the issue of homosexuality and defending the rights of clients to seek therapy for unwanted homosexual attractions. NARTH is not responsible for the actions of its members, nor do the actions of NARTH members change the scientific data. The research stands regardless of the attacks launched by activists who are avoiding the data by focusing on individuals. Emotionally based campaigns and character assassinations do not change the research, nor do they diminish the right of clients to pursue their personal goals. NARTH will continue its mission as a scientific organization despite the propaganda, and the research will continue to speak for itself.

Who said this was about the scientific research? XGW and others have worked tirelessly to present plenty of evidence against the supposedly scientific claims of NARTH and reparative therapy over the years. This is about the trustworthiness and character of an important leader in the ex-gay movement. It is about the integrity of a man whom struggling gays and lesbians have trusted with deepest aspects of their lives and sexuality. Call it a “character assassination,” a “personal attack,” or what you will, but does NARTH really believe that character, integrity and trustworthiness is not vital to leaders who set themselves up as moral, religious and scientific authorities?

It should be noted that Hamilton cleverly hedges her bets.  In the first paragraph, she dismisses the claims against Goldberg, implicitly defending him. In the second she ensures that NARTH’s back is covered if it all blows up for Goldberg: Nothing to do with us. We’re not responsible for him, and we don’t stand or fall on the behavior of a handful of our members.

Well, no one to my knowledge claimed NARTH stood or fell on Goldberg alone. This response does say a lot about the organization.

She ends (not in the web version, but in a separate email version) by giving some PR ideas to NARTH members. She tells them:

Try using case studies, success stories, testimonials or examples of how others used your product or service successfully. Solicit material from clients and vendors, or ask your readers to write. It’s a win-win! You get relevant content, and they get exposure.

Insert a “read on” link at the bottom of your article to drive traffic to your website. Links are tracked, allowing you to see which articles create the most interest for your readers.

This slick advice for damage-limitation is a rather cynical addition to the published version of the article.

So, what would the proper response be from NARTH? There are questions to be answered:

• Prior to this week, was NARTH aware of Arthur Abba Goldberg’s status as a convicted felon and a disbarred attorney?
• If so, what bearing did Goldberg’s conviction for fraud and disbarment (on grounds of character) have on his position as Executive Secretary of NARTH?
• If not, does NARTH’s policy not require such disclosures from its senior officers?
• If Goldberg did not disclose his criminal past, what action is it taking now, in light of the reports?
• Since Patrick Strudwick’s investigative report involving a NARTH representative in the UK was also mentioned, is NARTH taking any action to address the allegations made? Does it believe Paul Miller’s alleged behavior is ethical?

Instead of blaming the LGBT community, as Goldberg has tried to do, the appropriate response is for NARTH to ask some serious questions of Arthur Abba Goldberg – and itself.

Campaigners in Northern Ireland today are protesting a visit from American ex-gay leader Reverend Mario Bergner.

The protest is led by journalist Patrick Strudwick, who earlier this month wrote an exposé of the “bizarre world of gay-straight conversion” for The Independent (London). He followed it up with a strong article in The Guardian (London) calling for an all-out “war” on reparative therapy, and announcing the formation of the Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (SCOTT).

Of this weekend’s campaign, Strudwick told The Independent:

Love needs no cure. We want to remind the young people in the conference in the midst of so-called treatment that they are healthy, normal, valuable people; they are perfect how they are; they don’t need to try to change something unchangeable and they can be happy being who they really are.

Anglican priest Bergner, of Redeemed Lives, is speaking as part of a conference organized by CORE Issues at Ballynahinch Baptist Church, near Belfast. His most controversial claim is that as a gay man he was healed of the “symptoms” of AIDS through an encounter with Jesus Christ in a hospital room.

-Former vice president Dick Cheney joins the call for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

-Anti-gay mobs march in Kenya; police continue to hunt down gay activists in Malawi.

-Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell strips LGBT state employees of anti-discrimination protection.

-Southern African Anglican bishops denounce Uganda’s proposed anti-gay law.

-The city of Charleston, SC to host its first gay pride event.

-The New Hampshire House kills an attempt to repeal the state’s marriage equality law.

-The Archdiocese of Washington DC terminates its foster-care program in reaction to the city’s new marriage equality law.

-Grinnell College in Iowa installs an openly gay president.

-Another religious right activist endorses the death penalty for homosexuals.

-A federal appeals court orders the state of Louisiana to list the names of both members of a gay couple on an adopted child’s birth certificate.

-The Alliance Defense Fund claims that repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would constitute an establishment of religion under the First Amendment.

Arthur Goldberg’s damage-control campaign has begun. His strategy is to portray himself as an innocent man who made a mistake, and is now the victim of a ruthless personal attack by the purveyors of the much-feared gay agenda.

Arthur A Goldberg, Executive Secretary of NARTH and a co-founder and co-director of Jewish ex-gay group JONAH, was exposed earlier this week as convicted felon Arthur Abba Goldberg, the Wall Street investor fined $100,000 and sentenced to 18 months in 1989 on three counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States of America.

Goldberg has yet to respond publicly to the reports. He appears, however, to have written to his fellow board members at NARTH, in a letter obtained by Ex-Gay Watch.

Goldberg: Allegations exaggerated, false, malicious

Goldberg begins by describing the charges made against him by the Truth Wins Out/South Florida Gay News investigation as “exaggerated and in many parts false and malicious.” He then says he will explain what happened “so that all of you may have some idea of what was involved.”

This suggests that he had not disclosed his criminal past to NARTH. This is further supported by XGW’s conversation with David Pruden, NARTH’s Vice President of Operations. While freely identifying Goldberg as Arthur Abba Goldberg, Pruden denied knowing anything of the charges made in Monday’s article.

This is very concerning. Who neglects to disclose criminal convictions – especially a felony of this nature – to organizations for which they work, unless quite deliberately? Most companies, organizations and workplaces require their employees and officers to disclose such matters, not least because it could open an organization like NARTH to liabilities of its own. The protocol applies even more so when an organization is professional, pastoral, financial or charitable in nature. Yet the evidence so far suggests Goldberg said nothing.

In explaining what went on in the 1980s, Goldberg contradicts himself. After minimizing his fraudulent activity to the status of a mistake, rather than a moral failing, he says both that he accepted full responsibility for his actions, and that he fought for years against the charges before running out of resources:

During the 1980’s, my firm and many others attempted to “grandfather” several bond issues of our clients in order to beat the deadline of the 1986 federal tax law changes. These deal structures were challenged and ultimately 2 separate criminal legal actions were filed against me. After fighting for several years and running out of resources, I determined it was in the best interests of my family, myself, and my firm that I plead guilty to the minor counts of the indictment. In both actions, the guilty plea involved a finding that no intentional fraud took place. Rather the conduct for which I fully accepted punishment involved conduct that would be sufficient to constitute fraud under the relevant statutes – even though non-intentional. In fact, one of the pre-sentencing reports specifically found that no one involved in the transactions in question lost any money whatsoever on the transactions and that I did not receive personal enrichment from the transactions. Nevertheless, I accepted full responsibility for my negligent actions.

According to this account, he pleaded guilty as a concession because it was in his own best interests, as well as the best interest of his family and the company. Yet he claims he accepted full responsibility. Which is it, Arthur?

Goldberg wants to have it both ways. He holds his hands up to accept the blame, while suggesting it was only technically fraud, not morally. This is doublespeak. And it is contradicted by the reports we have from the time.

Goldberg versus the Judge

Judge Curtis, on sentencing Goldberg to 18 months imprisonment in the State of Illinois, said:

Arthur Abba Goldberg, you have openly conspired against the United States by knowingly and recklessly engaging indifferently in a series of dishonest acts of considerable magnitude.

Goldberg versus the Prosecuting Attorney

William K O’Connor, prosecuting attorney on behalf of the US in the California trial was blunt in his assessment of Goldberg’s crime. From this week’s report:

[O’Connor] described Goldberg as having engineered “a conspiratorial fraud of spectacular scope,” which purposefully duped “unsophisticated Pacific Islanders.” One witness against Goldberg said he treated the citizens of Guam as if “they were cannibals.”

O’Connor said that Goldberg’s deceitfulness crippled Guam’s economy, crushed investors, undermined public confidence in the bond industry, and cost the U.S. Treasury millions in lost taxes.

Goldberg versus the Supreme Court of New Jersey

Goldberg was a practicing lawyer in the State of New Jersey. A unanimous decision to disbar him as an attorney was made in 1995:

Goldberg’s criminal convictions clearly and convincingly demonstrated his participation in activities that reflected adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer.

As recently as 2007, Goldberg was trading on his history of practicing law in New Jersey to bolster his credentials as an authority on gay issues.

Goldberg: They’re all wrong

Essentially, Goldberg asks his fellow NARTH board members to take his word over the word of the attorney who successfully prosecuted him for fraud, the judge who found him guilty, and the court that disbarred him from practicing law in New Jersey.

It’s the gays’ fault

Goldberg pays lip service to accepting responsibility for his felonies, but at the same time he does everything he can to convince NARTH that he only pleaded guilty as a last resort to protect himself and his family. In Goldberg’s account, he was technically guilty of breaking a few statutes, but it was a misjudgment, not a moral failure.

He does go to great lengths to pin responsibility on homosexuals, however. His proven past crimes, which so far we have every reason to believe have been deliberately kept out of the public eye, are not to blame for the spotlight on him now, according to Goldberg. To demonstrate this, he resurrects the familiar myth that his gay critics are simply following the gay agenda set out by Kirk and Madsen in 1989:

Of course, the strategy employed by those who wish to dig around for dirt in someone’s past, in this case for incidents that occurred in 1986, or about 25 years ago, is totally consistent with the Kirk and Madsen thesis which is set forth in “After the Ball.” Remember point 8 in their game plan–”make opponents look bad: portray them as evil and victimizing.” They stated in the book that those perceived as opponents of the gay movement were to be attacked and vilified. This was to be the final step in the media campaign Kirk and Madsen so carefully laid out to establish “gay rights.” So, if you are able to do a character assassination of the proponents, so goes the theory, then you can kill the message they represent. However, I would hope that rational people would not succumb to such demagoguery. I also believe that bitter personal attacks are often the last refuge of those who fear the truth and are not able to discuss the merits of an issue. In truth, I believe that our message is gaining traction and will eventually prevail.

Finally, having absolved himself of responsibility, Goldberg portrays himself as a martyr to the cause of anti-gay activism and reparative therapy:

[I] understand that there are individuals out there with myopic bigotry on the SSA issue and I need to be prepared to take my lumps for anything I have done in the past or the present, and indeed in the future. … I am humbled by the outpouring of support I have received from so many. It confirms my decision that I made the right choice in determining to work within this field of endeavor. Many thanks to you all for standing with me, for being there, and for maintaining the fight for accurate science, truth and justice.

Frankly, where the revelations should have propelled Goldberg towards self-examination and honesty, they have led to a blatantly manipulative effort to wash his hands of his crimes. He says he takes full responsibility, but in reality, this missive’s clear purpose is to convince his colleagues that he is the real victim, and that he is in fact bearing battle scars on behalf of a noble cause.

There is no conspiracy to destroy Goldberg. If he is destroyed by this, it will be of his own doing.

Ex-Gay Watch’s purpose is to get to the truth of the matter and ask, as the Supreme Court of New Jersey asked of his legal career in 1995, what Arthur Abba Goldberg’s criminal convictions – and the subsequent attempt to hide them from the public eye – say about his “honesty, trustworthiness and fitness” for moral and religious leadership and authority in the ex-gay movement.

____________________________

Image of Arthur Abba Goldberg in 1989 courtesy Truth Wins Out. The full headline next to the picture was “Wall Street bond whiz pleads guilty in $2B fraud.”

Andrew Sullivan reports on the Cato Institute’s forum addressing the question Is there a place for gay people in conservatism and conservative politics?, a debate that featured Sullivan alongside Catholic anti-marriage equality campaigner Maggie Gallagher and openly gay British Conservative MP Nick Herbert.

Gay Cato employee Jason Kuznicki was also in attendance (he can be seen on the video at about the 73-minute mark here). Kuznicki writes:

… I got to ask Maggie Gallagher the question I’ve always wanted to ask her: What do you think that am I supposed to do with my life?

Suppose I found myself in agreement with her. Suppose I concluded that same-sex marriage was corrosive to society. Do I leave my husband? Do I send my adopted daughter back to the state? Enter ex-gay therapy, which isn’t likely to work? Tell my whole family that I’m single now, and that Scott shouldn’t be welcome at family events? Live my whole life alone, and loveless? Hide? Where is the life I’m supposed to live?

I probably wasn’t so articulate at the Cato event, but I do recall Gallagher’s very simple answer: “I don’t know.”

She certainly doesn’t, and that’s the whole problem with gay conservatism — there’s hardly a life to be lived within it. There’s no breathing room. Until social conservatives offer us a better answer than “I don’t know,” until they offer us a way to be gay, and conservative, and respectable in their eyes, they’re not going to find many gay conservatives.

Upon first reading the recent story about Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) founder Arthur A. Goldberg, we contacted NARTH’s David Pruden (among others) for a statement for the record.

Goldberg is listed on NARTH’s website as an Executive Secretary and they have a long history with him.  In his response, Pruden confirmed that JONAH’s Arthur A. Goldberg was indeed Arthur Abba Goldberg.

I know nothing about the content of the article from Arthur or anyone else. I can say that everyone I know, knows his name is Arthur Abba Goldberg. I’ve seen it on documents, email communications, etc. for years. No secret there.

Pruden is referring to the article we sent him from the South Florida Gay News (SFGA).  As such a revelation, particularly on the record, amounts to something of a statement against interest, we give it substantial weight.

With the preponderance of evidence originally brought forth by Truth Wins Out (TWO) and SFGA, and the additional information discovered since, there is no room for any reasonable doubt here.

Further, Arthur Avrum Goldberg appears not to exist, except in a brief edit of Arthur Abba Goldberg’s Wikipedia page.

This is a clear, concise and accurate analysis of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, with its  implications laid out simply and horrifyingly. The narrator of this video demonstrates faultlessly that the bill in its current form would mean death not only for gays, but for anyone who supports them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more clear analysis, see Ex-Gay Watch’s earlier post Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009: Just the Facts.

A tip of the hat to Harry’s Place for the video.

Arthur Goldberg, head of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), apparently has a hard time breaking old habits – he co-founded the Jewish ex-gay organization a month after he completed parole as part of his sentence for perpetrating fraud.

A 1991 New York Times article tells us:

Arthur Abba Goldberg, the former executive vice president for Matthews & Wright who arranged the bond transaction, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and fraud.

The victims of the fraud in this case were entire communities – East St. Louis, Illinois and Guam.  At the time of the article’s publication, East St. Louis was described as “impoverished” and for years had been “bankrupt.” Residents of both were hoping that the investment firm of Matthews & Wright would provide rejuvenation.

Help never came but Goldberg and his associates managed to bring in millions of dollars in profits. As part of the sentence, a judge ordered the defendants to pay East St. Louis a total sum of $7 million, which was placed in a special fund to be used for the city’s benefit.  The citizens of Guam never received any repayment or the promised benefits.  The scandal rocked the (then) $2B municipal bond market with a late 80s version of Bernie Madoff.

Goldberg dropped the “Abba” in his name and co-founded JONAH in 1999, usually opting for just the middle initial.  However, in what seems too coincidental to be such, the longstanding “Arthur A. Goldberg” in the Wikipedia article about JONAH was changed to “Arthur Avrum Goldberg” on February 8th.  The editor goes by the name of Ann Jonah.

Avrum is Yiddish for Abraham, which in turn means “father of nations” or father in general to the Jews.  Abba also means father and so we think Goldberg is being cleverly deceptive here.  We also think we know why this edit was made several days before the current story hit.  This post will be updated once confirmed.

Goldberg also heads Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH), an ex-gay referral organization, as well as serving as Executive Secretary for the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). All three organizations have consistently held ties to repeatedly disgraced ex-gay “reorientation coach” Richard Cohen’s organization International Healing Foundation (IHF), where Goldberg serves as Vice President.  Goldberg is also involved with Rich Wyler’s People Can Change (Journey into Manhood weekends) and both refer to each other.

Watchdog organization Truth Wins Out reports that “The SEC banned Goldberg and his firm from ever selling securities again. In addition to his prison term, Goldberg was disbarred in both New Jersey and Connecticut. Despite that, he lists himself as a Doctor of Laws today on the website of NARTH.” Goldberg is also president of Congregation Mt. Sinai, a Jewish place of worship in Jersey City that doesn’t subscribe to any specific denomination, but offers a “traditional environment.”

According to SFGN, the prosecutor of the bond scandal case against Goldberg went out of his way to emphasize the scope of his depravity:

K. William O’Connor, the U.S. attorney who put him away, said at his sentencing that Goldberg was “a man who habitually took advantage of people who were economically dependent upon him; that he did not hesitate to lie or cheat or cover up to achieve his criminal aim. His greed has cause incalculable harm…”

To have a criminal past is one thing.  To escape into a new venture so quickly, while hiding that past is quite another.  Good people have done bad things, but they usually own up to them and use them as an example to others.  If one can’t own up to one’s own demons, running an organization that claims to help people change to a more moral way of life is probably not the best idea.

These revelations about Goldberg’s criminal record are the result of a joint investigation between Truth Wins Out and South Florida Gay News. Ex-Gay Watch’s past coverage of Goldberg and his organization can be found here.

Note: The Wikipedia entry on Arthur A. Goldberg was effectively removed unilaterally today. XGW contributor Dave Rattigan, an established wiki user, has restored it, in keeping with Wikipedia’s guidelines.

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David Roberts contributed to this article.

The founder of a Jewish ex-gay organization has been exposed as a convicted fraudster.

Arthur Goldberg, the founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), dropped the distinctive middle name Abba in 1989, after being sentenced to 18 months in prison and forced to pay a $100 million fine for his illegal activities. Under a bogus bond-writing scheme, Goldberg had stolen millions from impoverished US communities.

By 1999, Arthur Abba Goldberg was now operating under the less recognizable name Arthur Goldberg, when he founded JONAH, an non-profit organization that promises to “provide an opportunity for those struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions to journey out of homosexuality.”

The revelations about Goldberg’s criminal are the result of a joint investigation between Truth Wins Out and South Florida Gay News. Ex-Gay Watch’s past coverage of Goldberg and his organization can be found here.

-A majority of Iowans don’t regard a gay marriage ban as a priority, according to a new poll.

-SyFy channel’s Caprica features a married gay couple.

-Brendan Burke, the openly gay son of hockey legend Brian Burke, dies in a car accident.

-The National Organization for Marriage has a field day with the revelation that Prop 8 judge Vaughn Walker is gay.

-Senator Chuck Schumer nominates an openly gay man for a judicial position.

-Lt. Dan Choi returns to active duty.

-Another “pro-family” advocate calls for the criminalization of homosexuality.

-An Orlando performance artist announces he will marry a total stranger to protest anti-gay marriage laws.

-Peterson Toscano talks about the widespread problem of spiritual abuse.

-The Baptist Press latches onto a misrepresentation of a recent study of gay male couples.

Leading evangelical magazine Christianity Today has weighed in on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. In an editorial appearing today without attribution, CT urges American Christians to “listen, then speak.”

Faced with the possibility that thousands of Ugandans will be put to death, the writer has the audacity to say approvingly that “for American Christian leaders, both silence and open condemnation end up violating important missional and human-rights principles.”

This isn’t an argument about abstract moral principles. This is about human lives.

I can’t be the only homosexual wondering what human-rights principle could possibly be getting in the way of the clear condemnation of a law that would have you and me executed?