Wayne Besen

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Wayne Besen

|image =

|caption =

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}

|birth_place = United States

|nationality = American

|field =

|work_institutions = Human Rights Campaign

|alma_mater = University of Florida

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign
Founder of Truth Wins Out

|prizes = Nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards

}}

Wayne Besen (born 1970) is an American journalist and LGBTQ rights advocate. He is a former investigative journalist for WABI-TV, a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, and the founder of Truth Wins Out. Besen came out to his parents before starting his Truth Wins Out Organization. He hosted a radio talk show and is a former columnist.

After coming out to his parents, they bought him an ex-gay DVD that could supposedly hypnotize people and turn them straight. It was that and the invitation by President George W. Bush of ex-gay leader Alan Chambers to the White House that led him to start the Truth Wins Out organization.{{cite web|title=Talking About: Wayne Bensen| date=May 23, 2008 | via=YouTube |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa2OqPWE9Gg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/fa2OqPWE9Gg| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|accessdate=December 18, 2014}}{{cbignore}} He wrote the books Lies with a Straight Face: Exposing the Cranks and Cons Inside the Ex-Gay industry and 'Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth'{{Cite journal |last=Drescher |first=Jack |date=September 1, 2004 |title=Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth |url=https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.55.9.1072 |journal=Psychiatric Services |volume=55 |issue=9 |pages=1072–1073 |doi=10.1176/appi.ps.55.9.1072 |issn=1075-2730}} and a collection of his columns has been published titled Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People.

Besen has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays", and is an outspoken critic of conversion therapy organizations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.{{cite book|title=Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth|author=Besen, Wayne R.|author-link=Wayne Besen|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-56023-446-3|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ponUsrkFfEMC&q=homosexuals+anonymous|chapter=Founding Follies|pages=97–98}}

Early life and education

Born into a non-religious, liberal Jewish family, Besen attended Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii.{{cite web |url=http://www.epgn.com/news/14288-truth-wins-out-founder-fighting-google-ex-gays-in-philly |title='Truth Wins Out' Founder Fighting Google, Ex-Gays in Philly |last=Cohen |first=Lenny |date=February 21, 2019 |website=Philadelphia Gay News |access-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313013511/http://www.epgn.com/news/14288-truth-wins-out-founder-fighting-google-ex-gays-in-philly |archive-date=March 13, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=NNDB |year=2019 |title=Wayne Besen |url=https://www.nndb.com/people/000/000163508/ |website=NNDB: Tracking the Entire World}} After high school, Besen studied at the University of Florida, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism in 1993.{{cite web |title=Wayne Besen's official website |url=http://www.waynebesen.com |accessdate=January 4, 2012 |publisher=Waynebesen.com}} While in Florida, Besen helped co-found his first non-profit organization in 1992. Named the Sons & Daughters of America (SDA), the group headed a public awareness campaign focused around gay and lesbian injustices.{{Cite web |title=Staff {{!}} TWO Care |url=https://twocare.org/founder/ |access-date=February 22, 2023 |language=en-US}}

Photos of John Paulk

In September 2000, Besen photographed ex-gay activist John Paulk, then Chairman of Exodus International, in a Washington D.C. gay bar called Mr. P's.{{cite web |url=http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories/00sep29.htm#story2|title=Head of 'ex-gay' group Exodus is caught in a gay bar|first=Anthony|last=Glassman|date=September 29, 2000|accessdate=January 6, 2009}} Paulk said he was simply there to use the washroom, but Besen and other witnesses allege he was drinking and flirting for over 20 minutes. Besen went public with the story, and wrote about it in his book Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. The book was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards in 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/previous_winners/paw_2000_2003.html|publisher=Lambda Literary Foundation|title=Previous Lammy Award Winners (Recipients and Finalists)|archive-date=February 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204020445/http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/previous_winners/paw_2000_2003.html|url-status=dead}}

Besen's photograph of Paulk in September 2000 (and the subsequent release of the story) was instrumental in the ultimate removal of Paulk as Chairman of Exodus International. Exodus International was a major organization in the "Ex-gay movement" until it was disbanded in June 2013.{{cite news|title=Exodus International Shuts Down: Christian Ministry Apologizes To LGBT Community And Halts Operations|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/exodus-international-shuts-down_n_3470911.html?|work=HuffPost|accessdate=March 2, 2015}} As noted by The Washington Post in October 2002, "John Paulk had been the most famous success story of the Christian ex-gay movement, which seeks to persuade gay men and lesbians to accept Jesus and renounce homosexuality. He had appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah and the cover of Newsweek."{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Ads Renew Ex-gay Debate|first=Alan|last=Cooperman|date=October 21, 2002}}

Opposition to Catholic activism

In November 2009, Besen wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Bay Times arguing that the gay community has a "gigantic Pope problem", and that under the leadership of Benedict XVI, the Vatican had become an enemy of liberalism, modernity, and LGBT rights. He was responding to the ecumenical manifesto Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, which calls upon Christians to oppose laws and policies that attempt to undermine their private religious consciences.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=11939|title=The New GLBT Pope Problem|publisher=Sfbaytimes.com|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}

Criticism of Sam Brinton

Besen has expressed skepticism about anti-conversion activist Sam Brinton's description of their childhood conversion therapy experience.{{cite web |last1=Villarreal |first1=Daniel |date=October 10, 2011 |title=The Mystery Surrounding "Driftwood's" Tortured Ex-Gay Survivor |url=https://www.queerty.com/the-mystery-surrounding-driftwoods-tortured-ex-gay-survivor-20111010 |access-date=December 10, 2022 |website=Queerty}}{{cite web |date=December 7, 2022 |title=Has Sam Brinton's story always been too good to be true? |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/sam-brintons-story-always-good-true/ |work=LGBTQ Nation}} Besen noted inconsistencies in Brinton's retelling of events, as well as Brinton's being unable to remember the therapist's name despite having had two years of sessions with him. In the aftermath of 2022 allegations of luggage theft against Brinton, Besen reiterated his concerns and accused various people and groups of failing to heed "clear warning signs" and of making decisions to accept Brinton's recounting of their experience without confirming its veracity as "sloppy, ethically negligent, and shockingly unprofessional" behavior that had given conservative groups and media a talking point to help them denigrate the LGBTQ+ community.{{Cite magazine |last=Ramirez |first=Nikki McCann |date=December 10, 2022 |title=Biden Nuclear Waste Official Accused of Airport Luggage Theft -- Again |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/sam-brinton-biden-nuclear-waste-official-luggage-theft-1234644687/ |access-date=December 26, 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Riley |first=John |date=December 13, 2022 |title=Department of Energy: "Sam Brinton is No Longer a DOE Employee" |url=https://www.metroweekly.com/2022/12/department-of-energy-sam-brinton-is-no-longer-a-doe-employee/ |access-date=December 27, 2022 |website=Metro Weekly |language=en-US}}

References

External links

{{officialwebsite|https://waynebesen.com/}}
{{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20070724122207/http://www.anythingbutstraight.com/|Anything but Straight (official website)}}
{{URL|https://truthwinsout.org/|Truth Wins Out}}, of which Besen is the Founding Executive Director
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070303015032/http://www.respectmyresearch.org/ Respect My Research]}} website

Category:1970 births

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:Activists from Florida

Category:American gay writers

Category:American investigative journalists

Category:American LGBTQ rights activists

Category:American male journalists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American social sciences writers