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Ex-Lesbian Yvette Schneider Testifies to ‘Complete’ and Permanent Change
June 22nd, 2007
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yvette Schneider’s comments below relate to her own story of transformative change and were initially made following a controversy last year surrounding Exodus President Alan Chamber’s quotes in the Los Angeles Times. Since we first published this piece, we have learned that Alan’s statements were incomplete and taken out of context by self-serving homosexual activists to create an impression that he never sought to create — i.e., questioning the potential for radical and even complete change in the life of homosexual strugglers.
Since the Times interview, Mr. Chambers has clarified his position on change in homosexuality to AFTAH saying:
“There are a variety of levels at which individuals experience change when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. For some it may be a rapid, total transformation, but for many, it is often a gradual process of dealing with difficult life issues, habits and behaviors. Regardless of the timing, any change is still change and as Christians, we know that the process of dealing with sin and becoming more like Christ will continue throughout the course of our lives.”
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Original Americans For Truth article, June 22, 2007:
Ex-Lesbian Yvette Schneider Testifies to ‘Complete’ and Permanent Change
The following is offered by former lesbian Yvette Schneider in response to Exodus International President (and former homosexual) Alan Chambers’ comment in the Los Angeles Times, “By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.” Schneider, now a mom in St. Louis, was once a featured speaker on Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out” tour highlighting the possiblity of change for homosexuals. Yvette can be reached at livinginvictory@hotmail.com. Emphasis is hers:
I came out of homosexuality after a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ and a desire to serve and obey Him. I can say with complete honesty that I NEVER have homosexual desires of any sort – physical or emotional.
Editor’s Note: Although we criticized Alan for his remark to the Times — and who would doubt the pressure he faces from a liberal media seeking to discredit the idea of healthy change for homosexuals — we know that he and Exodus International, like all Christians, celebrate God’s healing work in her life.
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The following Christian tract gives a short summary of Yvette’s path out of homosexuality:
Yvette: a Journey from Darkness into Light
By Annetta Small
“I saw myself on my hands and
knees eating stale crumbs off
a dirty floor because I could not stand
up and see the feast that God had for
me. God, please help me to stand up
and leave these crumbs alone and enter
into what you have for me,” I prayed
one day after a six-year involvement
in the lesbian lifestyle.”
—Yvette Cantu Schneider
“Are you and your girlfriend having a
homosexual relationship?” Yvette’s mother
asked her one day, suspicious of the relationship
she saw between Yvette and her closest
friend. Angered and devastated, Yvette, then
17, locked herself in the bathroom and cried.
Although the thought of such a relationship
repulsed her, deep in her heart she wished that
it were true. “Everything I need is in this
relationship,” she thought miserably.
Read the rest of this article »
The Question Is Not ‘Can Gays Change’ but How Many Already Have?
June 20th, 2007By Peter LaBarbera
Former proud homosexual Alan Chambers now disavows the term “ex-gay,” but to those of us struggling to defend truth in a fallen world, that imperfect term is mere shorthand for the wonderful work that God can do in any life that discards worldly wisdom and trusts humbly in Jesus Christ to live by a Perfect Standard.
Should we call Alan Chambers “ex gay”?
We share Steve Bennett’s disappointment with the regrettable statement to the Los Angeles Times by “ex-gay” (he now rejects that term) Alan Chambers — the president of Exodus International who has done wonderful work over the years for the pro-family cause — that “By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.” Predictably, the anti-ex-gay folks over at the pro-homosexuality website “ExGayWatch” tipped their hat to Alan (homosexual activist Wayne Besen was harsher) and acknowledged that he’s coming their way, while opining that he did not go far enough. One homosexual activist sent us a copy of the L.A. Times story with this note:
Ex-Gay is all fake, it’s harmful to people, even Alan Chambers of Exodus International is almost admitting it. G-d loves Gays & Lesbians as they are and you should too.
Well, “ex-gay” is not all fake, but there is always a problem with words in the post-Sexual Revolution, “gay”-affirming American culture in which we live. Yes, many people’s lives have been radically changed through Christ, and some without Him, yet homosexual activists want a special pass that says their sin problem (of course, they’d never call it that) is insurmountable — hanging their hopes on the supposed innateness and immutability of their “orientation.”
Wouldn’t each of us love to take our worst sin temptation and tell God that it’s not our fault, it’s just our “orientation,” so leave me alone?!
There is a whole homosexual activist cottage industry, led by Besen and ExGayWatch, that — like the enemy of our souls — essentially gloats over failure. This decidedly evil movement heralds the latest stories of failed “ex-gays” who return to homosexual behavior, while ignoring (or ridiculing) the obvious successes and the fact that many people who’ve overcome homosexuality don’t care to talk publicly about the sins they left behind.
The question is not, “Can gays change?” but how many already have. Only God knows.
Read the rest of this article »
Christianity Today Interviews Former Lesbian Charlene Cothran
June 20th, 2007
Christianity Today magazine in March interviewed Charlene Cothran, a former lesbian who — after converting to Christ — changed her Venus Magazine from promoting the acceptance of homosexuality to helping homosexuals find freedom and deliverance through Jesus Christ. The CT interviewer, Amy Tracy, is also a former lesbian (and former press secretary for the feminist National Organization for Women!). Here is the introduction and two questions and answers from the March 23, 2007 Christianity Today interview with Cothran, titled “The Rebirth of Venus”:
Charlene Cothran, publisher and editor-in-chief of Venus Magazine, a national publication for African-American gays and lesbians she launched 13 years ago, made a startling announcement: After 29 years as a gay activist, she’s become a Christian, renounced her homosexuality, and changed the format of her magazine to spread the gospel to the gay community. Amy Tracy, whose own similar conversion story was told in an earlier Christianity Today article, interviewed Cothran about her new direction.
CT: What finally led to your conversion?
Cothran: I also [publisher of] a publication called the Kitchen Table News. In June 2006, I was getting set to run an article on a local gospel group. A pastor in the group called to add something to the piece. She asked me a question, and from my response she knew I wasn’t “unchurched.” But I felt like pushing it. I told her I was a proud, card-carrying lesbian. She let me go on and on. Then she said, “I can tell that you want to come back to God, but you feel unworthy. That is a lie. Many souls will be saved by your saying yes to Jesus.” I could not speak for several moments. She continued to minister to me. She didn’t back down. I lived in silence for 48 hours. The Lord was dealing with me in my soul. I told him that I’d give back everything He gave me.
CT: How did your family react?
Cothran: My sister and mother prayed for me for years. It was a wonderful reunion with my family. My mother had prayed for God to deliver me. She knew the devil had his hold. She always knew that somehow I’d make it back. My mother was stubborn that way. She died before she could see me come back. I regret so much. She expected much from me, but I became a lesbian and an “out lesbian” at that. Now when I hear from parents of gay children, I use my voice to apologize … to apologize for their sons and daughters.
To read the entire Christianity Today interview, click HERE.
Stephen Bennett Rebuts Alan Chambers: ‘Sorry Exodus, Homosexuals Can COMPLETELY Change’
June 20th, 2007Stephen Bennett Ministries Press Release, June 19, 2007
Contact: Irene Bennett, SBM Media Relations, 203-926-6960, www.SBMinistries.org/media.html
HUNTINGTON, Conn., June 19 /Christian Newswire/ — Stephen Bennett, President of Stephen Bennett Ministries, a pro-family organization advocating for the traditional family, the protection of children and proclaiming the truth about homosexuality, condemned the irresponsible and disturbing remarks attributed to and made by Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, an organization claiming to be “The largest information and referral ministry in the world on homosexual issues.”
Bennett, along with many others pro-family leaders, were shaken Monday by Chamber’s remarks and are eagerly awaiting Exodus International’s official response to their President’s misguided statements.
In Monday’s Los Angeles Times article, the writer alludes to a posed question to Chambers, possibly, “Are there really such people as ex-gays?”
The writer, then based upon a response from Chambers writes, “Truth is, he’s not sure he’s ever met one.”
What’s odd is that Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, is a supposedly a former homosexual himself.
In the same article, one of the most troubling quotes by Chambers states, “By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.”
What? Then what exactly does Exodus International offer as “hope” to individuals struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction and to families of homosexual- identified individuals?
Read the rest of this article »
Why Do Gays Hate Religious Freedom?
June 18th, 2007“Gay advocates are not looking for fairness; they are looking for an upper hand.”
By Harry Jackson Jr., appearing in Townhall.com, June 18, 2007
I was excited last Friday when I got the word that I was featured in an extensive article in USA Today. The voice on the other end of the phone also informed me that a sizable picture of me would also appear. Needless to say it only took but a few minutes for me to get a copy of the paper in my hand. As I read the article, I was further flattered by the fact that the writer included the story of my father being threatened by a Florida State Trooper in a 1950s hate crime.
The joy that my message is getting huge traction in the mainstream media faded as I read the second paragraph. “Jackson’s argument is a lie, and it should not be told in the name of the Gospel.” This riveting line stopped me in my tracks. Spoken by a major gay advocacy group’s leader, these words were meant to vilify me and the thousands of Christian ministers around the country that believe exactly like I do. I was saddened but not surprised. I could not help asking myself the question, “Have we reverted to senseless name calling, instead of debating the facts?”
Growing up in the ghetto, I am familiar with the politics of intimidation. I learned early in my youth that it was when I was most afraid that I could sometimes bluff toughness and “sell a few wolf tickets.” My loud voice and an intimidating looks got me out of more than one close call. On one occasion, a friend of mine yelled at a guy who had pinned him to the ground and was beating him unmercifully, “I dare you to let me up!” Much to his surprise he was turned loose from a choke hold by his larger, ferocious foe. My friend wisely ran for cover upon his release.
Like my childhood friend, gay activists around the country are getting nervous that they are about to experience an embarrassing political setback. Instead of amending the hate crimes legislation that protects churches in a substantive way, they are simply crying out in a louder, more threatening manner. Gay advocates are not looking for fairness; they are looking for an upper hand.
To read the rest of Jackson’s column in Townhall.com, click HERE
CWA: Massachusetts Lawmakers Betray Constituents on ‘Same-Sex Marriage’
June 16th, 2007Concerned Women for America (www.cwfa.org)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 15, 2007; FOR MORE INFORMATION: JENNIFER FEDOR(202) 488-7000 ext. 126
Washington, D.C. — Despite broad support and almost two hundred thousand petition signatures, Massachusetts lawmakers thumbed their noses at constituents on Thursday and voted by just over a three-to-one margin (151-45) to prevent the citizens of Massachusetts from voting on a constitutional amendment in 2008 which, if passed, would have properly restored the definition of marriage to one man and one woman.
Addressing the vote, Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), said, “In its 2003 Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court circumvented the constitutional process and arbitrarily imposed ‘same-sex marriage’ on the people of Massachusetts through a brazen and contemptuous act of judicial activism. Now members of the liberal Massachusetts state legislature have surrendered to the demands of the radical homosexual lobby and have betrayed their own constituents and the democratic process by precluding them from weighing in on this crucial issue.
“What are they afraid of? Well, we know the answer to that question. They mustn’t allow the voters to decide on marriage because ‘gay marriage’ proponents almost universally lose when the voters have their say.
“Thousands of years of history, every major world religion and good ole’ fashioned common sense dictate that legitimate marriage exists only between a male and a female and that it is a sacred and fundamental cornerstone to any healthy society.
“After the Massachusetts Supreme Court — through judicial fiat — miraculously divined that the framers of the state constitution really intended that Patrick Henry could marry Henry Patrick, many in Massachusetts — embarrassed by the court’s unprecedented leftist extremism — felt that their state had become a laughingstock and initiated the constitutional process in an effort to undo this insanity. Although this ballot initiative wasn’t perfect in that it would have grandfathered existing ‘same-sex marriages’ in the state, the citizens of Massachusetts should have at least been allowed to speak. But instead, Massachusetts lawmakers have arrogantly and disdainfully told their own constituents to shut up and go home. This just underscores the need for a federal constitutional amendment which would protect the true definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman,” concluded Barber.
MassResistance: “They Don’t Understand the Foe We’re Facing.”
June 15th, 2007Note: we apologize to Amy Contrada for wrongly attributing her critique of Massachusetts Family Institute’s pro-marriage-amendment strategy in the Bay State to Brian Camenker. Here is an updated version of her compelling piece on the MassResistance blog:
VoteOnMarriage Failed the People, June 14, 2007
By Amy Contrada, MassResistance.org
http://massresistance.blogspot.com/2007/06/voteonmarriage-failure-predicted-here.html
The VoteOnMarriage amendment went down in flames today, with an even more appalling result than anyone could have imagined. Prayers without compromising the truth may work. Prayers when the truth is compromised cannot.
VoteOnMarriage’s campaign failed because the debate was boiled down to “letting the people vote” and ensuring “children have both a mother and a father.” But it left out the important truth about homosexual “marriage”: It’s based on immoral and unhealthy sexual perversions. Morality and public health needed to be part of the debate.
But VoteOnMarriage (and its prime actor, Massachusetts Family Institute) never spoke about these issues. Why didn’t they say plainly that disordered sexuality cannot become an accepted basis for “marriage”? And after compromising with [the then Massachusetts Republican governor], they could hardly address preserving the integrity of our constitution, and the common accepted meaning of the words therein.
VoteOnMarriage depleted our side’s energy and financial resources in pursuit of a terribly flawed amendment. We’ve warned about their failing strategy (“Be polite! Dialogue with the other side!”) and compromised amendment wording for two years now. We said: “Don’t feed the bears! They’ll just come back for more and more. They’ll smell your weakness. And they’ll eat you alive.”
But VoteOnMarriage said they had a good relationship with MassEquality. They spoke to the homosexual newspaper Bay Windows, badmouthed MassResistance to them and to people on Beacon Hill (including the last several governors) and to pro-family conservatives around the nation. They rigidly controlled what people said in their demonstrations, including their signs. It was a top-down movement, no real grassroots sentiments allowed. Time and again, as we walked through the VoteOnMarriage demonstrators, we would hear individuals corrected if they stepped out of line, said something “inappropriate” or with a little too much emotion.
Their strategy of endless compromise with evil, their attempted appeasement of those destroying the minds of children, and their puerile censorship of pro-family rhetoric has no origin in the Old or New Testament, and anyone who thinks otherwise has subconsciously blacked out the most powerful parts of the Holy Scriptures.
We hear from an MFI insider that they plan to regroup! How do you regroup with failed leadership, and a failed vision? Just a week ago, we heard that another MFI insider said the homosexual lobby was tiring out! They are detached from reality. They don’t understand the foe we’re facing.
When leaders fail to achieve their goal, they should be fired. VoteOnMarriage and the Massachusetts Family Institute have been discredited, they have failed the faithful pro-family people of Massachusetts. So we say to them: Don’t ask for another penny, another drop of our blood and sweat.
LISTEN ONLINE: Brian Camenker Dissects Mass. Marriage Defeat
June 14th, 2007Listen to this podcast interview between Christian Civic League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath and MassResistance founder Brian Camenker (scroll and click on “Homosexual Totalitarians”). Camenker explains how the pro-family movement’s compromising, defensive approach contributed to the defeat Thursday of the marriage amendment in the Massachusetts Statehouse.
Camenker describes how pro-family efforts to be “reasonable” by watering down the amendment (e.g., it would NOT overturn existing “same-sex marriages”) actually boomeranged on the pro-marriage forces. Rather than let down their opposition, aggressive and savvy “gay” activists continued to insist that the amendment was a full-blown assault on their “marriage” rights.
Meanwhile, Camenker says, Massachusetts pro-family forces evaded any discussion of homosexuality for fear of being perceived as “anti-gay.” They floated a “Benefits Fairness Act” which awarded marriage-like benefits to “two dependent adults who are ineligible for marriage,” hoping that would placate the homosexual activists. (It didn’t.)
The question remains — not just for Massachusetts but the whole nation: can we defend marriage (and that includes blocking “civil unions” laws) without critically discussing and exposing homosexual behavior, and explaining the pitfalls of normalizing such behavior through public policy?
Listen to Heath’s interview with Camenker by clicking HERE; for now it plays automatically, but later you may need to scroll down to “Homosexual Totalitarians” and click it to play.
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