Monday, August 01, 2005
More on the founding of Love in Action
From Wayne Besen's news release regarding John Evans:
Evans, a gay man, founded what may be the first modern ex-gay group in San Raphael, Calif. in 1973, along with a heterosexual preacher Kent Philpott. Evans left his life partner of ten years to start the gay conversion group. He later dropped out after he realized it didn't work and his best friend committed suicide because he could not turn heterosexual.
I have had contact with Kent Philpott and Frank Worthen, both of whom convened the first meeting of Love in Action. Both deny these statements. Evans was being mentored by Philpott and came along to a joint meeting of Philpott's mentoring group and Frank Worthen's group. At that meeting, the approximately 15 people present decided together that Love in Action was a better name for the ministy than the previous name (Brother Frank's Tape Ministry). With all due respect to Frank Worthen, I agree.
John Evans left the group several months after it started. He formed a pro-gay group. The suicide referred to in the Besen release occurred after Mr. Evans left Love in Action.
More to come...
Evans, a gay man, founded what may be the first modern ex-gay group in San Raphael, Calif. in 1973, along with a heterosexual preacher Kent Philpott. Evans left his life partner of ten years to start the gay conversion group. He later dropped out after he realized it didn't work and his best friend committed suicide because he could not turn heterosexual.
I have had contact with Kent Philpott and Frank Worthen, both of whom convened the first meeting of Love in Action. Both deny these statements. Evans was being mentored by Philpott and came along to a joint meeting of Philpott's mentoring group and Frank Worthen's group. At that meeting, the approximately 15 people present decided together that Love in Action was a better name for the ministy than the previous name (Brother Frank's Tape Ministry). With all due respect to Frank Worthen, I agree.
John Evans left the group several months after it started. He formed a pro-gay group. The suicide referred to in the Besen release occurred after Mr. Evans left Love in Action.
More to come...
# posted by W. Throckmorton @ Monday, August 01, 2005 
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Warren -- I sincerely agree on the name change too. "Brother Franks' Tape Ministry" sounds like an intestinal complaint you'd pick up in the Congo.
When (if) you speak to Kent Philpott next, could you ask why he continued publishing "The Third Sex" even after it was exposed as fiction and even after the six not-exgays sued to have him cease publishing. I've yet to see a response on this (and it has been 25 years...)
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When (if) you speak to Kent Philpott next, could you ask why he continued publishing "The Third Sex" even after it was exposed as fiction and even after the six not-exgays sued to have him cease publishing. I've yet to see a response on this (and it has been 25 years...)
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