Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality visited the Janet Mefferd show on Tuesday to discuss “ex-gay” ministry Exodus International’s decision to shut its doors and apologize to the gay community. LaBarbera, unsurprisingly, was none too pleased with Exodus’ reversal. He told Mefferd the story of an “ex-gay” acquaintance, Andrew Franklin, who helped him understand that homosexuality is merely a curable “masculinity deficit.” He added that people react to homosexuality differently than other “sins” because it “is just a weird sin, so it’s different.”
LaBarbera: The Lord worked in his life, he’s acquiring, you know, masculinity. I think the issue that really hit me, Janet, was, this is really, homosexuality is a masculinity deficit. It’s an issue of masculinity for these guys.
Mefferd: Interesting. And yet, you hear from the other side all the time that people like Andrew Franklin don’t exist. I mean, Wayne Besen has made a whole career on the ex-gay movement as, you know, a misnomer, it doesn’t exist and it’s a big lie.
LaBarbera: Well, they exist. And God is working in their lives just as God works in the lives of all of us, helps us overcome our sin. And I think this is just a weird sin, so it’s different. And that’s why I think people, they want to cop out and say, ‘Oh, they’re born gay, just leave them alone.’
