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Anthony Falzarano, Hate Guru, Booted from Own Group

Cat Fight Explodes at an Exodus International Conference

Rattles National Director of Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays

By John Aravosis
Wired Strategies

Washington, D.C.--Anthony Falzarano, one of the nation's best-known ex-gays, was "barred" from the recent Exodus International ex-gay conference held in Wheaton, Illinois, a Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (P-FOX) representative told Wired Strategies Tuesday.

Falzarano, founder of Transformation Ex-gay Ministries and national director of P-FOX, went to the July 26-31 Exodus conference in the Chicago suburbs but "wasn't allowed to go in," according to a P-FOX employee reached by phone at the organization's Washington, DC headquarters.

Anthony Falzarano, one of the leaders of the Ex-Gay Movement has been exiled from Exodus, an ex-gay ministry

P-FOX refused to discuss why Falzarano was "barred," but simply said that there have been some "changes that have happened in Exodus."

Transformation was founded ten years ago and is a branch of Exodus International, the largest "ex-gay" group.

Falzarano left Transformation in 1996 to start P-FOX, in an attempt to counter the growing respect and influence of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

Falzarano's apparent falling out with the lead "ex-gay" group is significant for numerous reasons.

First, Falzarano has had a longstanding high-profile in the "ex-gay" movement, having appeared as a frequent "ex-gay" commentator on television and in the print media for years.

Second, P-FOX and Falzarano are closely linked to, and funded by, the religious right political lobbying group the Family Research Council (FRC).

Falzarano's work has been "praised" by the Family Research Council (FRC) in a press release on February 10, 1998. FRC's president (now on leave to pursue his presidential ambitions) Gary Bauer also spoke at last year's P-FOX conference, where he received a special award.

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In addition, People for the American Way reports that at the most recent P-FOX conference, "The P-FOX newsletter enclosed in the conference packets stated that the conference was being underwritten by the Family Research Council (FRC), and that the FRC had also set up a matching fund for donations from $100-$75,000.

"Also, FRC's Director of Development Programs sits on the board of P-FOX, which may have been one of the reasons Falzarano made many glowing references to Gary Bauer, who recently left the FRC to pursue his presidential ambitions."

Could this schism between Falzarano and Exodus indicate a larger battle between the "ex-gays" and their allies in anti-gay political circles?

Ironically, a biography of persona-non-grata Falzarano on the P-FOX Web site concludes with a rather prescient quote: "I know what it's like to be rejected by the men I should have been able to trust the most."