Maybe it's wrong, but I see the blood of many impressionable young teenagers on his hands. So he was with the group for only 3 years. Tough. Every child that has been damaged by that group in the years since he was there are still victims of his self-hatred.
You really think these people, while involved with their little "cult," saw themselves as responsible for all those suicides? They were taught to blame that on sin and mental disease, just like I was.
I agree with Jasun. If he was truly repetant he would have been at the Exodus convention protesting, and he wouldn't be accepting paid speaking engagements to publically say he was wrong. He's making money of the deaths of teenagers whose only fault was they were more open and more honest then him.
Where's the evidence that Bussee has collected any honorarium, or even had his expenses paid, for speaking in public? You have a link to that? And FYI, he protests constantly. He does letter writing campaigns. He speaks out on YouTube and in public appearances GRATIS.
How many did he have a direct hand in? How many have suffered because of his self-hatred since he left a group he worked hard to establish? How many still are forced into those camps to be "made whole"?
How many
what did he have a "direct hand" in? What are you insinuating?
I was brought up catholic. Church-going and hearing how I was an abomination, but I never once considered myself anything less than a person who had a good heart. I didn't set out to create hatred and division. He did.
Were your parents fundamentalist Christians? Did you stand to lose your biological family over being gay? Did you witness bullying of gays in high school? Did you see your own friends gay bashing effeminate men? Were you ever convinced you would burn in hell for those feelings inside you that made your skin crawl?
I did. I denied myself and got married, stayed married for five years. . . until the guilt and self loathing made me physically ill. My doctor (who was also a "good friend") told me that whatever had me so emotionally stressed, I needed to get off my chest. So I told him what I thought was wrong. He backed away, referred me to a psychiatrist, and told me that I wouldn't be welcome at his home or near his family anymore.
You guys didn't grow up in the 50s, 60s and 70s, did you? If not, you have no fucking idea what it was like to be homosexual in the Bible Belt of that time. Don't judge us, Goddammit.
I don't buy the apology, I don't buy his "need to cleanse himself". And it's not just him. The parents who would rather a destroyed automaton rather than a loving, happy child are equally to blame for the sins they brought into others lives, and the blood they have on their hands.
You think he wanted to come forward just to make a fucking name for himself? You think he's somehow proud of what he did? He didn't have to say a fucking word to anybody, and he probably doesn't give a shit whether you forgive him or not. . . he's out to do the right thing. . . set the record straight and tell the Exodus people that they're full of shit. He doesn't have to do that. It's just the right thing to do!
This guy, and the organisation he helped to create and the copycat organisations that sprung up in its wake are no different to any other dictatorship. They tried to destroy the GLBT population. They told them they were dirty and disgusting. They told them they were an abomination and that only by lying to themselves and the others around them could they be saved.
So I suppose the only way you'd forgive him would be if he put a bullet in his own brain. Fuck-of-a-lot-of good that'd do! We'd lose his voice. . . we'd lose his insight into how to best deal with the homophobes of society.
I don't care if you guys forgive him or not. But I'll not be silent while you guys condemn him for fighting back against Bigots, Inc! If you can't support him, then shut the fuck up. The man's doing good work now, and not making a penny off of it. He's doing it because it's the right thing to do.
You guys are no better than the people at Exodus.
That puts you in a place to judge others? You have no idea what his life was like. Be thankful that he's on the right side of the issue now, stop the fuckin' whining, and turn your hatred toward our common foes, like George Rekers.
