Wayne besen biography

American advocacy organization

Truth Wins Out (TWO) is an organization formed by Wayne Besen to fight what he considers "anti-gay religious extremism", especially the ex-gay movement.

History

Besen formed Truth Wins Out on June 7, 2006, as a response to the belief that a person's homosexual orientation can change. In particular, TWO is critical of organizations and religious ministries which treat homosexuality as a diseased behavior pattern which can be "cured". Besen later launched the related RespectMyResearch project to document what he views as distortions of science by the ex-gay movement, especially Focus on the Family.

In 2018, Truth Wins Out started a petition urging Apple to remove an app from the App Store which allegedly portrayed homosexuality as an "addiction" and "sickness". Apple removed the app by Living Hope Ministries in December. Amazon later removed the app from their platform, while Google allowed the app to remain on the Google Play store.

As of 2019, TWO's seat has been relocated in Philadelphia.

TWO conducts interviews with experts regarding the etiology of sexual orientation. Featured guests include J. Michael Bailey,Ray Blanchard,Milton Diamond, Dean Hamer,Lisa M. Diamond, Ken Zucker, Erick Jannsen, Eric Vilain,Simon LeVay, and Marc Breedlove.

Protests

Truth Wins Out conjugates information with advocacy to defend the LGBT community "against the propaganda campaigns of the religious right".

TWO organizes protests around the country to counter the ex-gay movement. One of TWO's three largest protests occurred on November 4,

Wayne Besen is the Executive Director of Truth Wins Out, an organization that monitors the Religious Right, fights for LGBTQ equality and debunks the “ex-gay” conversion industry (TruthWinsOut.org).

He the author of Lies with a Straight Face: Exposing the Cranks and Cons Inside the ‘Ex-Gay’ Industry (2023), Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture (2007), and Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth (2003).

A former talk radio host at Chicago’s Progressive Talk, WCPT 820-AM, Besen has appeared on leading news and political talk shows including: NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight,  MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s AC360, FOX’s O’Reilly Factor and The Sean Hannity Show and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

He has been quoted in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post,The Advocate, Newsweek, TIME, The Washington Blade, Metro Weekly, The Sun-Sentinel, The Nation, and Mother Jones.

Prior to founding Truth Wins Out, Besen served as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ organization. He worked for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, and served as a press secretary on a U.S. Senate race in Maine. Besen graduated from University of Florida in 1993. Besen’s recent social commentaries can be seen at TikTok @thewaynebesenshow.

Media

American LGBT rights advocate (born 1970)

Wayne Besen (born 1970) is an American journalist and LGBTQ rights advocate. He is a former investigative journalist for WABI-TV, a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, and the founder of Truth Wins Out. Besen came out to his parents before starting his Truth Wins Out Organization. He hosted a radio talk show and is a former columnist.

After coming out to his parents, they bought him an ex-gay DVD that could supposedly hypnotize people and turn them straight. It was that and the invitation by President George W. Bush of ex-gay leader Alan Chambers to the White House that led him to start the Truth Wins Out organization. He wrote the books Lies with a Straight Face: Exposing the Cranks and Cons Inside the Ex-Gay industry and 'Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth' and a collection of his columns has been published titled Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People.

Besen has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays", and is an outspoken critic of conversion therapy organizations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.

Early life and education

Born into a non-religious, liberal Jewish family, Besen attended Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. After high school, Besen studied at the University of Florida, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism in 1993. While in Florida, Besen helped co-found his first non-profit organization in 1992. Named the Sons & Daughters of America (SDA), the group headed a public awareness campaign focused around gay and lesbian injustices.

Photos of John Paulk

In September 2000, Besen photographed ex-gay activist John Paulk, then Chairman of Exodus International, in a Washington D.C. gay bar called Mr. P's. Paulk said he was simply there to use the washroom, but Besen an