A good thing that Justin switched from AOL to hotmail.
***** Head of 'ex-gay' group Exodus is caught in a gay bar
by Anthony Glassman
Washington, D.C.--The facade of the "ex-gay" ministries headed by umbrella organization Exodus International revealed another crack September 19, when the group's chairman was caught in a gay bar by two Human Rights Campaign employees.
John Paulk leaving Mr. P's bar. (photo: Wayne Besen)
John Paulk spent 40 minutes in the bar, leaving only when one of the HRC staffers tried to photograph him. He has appeared in ads touting "conversion" to heterosexuality, an idea widely discredited in medical and psychological circles.
Daryl Herrschaft, one of the HRC staffers, was sitting in Mr. P's bar in DuPont Circle, Washington's gay mecca, when he noticed a familiar face walk in. He didn't really think about it much until a quarter of an hour later, when he turned around to discover Paulk standing behind him.
The two struck up a conversation, in which Paulk claimed his name was John Clint, said he lived in Colorado Springs (where Paulk works for Focus on the Family, an anti-gay group), and answered yes when Herrschaft asked if he was gay. Paulk reportedly offered to buy him a drink, and the two talked until Herrschaft excused himself and went to the phone.
He called HRC deputy press secretary Wayne Besen, who arrived 40 minutes after Herrschaft first saw Paulk.
Besen, who has debated Paulk publicly, immediately recognized the "ex-gay" poster boy, who has appeared on the cover of Newsweek with his wife, an "ex-lesbian."
Paulk, apparently recognizing Besen, tried to hide, and Besen began snapping photographs of Paulk. A bouncer ejected Besen for violating the club's no-photos policy. When Paulk left the bar with his head down, Besen followed him for a couple of blocks.
Paulk called Besen the next day, claiming he had just gone into the bar to use the restroom, unaware that it was a gay bar.
In the following days, Paulk's story to the press wavered between the bathroom excuse, and a claim that he went in to see what gay bars are like these days, since he speaks about them so frequently but hasn't been in one since his "cure."
Mr. P's is across P Street from a well-lit coffee shop with a public restroom, as well as next door to the brightly lit Barcelo Hotel, which also has a public restroom. The bar, on the other hand, has a dark facade and a small window with a neon sign. It is also a half-block away from a park cruising area known as the P Street Beach.
"John's actions represent a serious lapse in judgement," Exodus said in a statement to the press. "His decision to enter a gay establishment for any reason opens him up to all kinds of speculation and questions by both other Exodus leaders and also the gay community."
Paulk told the Exodus board of his need to use the restroom, and the curiosity that caused him to stay longer, and they have thus far decided to take no actions against him.
Two of Exodus International's founders left the organization in 1979 and divorced their wives for each other, remaining together until one died a few years ago. A number of chapters of Exodus and other "ex-gay" organizations have closed shop when leaders returned to their "homosexual lifestyles."
"I predict that John Paulk will yet recreate himself again when this ["ex-gay"] folly, like the ones before, runs its course," Stuart Koblentz wrote in 1998, wrapping up a memoir of his days as Paulk's neighbor in Columbus when they went to Ohio State University 14 years earlier. During that time, Paulk went from being a successful college student to being a prostitute.
"During the time that I knew John, the truth was always something that was treated as an afterthought," Koblentz wrote. *****
Yoshie