Ex-Gay Leader's "Moral Fall"

I am sad to report that Michael Johnston, a self-described "former homosexual" who headed Kerusso Ex-Gay Ministries, has closed up shop. No, I am not sad that his "ministry" is dead — I believe ex-gay ministries and so-called reparative therapy carry the potential for much danger to GLBT people. But I am sorry about the latest turn in Johnston's life: As Southern Voice reports, Johnston, who is HIV-positive, admitted to having sex with men — allegedly without disclosing his seriopositive status. The news is also reported by Peter LaBarbera of the right-wing, anti-gay Concerned Women for America's department of Culture and Family, though Pete doesn't mention Michael by name. Ex-gay network Exodus International, however, does name names. (Thanks to Ex-Gay Watch for the pointer.)

I have come across Michael Johnston in my travels several times over the past four and a half years. Our first encounter was when I interviewed him in 1998 for my investigative report into the behind-the-scenes life of ex-gay ministries, "The Other Side of the Rainbow." Since then, we've talked, sometimes on the record, sometimes casually, though it has been about a year since we have been in contact.

Michael frightened me then: He boasted loudly — and, yes, arrogantly — about his starring role in a national ex-gay ad campaign that exhorted gays to change into heterosexuals, while invoking God's name. His anger flared red-hot when challenged about his ideas — he was not willing to consider alternate points of view, not in conversation with me, anyway.

That anger — some would call it meanspiritedness — was evident when he showed up unannounced at a 1999 anti-violence summit between fundamentalist Christians and members of pro-justice nonviolent direct-action group Soulforce, which was held at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. I recalled my surprise at his sudden, unexplained appearance in a Baltimore City Paper report called "My Dinner with Jerry."

Before the forum is officially closed to press, I spot Michael Johnston. I've spoken with Johnston before—he's president of Kerusso Ministries, a Virginia-based organization dedicated to changing homosexuals into heterosexuals; I interviewed him for a story I did earlier this year on the ex-gay movement. Johnston himself is ex-gay (and also HIV+). He speaks at churches and gatherings to spread the word to gays that they can change if they follow Jesus Christ. His orations, in the view of the gay community, drip with anti-gay sentiment. I wonder why he is here, at what is billed as an Anti-Violence Forum.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2 — Page 3