Exodus International made headlines after its 1976 founding. And for good reason: the non-profit insists it can help fight homosexuality through the seemingly omnipotent power of some dude named Jesus Christ.

We've never heard of him, but apparently people are all about him, because Exodus has gone on to become one of the leading voices in the battle against the sissie scourge.

The group's so large, in fact, that they ended up changing their name to Exodus Global Alliance, thus giving themselves a truly planetary flavor. Now, over thirty years on, the group boasts 150 ministries in 17 countries. This, of course, is exceedingly important because, as you can see from the group's handy pie-chart, homosexual walk every inch of this lovely Earth of ours. They explain:

Men and women struggle with homosexuality in every culture and country around the world. Estimates of the number who struggle are shown in the pie chart.

Either Exodus forgot to include the volatile and largely Islamic region or, more likely, they figure those Allah lovers are hell-bound hethens, so why even try.

Like a lot of people, we rolled our eyes in disgust when financial guru and freshly outed lady lover Suze Orman justified her quest for gay marriage by lamenting the potential loss of her millions. She griped to The New York Times' Deborah Solomon:

[My lover KT and I] have millions of dollars in our name. It’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa.

[Read On ...]

A reader sent us this video featuring Alan Chambers, President of the world's premiere ex-gay organization, Exodus International. In it, Chambers claims that most gay people don't care about discrimination laws and that America may be "the most tolerant society in the history of the world."

It's a bit heavy-handed, but definitely worth a view - especially in these mid-morning hours when we all need to to get the blood pumping.

You may have heard about the gay/ex-gay protest that happened this weekend. No? Well, here's the deal: a gaggle of ex-gays gathered in Palm Springs for the "Love Won Out" conference. The event, sponsored in part by those lovely bigots at Focus on The Family, allowed ex-gays the chance to condemn their former gay brothers and, in the most diplomatic ways, we're sure, offer their help in exorcising all shades of faggotry from the world. Among the illustrious speakers was Nancy Heche, good ol' ex-gay Anne's mother, who has previously called the AIDS related death of her closeted hubbie "the worst thing in the world."

Meanwhile, proud gays (organized by EX-Gay Watch and Unity Rally, respectively) gathered with signs sporting such ra-ra messages as "Don't psychologically torture your children!" Now that's a cheer if we've ever heard one.

An ex-gay woman came out early in the day and greeted them graciously, a trait apparently found often in their kind.

Obviously, this is something people are really passionate about: we got an email from ex-gay watchman, Daniel Gonzales this morning saying, "If you plan on writing about the Love Won Out in Palm Springs I led a group of people from Ex-Gay Watch and wrote a first hand of the account here." which at 8 o'clock in the morning can sound a bit abrasive. (A please wouldn't hurt next time, young man.)

Still, we appreciate his enthusiasm, so here's the link.

One thing worth mentioning is the split between Ex-Gay Watch and the Unity Rally protesters.

Because nothing helps a united front like splitting into smaller groups...

Exodus International, those gay “conversion” folks down in Florida, are turning their transforming attention toward bloggers. Well, one blogger in particular. Justin Watt created a parody of an Exodus Billboard (see pic) that read “Straight? Unhappy?” with the the Gay.com web site address advertised at the bottom. Funny stuff, right?

Well, not only does the Exodus staff lack any common sense, but they also lack a sense of humor; they’ve served Watts with legal papers. Still it sounds like he’s safe from losing his blogging empire.

Laura Quilter, associate counsel for the Brennan Center Free Expression Policy Project, agrees that the law is often on the side of protecting parody from these types of threats. Watt seems to have a "slam dunk" case, she said.

If we had seen the original Exodus billboard by the side of the road, we would have thought that it was some new clever advertising campaign for Brokeback Mountain.

We wish Watt all the luck in the world. And we’re logging on to Gay.com right now just for him.

Exodus fights 'ex-gay' billboard parody [NY Blade]

NGLTF, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is calling out the alledged "gay prevention" programs, saying their "counselors" are actually causing more psychological harm than they are helping people.

According to a report by NGLTF, "some Christian-based gay prevention and treatment groups have used the First Amendment protection of religion to avoid sanctions by state health officials seeking to enforce regulations on counselors who offer therapy without a license."

We applaud the NGLTF for actually putting their donation money to worthwhile use in battling this problem. It's good to know those checks we write may help change some parents' minds, and save a kid or two from having to live the horror of a gay-conversion camp. And judging by the oh-so-masculine appearance of their success story poster-boy, Alan Chambers (picture above), their legitimacy is dubious at best. Our boy Alan there makes Johnny Weir look like Rambo.

Gay Prevention Camp Counselors Are Frauds [AP]

• We so did not need to see Carson Kressley shirtless at the White Party. We mean, really, we did not need to see that. [HX]

• A reader did a little sleuthing and found out that Mark Bess, the man who wrote us last week’s hate mail, lives on Gay Dreisbach Road. Oh, the irony. [Queerty]

• If given the choice between Christ and Oprah, we’d probably go with Ms. W. But the thing that really gets us worked up over this letter is Alan Chambers’ photo. Look at her. She is obviously a gay. Just look at that cock-sucking smile. [Exodus International]

• Oh dear God. So many stockings to stuff. So little time. Andy has pictures of Boston’s Santa Speedo Run. [Towleroad]

• HX put us in their Homo Dish column, where all the A-Gays are name-dropped. How we got in we’ll never know being C-Gays and all. [HX]