Truth Wins Out (TWO) is an organization formed by

Wayne Besen Wayne Besen is an American LGBT 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 ...

to fight what it considers "anti-gay religious extremism", especially the

ex-gay movement The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual rela ...

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 An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

to remove an app from the

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...

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 Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...

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

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. TWO conducts interviews with experts regarding the etiology of sexual orientation. Featured guests include J. Michael Bailey,

Ray Blanchard Ray Milton Blanchard ( ; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist, best known for his research studies on transsexualism, pedophilia and sexual orientation. He found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay th ...

Milton Diamond Milton Diamond (born March 6, 1934) is an American Professor Emeritus of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. After a career in the study of human sexuality, Diamond retired from the university in December 20 ...

, Dean Hamer, Lisa M. Diamond,

Ken Zucker Kenneth J. Zucker (; born 1950) is an American-Canadian psychologist and sexologist. He was named editor-in-chief of ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' in 2001. He was psychologist-in-chief at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAM ...

, Erick Jannsen, Eric Vilain,

Simon LeVay Simon LeVay (born 28 August 1943 in Oxford, England) is a British-American neuroscientist. He received a bachelor's degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1966, a Ph.D. in Neuroanatomy at the University of Göttingen in ...

, and

Marc Breedlove Stephen Marc Breedlove (born 1954) is the Barnett Rosenberg professor of Neuroscience at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. He was born and raised in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri. After graduating from Central High Scho ...

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, 2008, at the

National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The "Dobson" campaign was being held to protest the induction of

James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FOTF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influentia ...

, the founder of Focus on the Family, into the Radio Hall of Fame.Dump Dobson Coalition Unveils Full-Page Ad In Chicago Tribune
On his websites, Besen posts videos of former ex-gays describing their experience with the ex-gay movement.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control LGBT political advocacy groups in the United States

History

Protests

See also

References

External links