Truth Wins Out (TWO) founder Wayne Besen held his organization’s first Chicago meeting March 6 at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., to introduce community members to his organization’s mission of debunking the myths and lies spread by anti-gay organizations. Besen moved TWO to Chicago from Vermont this past November.
Among TWO’s initial goals are keeping an eye on “ex-gay” organizations and therapists. Though some states have outlawed such therapies for young people—Illinois legislators Kelly Cassidy and William Delgado recently introduced such a bill—they still are a prevalent enough to cause harm to community members, Besen said.
“They’re definitely in a weakened state, but I don’t think we can ever answer the question of how many of those organizations are out there,” Besen said.
He also noted that TWO vigilantly watches anti-gay organizations that are spreading their hate in other countries. Many organizations, finding that their messages are often falling on deaf ears in the U.S., are finding receptive audiences in nations such as Russia, Nigeria and Uganda. In order reach out to other nations, those organizations often have shady and convoluted financial structures that TWO wants to study and expose.
“Every time we put down one of these guys, another materializes,” Besen said, adding that two was looking for volunteers to help them carry out this research. “We’re going after some pretty big fish, so we’re going to need a pretty big pan.”
TWO has two full-time employees, one of whom is Besen. He is tentatively planning an April 24 presentation, “Meet the Global Right-Wing Conspiracy,” at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St. For more information, visit www.truthwinsout.org.