Ex-gay Ignite Student Outreach: ‘No comment’
As an opinions columnist, I don’t have to be un-biased. I don’t have to present both sides. I don’t even have to seek out the opinion of the other side or even give them a chance to state their position at all. That is the nature of opinions writing. I can be as biased as I want to be. It is, after all, my opinion.
I tried this time, though. I really did. I gave them so many chances to comment and to present their side. I would have presented their side in the column, as well. A simple comment or a press statement would have been all that was needed and they would have had their voice and their side of the issue presented in the column, even though I am under no obligation whatsoever to do such a thing.
However, Ignite Student Outreach and its director, Chris Leader, have chosen to either refuse comment or ignore any contact. I’m guessing now that they wish they hadn’t included me in their targeted email campaign recruiting gay youth.
Six times now I have attempted to either contact them or get some sort of comment. When I was first able to talk to Mr. Leader on Wednesday, he said that they were in the process of putting together a press statement at the time. He asked me to send him an email, (which I did), that he would have the press statement available by Thursday evening or night and that he would be sure to email it to me once it was available.
Since that first phone call and first email, as well as two later emails and two subsequent phone calls (later informing him I needed any comment by 5pm Friday), Mr. Leader is either not checking his email inbox or he’s simply ignoring my requests for a comment.
It does not take two or three days to put together a press statement or know how you are going to respond to media questions. That is something that can be done in less than 30 minutes (and that is a generous time amount right there). Now… if you have to consult with parent organization Exodus International and Exodus Youth… then it might take you a couple days, especially if they are slow to respond to you.
Either way - with comment from Ignite Student Outreach or without comment (and they did have their chance) - my column on the subject, tentatively titled “Close Encounters of the Ex-Gay Kind” with the byline of “Ex-gay group targets youth & student ministry leaders,” will be printed in The Carolinian (UNCG) on Tuesday, December 5, 2006.
The column will be posted on this site. The column will, hopefully, also be posted on at least two other well-visited and nationally respected websites. Through RSS feeds and cross-posting, the column will make it to blog aggregators, both local and national, and to such huge social networking sites as Facebook and MySpace.
Thousands upon thousands of people across North Carolina, the South and the rest of the nation will see it and thousands of people will know the truth about this hidden, deceptive, “we’re not gonna say what we really are,” “we have to look cool for the kiddies and not anti-gay,” ex-gay organization.
When you have the chance to present your side of the story and offer a rebuttal to certain claims against you, to an audience of thousands & thousands of people, I think most people and most groups would want to do so. Unless, of course, the claims about your group are true. In that case, there is no need to offer a rebuttal. We wouldn’t want you to lie now would we?
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Technorati Tags: Ignite student outreach, ex-gay, exodus, exodus youth, alan chambers, scott davis, justin lookadoo
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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