Exodus International Holding Bryce Faulkner Hostage?

I do as well, Amy! I could never imagine subjecting my son to, what I consider to be, such a horrific violation against the right to live authentically.

Thanks for reading, commenting, and for the recommendation!

There are still some people that think that homosexuality is a choice.  In this case we're dealing with religious bigotry.  It.s a heck of a way to deal with your own child.  He needed love not rehabilitation.

Definitely unfair.

We seem to have fallen back into the days of the inquisition and this not only in Islam but more so now in the Christian faith as well. 

Maybe it is time to outlaw all religions and close the Churches and Mosques and Synagogs.

When will the religions learn that being gay is natural abnormality amongst most living creatures not only in humans. Sex is determined in the womb and once one is classified by nature it can not be changed.

It's not demeaning to have a gay child in fact gays grow up normally to be good citizens and can be very useful in society and they should never be downcast for there sexuality. Nor should they be made to hide from what they really are human beings that do no harm to society in fact they many give society more warmth for their humor and creativity.

Gays have been persecuted by the religions that arose from the middle east, the writers of the holy text seemingly thought it was evil to be gay. Why should the incorrect opinions from bigoted less educated backward ancestors that wrote these very bigoted religious text concerning gays be used to discriminate against gays?  Its shameful that educated people to include the parents of gays to believe in such outrageous religious persecution and the parents of this guy should be sent to a rehab to get them off this ridiculous religious fix. Its the religious that need the counciling to realize how silly their religions are. 

Such stupidity makes my blood boil. The religious virus at present has no cure and the poor souls have to get them self's out of the quagmire after finding the faults of religious dogma. However there are some very good books that highlight that religions are false and fabricated these should in my mind be introduced in to schools as mandatory reading to act as a vaccine against these awful mind viruses, spread by infected parents and adults and of course the holy men that make a living selling the infection. 

None of you even know Bryce personally, please quit attacking his family when you know nothing about them but what is said in this article. Most of it is lies, anyway. You're trying to hurt others just because you think their beliefs are wrong...well, there are people who think the same thing about your beliefs. 

good story and tragic

Rhonda,

I am Travis' mother. Thank you for blogging about Bryce!  Everything you have posted on here, are the facts as we know them today (I will address Ashley M. in a moment).  Mrs. Faulkner has indeed been in contact with Rev. Harris, threatening to file harrassment charges against him for the website. As anyone in this great country learned by the 5th grade, he is protected by the First Ammendment to the Constitution. The only thing we want is for Bryce to be free to be himself and I can't say thank you enough for getting his story out here.  We are in the process of starting a Friends of Bryce non profit organization.  Something needs to be done in order to abolish all institutions of this sort in our country.

Ashley M.

"Most of it is lies, anyway"  Really?  What do you know about it?  Were you on the phone when Bryce was crying so hard he could hardly speak to Travis?  Were you there when they took all his stuff away?  When they confiscated his phone so that he couldn't call for help?  Were you assisting them when they tried doing their own 2 day intervention?  Have you read the email correspondence between Bryce & Travis? The correspondence between Rev Harris and Mrs. Faulkner?  The voicemails left for Travis from both Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner? Were you there when his mother called the cell phone company and had his password reset so that she could listen to his voicemails?  Where you there when his dad, who works for the cable company, put a trace on the internet in order to retrieve passwords to Bryce's PRIVATE email accounts so that they could read them? I have personally been witness to how this all went down, so if you are so privvy to information that the rest of the world doesn't have access to, please feel free to share it.

Sincerely,

Tonya Swanson - Travis' Mom... and proud of it!

Deepest thanks to everyone who read, commented upon, and/or recommended this story! Your show of support for the LGBT community is always appreciated!

I've done some research on the subject, as well as with some friends of mine; the Gay Straight Alliance' President for The University of West Florida in Pensacola among others.  According to the Exodus International website - the only affiliate church in Pensacola is that of Harvest Outreach - through a Paster Roger Hirth.

http://www.harvestpensacola.com

The website itself doesn't hold any information regarding their work with the Exodus Ministry, however, it does have potentially useful contact information.

I just can believe that there are still so much idiots in this World!

Bryce, Somos gays não por opção mas pela miséricordia de Deus, somos gays felizes por essa condição, pois nosso criador nos concedeu essa graça. Deus quer que vivamos bem, que sejamos felizes. As religiões querem sufocar o desejo do homem que nasceu espiritualmente livre, elas querem que sejamos presos aos seus dogmas e as suas leis. Busque a felicidade, viva intensamente cada dia de sua vida como vitorioso, pois como filhos de Deus já o somos.

I always like to read both sides, and this is very interesting.  I have a friend who went through Exodus and is very happy now that he is not living the gay lifestyle.  It was a real struggle for him for so long and now he feels free.  A much different story than is being propagated here.  He would say it is a choice.  One comment he has is that he has been trashed by friends of his who are gay, they say he should stay true to himself.  My buddy says he is being true to himself by not being homosexual, but he still gets ridiculed.  I don't see much tolerance from the gay community (who ask for it from everybody) watching from the sidelines here.

Thanks ianparks for reading and commenting. As mother to a gay male, I can assure you that your friend's belief that homosexuality is a choice is far from correct. What would be correct: "A choice is made to live authentically (or without authenticity as the case may be with your friend)", and it is my opinion that your friend is not living an authentic life. I trust you can understand the difference. Thanks again!

I work in men's ministry and I meet men every day that fight against pornography, adultery, gambling, drug and alcohol addiction, homosexuality, rage and all of the idols that they set up in their life that give them only false freedom.  These idols do not give real life.  These men know that they can be enslaved by them.  They fight by changing their focus.  When I think of living an authentic life, it is when I can look in the mirror, see my sin and and am humbled that God would love me anyway.  Then I repent and fight to live for God and not for my sin.  The only thing that is not a choice is that we are born into sin.  I respect the mothers on here that love their sons, but I don't respect their corrupt moral compass.  You can love someone and at the same time encourage them to flee from the sin in their life.  Sure it is a very difficult task.  I know too well, but I've seen too many fights that were successes for these men to watch you guys spin your own doctrine of Christianity.  Our world today is so wrapped up into being kind, nice, and loving, "the Golden Rule" which are all good things, but we neglect the fact Jesus wants to be lord of our lives.  Let's face it, when you say that Jesus is God.  The line is drawn int he sand.  But He is THE focus.  You can talk about being nice, good and tolerant, yet even at its best, it is rubbish.  Why?  Because we are born into sin.  How many ulterior motives do we have in our hearts that seek to destroy others and roll in our own filth?  Or the time we spend in our lives just seeking our own glory?  At our best, we can offer the power of our sin over to Jesus and let him take it from us and let Him rule in our lives.  Jesus has the power, not our ablility to be good, kind, or tolerant.  The only thing that is good in me is Jesus.  You know, the only Holy and Perfect Lord of this earth who once showed love to a woman and then said, "Go and sin no more."  That's not an interpretation.  It just is.  

Ok, First Travis' Mom. You asked a bunch of questions to Ashley P. that went a lot like this "where you there when... bull shit bull shit bull shit." Sorry, but don't you live in wisconsin? So since they live in Arkansas I'm willing to bet you weren't there either. Nice try claiming you are a witness. given

Second, I knew Bryce. He was smart. Not overly smart, but he did have a future. He was smart enough to get into med school. With that in mind and given the fact he has been raised in Arkansas his entire life, don't you think he knew how things worked? I mean he's 23. That means that in less than a month from now he would have been starting medical school and taking out loans to pay for his own life. He would have become distant from his family anyway. Not because they don't love him or because they "kicked him out on the streets for being gay", but because he's an age where its time to move one and become your own person. Since his cell and whatever else the Faulkner's supposedly took was going to be taken in less than a yr. no matter what, why didn't Bryce just establish that it is his choice and that he didn't need their financial support? I mean he's gonna be on his own anyway so why not throw it in their face? He'd be right. You all said he was smart. If he's so smart then why didn't he think of that? The fact of the matter is, he is that smart. He knows all of what I am telling you. So why did he choose to give in? Why did he submit? Maybe because he isn't completely 100% gay. Bryce is a person that desperately needs acceptance. He couldn't find acceptance with people from his school, home, or anywhere else. I know all this because I use to live next to him. When I first met him I thought he was a little different, but so is the rest of the world. No one is the same. So I treated him like I would anyone else. Within a few weeks he started to take interest in different things than when I first met him. He started to like some of the things that myself and some of his other friends liked. So what does that tell you? That Bryce just wants acceptance. If he is gay that's fine too. I'd support his decision. And yes I am a straight religious bigot. 

However, I am also a scientist. A good one. I helped Bryce in some of his classes. Some of you have said that Homosexuality is not a choice, but a lifestyle. I even read one guy write that it is an abnormality that is not exclusive to the human race. I'll go with that. Let's say you are correct and its not a choice. But you are actually born with this "abnormality." The definition of abnormality is not normal, average, typical, or usual; deviating from a standard. Now I would like you to take a look at another definition a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors or deviation from a common rule of life. Notice anything? Maybe the last part of the second definition matching very closely with the first? The second definition is for a word that I will not be posting out of anger or desire to pick some religious fight with the gay community. This will not please any of you. But the word being defined is Disease. I'm not saying that homosexuality is a disease, but if you are going to claim it as an abnormality or "authentic lifestyle" then maybe plan for that to be thrown at you. I mean what if researcher's identified exactly what gives us sex drive? I mean I know we can inject steroids, but I think there is more to it than just simple testosterone and estrogen. What if there is something missing that would change your sex drive? Not saying I want to produce it or that anyone is actually doing that kind of research. No one would allow it even if there was someone crazy enough to do it. But what if it did happen and someone did find something was missing and could replace it...

                                                                                                              would you take it? Would that be living an authentic lifestyle as you so eloquently put it? What would be the difference between that and having an implant to fix a hearing problem? Are both not deviations and abnormalities of life that are not lethal to the person? What sets them apart so that one is acceptable and deemed permanent, but the other a repair is offered? 

To me it doesn't make any difference. I don't care enough to actually argue either side for or against Homosexuality. I know I put some pretty harsh claims out there, but to be honest it was just to even the balance. Most of you were pretty much condemning those who you call "religious bigots." But as I said, I don't care. Why don't I care? Because to me its no more a sin to be gay than being an alcoholic. We have those in the church, why not gay people? I know the response from those within ministry will be well if they are truly born again christians then they wouldn't have that burden. Not true. As Christians we still have struggles. If you claim that you don't then you are a lier. Everyone has their problems and no one is perfect. Except Jesus. I myself am far from perfect and will never claim to be. I know that one of my biggest problems is the desire for knowledge. I love to study science, dissect topics, and try new experiments (not with sexuality more like chemical reactions so don't get the wrong idea). I try to understand everything, but that's not that uncommon. I mean read the posts listed here. I should not try to understand everything in ways of science, but leave the art of being all knowing to God. 

So the take home message, God still loves you. And if you are going to continue to push for homosexual equality then choose your words wisely because you will run into people like me who will turn those words you use on you. Some people do it just because they are ass holes, but truthfully I do it just to get people to think. Evaluate your stance from every angle then decide if you are right or not. If you are then stick with it. If not then be a big person and admit you are wrong then move on. Either way it still doesn't matter, because God is the only one who has a right to judge and that we are here to please. 

Biochemist of religion, thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. However, I like to think that I choose my words wisely.

"...but truthfully I do it just to get people to think. Evaluate your stance from every angle then decide if you are right or not. If you are then stick with it. If not then be a big person and admit you are wrong then move on."

I'm waiting, thanks!

Sorry if you find that last comment rude, but it does clarify on choose your words wisely. What I meant was when thinking of a statement you would like to make don't think about how it sounds to you. Of course you think it sounds like a good thing to say and has logic behind its idea, but you aren't trying to convince yourself are you? Think about how it will sound coming from the other perspective. Then that will help you either strengthen or abandon your own position.