freight train. someone today knows they can be anybody they want and there is no limits on succeeding in this country today. there s a good chance if they come out they ll be loved and accepted by their parents, their friends, perhaps even their churches so i think that the world has changed dramatically even from when i came out in 1988. it s incredibly refreshing and i think it is only going to get better. keep it up better. wayne, thank you so much and dr. laura berman first time i think i ve had you on. on a lighter notion joe buyen wields his signature line charging the republicans with a bunch of malarkey. isn t that healthy. this is hardball, the place for politics. s, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could ve had a v8. 100% vegetable juice with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle.
awful words that were spoken to them them, stories of abuse and pain from the church and even from exodus. wow, well joining me is wayne basin, executive director of truth wins out and psychotherapist laura berman. this is a sensitive subject and i can only imagine what it s like to be a young boy or girl and realize orientation may not be the same as the majority of your classmates and what they re used to and live with that secret for a long time and wonder who to confide in and maybe you final find someone to confide with and be told all that time there s something basically wrong with you and then to be told if you pray enough or you go to the right therapist you can get this fixed because it really is something wrong that is a problem. let me ask you about this wayne, i know you don t agree. tell me what you think is the hurt that s done by the organizations we just talked about where they basically bring you in as patients then you re
psychotherapist dr. laura berman. this is a sensitive subject. and i can only imagine what it s like to be a young boy or girl and realize your orientation may not be the same as the majority of your classmates or your family members and you live with that secret for a long time and wonder who to confide in and maybe you find someone to confide in and to be told there s all that time there s something basically wrong with you. and then to be told if you pray enough or you go to 0 the right therapist, you can get this thing fixed because it is something wrong that is a problem. let me ask you this. wayne, what is the hurt done by these organizations like the one we just talked about? where they basically bring you in as patients. that you re going to be cured. that s exactly right. they demean people. they dehumanize and tell them that they re not whole, not complete, not good enough. there s a threat for many young people of being thrown out of their house, being rejected by every pa
it felt like i was opening a christmas present. that s honestly how i felt. i went over to the closet and i stood there, and i prayed that prayer that i had prayed probably a million times. i said, god, why will you not change me? and i can t describe it but something from the outside, alan, told me not to take my life. and i said, god why won t you change me and it said to me, because there s nothing that i need to change but. let me go for some positivenous here. i love to leave people on friday with some hope here. you ve got hope i think, wayne. the country i grew up in, i m in my 60s. the country i grew up in is very different than the one i live in now. the words like queer thrown around 20, 30 years ago, today could be used as somebody who s gay might say the it for campy reasons. today i think acceptance has gone beyond tolerance to acceptance. not quite the celebration yet
while there has been so much good at exodus, there has also been bad. there have been people that we ve hurt. there are horror stories, and i m not telling you this for any other reason than to be honest and tell a ru story about this ministry. in 37 years, we haven t done everything right. because we re a bunch of humans. we ve hurt people. we ve helped people. but we ve hurt people. they told stories of abuse and pain, missed opportunities. awful words that were spoken to them. stories of abuse and pain from the church and even from exodus. wow. joining me right now is wayne basin, executive director of truth wins out.