by Wayne Besen • August 21, 2025 • Truth Wins Out • Comments (0) • 346

TWO Comments on Arch-Homophobe James Dobson’s Death

Dobson Was a Purveyor of Conversion Therapy and Bogus Science

Delray Beach, FL—Earlier today, The James Dobson Family Institute announced the death of its founder, 89. James Dobson leaves an odious legacy of anti-LGBTQ bigotry, quack science, promotion of discredited “ex-gay” conversion therapy and anti-democracy activism, according to Truth Wins Out, an organization Dobson once called his “most vociferous opponent”.

“James Dobson cynically used faith as a cudgel to bludgeon vulnerable communities, spread disinformation, and inject toxic bigotry into the bloodstream of American culture,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “His legacy is one of cruelty disguised as Christianity, and our nation is worse off because of the relentless campaigns of intolerance he orchestrated.”

Dobson, in the late 1990’s, while the leader of Focus on the Family, created a traveling “ex-gay” roadshow called Love Won Out. The event was hosted in megachurches and featured “former homosexuals” who claimed to “pray away the gay”. Truth Wins Out would follow these circuses from town-to-town and picket the events, as well as offer educational seminars on the harm caused by “ex-gay” programs.

Love Won Out collapsed after most of their “ex-gay” spokespeople were scandalized or came back out of the closet. TWO’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, photographed the “ex-gay” founder of Love Won Out cruising a gay bar in Washington, DC in September 2000.

Truth Wins Out also co-sponsored a demonstration in Chicago in 2008, with the Gay Liberation Network, that saw hundreds of people protesting James Dobson’s induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Tired of Focus on the Family distorting science to harm LGBTQ people, Truth Wins Out created an innovative project, Respect My Research. TWO interviewed esteemed scientists and researchers who claimed their work had been cherry picked or twisted by Dobson for political gain.

“I was stunned to hear that James Dobson had quoted me in Time magazine, I had no idea. I was mortified,” said prestigious author and NYU professor Carol Gilligan in TWO’s inaugural video. “It was a completely unfounded and distorted use of my research.” TWO also created a video featuring Yale University’s Dr. Kyle Pruett blasting Dobson for “misappropriating” his work.

Dobson was a staunch opponent of marriage equality, infamously declaring that “homosexual marriage would end the earth.” He was a proponent of the “Truth In Love”, “ex-gay” advertising campaign—using his proxy, The Family Research Council, to post ads in major newspapers featuring people who said they had prayed away the gay. As with Love Won Out, the “ex-gay” leaders in Love Won Out were caught in gay scandals or came out as gay—renouncing conversion programs as dangerous frauds.

“Dobson’s obsession with changing LGBTQ people was a moral abomination that caused immeasurable harm,” said Besen. “Parents were misled, children were traumatized, and lives were destroyed because he refused to accept people for who they are. His pseudoscientific crusade for conversion therapy will be remembered as one of the darkest chapters of modern religious extremism.”

Dobson’s sordid career ended with a crusade against democracy. He aligned his Dr. James Dobson Family Institute with Project 2025. His participation signaled his ongoing commitment to dismantling democratic institutions, undermining church-state separation, and imposing theocratic rule on all Americans. By tying his name to Project 2025, Dobson demonstrated that he remained, until the end, a champion of authoritarian politics dressed in religious clothing.

About Truth Wins Out

Truth Wins Out is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works to advance liberty and democracy, protect the rights of LGBTQ people and other minorities, combat religious extremism, and fight against the spread of disinformation.