Mr. Falzarano's Testimony
Anthony Falzarano was
the National Director of Parents & Friends Christian Ministries
of Washington, D.C. Anthony has ministered to the gay community
since 1988. He also helps family members who have loved ones in
the gay lifestyle learn how to reach out from a Christ-centered
perspective. Anthony is a former homosexual who was heavily involved in the gay subculture for 9 years. Through his church's spiritual support and sound psychological counseling, Anthony recovered successfully from homosexuality and is celebrating his seventeenth year of marriage and has a son and daughter. His life is a daily rebuttal to the gay myth that homosexuals cannot change their "orientation". From a past that included male prostitution, he is helping to free others from homosexuality's powerful grip. In many ways, the tragic upbringing that helped Anthony turn to homosexuality is representative of many gays and lesbians. As the seventh child of Italian immigrant parents, he spent little time with his father, who worked 10 hours a day to support his family. While Anthony was still young, his father had a nervous breakdown and later became psychologically absent from the home. At age 12, Anthony was molested by an older brother. Then one day while hitchhiking, he was picked up by a man who offered him money for sex. That began a pattern of prostitution that eventually took him to the highest reaches of "gay" living. He eventually became a "kept boy" of Roy Cohn, the attorney who won fame in the early 1950s as an aide to Senator Joe McCarthy. As one of "Roy's Boys," Anthony lived a privileged life of instant sex and material riches. But "having it all" as a gay prostitute did not satisfy. Then one night, after an anonymous sexual encounter, the man Anthony was with got out of bed horrified at what he had done. He turned to Anthony with a shame-filled voice, wishing he could undo what had happened. Saying he was a Christian who had fallen, he sparked a turning point in Anthony's life by showing him scriptural passages that proscribe sodomy. That sparked a transformation. The young gay prostitute began to develop deep reservations about his behavior, and gave up performing sex for money. Soon his conscience began to trouble him every time he had sex with a man. "Slowly but surely I stopped the promiscuous lifestyle I was an addict to," he said. |
Nevertheless, Anthony continued to experience bouts of homosexual temptation. Despite these urges, he and an old friend who was helping him through his ordeal, Dianne, became engaged. They were married in 1983. Although happily married to his supportive wife, Anthony continued to "suppress" his homosexuality. Then, a year after the wedding, he received a call from a former boyfriend who was dying of AIDS and who urged him to get tested for the deadly virus. "I remember hanging up the phone and kneeling down on the floor, and it hit me that I had slept with over 400 people in the 1970s. I said, 'God, I must be infected,'...So I prayed: 'God, if you can give me a negative test result, I will give this up.'" Anthony received his miracle. He tested negative for the virus that causes AIDS, and has done so ever since. He kept his prayerful promise. Still, occasional thoughts persisted. He was eventually directed to a counseling group and then to an ex-gay ministry that helped him understand the root causes of his homosexuality. After a two-year period of introspection and extensive therapy to understand why he had homosexual urges, Anthony was able to walk free from the gay lifestyle. "Homosexuality is certainly not innate," Anthony says. "It is a learned behavior." He urges deep compassion toward homosexuals but grieves over the "gay" churches that affirm men and women in their homosexuality. Anthony has ministered to over 500 former homosexuals. He has testified before the Maryland General Assembly, the Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education, and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors regarding homosexual issues. He has filed an affidavit in the Romer vs. Evans case involving Colorado's Amendment Two. He frequently speaks to churches and other organizations, educating them on the root causes of homosexuality and how to properly minister to individuals struggling with this issue in their lives. He is used as a subject matter expert by nationally known media such as CBS, CNBC, The BBC, NET, Salem Broadcasting, and The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and USA Radio Network. He has addressed different family protection organizations such as Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, The Family Research Council, and Family Policy Council of Bermuda. He has appeared on nationally syndicated programs such as The Armstrong Williams Show, Geraldo, The Ricki Lake Show, The Roseanne Show, The Sally Jesse Raphael Show, Politically Incorrect, and The 700 Club. Taking into consideration the available scientific data, Mr. Falzarano's organization takes the position that homosexuality is not innate and strongly believes that a homosexual complex takes hold early in childhood. |