Wayne Besen Takes on Antigay Founder of 'God Has A Better Way'

Wayne Besen, left, and Dr. Michael Brown.

Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, an organization set on debunking the "ex-gay" myth, took on antigay Dr. Michael Brown, who runs a campaign claiming "God Has A Better Way" than homosexuality. On Friday's edition of The David Pakman Show, a cable and satellite network news and political talk show, Besen and Brown accused each other of inciting violence and vitriol against their opponents.

"What [Brown] does is he incites people to violence in my view," said Besen on the program. "Just look at his rhetoric... I think it's this combination of militaristic language and the demonizing of a minority that sparked my view of Dr. Brown."

"I also believe that he comes across here as very nice and kind, but again, it's a fraud," Besen continued, as Brown smiled on the split-screen Skype video conference.

For his part, Brown stops just short of joining other conservative pundits who alleged that Besen is partly responsible for the August 15 shooting at the Washington, D.C. office of the antigay Family Research Council.

"What concerns me is this - when [Besen] writes that the people at FRC loathe homosexuals," said Brown in his opening volley on the program. "Or when, after my group last year gives out 2,500 bottles of water, saying 'Jesus Loves You' at a gay pride event here in Charlotte, that he writes about me that I'm a 'pathological monster called to incite violence against LGBT people...' I feel that that unnecessarily inflames things."

Brown is a controversial evangelical Christian whose "God Has A Better Way" campaign made headlines in the LGBT community when nearly 1,000 supporters arrived in red T-shirts at Gay Pride in Charlotte, N.C. last year. The protestors' stated goal was to "walk through or surround the [Charlotte Gay Pride] event to evangelize, sing, pray, hand out water and reach out with love to those in attendance while resisting the gay agenda." 

CORRECTION: The David Pakman show is a nationally syndicated program that is available to interested public access channels, but is also carried by DirecTV and DISH Networks.