Wayne Besen is the Executive Director of Truth Wins Out, 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.
He the author of Lies with a Straight Face: Exposing the Cranks and Cons Inside the ‘Ex-Gay’ Industry (2023), Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture (2007), and Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the ‘Ex-Gay’ Myth (2003).
A former talk radio host at Chicago’s Progressive Talk, WCPT 820-AM, Besen has appeared on leading news and political talk shows including: NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s AC360, FOX’s O’Reilly Factor and The Sean Hannity Show, SiriusXM’s The Michaelangelo Signorile Show, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
He has been quoted in key national publications including: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Rolling Stone, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and TIME.
Besen has been featured in multiple documentaries debunking “ex-gay” conversion therapy: Fish Can’t Fly, Chasing the Devil, Gay Conversion (ABC Australia), Sad to be Gay (UK), You’ll be Straight (France) and Conversion.
Prior to founding Truth Wins Out, Besen served as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ organization. He worked for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide and served as a press secretary on a U.S. Senate race in Maine. Besen graduated from University of Florida in 1993.
Besen’s recent social commentaries can be read at Substack.
