PFOX

Religious Right Panelists: Gay Rights Activists are Christ-Hating Fascists

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Thursday, 5/9/2013 12:10 pm

At Liberty Counsel’s recent Awakening conference, gays were portrayed as enemies of religious freedom who are bent on turning public schools into indoctrination centers using the issue of bullying as a “Trojan horse.”  Greg Quinlan, president of Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays, who describes himself as ex-gay, complained that New Jersey’s new anti-bullying law is being used to bully Christian students, and hollered that the law is actually fascism.

You don’t need a law, inculcated and put into code, to talk about bullying. What this bully bill is is behavior modification. That’s the job of the parents and the teachers and we don’t need that put into law. This is fascism! This is fascism! We need to put a swastika on it!

Quinlan complained that public officials, including Gov. Chris Christie, would not listen to Religious Right objections to the bill because gay rights advocates had exploited the suicide of a bullied boy:

Because one boy -- and the homosexual agenda is extremely good at this, when there’s a disaster -- one boy jumps off the George Washington Bridge, kills himself in the Hudson River. And they seized that moment and they took it and used it to their advantage. And what did we do? We said “Oh, that’s terrible that that happened,” but we don’t have any statements to make when these issues do happen. This is where we have to have better messaging.

Matt Barber, one of the most ferociously anti-gay voices in public life, used a question about the treatment of an anti-gay protestor to charge that gays are motivated by hatred for Jesus Christ and that the “homosexual lifestyle” is a sin-condemned “culture of death.”

The question was, an elderly woman was at a homosexual rally and she was carrying this big styrofoam cross and she was knocked around, it was caught on film, no charges were filed, they took her cross, and stomped it, and crushed into tiny bits. That is a microcosm of what we’re up here – and I thought, something that immediately occurred to me was, wasn’t that a metaphor for what we’re up against. It’s about the cross. It’s about the cross and a hatred of Christ, who is what? The way, the truth, and the life.  They hate the way, which is Christ, they hate the truth, which they are in conflict with, and they hate life. This is a culture of death we are talking about here, and the wages of sin is what? Is death. The homosexual lifestyle astronomically, from a statistical standpoint, leads to death. The wages of sin is death.

Other speakers on the panel were Rena Lindevaldsen, a Liberty University law professor and associate dean, and Cynthia Dunbar, a Religious Right activist who served on the Texas state board of education and who is now also a law professor at Liberty. Dunbar bragged in her conference bio that her work has earned her a “position” on Right Wing Watch.

Rios: Opponents of Boy Scouts' Gay Ban Should Pay for Child Abuse Cases

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 2/7/2013 3:20 pm

The American Family Association’s Sandy Rios today continued to press the Boy Scouts of America against opening the organization to gay members on her radio show. She said that opponents of the ban like AT&T CEO Randall Stevenson, Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and Mitt Romney (!) who are affiliated with the BSA should be forced to pay for any future settlements of all the child abuse cases that Rios claims will be a consequence of having openly gay Boy Scouts.

I think I have a solution, I just thought of it this morning. I think these guys, let’s put Mitt Romney in there, and let’s put the guy with Ernst & Young whose name is James Turley, and let’s put Randall Stevenson the CEO of AT&T, and any of the other organizations or corporate sponsors who are pushing the Boy Scouts for this policy change. I think actually we might let this go through with the stipulation that whatever lawsuits are brought from now until the end of time against Boy Scout leaders who have sexually molested their Scouts, that they personally are responsible to pay them. Let’s go after Mitt Romney, let’s go after the guy at Ernst & Young, let’s go after Randall Stevenson at AT&T, let them write a check and just say, ‘I believe in this so much that I am willing personally to cover any costs on the outside, ridiculous chance that some Boy Scout should be molested by a gay Scout leader or seduced. If there is any harm then I’ll pay, I will pay.’ If they are willing to sign that statement, go for it. While we’re at it, we should have AT&T and all the other organizations like Ernst & Young that are pushing for this put their corporate—just think of all the money, the potential of lawsuits.

The AFA has even called for Stephenson to resign from the BSA board for “using his corporate influence to bully the BSA into gay assimilation,” and joined a whole host of Religious Right groups demanding that both Stephenson and Turley step down.

Along with the AFA, the coalition includes ex-gay groups like the Restored Hope Network and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) in addition to Mat Staver’s Liberty Counsel; Rick Scarborough’s Vision America; Scott Lively’s Abiding Truth Ministries; Linda Harvey’s Mission America; Peter LaBarbera’s Americans For Truth About Homosexuality; Brian Camenker’s MassResistance... and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which apparently still exists.

Will the Supreme Court Read the Most Horrific Children's Book of All Time?

Submitted by Miranda Blue on Friday, 2/1/2013 5:48 pm

Earlier this week, we looked at the slightly conflicted amicus briefs that the Family Research Council submitted to the Supreme Court ahead of its consideration of two major marriage equality cases. Today, Warren Throckmorton alerts us that the “ex-gay” group Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX) has submitted its own brief to the Court.

The PFOX amicus brief [pdf], unsurprisingly, argues that gays and lesbians should not be a “protected class” under the law because homosexuality “is not an immutable characteristic.” As evidence, it presents the stories of four self-proclaimed “ex-gays” whose lives purportedly show that “sexual orientation can shift over time and does so for a significant number of people.”

One of the stories the brief presents is that of “Richard Cohen, M.A…an ex-gay who is now married with 3 children. He struggled for much of his life with unwanted same-sex attraction. Richard is the founder of the International Healing Foundation (IHF) and the author of Coming Out Straight, Gay Children Straight Parents, Let’s Talk About Sex, and Alfie’s Home.”

As it happens, Cohen is one of the most prominent purveyors of reparative therapy, the harmful process of trying to “cure” homosexuality that was recently banned for minors in California. And his book Alfie’s Home, cited in PFOX’s Supreme Court brief, is the most horrifically disturbing children’s book we have ever seen. We know, because we are unlucky enough to have a copy in our research library. Here is some of what the Justices have in store if they check out Cohen’s work:

Alfie’s Home was published in 1993 by Cohen’s International Healing Foundation. It starts out with a picture of the protagonist on a boat with his dad.

But it goes bad fast, going right for the right-wing myth that homosexuality is caused by childhood sexual abuse…

…and by insufficiently attentive parents:

Eventually, Alfie seeks help and takes part in the “touch therapy” advocated by Cohen…

…which leads him to “realize that I’m not gay” and start dating a woman:

You can see Cohen’s “touch therapy” in practice in this 2006 CNN interview:

He also made a cameo on the Daily Show.

For their own sakes, I hope the Justices don’t look too far into Cohen’s story. But if they do, they’ll get a revealing glimpse of the world that is trying to sink gay rights laws across the country.
 

Right Wing Leftovers - 10/29/12

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 10/29/2012 5:11 pm
  • Richard Land, who always prided himself on his "24-year tradition of not exercising my right as a private citizen to endorse a candidate" has now broken that tradition to endorse Mitt Romney because "this election is that important."

  • Speaking of Romney, was his election as President predicted in the Bible.  WND says it was! 

  • Gary Bauer has the vapors: "The use of profanity conveys a lack of seriousness, and it trivializes the democratic process. Its repeated use contributes to the coarsening of our culture. More than anything, it shows disrespect and disregard for the voters whose support Obama needs to win reelection."

  • Bryan Fischer is obviously still angry about his recent profile in The New Yorker.

  • Finally, the ex-gay organization PFOX is accusing the Obama administration of "spreading intolerance against the ex-gay community and Christians who support the religious testimony of former homosexuals."

Anti-Gay Leaders Call for Prayer Movement to stop 'Homosexual Tornado' coming to 'Destroy America'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 4/23/2012 2:25 pm

At the Awakening 2012’s panel on the “LGBT Agenda,” Lou Engle, who was not a panelist but an audience member, called for Religious Right leaders to launch a “massive concerted prayer movement” to counter the demonic “principalities and powers” behind gay rights activism. Panelists including Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, Greg Quinlan of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, and former Texas board of education member Cynthia Dunbar jumped over each other in expressing their hope that Engle or another conservative would lead such a movement to stop the “two tornadoes coming to destroy America,” which he said are “the homosexual and abortion tornadoes.”

Engle, who brought The Call prayer rally to Uganda to help rally support for the country’s proposed “kill the gays bill,” lamented that he gets “blasted” over his anti-gay work and is “haunted that God has not opened the door for me to go after this thing.” Lindevaldsen agreed that “we need a prayer movement because a spiritual battle is at the root of this.”

It seems that Engle’s first prayer initiative, StoneWall Now, a “nation wide prayer movement” to “stand in the gap crying to God to restrain the homosexual ideology” isn’t going so well as its website is offline.

Watch:

Engle: I think we need a massive, concerted prayer movement to deal with principalities and powers and pray that God would release laborers into the harvest field.

Barber: If there is anybody in the room who is adept that leading that ...

Dunbar: You’ve got that in your heart, with your spirit, and we’re with you.

Quinlan: We need that.

Barber: Did you volunteer yourself, Lou?

Engle: In 2006, we did 50 days and 50 nights of intercession of seven young people, we were given a dream of two tornadoes coming to destroy America and they were the homosexual and abortion tornadoes. In the dream I was given a sight to raise up intercession to confront those tornadoes.

Quinlan: Please.

Engle: And Bound4Life was raised up but I'm haunted that God has not opened the door for me to go after this thing, I’ve tried, I’ve gotten blasted.

Barber: It’s time.

Engle: I don’t know how to do it but I am crying out to God for an answer.

Lindevaldsen: Meet with us afterwards ... we need a prayer movement because a spiritual battle is at the root of this.

Family Research Council Demands Elevation of 'Ex-Gay' Message in Schools

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 3/5/2012 3:10 pm

After a Maryland school district decided to reconsider its flyer policy after the “ex-gay” group PFOX distributed material promoting the discredited and dangerous reparative therapy, Family Research Council senior fellow and PFOX board member Peter Sprigg responded with a furious op-ed in the Washington Times and an appearance on Today’s Issues with FRC president Tony Perkins. During the interview, Perkins said that “the homosexual community” is trying to stop children from getting “the options or the help that’s available for them if they’re struggling with [sexuality] issues” by opposing the distribution of ex-gay material, and lamented that “government officials [are] increasingly becoming really patsies for the homosexual activists.” Sprigg said that unless the ex-gay “message gets out in the schools,” then more and more confused kids who “would end up being perfectly heterosexual” would be “told by their teachers and guidance counselors, ‘well you are probably gay.’”

Perkins: When you look across the board in different incidences where the homosexual community is involved, they simply want to shut down any discussion, they don’t want children to be aware of the options or the help that’s available for them if they’re struggling with these issues, and now you see government officials increasingly becoming really patsies for the homosexual activists.

Sprigg: Right. It’s especially important that this message gets out in the schools because it’s normal for young people, adolescents to experience some confusion about their sexual identity. An important statistic that I read once was that there’s a survey done of 12 year olds that found at age 12, 25 percent of the students were unsure of their sexual orientation. But we know from surveys of the adult population that only maybe 2 to 3 percent of the adult population will actually identify as homosexual or bisexual. So you have this population of young people that left to themselves, 9 out of 10 would end up being perfectly heterosexual, but now with the politically correct environment in the schools, those kids are being told by their teachers and guidance counselors, “well you are probably gay, you were born that way, you just have to accept it and embrace it.”

PFOX Head Accuses Gays and Lesbians of 'Sexual Cannibalism'

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 2/8/2012 5:05 pm

Ex-gay activist Greg Quinlan of Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX) and the New Jersey Family Policy Council, who recently testified against a marriage equality bill in the New Jersey State Assembly, yesterday told talk show host Steve Deace that gays and lesbians are practicing “sexual cannibalism.” After a long diatribe about how child abuse and fractured parental relationships are responsible for homosexuality, Quinlan argued that same-sex relationships represent “sexual, emotional cannibalization.” Later in the show, Quinlan attacked anti-bullying programs and blamed cases of suicide among LGBT youth on the gay community because “we’re making martyrs out of the kids that we’re recruiting to behave as homosexuals.”

Quinlan: I like the word that you used there, ‘cannibalized,’ because there is a scientific term that’s called that, ‘I want to have sex with that man so I can be like him, so I can become a part of him.’ It is a sexual, emotional cannibalization. ‘That person has something I want, they look better than I do, they’re more muscular than I am, they’re more virile than I am, they have something I want,’ and it’s a type of what we call an emotional or sexual cannibalism. I can’t describe it any better than that.
…

Deace: What’s wrong with anti-bullying? Greg, why wouldn’t we want to stop kids from getting picked on or is there something else happening here?

Quinlan: It’s an agenda. We’re making martyrs out of kids that we’re recruiting to behave as homosexuals when no one is born that way, and that’s the problem and that’s the issue.

PFOX Distributing Misinformation to Maryland Students

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Thursday, 2/2/2012 3:25 pm

A public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, is being criticized for distributing literature of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, a group tells gay youth to “transition out of a homosexual identity” even though the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychiatric Association all deny the effectiveness, safety and ethics of reparative therapy. While Religious Right groups have sued for the right to distribute literature in Montgomery County schools, like the PFOX flyer which propagates discredited and harmful misinformation about sexual orientation and gender identity, they have also sought to deny this right to groups they disagree with.

Their pamphlet Preventing Bullying at Your School says that kids become gay because people call them gay, and that later in their lives gay people bully those who “decide to pursue alternatives to homosexuality”:

Many people, especially during adolescence, are called “gay” or other names even though they do not have same-sex attractions. Appearance is not a reliable means to know what another person feels. No one should be labeled “gay,” “sissy” or “queer” based on the perception of others. They may begin to believe what others tell them about themselves, which may be completely false labeling and cause gender confusion for the victim.

Moreover, a number of teens who do have same-sex attractions choose not to be identified based on who they are attracted to. Others are working to overcome their unwanted same-sex attractions and should not be called “homophobic,” “pretender,” or “fake” – derogatory words often used to describe ex-gays. Such name-calling can lead to depression, fear and feeling unsafe.

Students who have transition out of a homosexual identity, or decide to pursue alternatives to homosexuality, deserve compassion and respect. Their decision should not subject them to discrimination, ridicule, fear or hate.

Another PFOX pamphlet, Feelings Change, encourages kids to seek reparative therapy:

Lots of our friends had same-sex attractions when they were young and later on descovered [sic] they weren’t gay. You yourself may have heard, “You must be gay!” But no one should be labeled “gay” based on the perception of others. Get Smart! Explore the origins of your same-sex attraction. Why do I have these feelings/ Where did they come from? Why should I pre-label my life?

…

A growing number of teens with same-sex attraction are looking beyond a gay identity to define who they are.

Although your same-sex attraction may feel like a gay identity, a gay identity may not fit into who you are. If you are not happy with same-sex attractions or a gay identity, there is help. Find out for yourself. Get the facts! Find out who you truly are! Be informed before you decide. Before adopting a gay identity, get smart! Get the facts!

The PFOX board [pdf] is also composed of some of the most stringently anti-gay voices in politics today, including Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, who claims gay youth are more likely to commit suicide because they intuitively know homosexuality “is wrong and immoral;” Robert Knight of the American Civil Rights Union, who thinks there is a conspiracy among gay Hill staffers to control Congress; Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, who has called for gays to be deported from the U.S., and of course, Greg Quinlan, who was once married to a fellow “ex-gay” woman until she divorced him. As Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper notes, very few people serving on the PFOX board are actually “ex-gays,” but that hasn’t stopped them from promoting dangerous “ex-gay” reparative therapy to children.

"Ex-Gay" Activists Want To Crash The Day Of Silence

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 4/15/2011 10:33 am

While the American Family Association and Liberty Counsel are calling on parents to prevent their children from attending school today and Concerned Women for America is encouraging a “Day of Silence Walk Out,” other Religious Right groups are trying to add anti-gay “balance” to today’s Day of Silence. Focus on the Family’s Day of Dialogue, which will take place on Monday in order to directly follow the Day of Silence, wants to help students they believe are “messed up sexually.” The “Day of Dialogue” is the successor to the ex-gay ministry Exodus International’s Day of Truth, and continues to employ the same anti-gay rhetoric as the group urges students to use stories like one from Rochelle, about the deleterious consequences of “embracing a lesbian lifestyle”:

Yet the further I plunged into lesbianism, the greater the void in my soul grew. I found girlfriends and guy friends; went to social events, gay bookstores and clubs; wore the clothes, talked the talk, and tried to become the person I thought I was, but deep inside I still was unsatisfied. What appeared to be a wonderful, enriching lifestyle turned out to be an illusion. It looked thrilling and exciting, but in reality, there was backbiting and selfishness, much as I’d already experienced in heterosexuality. People I encountered weren’t satisfied and confident; they were depressed, empty, and anxious, just like I was. What I thought would bring me life and community left only brokenness and bitterness in its wake.

Jeff Johnston, the group’s “gender and homosexuality analyst,” discussed his “road out of homosexuality,” which he blames on his early exposure to pornography, and his experience attending a conference called “Hope and Healing for the Homosexual”:

I learned at this event that I wasn’t alone – there were others in the church who wrestled with same-sex attractions. Some of them had walked away from homosexuality. I also learned that there might be some influencing factors in my life that had steered me toward homosexual thoughts and feelings, my early sexual experiences, for example. And I began talking to people about my struggle.

…

I wouldn’t trade any of my life now for “gay pride” or for “being gay.” There is such freedom in living a life without trying to push down all those secrets, dark thoughts and feelings. There is joy in being a father and a husband. And there is peace in being forgiven.

Like Focus on the Family, the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) wants students to learn about “former homosexuals” and accuses the Day of Silence of “intolerance of ex-homosexuals”:

Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), says homosexual activists are censoring her group's point of view. "We would love people to make the decision to leave homosexuality, but they can't make a decision when they don't even know former homosexuals exist," she contends.

Pro-homosexual groups are promoting today's Day of Silence to encourage students to remain silent for a day at school to protest society's intolerance of homosexuals and cross-dressers. But Griggs wonders if they are concerned about the intolerance of ex-homosexuals.

"If you're going to worry about sexual orientation non-discrimination and pick a day every year to host it, shouldn't that include all sexual orientations, such as former homosexuals," the PFOX executive director questions. "Where are their rights?"

So she is encouraging students to distribute her organization's literature in schools today so that the message of hope will reach a hurting community.

Santorum to Address New Hampshire Tea Party and Religious Right Gathering

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 3/2/2011 2:15 pm

In another sign that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is running for President, Fox News has suspended his contract as a commentator and he is scheduled to address the “Tax Payer Tea Party Rally” in Concord, New Hampshire on April 15th. John DiStaso of the Union Leader reports that Santorum is “is the first likely presidential candidate to confirm an appearance” to the event hosted by the pro-corporate group Americans for Prosperity and the far-right Cornerstone Action. “With all eyes once again focused on New Hampshire, Cornerstone Action is excited to co-sponsor the largest tea party rally in the state,” said Cornerstone’s Kevin Smith in a statement announcing the rally.

Cornerstone is an ultraconservative organization that flaunts its close relationship with national groups like the Alliance Defense Fund, the Family Research Council, CitizenLink, and the National Organization for Marriage. In fact, Cornerstone worked with NOM to run ads attacking the governor for signing the state's marriage equality law and is collaborating with NOM and the FRC to repeal the law. Good As You notes that Cornerstone also endorses the discredited "ex-gay" therapy groups such as Exodus International, Love Won Out, PFOX, and the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). In addition, Cornerstone is a top sponsor of the Creationist movie “The Genesis Code.”

Roll Call also reports that “Cornerstone will ask each Republican presidential candidate to sign a pledge agreeing marriage should be between one man and one woman.”

While Rick Santorum has previously addressed Cornerstone events, it is very likely that more Republican candidates will seek the support of the militantly anti-gay group to bolster their New Hampshire campaigns.

Camenker's Inclusion In Tea Party Rally Again Causes Strife

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 8/27/2010 2:26 pm

A few weeks back we noted that Brian Camenker of MassResistance was still smarting over the fact that his participation in a scheduled Tea Party rally had lead all the other speakers to withdraw, causing the event to collapse.

Shortly thereafter Camenker was crowing that he'd been invited to speak at another Tea Party rally featuring Don Feder and praising organizers for their willingness to include him even if its angered RINOs and the Left.

Well, according to the latest email from MassResistance, it turns out that Feder dropped out after being informed that Camenker was going to be participating and Camenker is absolutely livid: 

Like so many other destructive trends, Massachusetts is a harbinger of things to come (or already happening) across the country. RINOs ("Republicans In Name Only") who demand that "social" and moral issues be purged from ALL Tea Party events managed to shut down the Lexington Tea Party on July 25. And now they've been at it again.

When it was announced that Don Feder would be the keynote speaker at the Fort Independence Tea Party, it got immediate attention across the state. Don is a well-known writer, lecturer and pro-family leader going back over 20 years.

But a few days later Don said that he had been contacted by Christen Varley regarding his appearance at the event. Varley was primarily responsible for the shutting down of the Lexington Tea Party, and her outrageous actions prompted the organizers to do this one. Don told us that unless we could guarantee that no speaker at the event would say anything bad about Varley, he'd have to cancel his appearance. We told him we didn't think anyone had any intention of mentioning her, but we weren't going to explicitly ban speakers from saying anything. So Don said he'd have to pull out.

...

In many ways this represents a far worse threat than the radical Left. If Republican candidates are told by people they trust that the homosexual agenda in the schools and other "social issues" are "toxic" and will cause them to lose elections, what do you think will happen when they get elected? They'll continue to stay away from these issues -- and cave in to the other side faster than ever. And of course, even more taxpayer money than ever will flow into those programs.

This is extremely serious. Elections are the best time to raise these issues and hold politicians' feet to the fire. But instead, anyone who talks about it is being demonized -- by supposed "conservatives". And as a result, this gives the left and the media an open door to pile on even more and make the pro-family position appear "fringe" -- exactly what the radical left wants!

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 8/9/2010 5:47 pm

Behold The Instructors and Curriculum for LaBarbera's 3 Days of Hate Conference

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 7/21/2010 11:12 am

Peter LaBarbera has unveiled the instructor list and official curriculum for his upcoming three day anti-gay hatefest/"truth academy" ... and it is pretty much going to be the gay-hatingest thing you have ever seen: 

Truth Academy Instructors:

  • Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel ; Board Member, AFTAH
  • Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival; Accuracy in Media
  • Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, author, The Bible and Homosexual Practice
  • Arthur Goldberg, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), author, Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change
  • Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute
  • Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; author, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites Who Are Pushing America Towards Socialism, keynote presenter
  • Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
  • Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law
  • Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX); Pro-Family Network
  • Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California

THURSDAY 

Welcoming Remarks, Peter LaBarbera, President, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality: “From gay pride to gay tyranny”

10:10 – 11:10 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law: “History of modern ‘gay’ activism and the courts”

11:20-12:20 – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel; Board Member, AFTAH: “Masculine Christianity: a non-defensive approach to the Culture War over homosexuality”

1:20-2:20 – Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California: “The ‘born gay hoax”

2:30 – 3:30 – Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute: “Using reason and logic in answering pro-homosexuality arguments”

3:40-4:40 – Arthur Goldberg, JONAH (Jews Offering Healthy Alternatives to Homosexuality), author, Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change: “Can gays change? Is gay parenting good for kids? Presenting the research on homosexuality”

4:50-6:00 – PANEL DISCUSSION and Q & A:

Theme: “Can the effort to ‘mainstream’ homosexuality in American culture be stopped?”

Panelists: Rena Lindevaldsen, Matt Barber, Laurie Higgins, Ryan Sorba, Arthur Goldberg, and Greg Quinlan, Cliff Kincaid; Moderator: Peter LaBarbera

7:45 – 9:15 – Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX); Pro-Family Network: “An Ex-Gay Christian Discusses Love, Truth and Homosexuality”

FRIDAY

9:00 – 10:00 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary: “From abomination to ‘gay’: answering ‘queer theology’ — Old Testament”

10:10 – 11:10 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law: “The zero-sum game: homosexuality-based ‘rights’ vs. religious and First Amendment freedoms”

11:20-12:20 – Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute: “Corrupting children, politicizing schools: the homosexual youth agenda”

1:20-2:20 – Arthur Goldberg, JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality: “The gender confusion agenda: ‘transgender rights’”

2:30 – 3:30 – Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival, Accuracy in Media: “The battle over blood: ‘gay’ health risks and public policy”

3:40-4:40 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty U. School of Law: “The legal strategy to stop homosexual ‘marriage’: triumphs and pitfalls”

5:00-6:00 – PANEL DISCUSSION and Q & A:

Theme: “Returning the debate to behavior – getting off the ‘GLBT’ playing field”

Panelists: Rena Lindevaldsen, Matt Barber, Laurie Higgins, Ryan Sorba, Arthur Goldberg, Cliff Kincaid, Robert Knight, Robert Gagnon, Gregg Quinlan; Moderator: Peter LaBarbera

7:45 – 9:15 – Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; author, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites Who Are Pushing America Towards Socialism: “From destroying DOMA to homosexualizing the military: Obama’s radical homosexual/transsexual agenda for America”

SATURDAY

9:00 – 10:00 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary: “’Jesus Never Said Anything about Homosexuality’”; Answering ‘Queer Theology’ — New Testament”

10:10 – 11:10 – Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries: “Destructive legacy: Alfred Kinsey and the (Homo)Sexual Revolution”

11:20-12:20 – Greg Quinlan, PFOX, Pro-Family Network: “The big, pink plan for a lavender culture”/”How to lobby effectively”

1:20-2:20 – Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival; Accuracy in Media: “Combating pro-homosexual media bias, confronting pro-gay ‘conservatives’”

2:30-3:40 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary: “Agreeing with God: a truly biblical approach toward ‘out and proud’ homosexuality”

3:50-4:50 – Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California: “Confronting the zeitgeist: new strategies to turn around younger Americans on ‘gay rights’”

5:00-6:00 – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel, AFTAH Board Member: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Bleed: stopping Obama’s campaign to homosexualize the U.S. military”

6:00-6:20 – Closing remarks, Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

DC Mayor's Office Blames Ex-Gay Certificate of Appreciation On "Staff-Level Error"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 4/29/2010 10:50 am

Yesterday, Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, was bragging that she had been awarded a certificate of appreciation from Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty:

The government of the District of Columbia has awarded a certificate of appreciation to Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). The certificate, signed by D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, recognizes Griggs for her "dedication, commitment, and outstanding contributions as Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays."

...

PFOX has been instrumental in ensuring civil rights to all District of Columbia residents. PFOX's lawsuit against the D.C. Office of Human Rights last year resulted in ex-gays being recognized as a protected class under D.C.'s Human Rights Act. The Office of Human Rights had refused to extend the sexual orientation non-discrimination law to former homosexuals. The court held that the Human Rights Act does not require immutable characteristics for sexual orientation status so that ex-gays are entitled to the same legal protections that gays currently enjoy.

Obviously, that announcement was rather confusing, given Fenty's support for marriage equality and the LGBT community in general.  And today his office has disavowed the certificate, calling it a mistake which can be attributed to a "staff-level error":

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty apologized Thursday over his decision to issue a certificate of appreciation honoring the leader of the ex-gay movement, which believes homosexuals can be rehabilitated.

Fenty’s statement comes one day after local and national gay-rights leaders demanded to know why Fenty honored Regina Griggs, executive director of the Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays.

Mafara Hobson, a Fenty spokeswoman, called Griggs’ award a “staff-level error.”

“We apologize for the error as it runs contrary to the mayor’s vision of a more open and inclusive city,” Hobson said. “The mayor is proud of his ardent support of the LGBT community.”

Right Wing Round-Up

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 4/28/2010 5:56 pm
  • PFAW statement: Supreme Court Weakens First Amendment.

  • Sarah Posner: Exposing the Christian Right's New Racial Playbook.

  • Americans United: ADF Lawyer Makes Nice With Florida Radio Extremist.

  • Rachel Tabachnick: Hijacking the National Day of Prayer.

  • Warren Throckmorton: Lou Engle issues statement regarding The Call Uganda and Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

  • The Washington Note: Eugene Delgaudio's Really Weird Rant: Beware the RADICAL Homosexuals.

  • Sam Stein: RNC Accuses Obama Of Shredding Constitution, Nominating Sex-Offender Defenders.

  • Think Progress: GOP congressional candidate: We should put microchips in undocumented immigrants, like we do with dogs.

  • Wonk Room: Following Passage Of Arizona Law, At Least Seven States Contemplate Anti-Immigrant Legislation.

  • David Neiwert: Glenn Beck is outraged by comparisons to Nazi Germany. Who would do such a thing? Besides Glenn Beck, that is.

  • David Weigel: Birthers prepare to march on Washington.

  • Good As You: Giving you $15 lies for free: The one time we *do* wanna use ENDA to put FRC out of business.

  • Truth Wins Out: DC Mayor Honors PFOX’s Regina Griggs.

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 3/31/2010 5:45 pm
  • Bill O'Reilly has offered to pay the cover $16,500 in legal costs for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued Westboro Baptist Church for picketing his son's funeral.

  • PFOX is now targeting Pepsi.

  • Molotov Mitchell once again defends Uganda's "kill the gays" bill.

  • Harry Jackson's astroturf "Stop the War on the Poor" effort is back, but now known as the Affordable Power Alliance.

  • Gary Bauer says "there just can be no doubt here that this is the most anti-Israel president of the United States that we have seen in the history of our country."

  • Finally, allow me to make a few small changes to this assertion from the AFA's Bryan Fischer to highlight its ridiculousness: "Despite the ACLU's contention that Ms. McMillen was being treated unfairly, in point of fact she was being treated with absolute equality. She had exactly the same right to bring a white date to the dance that every other student had. The same rule applied to her and to everyone else. You can't get any more equal than that. The ACLU and civil rights activists are not after equal rights, since Constance already had that. No, they're after special rights, rights based exclusively on race."

FRC's Sprigg Wants To See Homosexuality Criminalized

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 2/3/2010 11:15 am

I don't know what has gotten into Religious Right spokespeople in the last week, but twice now they have called for criminal penalties for gays simply for being gay. 

Last week, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer declared that we should "impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse," and force them into therapy. 

And yesterday, the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg appeared on Hardball in opposition to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell where he declared that Lawrence v. Texas was wrongly decided and that gay behavior should be outlawed:

Matthews: Let me ask you Peter, so you think people choose to be gay.

Sprigg: People do not choose to be have same sex attractions, but they do choose to engage in homosexual conduct. And that conduct also which incidentally is against the law within the military. It violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It doesn't make any sense for us to be actively recruiting people who are going to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Matthews: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: Well I think certainly...

Matthews: I'm just asking you, should we outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas which overturned the sodomy laws in this country was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.

Matthews: So we should outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg: Yes.

The last time Peter Sprigg made a statement like this, the Family Research Council forced him to quickly apologize, though I doubt they will make him do so for this statement.

More interestingly, Sprigg is also on the Board of Directors of PFOX and frequently serves as a spokesperson for the organization.  Since PFOX's mission is to encourage and support "ex-gays," I wonder how the organization feels about Sprigg's assertion that all of its members and activists ought to have been treated like criminals.  

Janet Jenkins on Nightline

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Friday, 1/29/2010 11:49 am

As we noted yesterday, the Janet Jenkins/Lisa Miller story was featured on "Nightline" last night, and while Liberty Counsel still refuses to comment, "Nightline" did manage to get Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council, to go on the record about it, though he did so in his capacity as a spokesperson for PFOX:

More Right Wing Track-Covering in Lisa Miller Case

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Monday, 1/25/2010 4:42 pm

As a follow-up to our earlier post on Liberty Counsel quitely trying to wash its hands of Lisa Miller, it looks like they are not alone.

Last year, we wrote a post about something called the Protect Isabella Coalition which was founded by Liberty Counsel in conjunction with Concerned Women for America, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), and the Thomas Road Baptist Church and sought to pressure Virginia legislators to prevent Miller from having to grant access to her daughter to her former partner.

They even produced this TV ad:

Well, guess what?  The Protect Isabella Coalition's website seems to have completely disappeared:

If You Thought PFOX Was A Group For "Ex-Gays," Think Again

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Thursday, 9/10/2009 12:11 pm

Via AMERICAblog we get this excellent article in the Washington City Paper about Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX):

PFOX has always had a hard time getting ex-gays to join the club. PFOX’s board of directors includes a surplus of everstraights but few former homosexuals. Parents of openly ex-gay children are also in short supply. The closest the group comes to fulfilling its name is Griggs, who speaks publicly about her loving—and disapproving—relationship with her openly gay son.

Beyond the one hopeful parent of a future ex-gay, PFOX’s directors are more fit to provide political influence than ex-gay support. Paul Rondeau, the group’s president, is not ex-gay. Estella Salvatierra, vice president, is a civil rights attorney and is not ex-gay. If Scott Strachan, the group’s secretary, is ex-gay, he’s not talking about it. Michelle Hoffman, the treasurer, once told the Montgomery County School Board that “I know many former homosexuals and am proud to call them my friends.” Peter Sprigg, a director, is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and has publicly identified as everstraight. Retta Brown, a director, is not ex-gay. Robert Knight, a former director of Concerned Women for America, is not a woman and is not ex-gay. Barber, a director, works at Liberty University Law School and is not ex-gay. Quinlan, a director, is ex-gay.

Thanks to Quinlan, the closest ex-gay connection that most PFOX members claim is that they are the “friends” of an ex-gay. They better be. The organization’s ex-gays are stuck with the dirty work: fighting off homosexual urges, inserting themselves into possibly discriminatory scenarios, and never, ever accomplishing the full heterosexuality of the everstraights. Ex-gays aren’t even welcome in PFOX meetings. In an e-mail posted on one ex-gay message board, a PFOX rep made the group’s target audience clear: “PFOX meetings are for families and friends of strugglers only, and not for ex-gays.”

How has PFOX managed to build the local ex-gay movement with the participation of so few actual ex-gays? Through the clever use of a smokescreen. The group claims to represent relatives and friends of ex-gays, which is code for the true constituency—Christian conservatives. Accordingly, PFOX does not deal in ex-gay counseling, therapy, or support groups; PFOX sues people.

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PFOX Posts Archive

Religious Right Panelists: Gay Rights Activists are Christ-Hating Fascists
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Thursday 05/09/2013, 12:10pm
At Liberty Counsel’s recent Awakening conference, gays were portrayed as enemies of religious freedom who are bent on turning public schools into indoctrination centers using the issue of bullying as a “Trojan horse.”  Greg Quinlan, president of Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays, who describes himself as ex-gay, complained that New Jersey’s new anti-bullying law is being used to bully Christian students, and hollered that the law is actually fascism. You don’t need a law, inculcated and put into code, to talk about bullying. What this bully bill is is... MORE >
Rios: Opponents of Boy Scouts' Gay Ban Should Pay for Child Abuse Cases
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 02/07/2013, 3:20pm
The American Family Association’s Sandy Rios today continued to press the Boy Scouts of America against opening the organization to gay members on her radio show. She said that opponents of the ban like AT&T CEO Randall Stevenson, Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and Mitt Romney (!) who are affiliated with the BSA should be forced to pay for any future settlements of all the child abuse cases that Rios claims will be a consequence of having openly gay Boy Scouts. I think I have a solution, I just thought of it this morning. I think these guys, let’s put Mitt Romney in... MORE >
Will the Supreme Court Read the Most Horrific Children's Book of All Time?
SUBMITTED BY: Miranda Blue, Friday 02/01/2013, 5:48pm
Earlier this week, we looked at the slightly conflicted amicus briefs that the Family Research Council submitted to the Supreme Court ahead of its consideration of two major marriage equality cases. Today, Warren Throckmorton alerts us that the “ex-gay” group Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX) has submitted its own brief to the Court. The PFOX amicus brief [pdf], unsurprisingly, argues that gays and lesbians should not be a “protected class” under the law because homosexuality “is not an immutable characteristic.” As evidence, it presents the... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers - 10/29/12
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Monday 10/29/2012, 5:11pm
Richard Land, who always prided himself on his "24-year tradition of not exercising my right as a private citizen to endorse a candidate" has now broken that tradition to endorse Mitt Romney because "this election is that important." Speaking of Romney, was his election as President predicted in the Bible.  WND says it was!  Gary Bauer has the vapors: "The use of profanity conveys a lack of seriousness, and it trivializes the democratic process. Its repeated use contributes to the coarsening of our culture. More than anything, it shows... MORE >
Anti-Gay Leaders Call for Prayer Movement to stop 'Homosexual Tornado' coming to 'Destroy America'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 04/23/2012, 2:25pm
At the Awakening 2012’s panel on the “LGBT Agenda,” Lou Engle, who was not a panelist but an audience member, called for Religious Right leaders to launch a “massive concerted prayer movement” to counter the demonic “principalities and powers” behind gay rights activism. Panelists including Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, Greg Quinlan of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, and former Texas board of education member Cynthia Dunbar jumped over each other in expressing their hope that Engle or another conservative would lead... MORE >
Family Research Council Demands Elevation of 'Ex-Gay' Message in Schools
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Monday 03/05/2012, 3:10pm
After a Maryland school district decided to reconsider its flyer policy after the “ex-gay” group PFOX distributed material promoting the discredited and dangerous reparative therapy, Family Research Council senior fellow and PFOX board member Peter Sprigg responded with a furious op-ed in the Washington Times and an appearance on Today’s Issues with FRC president Tony Perkins. During the interview, Perkins said that “the homosexual community” is trying to stop children from getting “the options or the help that’s available for them if they’re... MORE >
PFOX Head Accuses Gays and Lesbians of 'Sexual Cannibalism'
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 02/08/2012, 5:05pm
Ex-gay activist Greg Quinlan of Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX) and the New Jersey Family Policy Council, who recently testified against a marriage equality bill in the New Jersey State Assembly, yesterday told talk show host Steve Deace that gays and lesbians are practicing “sexual cannibalism.” After a long diatribe about how child abuse and fractured parental relationships are responsible for homosexuality, Quinlan argued that same-sex relationships represent “sexual, emotional cannibalization.” Later in the show, Quinlan attacked anti-bullying... MORE >
PFOX Distributing Misinformation to Maryland Students
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Thursday 02/02/2012, 3:25pm
A public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, is being criticized for distributing literature of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, a group tells gay youth to “transition out of a homosexual identity” even though the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychiatric Association all deny the effectiveness, safety and ethics of reparative therapy. While Religious Right groups have sued for the right to distribute literature in Montgomery County... MORE >