Earlier today we noted that the North Carolina Values Coalition teamed-up with the Southern Baptist Convention for a panel to marshal support for Amendment One, a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages and civil unions, which are already banned by statute. Following a speech by Richard Land, panelist Tim Wilkins made the case for why gays and lesbians should not have rights equal to those of their straight counterparts. Wilkins began his remarks by describing how he is “ashamed” of his “past homosexuality.”
Wilkins in fact, is a professional “ex-gay” activist whose ministry “stems from his own freedom from homosexuality some thirty years ago.” He is also a member of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, and organizes a conference that “addresses such topics as If a Friend Says ‘I’m gay’, Debunking the ‘Gay Gene’, ‘What’s a Parent to Do?’, Untwisting ‘Gay Theology’, Counseling the Homosexual, Preventing Homosexuality, and A Biblical Bridge Out of Homosexuality.’”
He maintained that a same-sex relationship is inherently “unequal” and actually “lacks the very diversity it seeks to promote,” urging audience members not to treat homosexuality as a sexual orientation but instead as a “temptation.” Wilkins argued that homosexuality should be reduced to a “temptation” just as Pluto was relegated from its status as a planet to dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
