Ex-Gay Watch

Wendy Gritter of Canadian LGBT ministry New Direction urged her fellow Christians to stand against anti-gay bullying in a Palm Sunday message to her church yesterday.

Wendy highlighted two recent initiatives against homophobic bullying — Day of Pink and Day of Silence — and then had these words for her congregation:

In this time of confession, in this time of recognizing how quickly our own Hosannas can ring hollow, we, as the church of Jesus Christ, of all people in the Earth, should be standing in solidarity with those who are oppressed or are treated injustly for whatever reason. It ought not to be the world taking the initiative. The Church needs to stand up.

For those unfamiliar with the Christian story, Palm Sunday was the day when, according to the gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, to be greeted with cheers of “Hosanna!” Less than a week later, the praise turned to betrayal, injustice and death on a cross.

Wendy’s daughter Arianna then sang Don’t Laugh at Me. Watch the video of Wendy’s short message and Arianna’s song below, or head to the original entry at New Directions’ Bridging the Gap blog. After that, browse the Ex-Gay Watch archives to find out more about the work of Wendy Gritter and New Direction.

Ex-gay group Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays has announced a plan to subvert the pro-equality Day of Silence by encouraging conservative Christian students to distribute anti-gay literature.

LGBT students and their supporters will draw attention to homophobic bullying, prejudice and discrimination by spending Friday, April 15, in silence. In a press release sent out today,  PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs urged anti-gay students to take advantage of the event:

“We invite schools to distribute our ex-gay brochures year round,” said Regina Griggs, PFOX’s executive director, “but this Friday is especially important because it is considered a ‘day of silence’ by homosexual school clubs. This means that members of gay student clubs and their allies will purposely remain silent all day in school to protest intolerance against homosexuals and cross-dressers. … The day of silence enables students to distribute ex-gay literature without harassment since opponents are obligated to remain silent that day (italics mine).”

Sneaky at best, pernicious at worst.

Griggs also tries to peddle the myth that PFOX’s mission is about so-called “ex-gay equality”:

Because homosexual activists try to censor the ex-gay point of view, PFOX asks students to distribute ex-gay literature to their friends in support of equality for the ex-gay community.

Griggs would love America to believe that her message is one of simple tolerance for ex-gays, but this is a blatant deception. As I’ve demonstrated before, for Griggs and PFOX, “ex-gay” is not an orientation, as they claim, but an ideology. After all, if PFOX’s hardcore views are true, ex-gays are simply heterosexuals that used to be homosexuals. How, then, is an ex-gay different from any other straight person? How is being ex-gay a category, orientation or identity uniquely targeted for discrimination or deserving of protection? It’s clearly the ideology of gay hate and inequality that PFOX really wants to protect.

Check out the Ex-Gay Watch archives for more on PFOX’s history of hate — and look out for more news and analysis of the organization’s anti-gay activities in the next few months.

Focus on the Family has taken the helm of the Day of Truth, which was spawned by the Alliance Defense Fund to oppose GLSEN’s Day of Silence. It was adopted by Exodus International this past year. Exodus relinquished custody of the DOT not long after several kids committed suicide as a result of anti-gay bullying.

Focus has decided to rename DOT the “Day of Dialogue:”

“We’re trying to raise awareness that more than one side needs to be heard on the issue of homosexuality, and we’re helping to ensure Christian students have the chance to express their viewpoint,” said Candi Cushman, a Focus on the Family education analyst, in the release. “What is freedom of speech, after all, but a guarantee of the right to have dialogue?”

Their website is still a shell, but DOD clearly misses the mark as much as DOT did, and completely misses the point of the DOS. The DOS doesn’t exist to further the acceptance of homosexuality by every person, it exists to make people aware of a specific type of bullying suffered by certain individuals. Not every victim of anti-gay bullying is indeed gay. By focusing on “God’s design for sexuality” and “sharing faith-based viewpoints” concerning homosexuality, not only is the topic of bullying avoided, it fosters the silence endured by people shamed into thinking they are outside of the correct “godly” design.

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, has announced that they will no longer sponsor the annual Day of Truth (DOT) event which has been used for the past few years to counter the Day of Silence.  The DOS was first proposed by Maria Pulzetti, and organized by other students at the University of Virginia in 1996.  In 2000, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) proposed that it become an officially sponsored project.

Chambers confirmed to XGW that the activist component of the DOT contributed to a polarizing debate rather than a relational dialogue.  “As a tool, it seemed to emphasize the divide rather than building a bridge,” he said.  “We want more than that.”

The first DOT was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2005, and has been held on the day after the DOS each year since.  The ADF is a conservative activist legal organization which claims to have established the DOT “to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.”

There have been several legal actions associated with the DOT, with the Tyler Chase Harper

Tyler Chase Harper

incident perhaps the most notorious.  Harper was suspended for wearing a T-shirt that read “Be Ashamed” and “Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned,” and on the back read, “Homosexuality is Shameful” and “Romans 1:27.” The ADF unsuccessfully defended Harper in a lawsuit claiming his religious freedoms were compromised.

In response to groups who were calling for complete boycotts by students on the DOS in 2007, Dr. Warren Throckmorton started the Golden Rule Pledge as an alternative.  With a Facebook group and then a dedicated website, his idea has gained momentum.  DOS participants are encouraged to carry cards which say:

Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today.

DAY of SILENCE – What are you going to do to end the Silence?

The Golden Rule Pledge proposes this as one way to respond and reply to the question above:

This is what I am doing.  I pledge to treat others the way I want to be treated.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Luke 6:31.

The Golden Rule pledge has not been without its own critics — from both sides.  However, it has given the children of moderate conservatives a way to participate on the DOS and attend school during that day.

In 2009, the ADF turned over responsibility for the DOT to Exodus International.  In what has turned out to be their only year doing so, Exodus sponsored that years event.  It is not known if the ADF will attempt to keep the DOT active or offer it to another group.

We applaud Exodus’ decision to shutter this event.  While we realize this does not signify a major change in their own policy or beliefs, we do respect the reasons given.  We also challenge the ADF to take this as a signal to let it die here and now.

Read more on CNN’s Belief Blog

April is chock full of teachable moments lest any teacher’s plan book go empty. We have Keep America Beautiful Month, National Poetry Month, and National Frog Month. April birthdays include Leonardo DaVinci, William Shakespeare, and Daffy Duck.

Now, Dr. Warren Throckmorton, professor of psychology at Grove City College, and author of the Sexual Identity Therapy Framework has come up with The Golden Rule Initiative. Dr. Throckmorton’s aim is to provide an appropriate response for straight, evangelical students to the GLSEN sponsored Day of Silence on April 25.

The Day of Silence began 12 years ago with the purpose of proactively bringing attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying, and harassment on high school campuses. GLSEN’s DOS has increased in participation and exposure each year since its inception, but opposition remains from “christians”, some of whom refuse to allow their children to attend school on that day.

Day of Silence participants are most notably opposed by the ADF sponsored Day of Truth which occurs on April 28 and was established 4 years ago to “counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective”. It reminds me of one of those “loving” and “compassionate” Sally Kern rallies.

While Dr. Throckmorton may have the best of intentions with the Golden Rule Initiative, he’s getting mixed reviews from all sides. He says… Read more…