Holding a banner that read “I love
my gay son” Karen Turner silently protested outside of the First
Presbyterian Church of Orlando. She was flanked by other members of
Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) who had
journeyed to the Sunshine State and were holding their own signs -
“Don't Let Love Lose Out,” “Unconditional Love.”
All these parents, and friends, were
protesting a controversial 'ex-gay' conference being held inside the
church. The conference, called Love Won Out and held on
Saturday, was organized by James Dobson's conservative Christian
organization Focus on the Family. The event marked the 50th
U.S. conference in the organization's 10 year history.
Even before it began, the conference
had drawn outrage over its use of promotional billboards in several
cities, including six in Orlando. The billboards advocated the
group's belief that one's sexual identity can be changed, “I
Questioned Homosexuality and discovered love won out.”
“Love Won Out speakers are
bold enough to challenge the dominant 'born gay' view. We believe
men and women have the right to manage their sexuality according to
their faith,” said Focus on the Family's gender and sexuality
department director Melissa Fryrear in a press release for the event.
“We reject the notion that men and women are bound by genetics to
live homosexually.”
Focus on the Family says they help
people overcome unwanted same-sex attractions through religious
means, including group discussions, counseling, Bible reading and
prayer. Speakers at the conference, who, like Fryrear, used to
self-identify as homosexual, share their stories of how they overcame
homosexuality.
While the American Psychological
Association (APA) has published that a person's sexual orientation
may change over time, they do not believe this to be a conscious
choice. In a 2007 report titled Answers To Your Questions About
Sexual Orientation And Homosexuality, the APA's answer to “Can
therapy change sexual orientation?,” is: “No... It does not
require treatment and is not changeable.”
Another mother protesting the
conference said, “To see children going into this meeting and who
are gay, and who look at us, and when I say 'how are you' they turn
and they look at us, and you see the tears coming down their face,
and they know that we love our children unconditionally. And maybe,
maybe, that will save a life. And that's what we're all about.”
The Love Won Out tour arrives in
Anchorage, Alaska on September 13th and Colorado Springs,
Colorado on October 25th.