September 12, 2013

The following PFOX press release “Does the ex-gay community need civil rights? – Ex-Gay Awareness Month designed to combat marginalization, discrimination” is reprinted in its entirety: The ex-gay community has designated each September as Ex-Gay Awareness Month. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), a sponsor of the event, says bringing awareness to the ex-gay community in this way has become necessary because gay activists have changed their strategy from seeking equality for the 3.9 percent of LGBT Americans to silencing any of the 96.1 percent who disagree with their agenda. Among those being silenced are former homosexuals, whose voices PFOX says are routinely marginalized, maligned, and minimized in the media and public sector.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right. The same gay activists who claim to have fought against prejudice are now trying to take away the free choice of people who desire to change from gay to straight,” said Christopher Doyle, co-founder and president of Voice of the Voiceless, the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, people with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families.

In August alone, the ex-gay community has been the victim of a number of injustices by high-ranking officials. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law that outlaws therapy for children who wish to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions, some of whom developed such attractions in the wake of sexual abuse at the hands of homosexual predators. Also, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld California’s law banning therapy for minors who wish to go from gay to straight, despite statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing an increase in HIV infections by MSM (men who have sex with men) aged 13-24.

Doyle explained that gay activists carefully and patiently promoted these attacks on the free choice of ex-gays through various methods:

• By infiltrating powerful mental and medical health associations with the goal of destigmatizing homosexuality and portraying any person with same-sex attraction who seeks change as a victim of internalized “homophobia” and coercion from heterosexual parents.
By deliberately distorting research to make unfounded conclusions that all homosexuals are “born gay” (and, therefore, those who seek sexual orientation change will ultimately fail), while dismissing 100 years of scientific evidence that shows change in sexual orientation is possible.
By deceiving lawmakers with allegations of fictitious “conversion therapy torture camps” that were subsequently disproven, yet unreported to the general public by the mainstream media.

Grammy award-winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, an African-American, also suffered discrimination when Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray complied with the requests of gay activists to drop him from a 50th Anniversary March on Washington celebration event because he is openly ex-gay. Ironically, the event was to commemorate the civil rights achievements championed by Dr. King, who “could not possibly have imagined a day when African-Americans would bow down to the gay lobby,” Doyle said.

“The demonization of ex-gays by gays themselves is a sad development in the long struggle for the tolerance the gay community claims to be fighting for,” commented former homosexual Greg Quinlan, a PFOX board member. “That ex-gays are now oppressed by the same people who have felt victimized themselves demonstrates how low the gay rights movement has gone. The victims have now become politically powerful oppressors.”

Because former homosexuals are perhaps the last invisible minority group in America, Ex-Gay Awareness Month ensures the safety and inclusion of former homosexuals in all realms of society and supports the ex-gay community’s equal access to all public venues. Ex-gays and their supporters should not have to be closeted for fear of others’ negative reactions or disapproval.
“People seeking positive life change need the love and support of their friends, family, communities, schools, workplaces, and places of worship,” said Regina Griggs, PFOX executive director. “They should have the freedom to let their voices be heard without threat of intimidation and discrimination.”