November 12, 2013

Following is the unabridged News Update by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund regarding the JONAH defense against the Southern Poverty Law Center’s lawsuit: The parties in the JONAH case will soon be ending the written discovery phase of this precedent-setting case and beginning numerous depositions. As a result of having to file multiple motions with the court, JONAH has been successful in getting plaintiffs to provide valuable information while at the same time it has protected the identities of its clients and potential clients. Many thousands of documents have been exchanged by the parties. This includes key documents which should help JONAH prove at trial that this ill-conceived case is the contrivance of homosexual activists like Wayne Besen and the SPLC. Wayne Besen has been quoted as stating the following about the importance of defeating what he calls the “Ex-Gay” movement: “This is the keystone issue that underlies every single LGBT issue that’s out there…If you win this issue, you’ve won, in essence.”

The plaintiffs themselves had no complaints when they participated in JONAH’s program and all of them left the program on good terms. It was not until years later, after they came under the influence of Besen and the SPLC, that they were encouraged to pursue this “first of its kind” case. Apparently, the gay activists driving this case can not stand to face the reality that thousands of people can and do leave behind the destructive homosexual lifestyle with the help of groups like JONAH. From the warped perspectives of these homosexual activists, if someone who has successfully cast off their “gay” identity still struggles occasionally with any same-sex attractions, then they are still “gay” and are just deceiving themselves.

Therefore, even if JONAH’s religiously motivated clients learn how to avoid sinful homosexual behavior, the gay activists consider programs like JONAH to still constitute “consumer fraud”. Of course, successful participants in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous may, and usually do, still have attraction to alcohol, but the fact that they have acquired the skills to control those harmful impulses means that the program was a huge success for them. The militant gay activists refuse to accept this obvious comparison.

Unfortunately, people with no Biblical worldview do not understand that we are all sinners who need God’s grace to be healed and live according to his Word. Tragically, the darkened minds and hearts of the gay activists will simply not allow them to understand God’s Truth. Like Pharaoh of the Old Testament, who hardened his heart and would not heed the warnings of Moses, they continue to plunge headlong toward their own destruction. Please pray for them so that our Lord will open their eyes and allow them to see the Truth, so that they will stop persecuting the righteous, and that they may be spared ultimate disaster.