Logo of ex-gay, anti-gay group PFOXEx-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.

Categorized in: