On Nov. 21, the conservative Illinois Leader published a review criticizing gay-affirming Hollywood celebrities and alleging inequity in media coverage of antigay hate crimes and crimes committed by people who happen to be gay.
On Nov. 26, Todd DuFresne of Schaumburg responded with a rambling diatribe against the media, Hollywood, and homosexual pedophilia. In a moment when he is speaking rationally, he says:
I have worked over the years with gay men who struggled with their broken hearts and lives. Without exception, every man was hurting from past influences. It was never a genetic issue.
After perseverance and dealing with their past influences – usually relative to their parents or past sexual abuses (thanks to the “safety” of gay pedophile men being “benign” to society) these men have fixed their broken hearts and lives. These men now enjoy life without the super-dysfunction of being broken. These men now live whole lives instead of living their lives in pain.
This is the love Christian conservatives speak about in this arena – dealing with the broken issues in our lives to make us healthy and free of the constant pain. (Some cover over the pain with gay relationships or avoid peering into it by avoidance, much like the drug addict copes with the pain by taking more drugs and says in his temporary stupor that he is not in pain nor has a problem.)
We embrace the pain as Christ did – but we do also try our best to help them conquer that pain instead of being cowards and avoiding the issue or redefining it as something to be encouraged.
DuFresne previously wrote a rant against “homosexual fascists” who, God forbid, promote Illinois antidiscrimination legislation.
In that Sept. 4 letter, DuFresne said:
Contrary to homosexual propaganda, people are NOT born gay. I have many friends who left the homosexual lifestyle and are now living non-broken lives. They have spoken of how they swallowed the propaganda they heard about their homosexuality. They since addressed issues in their past and are now solvent against those pains they had inside.
One of my former gay friends quotes his black friend who said: “I know of many former EX-gays; but I do NOT know of any former ex-blacks!” They are NOT born that way and they are in a situation where, if they are honest and courageous, they can address the brokenness that burns inside of them. Why do we as a society wish to look the other way and leave people broken?
DuFresne’s proposed solution in the Sept. 4 letter is for everyone to oppose anything remotely resembling antidiscrimination legislation. In the Nov. 21 letter, his proposal is for everyone to stop listening to the media and gay-tolerant viewpoints.
In response to DuFresne, James Roberts of New Brunswick, N.J., wrote “Ex-gay ministries fail,” quoting extensively from Wayne Besen’s list of ex-gay scandals at Anything But Straight.
Yesterday, Dr. Warren Throckmorton responded to Roberts, asserting that the American Psychological Association is tolerant of reparative therapy. Throckmorton does not discuss the earlier diatribes, or (in particular) his position on antidiscrimination legislation.
Following Throckmorton’s letter, two other letter-writers assert that homosexuality is caused by an absence of Jesus Christ in one’s life; that homosexuals commit nearly all child molestation; and that most gays were recruited via sexually molestation or rape. The recommended solution? Join and support ex-gay ministries.
I find it humorous when people protest same-sex couples’ self-identification as married given that common-law marriages are recognized to some degree in 14 states and DC.
In Texas, for example, “informal” marriages require only an agreement to be married, living together as spouses and representing the relationship as such. No certificate, no blood test, no church, no reverend, no courthouse and no filing fee — in prosperity gospel lingo, getting married is as simple as “Name it and Claim it!”
In fact, the godless anarchy of common law marriage has a much longer history (by thousands of years) than its modern statutory cousin.