Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays is rallying support for U.S. House and Senate resolutions supporting tolerance for “former homosexuals and lesbians.”
The resolutions are no worse than the hundreds or thousands of other federal resolutions that support a cause but call for no change in policy — and therefore waste our lawmakers’ limited time.
The PFOX resolutions claim:
Whereas Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) has documented that ex-gays are subject to discrimination, harassment, censorship, and marginalization due to their choice to leave homosexuality;
One obvious question: Where, exactly, has PFOX “documented” this persecution, and why — if PFOX is a friend of gays, as the organization’s name indicates — does PFOX not acknowledge that “discrimination, harassment, censorship, and marginalization” occur against homosexuals and ex-ex-gays?
To be fair, PFOX has indeed had little success airing its antigay message in public school districts with tolerance education programs. On the other hand, PFOX has had no apparent difficulty in districts without such programs; I find no reports of anti-exgay “harassment”; and ex-gay marginalization seems to be mainly self-inflicted: PFOX, among other organizations, has declined to work cooperatively with its rivals in religion, government and education toward a goal of promoting mutual tolerance.
Another question: After all these years, why does PFOX know so little about homosexuality that it distinguishes between homosexuals and lesbians?
This is a worthy resolution. I’ll make it my engaging action point in my newsletter tomorrow.
Gee. You guys are too accepting of some of these groups. Anthony Falzarano (et al.) created PFOX for the simple reason of creating a counter-group to P-FLAG. It’s a shadow organization to give aid and comfort to homophobic parents so they don’t have to have to feel guilty about their shabby treatment of their GLBT children. It’s religion at it’s worst: encouraging hatefulness and calling it a religious virtue.
Believe me, their agenda is nothing short of the RR’s – namely, to oppose equality for GLBT citizens. Caliming victimhood is a tactic.
PFOX executive director wrote this letter published Feb. 22 in the Fredericksburg, Va., Free Lance-Star.
Soulforce activist Cris Elkins responded in a letter published Feb. 29.
I responded with a letter submitted this morning to the Free Lance-Star via web form — sorry, I didn’t keep a copy of it. I noted that Griggs had distorted the public statements of American Psychological Association CEO Raymond Fowler and Dr. Robert Spitzer. The two doctors’ statements on whether therapists should recommend ex-gay therapy are reported more accurately (and quite objectively) here.
The day P-Fox adds it’s support to a resolution supporting the rights of people regardless of their orientation is the day they get my respect. They want “Special Rights” here.