Stop the counterprotests against ex-gays — or at least rethink them, says Michigan-based Quaker (Christian) gay-issues director Michael Gibson Faith.
In an article today at PrideSource.com, Gibson Faith says gay counterprotests tend to:
- reinforce the biased language of antigay activists
- divert gay resources from community-building
- subtract from lobbying for pro-tolerance legislation
- exhaust time that would be better spent building ties with communities of faith
In other words: Act, don’t react.
Well during that Houston Love Won Out conference FOTF was caught whining about “biased” media coverage which disregarded the message of hate and preferred to cover a counter protest by self-affirmed gay people.
https://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/commentary/a0035627.cfm
This also touches on that post tonight saying gays shouldn’t counter protest ex-gay events. I’d say in this case the ex-gays were largely ignored and gays were able to take the spotlight and promote their message.
There are times when a counterprotest can be effective (see Dan’s note above), but as a general matter of *strategy*, I tend to agree with Michael Faith’s point.
The battle for gay equality is a battle of ideas: we’ll win it because of the truth of our ideals, not from silencing our critics. We’re right, they’re wrong–we should take heart in that.
I understand the point of protests of these events often adding fuel to the fire for ex-gays. But, at some point the people blindly going to events like this have never seen the pro-gay side of things. How else will they learn the untruths they often hear from ex-gay groups? Maybe rethinking, not stopping the protests would be the best option.
I know ex-gay promoters seek publicity of any kind — whether positive or critical. So, I feel responses to ex-gay events should be careful to not attract media attention to otherwise ignored ex-gay events. From what I hear and witnessed locally, the Love Welcomes All events that have been organized to counter the ex-gay Love Won Out events have been a careful response. Rather than having a stereotypical group of gay activist protestors picket outside Love Won Out, an more organized response simply shows an alternative message.
The need to respond to anti-/ex-gay events/actions can mobilize and prioritize community-building. Here in Oregon, the four previous anti-gay ballot measures and have brought groups together (although the most recent anti-marriage ballot did successfully divide previously united groups).
However, Gibson-Faith’s does have a legitimate concern that protesting anti-/ex-gay events can distract from GLBT’s overall goals (civil rights, marriage, etc.). After Love Won Out left town and the elections end, the unity and direction of the pro-gay groups also dissolves. Why does it take Love Won Out to organize a Love Welcomes All event?