On May 2, Focus on the Family offered half-truths and misrepresentations to explain its arrest of a family during a gay-tolerant Christian protest at the organization’s vast Colorado campus last week:
- Focus neglects to report that several Focus executives refused numerous invitations, in advance, to meet with the arrested family and other letter-writers who were concerned about Focus’ attacks on families;
- Focus neglects to report that it locked down its campus in a show of symbolic inhospitality and paranoia;
- Focus vice president Tom Minnery falsely states that Soulforce considers the “gays can change” message a form of “spiritual violence” — Soulforce defines “spiritual violence” here;
- Minnery makes the unfounded accusation that Soulforce leader Mel White is intolerant of exgay individuals;
- Minnery fails to document the “thousands” of people “who have made the journey out of homosexuality” — and he fails to mention the non-rightist, non-exgay bent of many of those who do experience sexual-orientation fluidity;
- Focus exgay political operative Melissa Fryrear turns a deaf ear to the testimony of Mary Lou and Bob Wallner, parents of a lesbian daughter who killed herself after enduring years of arrogant demands for “change” in “mind and attitude” from Mary Lou, based on beliefs derived in part from Focus on the Family;
- Fryrear baselessly blames the truthful messages that few gays seem able to “change” for any suicides that occur among gay people;
- Fryrear and Minnery both pretend no knowledge of Focus’ own statements smearing same-sex-attracted people and their parents;
- Neither Fryrear nor Minnery acknowledge Soulforce’s actual agenda for the visit with Focus on the Family; instead, they create strawman arguments and attribute those to Soulforce.
Exodus president Alan Chambers weakly chimes in with a defense of Focus and its strawmen. In a mini-testimony having nothing to do with the topic at hand, Chambers claims that he came out of “homosexuality” (whatever that is) at the very young age of 17. Like Focus itself, Chambers generalizes from his own stereotypes to the different beliefs, values and lifestyles of all gay individuals.
In other words…
No one at Exodus or Focus on the Family seems interested in the actual values or goals of Jewish and Christian protesters — or these protesters’ freedom of speech — unless the protesters happen to be antigay militants shouting down peaceful festivals in places like Philadelphia.
Instead of discussing actual issues with real people, Focus talks at its imagined bogeymen.
Thanks for this, Mike. As someone who was actually there on the 1st and the 2nd, I can tell you that the stuff FOTF and Chambers said didn’t seem to have much to do with the rally/protest and what real people were actually saying about Focus and why we were there. But that might be because they didn’t attempt to engage with anyone there. They stayed on their grounds, in a white tent that was closed on all four sides, and only the media was allowed in.
I personally don’t have a problem with ex-gays who are truly happy being ex-gay. And I don’t have a problem even with those who think that engaging in homosexual sex is a sin. It’s where they go from there (trying to limit rights, pushing for anti-gay legislation, making life difficult for gays, etc) and the hateful rhetoric that I personally was protesting against.
It was interesting to see them in their tent, and to be barred from being on the grounds the next day. At one of the Soulforce meetings I attended, one of the leaders asked, “Is anyone from Focus on the Family here? If you are, that’s great. You’re welcome here.”
What a difference.
Yeah, well ya know how it is with the religious zealots: when ya have the TRUTH you don’t have to tell the truth.
“Faith” justifies saying absolutely anything as long as it’s consistent with the TRUTH.