Photos by Mike Airhart/Ex-Gay Watch
A small coalition of antigay activists met outside the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., to declare that “homosexuality is nothing to be proud of.”
The press event coincides with Capital Pride in the District and national LGBT Pride Month. Speakers included Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of American for Truth About Homosexuality; Liberty Counsel attorney Matt Barber; Mission America founder Linda Harvey; American Family Association-Pennsylvania activist Diane Gramley, and antigay filmmaker Eric Holmberg.
Approximately a half-dozen people attended the event who were not obviously members of the local, LGBT, or Christian news media.
Press release by the antigay coalition
Afterthought: The purpose of this press event was to create right-wing and LGBT media buzz, appease antigay donors who continue to prevent pride celebrations in conservative cities; and to aid the Republican Party at IRS hearings. The objective was not crowd turnout; otherwise, the event would have been scheduled for a weekend, in a location where a crowd could gather, and not on a steam grate on HRC’s front lawn.
In these respects, the press event achieved its objectives.
I think Bam Bam may have lost a little weight. He doesn’t seem as big as the last time that I saw a picture of him.
I think you’re right. I commented to a friend on Facebook that he looked “adorable” — at least compared to past pictures.
The obvious response: “Prejudice is nothing to be proud of.”
Can you imagine if they said the same thing about interracial marriage, which was opposed by nine out of ten conservative Americans just a generation ago.
Basically a group the bottom rung anti-gay activists decided to go on a field trip to DC together with the speakers outnumbering the spectators. They got progressively over the top and near the end Eric Holmberg claimed that there are more ex gay people then gays.
Of course one wonders if the ex-gay groups are so wildly successful in changing people, why are these groups left with recycling the same handful of stories, most of them from ex gay leaders, over and over again as proof that they can change people?
Also why aren’t the main anti-gay groups dumping their money into these groups if they are truly so successful in changing people? They certainly don’t give much support for something they claim is wildly successful.