GLN Protests the "Ex-Gay" Movement In Rockford on Saturday, Sept. 25
An "ex-gay" organization called "Love Won Out" will be holding an all-day seminar at Rockford First this Saturday, Sept. 25th and Gay Liberation Network is planning a protest in response at Rockford First ( a church ) , 5950 Spring Creek Road ( @ Mulford ) , Rockford, IL from 3 pm to 5 pm. Everyone is invited to bring posters, participate and bring awareness to the issue.
For information contact Kayt Free 815-721-4187, kayt.free@gmail.com in Rockford or the Gay Liberation Network's Buddy Bell 312-348-0339, buddy8428@aol.com, in Chicago.
A car pool and bus transportation is available from Chicago. Contact Buddy Bell above to coordinate a ride.
WHY protest the "Ex-Gay" movement?
The following is from the pro-LGBT TruthWinsOut.org:
-- Love Won Out relies on outdated studies and "reparative therapy," a practice denounced by all leading associations of psychologists. It unnecessarily blames parents for causing their children to be gay, producing guilt and shame....
-- Most disturbing is Love Won Out's explanation for lesbianism, which it claims, without credible supporting evidence, is a result of childhood sexual abuse. Melissa Fryrear, a "gender issues analyst" at Focus on the Family and a regional leader at Exodus International, makes a phoney link to molestation:
"I can draw anecdotally from having been a part of an Exodus member ministry for almost a decade, and in those years having met hundreds of women with this struggle, I never met one woman who had not been sexually violated or sexually threatened in her life. I never met one woman. And I never met one man either, that had not been sexually violated or sexually seduced in his life."
Fryrear's male counterpart at Focus, Mike Haley, reinforces this false association between homosexuality and child abuse by telling credulous Love Won Out audiences about having sex with an older man at the age of eleven.
*Their anti-gay conference has a specific "Youth Track: Students Only". Organizations like Love Won Out that target young people for indoctrination with bigotry recall historical pictures of adult white supremacists bringing their children to rallies against African Americans, Jews and "communists."
*Love Won Out is a program of Exodus International. Exodus officials are key players in the creation and continued support of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality bill that proposes the death sentence for "serial homosexuals".
*You can find their argument here: http://lovewonout.com/questions/
"...God designed human sexuality to be enjoyed solely within the bounds of one-man, one-woman marriage."
