A downtown theater is currently scheduled for a one-night showing of a film that is sponsored by Colorado Springs, Co.-based anti-gay group Focus on the Family.
The film, titled Irreplaceable, is a documentary lamenting the loss of so-called 'traditional' families. While the film's online trailer and promotional materials have no anti-gay content, the connection with Focus on the Family is highlighted. The film is scheduled to be broadcast nationally May 6 at several theaters, among them the ShowPlace ICON Theatre, 1011 S. Delano Ct. E.
ICON General Manager Gene Hobbs was not aware of the event and said that it would have been arranged through one of the theater's bookers, NCM Fathom, which specializes in alternate entertainment events for movies theaters. Among NCM Fathom's other offerings are the popular Metropolitan Opera Live broadcasts.
Representatives from NCM Fathom, based in Centennial, Co., did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says on its website that, "No one has spread the anti-gay gospel as widely, or with as much political impact, as James Dobson, the former child development professor and spanking enthusiast who founded Focus on the Family in 1977." The organization heavily lobbied for gay marriage bans.
Wayne Besen, founder of the Chicago-based organization Truth Wins Out, said that Focus on the Family's pro-family message is "based on a paradigm of family that is a complete fraud. They are trying to imply they're all about a biblical idea of marriage. The biblical idea of marriage is that women were propertyif we had someone living in a 'biblical' marriage in Chicago, we'd call the cops on them. This movie will appeal to a few older Americans in their base, and won't go much further than that."
The announcement for the film is at: bit.ly/1oUo5BU .