Who Dawn Stefanowicz? A headless monster in the making

On her webpage (http://www.dawnstefanowicz.com/aboutdawn.php), Dawn Stefanowicz says the following:

Dawn has been married for 22 years and was raised in a homosexual household. She acknowledges that children are impacted and influenced long-term by various family structures and living arrangements. Dawn addresses the impact of legislation affecting children. These center around the areas of marriage, adoption, sexuality, and education. She has testified in Boston, Massachusetts, in Tallahassee, Florida, to the Washington Supreme Court Justices, and to The Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in Ottawa. Dawn speaks to a wide range of groups and wrote the article 'Same-Sex Marriage: Have the Best Interests of Children Been Considered?' Her media experiences include television, radio and print. Her book, Out from Under: Getting Clear of the Wreckage of a Sexually Disordered Home, will be published in 2007.

It sounds terrible, don't it? A person who was raised in a gay home telling how it negatively impacted her life.

I don't know whether or not Ms. Stefanowicz is telling the truth. If she is, then my heart goes out to her.

But I can't help but be suspicious about her and her motives.

For one thing, she did not come virtually from nowhere.

In this article in Agape Press (http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/152005c.asp), she recounts her tale, but using the verbage the anti-gay industry uses against us:

"According to Stefanowicz, the liberal media in Canada has done a 'very poor job' of presenting evidence on the influence the homosexual lifestyle has on children. 'Scientific data and negative personal experiences related to this issue that are obviously relevant -- they're ignored, they're not discussed,' she says."

And what studies are these? I noticed that on her personal webpage, she recounts her life. It is pretty much the same story she repeated in the August 2005 American Family Association Journal (http://www.afajournal.org/2005/august/805Stefanowicz.asp).

But there is one difference.

Her American Family Association story contains endnotes and references to studies and columns by various so-called "pro family" groups and spokespeople including Family Research Council's Timothy Dailey (debunked on this and other sites), Stephen Bennett, and our friend Paul Cameron.

The version of her personal story present on her webpage have the endnotes and references conveniently omitted.

I don't know if Ms. Stefanowicz is telling the truth about her life. But I do know that she is obviously tailoring her personal story to suit pretty much every stereotype, talking point, and lie the anti-gay industry spreads about us.

You know what? That kinda makes me mad.

I am sorry if Ms. Stefanowicz had a bad life but if what she claims is true, it was her father's fault, not the gay community. There are many homes in which there are gay parents and the children are not suffering because of it. For that matter, there are many homes with heterosexual parents and the children are being abused. This is not meant to be an indictment on heterosexual homes. I am just making a point.

And my anger is not just for myself. I have a good friend who took it upon himself to take in two young boys who had no sense of family. Hopefully he will be able to adopt those two boys and the other three children he took in.

He is a good man from a large loving family. He has a good head on his shoulders and is currently trying to start his own business. He also happens to be gay.

Because of this woman's possible need to blame someone else for her bad life, he may have problems giving those children a good home. Ms. Stefanowicz's story (probably omitting the endnotes and references) will probably be spread throughout every anti-gay industry webpage. She will probably be able to appear on Fox News, the 700 Club, and various other places peddling her story unchallenged.

A female Paul Cameron if you will.

Meanwhile my friend and countless other gays and lesbians who are raising children to be upstanding citizens will have more stigma thrown their way.

That is the real tragedy.

Headless Monsters just don't stop

One day, I am going to sit down and compile a list of the top headless monsters (i.e. myths) that the anti-gay industry puts out about us.

A perfect case in point is how they have attemtped to connect pedophilia with homosexuality due to the Mark Foley controversy.

Apparently Family Research Council head Tony Perkins just can't leave well enough alone. He has come out with The Politically Incorrect Truth, a piece that supposedly proves the connection between pedophilia and homosexuality.

Rather than link to that lying piece of propaganda, I think it would be better to link to Jim Burroway's excellent smackdown of Perkins's lies via Box Turtle Bulletin (http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/)

However, now that Perkins has put out his lie, it will now be repeated ad nauseum via sources where it cannot be refuted i.e Agape Press. I expect to see The Politically Incorrect Truth showcased on many so-called "pro family" webpage unchallenged.

And it will be until it is refuted. Then Perkins and company will dig up and distort another study that they can pervert for their own purposes.

It is happening already. Another wanna be pastor, S. Michael Craven, repeats Perkins's lies almost verbatim on Crosswalk - a so-called "pro family" webpage (http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblogs/mCraven/?adate=10/09/2006)

I sent Mr. Craven a nice letter detailing how his column has distortions, but he probably won't answer me back.

As long as people like Perkins can repeat lies in places where they can go unchallenged, guillible Christians like Mr. Craven will believe them.