You are going to love this.
Apparently according to One News Now, July is "ex-gay pride month." To commemorate the occasion, a group calling itself Voice of the Voiceless is going to Washington on July 31 simply to be seen. Supposedly they will be lobbying Congress and then have a dinner with the Family Research Council where the speakers will be Michele Bachman, Jim DeMint and Congressman Tim Huelskamp, who just introduced the latest attempt of a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality.
All in all, it should be interesting, but what caught my eye was the statement by VOV's president Christopher Doyle:
Talk about your bizarre language appropriation. This VOV thing is nothing more than fake group whose aim is to cause trouble for those of us who have no problem with our God-given lgbt orientation.
But I wonder how many of them will be in attendance on July 31.
Apparently according to One News Now, July is "ex-gay pride month." To commemorate the occasion, a group calling itself Voice of the Voiceless is going to Washington on July 31 simply to be seen. Supposedly they will be lobbying Congress and then have a dinner with the Family Research Council where the speakers will be Michele Bachman, Jim DeMint and Congressman Tim Huelskamp, who just introduced the latest attempt of a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality.
All in all, it should be interesting, but what caught my eye was the statement by VOV's president Christopher Doyle:
We are tired of the gay activist lobby discriminating [against] us, marginalizing us and taking away our rights, and we're now fighting back, and we're demanding that if gays are going to get full diversity and equality in America, we also demand that ex-gay voices be heard as well.
Talk about your bizarre language appropriation. This VOV thing is nothing more than fake group whose aim is to cause trouble for those of us who have no problem with our God-given lgbt orientation.
But I wonder how many of them will be in attendance on July 31.
This makes as much sense as if "Black history month" was followed by a "Before the black were free" month.
ReplyDeleteIf these people really are straight -- because that's what being ex-gay means -- then they already have ALL of their civil rights as a straight person. So I guess they can call off their "I'm a self-loathing closet-case martyr" meeting. They aren't being discriminated against at all.
ReplyDeleteThe ex-gays have it rough. Paulk, Smid, Gritter, Chambers... All of the ex-gay leaders keep telling people that ex-gay therapy doesn't work! Must suck to realize that people have wasted so much time, energy, and money on a fruitless effort!
ReplyDeleteIn what way are they being discriminated against? What rights are they being denied? As ex-gays, are they not straights? OK, they may be fooling themselves there, but really, what do they want?
ReplyDeleteIf they're ex-gay (lol) that should mean they now identify as straight, so they have all the rights of straight people which have forever been more than the rights of gay people. Laughable.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that what they're referring to is our insistence that "ex-gay" therapy doesn't work. In their view, we're belittling them, marginalizing them, saying they're harmful to kids. It's not so much their "rights" we threaten as the legitimacy of their existence.
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree with you there. The American Psychological Association has said that it is harmful to attempt to change someone's sexual orientation. Furthermore, I have yet to see any 'ex-gay' group which isn't a front to push anti-gay propaganda.
ReplyDeleteI always like to point to Alcoholics Anonymous. While i differ with them on philosophy, I can't fault them on their focus and sincerity.
ReplyDeleteAA doesn't get involved in policy debates.
AA doesn't protest bars or the alcohol industry.
AA does zero fundraising
AA does not send spokespeople to the media, congress, or anywhere else
AA doesn't denigrate drinkers or suggest that all drinkers are problem drinkers nor imply that everyone can or should stop drinking
AAs focus is on it's membership. Meetings are held on the cheap or in member homes, coffee/donuts provided by members of that meeting group. They don't charge, and they don't make any sweeping claims.
Now, if ex-gay groups, if ex-gay people kept this kind of low-profile and focus on they people they purport to help, if they stayed out of policy debates and out of the public eye --- I doubt most anyone would care.
But because they DO try to influence the conversation on LGBT rights, because the do fundraise, they do go to the media, they do try to get involved in policy decisions, hell yes we're taking every opportunity to show them for the snake-oil salesmen that they absolutely are, peddling false cures to a non-disease.
"how many will be in attendence?"
ReplyDeleteprobably the same 5 people they always trot out.