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Date Posted: 11:03:55 09/15/06 Fri
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Struggling 'Gays' and Lesbians Welcomed; PFOX Reaches Out With
Message of Hope
By Ed Vitagliano
September 14, 2006
(AgapePress) - Homosexuality is a flashpoint in the culture wars, but
that lifestyle is more than simply a political issue for gays and
lesbians who struggle with it. For those who want to change, there
are a number of organizations which are willing to help them find
freedom.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is one of them. It was
founded in 1998 by families who had homosexual children, and by
friends of the ex-gay community.
"PFOX was started because there were no organizations supporting
parents in loving their homosexual children unconditionally," said
Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX, in an interview with AFA
Journal. At the time, she added, the secular-minded organizations
dealing with homosexuality insisted "that parents love their children
only if they affirm the child's homosexual behavior."
But Griggs said PFOX takes a different approach, because it "believes
that parents can love their children unconditionally and without any
stipulations." That principle allows parents to love their children
without surrendering parental beliefs about homosexuality itself.
The Ex-'Gay' Lifestyle
One of those core beliefs is that same-sex attraction is not
immutable. While parents and friends can -- and must -- still love
the homosexual, there is an open door of hope for those who want to
change. That view, however, sticks in the craw of homosexual
advocates, who believe that gays and lesbians have no choice in the
matter of sexual orientation. It is the way they were born, activists
insist, and it is best to accept that reality.
As it turns out, that's not the reality for everyone. "Each year men
and women with same-sex attractions make the personal decision to
leave homosexuality," Griggs said.
Of course, the existence of ex-gays has become quite problematic for
the homosexual community. The presence of men and women who once
claimed to be homosexual, but who now say they have left the
lifestyle for good, undercuts the agenda of activists.
Ironically, while the heart of the gay agenda is the demand for
respect from society when gays and lesbians "come out of the closet"
and declare their homosexual orientation, activists seem to forget
about respect when it comes to ex-gays. Homosexuals "refuse to
respect that decision .... Consequently, formerly gay men and women
are reviled simply because they dare to exist," Griggs said. "Ex-gays
are not respected or protected from harassment, and are in need of
our support ...."
Moreover, she said, homosexual activists and those who are
sympathetic to that community are vigorous in their attempts to
squelch the ex-gay message. They "attempt to prevent Americans,
including our children, from hearing the message that unwanted same-
sex attractions can be overcome," Griggs said.
That is especially true in public schools, according to Griggs. "In
too many schools, the ex-gay viewpoint is censored or marginalized,"
she said, adding that many educators act "to exclude some views
merely because they disagree with them."
For example, a copy of the PFOX brochure "Preventing Bullying At Your
School: Safe Schools for Everyone!" urges schools to act swiftly and
firmly to prevent the bullying of students. "School safety" is one of
the homosexual community's major rallying cries when they demand that
public schools teach children to respect gay and lesbian students.
But the PFOX brochure takes a slightly different approach to the
bullying issue. The group argues that schools should not promote
homosexuality in order to make schools safer for homosexual students.
Rather, PFOX urges school officials to simply develop a zero-
tolerance policy against bullying all kids for any reason.
Moreover, PFOX asks schools to make students aware that leaving the
gay lifestyle is possible, and students who are trying to do that --
or who have done so -- should also be respected.
Snubbed By the PTA?
Not everyone is thrilled with that approach. A case in point appears
to be the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), with whom PFOX
has had a conflict for the last three years. That's how many times
PFOX has been turned down in its request for a booth at the PTA's
annual convention. PFOX wanted to set up a display in order to offer
to delegates its anti-bullying brochure. The PTA flatly refused to
allow it.
In a letter to National PTA President Ann Marie Weselak, Griggs
complained that not only did the PTA reject PFOX's application, but
it had also "failed to respond to our repeated requests as to
specifically what the exhibits committee read in our anti-bullying
brochure that led to its rejection as exhibit booth material."
On the other hand, during those three annual conventions, PTA allowed
a homosexual group -- Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays (PFLAG) -- not only to have a booth in order to distribute
materials, but also to present a workshop to PTA attendees.
Following the PTA-PFOX dust-up concerning the 2005 convention, AFA
Journal interviewed Weselak to allow her to explain PTA's position.
She said PFLAG was only present "to help educate and inform parents
on the topic of bullying in order to help make their children more
safe in schools. And that's what their invitation was based upon."
However, psychology professor Dr. Warren Throckmorton, director of
the college counseling service at Grove City College in Pennsylvania
and a spokesman for PFOX, said Weselak's explanation wasn't the whole
story. "In fact, [PFLAG] had an article that was distributed to all
the attendees criticizing my work in sexual identity therapy [that
helps homosexuals leave that lifestyle]," he said. "Now what does
that have to do with bullying?"
Furthermore, he said, PFLAG used its workshop in 2005 to stress the
need to raise more "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender" issues in
the shaping of public school policies and curricula. Once again,
Throckmorton noted, such matters fall far outside a simple message
about bullying.
What also troubles PFOX officials is the fact that PFLAG is a
political advocacy group that promotes homosexual political causes
like same-sex "marriage," hate-crime laws, and homosexual adoption.
Griggs, for example, believes that giving PFLAG a forum at the PTA
convention is nothing short of an implicit endorsement of the
homosexual advocacy group's radical agenda.
Weselak disagreed with that assessment in her interview with AFA
Journal, insisting that PFLAG was invited only because of its anti-
bullying stance. "What their other platforms are, what their other
works are in their organization is not what the invitation ... was
about," she said.
Throckmorton doesn't buy that explanation. He said it is "kind of
insulting to the intelligence of those conservative members for [the
PTA] to say it's not going to support any political perspective --
but then to turn around and basically give a group an opportunity to
do just that" at their convention.
AFA Journal contacted the PTA for their response to PFOX's complaint
about once again being refused exhibit space at the 2006 PTA
convention. However, PTA officials did not return phone call requests
for an interview.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/142006a.asp
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