Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJuly 29th, 2007
It looks that way. This is what the “Love Won Out” web site used to look like. Now it’s been replaced with this.
“Love Won Out,” the ex-gay roadshow put on jointly by Focus On the Family and Exodus International is sporting a new web presence, but it looks like the changes are only slightly more than just skin deep. The line-up of speakers has changed, and NARTH president Joseph Nicolosi is missing. He’s apparently been replaced by Joe Dallas, past president of Exodus International and current director of Tustin, California-based Genesis Ministries. NARTH however, continues to be listed as a recommended resource for “Love Won Out.”
Maybe Nicolosi’s performance in front of CNN cameras in Phoenix last February was the final straw, as that was the last time he appeared at “Love Won Out.” Joe Dallas occupied the keynote position normally reserved for Nicolosi’s address when “Love Won Out” went to Omaha last April. Dallas’ address was very different from Nicolosi’s, delivered without Nicolosi’s signature line, “We advise fathers, if you don’t hug your sons, some other man will.”
In fact, Dallas’ presentation was a generally kinder-and-gentler version of Nicolosi’s deficient-father syndrome as an explanation for male homosexuality, replacing the strident blaming of fathers for their sons’ sinful ways with the sons’ perception of having been rejected by their deficient fathers. Sexual abuse, however, remains a conspicuous topic as a “cause” for homosexuality. Melissa Fryrear’s not giving that one up very easily.
The “Frequently Asked Questions” page on “Love Won Out’s” new web site indicates a similarly less strident approach. Gone are the promises to change anyone’s sexuality. Instead, they say that they are simply offering ways to “overcome” their sexual desires. What’s more, they say that they’ve been simply misunderstood all along:
They also like to claim we want to “fix” or “convert” gays and lesbians and that we believe people can “pray away the gay.” Such glib characterizations ignore the complex series of factors that can lead to same-sex attractions; they also mischaracterize our mission. We exist to help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome.
Of course, that’s not what the web site used to say not so long ago:
Focus on the Family is promoting the truth that homosexuality is preventable and treatable — a message routinely silenced today. We want people to know that individuals don’t have to be gay.
Maybe “Love Won Out” is guilty of mischaracterizing “Love Won Out.”
But if the new web site now sports a softer touch, it doesn’t look as though it will carry over to the conference itself. After all, if they’re only interested in helping men and women dissatisfied with being gay, why the emphasis on political matters and the furtherance of the ongoing culture wars? The agenda for upcoming conferences (the next one is August 4th in Portland, Oregon’s City Bible Church) is very similar to past conferences, and culture-war politics is an increasingly important part of the conference.
The overtly-political sessions carried over from previous conferences include the 11:15 breakout session, “Teaching Captivity? The Pro-Gay Agenda in Schools” by Dick Carpenter. He also presents the 1:15 plenary session, “Why is What They’re Teaching So Dangerous,” in which he scares the living daylights out of the audience over the supposed homosexual infiltration of public schools and dominance in the general culture. Also carried over from previous conferences is the 2:45 breakout session, “Straight Thinking on Gay Marriage” by Focus on the Family vice-president Bill Maier.
But if you wanted more evidence that the real purpose of “Love Won Out” is more political than ever before, check out the new breakout session scheduled for 3:45, “Lifting the Veil on Gay Activism.” Because it’s new, I don’t know who’s teaching it and the links to the documents for the Portland and Irvine, California conferences aren’t working yet. Also still under construction is a page reserved for “Culture,” which, I’m sure, will provide little of interest to those who are merely dissatisfied with their sexuality.
And this leads me to conclude that while some of the faces at “Love Won Out” are changing, the message is still the same.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word “Change” Changes
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Lynn David
July 29th, 2007
Geee…. what’s this revamp going to do to your LWO parts 5-8? ;)
Cannot now get into the LWO site to see the glitz and glamour of the new site.
Emproph
July 29th, 2007
I’m sure that too, is just your standard innocent promotion of “us vs. them” mentality, nothing politically motivated implied..
Bene D
July 29th, 2007
Emproph:
What would you substitute for ‘they’?
It is being used as a subjective personal pronoun and refers to a specific person or thing.
A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case.
What pronoun would you suggest?
David Roberts
July 30th, 2007
I can’t find it on there now, but when we first caught this back on July 8 (yes, we totally screwed up not posting) it said:
“Contrary to the popular myth that homosexuality is genetic, same-sex attraction is a preventable and treatable condition.”
I’m looking to find if I took a screen shot, but that’s from a quote I copied and pasted at the time. I wonder who convinced them to remove that one? Also, it referenced thousands, and hundreds of thousands who had “left homosexuality” or something similar. That’s all I had in my notes.
Emproph
July 30th, 2007
David, it’s under the “Sessions” tab at the top:
That page is ripe for the pickins.
Emproph
July 30th, 2007
Sorry, you have to click on conferences and then sessions. Here’s the direct link:
http://www.lovewonout.com/conferences/sessions.cfm
Emproph
July 31st, 2007
Bene D,
It’s not about pronouns, it’s about politics.
If they weren’t frauds, they could just as easily have “attacked†the so-called mischaracterizations, in and of themselves, with simple truth.
Instead they argue semantics over substance in the effort to attack those who point out their consistently contradictory messages. Which to me, helps to show where the emphasis of their ambitions truly lie — They NEED an enemy.
It not only invalidates their claim of being unfairly mischaracterized, but shows that the complaint characterizations–of their own rhetoric–in regard to an anti-gay political agenda, are in fact accurate.
This is what I was mocking, the fact that they are mischaracterizing accurate characterizations of their own mischaracterizations (rhetoric), in the attempt to claim they are being mischaracterized.
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