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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 lobbyJanuary 22nd, 2009
Those familiar with the ex-gay movement have long known Alliance Defense Fund’s (ADF) “Day Of Truth” is not only a reaction to the “Day Of Silence” but also a thinly veiled effort to push ex-gay programs in public schools. Well ADF has gone and made it official, handing over the Day Of Truth to Exodus via an email and press release dated Jan 20, 2009.
The Alliance Defense is transitioning its leadership of the Day of Truth initiative to Exodus International.
[snip]
the Day of Truth has grown from a handful of students to over 13,000 participants in all 50 states standing for the Truth. As the movement has grown, the focus has continued to broaden…providing students not only with legal assistance when their free speech rights are challenged, but also providing them with information on how to minister and witness to individuals struggling with homosexual behavior.
It’s because of growth in this latter area that this transition is occurring. For more than thirty years, Exodus International has provided thoughtful care to individuals wishing to leave homosexuality and offered support for related families, friends and churches. With 230 member organizations, the Exodus network is mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality…perfectly positioning them to lead the Day of Truth into the future.
ADF will continue to serve as the legal support arm for this project and represent any student who is silenced or punished for speaking the Truth.
For a little background on the Day Of Truth, how it was founded and it’s troubling ex-gay rhetoric have a look at this video.
(Please note I created this video before Love In Action closed their teen ex-gay bootcamp. Other than that everything in the video is accurate.)
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William
January 22nd, 2009
I am particularly intrigued by the mention of “providing [students] with information on how to minister and witness to individuals struggling with homosexual behavior.”
By whose request, or on whose instructions?
This sounds to me suspiciously like encouraging students to arrogate to themselves the right to harass – sorry, minister to – fellow students whom they know or surmise to be gay. If so – and I see no other plausible interpretation – then it should be stamped on hard and promptly by the school authorities.
Timothy Kincaid
January 22nd, 2009
My first reaction: “sounds like they need a tutorial to learn that behavior correctly”.
I’m amused at the tortured language employed by the anti-gays in order to avoid recognizing that some people are gay.
Poor ADF. They are so ragingly homophobic that they can’t even say that individuals are “struggling with homosexual desire”. They have to diminish sexual orientation to nothing whatsoever but a “behavior”.
Regan DuCasse
January 22nd, 2009
I find their singling out kids to single out gay kids, not only disturbing, but essentially cowardly in their focus.
A conservative website like Townhall spends an inordinate amount of time reaching for any way to bash gays in print. And the invective it attracts, no doubt manifests in a specific intolerance in the young.
They don’t set aside a specific DAY to reach out to those in drug treatment.
They dont go out of their way to do the same to those in gangs, from divorced parents….or who are bullies on campus.
Nope, the message is advertised as if for the comfort of the gay person, when it’s really another way of saying that gay people, are the most reprobate and reprehensible and the ADF isn’t as interested in dealing with those who are more likely to tell them where to stick it and also to keep them from operating on campus.
For that reason alone they shouldn’t be allowed to do so and deliberately aggravate a delicate issue they have no qualifications to deal with,
It’s as insulting as allowing Holocaust deniers if Jewish children wish to teach about and commemorate Shoah.
Day of Silence has more in common with Shoah, than DOT has with anything rightful and fair to express.
When any group’s message is basically, ‘you don’t belong and God hates you and what you are’…no school should allow it. Period.
It’s hurtful, divisive and does more harm than good, And a school should and must weigh THAT over a specific demand to advance a message like that.
Piper
January 22nd, 2009
When this “Day of Truth” First started I was in High School and luckily my school didn’t take part, but I went online to look at their materials.
I sent them a VERY respectful letter asking them questions about their beliefs. Never got a response.
John
January 22nd, 2009
I guess that Exodus and the ADF are counting on George Orwell’s 1984 not being required reading in most schools anymore.
The irony of the “Day of Truth” being managed and promoted by organizations that make their living by telling lie after lie in the culture wars would not have been lost on Mr. Orwell. Newspeak lives.
BobN
January 23rd, 2009
This is probably good news, since Exodus is not known for getting much done and certainly doesn’t have the legal resources to sue school boards.
Lynn David
January 23rd, 2009
In 2007, Focus on the Family and Exodus International joined the project, providing information and support regarding the theological, social, research, and religious ministry issues central to this debate. But according to the website, “Neither these organizations nor participants in the Day of Truth are trying to force their views on anyone, but are merely exercising their First Amendment rights to present another side to this issue.”
Sure….
Maybe Alan will allow his Los Angeles Time interview of a few years ago to be brought into evidence. Hey! That’s it! We need to get together all the goofy statements they’ve made over the years and create a few cards of our own for people to download/print-ot and distribute to the kids distributing the ADF/Exodus materials. Things like the new study that might blow Nicolosi out of the water. Alan’s admission that every day is a struggle… etc… etc… etc…
William
January 24th, 2009
You know, Daniel, I’ve watched your video several times now, in order to study the expressions on the faces of those who proclaim the “truth” of the ex-gay message. They’re not just smug; there’s something downright creepy about them. I’ve noticed the same thing in other documentary films about the ex-gay movement.
If I were unfortunate enough to be unhappy with being gay and wanted to “come out of homosexuality”, seeing these soi-disant ex-gays would make me think again. I’d say to myself, “My God, is that what I’ll be like? No, thank you; I’ll stick with the status quo.”
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