Thursday, August 02, 2007

The Ex-Gay Road Show Rolls into PDX


Look out Portland because the Love Won Out Conference is headed your way on Saturday, August 4th! The tagline for the conference is “Testifying to God’s Grace,” but the event itself is all about how to exorcize the demon of homosexuality from the gay man or woman who is really, truly, deeply straight. (WTF?!?) Not to be overly juvenile about this ridiculous concept, but the Portland festivities are to be held on the Rocky Butte Campus of the City Bible Church. Now “Rocky Butte” -- Isn’t that the most perfect porn star name you’ve heard all damn day? (Come on! Clearly, he’s a butch bottom who’s just a little bit country, right?)

“Love Won Out” is brought to you by the oddly-preoccupied people at Focus on the Family and here’s a little blurb from their site about the conference: “Love Won Out ministry exhorts and equips the church to respond in a Christ-like way to the issue of homosexuality. And to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions, we offer the Gospel hope that these desires can be overcome.” FotF is the group behind the Ex-Gay Movement, which just cracks me the fuck up and makes me a little bit sad at the same time… If you’re sick and tired of this kind of tired-ass bigotry, let me turn your attention to Ex-Gay Watch, Beyond Ex-Gay, and to the work of Wayne Besen (author of Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth).

Shouldn’t religious organizations be slightly more concerned with things like domestic poverty, rebuilding New Orleans, and world peace? I recommend that those responsible for the reprehensible Ex-Gay Movement focus on their own fucking families and leave us the hell out of it!