Posted on 06/18/2006 6:28:31 AM PDT by Man50D
Angered by what they see as the promotion of homosexuality in schools, thousands of American parents are banding together to demand that their children be taught that it is possible to stop being gay.
Organizations such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (Jonah) and Inqueery are trying to ensure that their view is aired alongside gay rights messages.
A high school in New Hampshire allowed an "ex-gay" activist to address pupils on Civil Rights Day last year.
In Colorado, education officials are pondering whether to hand out a pamphlet to teachers suggesting that "conversion therapy" - a combination of prayer and counselling - can reform homosexual tendencies.
Alan Chambers, the president of Exodus International, an umbrella for ex-gay support groups, said: "The gay community says that you can't change. But there is an alternative. Now more and more teenagers are able to see there are two sides to this issue."
Mr Chambers, 34, was drawn to men from boyhood. "I didn't choose to feel gay. When I was 11, I found myself struggling with same-sex attraction issues. I was told by a school counsellor that there was nothing I could do about it. I had to accept I was gay. That made me want to die."
At 18, he joined a local Christian group in Florida and was convinced that it was possible to change. He renounced his previous sexual leanings, and within eight years he was married.
He now has two children under two. "My life couldn't be more different," he said. "I am one of tens of thousands of men and women who have overcome homosexuality."
Melissa Fryrear, of Focus on the Family, a Christian conservative group, was a lesbian for a decade.
She attributes her former orientation to "having been violated by a man outside my family when I was a child", a lack of an emotional bond with her mother and a frequently absent father. "I had 30 or 40 relationships in those years. I didn't see any stability around me.
When I was coming to the end of my proverbial rope, I discovered there was a biblical sexual ethic outlined in scripture and I started to hear wonderful stories of people who had overcome homosexuality."
Regina Griggs, the executive director of PFOX, said: "People are not born gay and there's never been a test that has found a gay gene. It's a free speech and equal access issue. We want children to have all the facts, not just the outlandish statements and bias of one side."
She became involved in PFOX when her teenage son announced that he was gay. 'But he's at the point where he admits now that change is possible.
"I have never sat him down and handcuffed him and said, 'I'm taking you to a therapist'. His decision is his decision. We love one another and we're no different from any other family."
Miss Fryrear, 40, said she faces more discrimination as an "ex-gay" than she did as a lesbian. "It seems that gay and lesbian activists want me to go into the closet. I have been called things I could never repeat to my mother.
"I have had death threats. I have to travel with personal security. I get a Christmas card each year with human faeces smeared on it."
Unlike some hardline Christians, Mr Chambers and Miss Fryrear accept that homosexual feelings may be genuine, arguing that they are a complex mixture of innate tendencies, childhood factors and personality traits.
Mr Chambers suggested that he would never completely shake off his past. "I'm not above being tempted. I'm human," he said. "But it's not something that rules my life.
I am attracted and committed to my wife and I have developed heterosexual feelings in general. I choose to live beyond these things and they don't control me any more."
Ron Schlittler, the deputy executive director of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said the "ex-gay" arguments were potentially damaging to young people. "Conversion therapy is snake oil - it's really suppression therapy.
Their basic premise is that gay people don't exist but are basically confused heterosexuals who need help."
Well, right now it might be at 2%..... but one can be sure that with homosexuality NOT being related to a 'gay gene' AND with the constant social pressure on to accept it more and more at a younger and younger age, that 2% is sure to climb. And where it stops, nobody knows.
Mr Chambers wanted to be cured more than anything. He was also at an age where many boys are going through confusions with sexual development.
Many who have feelings of same-sex attraction at that age simply get over it.
A homo has to want to be cured of it in order for it to happen. Also, homosexuals are so varied that many will be cured while many will never be cured of it.
It isn't so black and white as the arguements are put from each side.
**I once had a supervisor that was queer. He used to brag about his ability to convert young guys to homosexuality.**
I've also experienced that. For many homosexuals, the recruitment of young guys is a sport.
Exposure to a homo agenda in schools is outrageous and dangerous.
she's misunderstood all these years. it's really a love letter.
**G-d doesn't make junk.**
There are deformities in nature, and people are born with genetically inherited sicknesses and deformities.
However, even if a 'gay gene' did exist, it would only be a fraction of homosexuals with it, and it doesn't mean that any resulting homosexual behaviour should be acceptable or promoted as such.
**While I don't bellieve there is a "gay gene" either... ...It doesn't mean it's easy, but I don't remember reading anywhere in scripture that life is easy.**
An excellent summary! 100%
**I get a Christmas card each year with human faeces smeared on it."
In some homosexual circles, this is probably considered a gesture of endearment.**
You'd be surprised!
We've gone in a short time from Homosexuality to Homophobia being a disorder.
**with the constant social pressure on to accept it more and more at a younger and younger age, that 2% is sure to climb. And where it stops, nobody knows.**
Gene or not is irrelevant regarding recruitment.
The very real compulsion for many homosexuals to recruit others to the partaking of homosexual perversions is a widespread 'cult' in itself. It's a club within a club. Many homos are only sexually interested in a 'conquest'.
I'm waiting for HETROSEXUALITY to be promoted in schools. I haven't seen much of that lately. I'm also wondering why there are so many divisive groups and programs out there. I was listening to the (XM) radio yesterday (Fox News) and heard a commercial informing me that "June is black music month". I'm wondering when white music month is?
Sure, they are just like the mob.
"Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in."
LOL! Now I'm going to throw up.
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