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Plans being made to protest Focus on the Family conference

Plans being made to protest Focus on the Family conference
Planning meeting at the Seattle LGBT Community Center on Sunday, June 19, 4:00 p.m. by Robert Raketty - SGN Staff Writer Focus on the Family, the Colorado-based fundamentalist religious organization founded by Dr. James Dobson, will be at Northshore Baptist Church in Bothell during Gay Pride Weekend this month holding its Love Won Out conference on Saturday, June 25. Longtime advocates of so-called reparative therapy that can change Gays to straight, Focus on the Family has been roundly condemned by health experts, psychologists, religious leaders and even their own ex-Gays for spreading dangerous misinformation. The event is being co-sponsored by Exodus International, an organization that claims to offer freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ. Focus on the Family and their conference attendees will not leave without a Gay send-off, however. Active Communities Together in One Network (ACTION) Northwest plans to show them what true love is during a peaceful protest outside Northshore Baptist Church at the closing of Love Won Out. ACTION Northwest will hold a protest planning meeting at the LGBT Community Center (1115 E. Pike St.) on Sunday, June 19 at 4:00 p.m. Everyone is invited. A sign making party will kick off following the meeting. We cannot allow this hate filled organization to send its hurtful and destructive message, said McAfoose. As a community, we must not allow their message to go unchallenged. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people are deserving of the same love and respect as anyone else. We are fine just the way we are. McAfoose said picketing outside Northshore Baptist Church will begin at approximately 4:00 p.m. Their plans include to surround the church, making an impassible wall of love lining the walkway to the parking lot. Northshore Baptist Church claims to offer its own brand of reparative therapy, according the churchs website. A support group for the homosexual struggler is held as part of its Love Is Gods Healing Truth (LIGHT) Ministry. The brochure asks, Do you desire to love God, yet desire to be loved in a way God prohibits? PFLAG WELCOMES ALL PFLAG, Pacific NW Reconciling Ministries and the Religious Coalition for Equality will host its own conference, Love Welcomes All, at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue on Saturday, July 9. The event will include experts on the damaging effects of reparative therapy, parents of LGBT people, and a former ex-Gay. Douglas C. Haldeman, Ph.D., a counseling psychologist and a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Washingtons Psychology Department, will speak at the event. He is the current President of the Association of Practicing Psychologists, and a the recipient of a 2005 American Psychological Associations Presidential Citation in recognition of his work on behalf of LGBT psychology. Haldeman co-authored the APAs Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Clients as well as the organizations Resolution on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. Bob & Mary Lou Wallner will share how their own religious upbringing and background contributed to the suicide of their daughter, and how the experience has transformed their lives into activism for the acceptance and rights of LGBT people. In 2002, the couple founded To Educate About the Consequences of Homophobia (TEACH) Ministries, a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate others about LGBT people and dispel myths and fears about their lives. Likewise, Kathy Reim, PFLAG coordinator for Washington State, will talk about her own journey after learning her daughter is a Lesbian. She is an experienced educator and now works in the field of dispute resolution. Ron Poindexter is a former ex-Gay who reconciled his evangelical Christian faith and his sexual orientation after seven years of ex-Gay ministries and reparative therapy. He holds a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and has completed the ordination process in the Presbyterian Church, USA. For more information about ACTION Northwests protest, visit www.actionnw.org or call (206) 384-4414. To register for the Love Welcomes All conference, visit www.lovewelcomesall-wa.org or call Bellevue PFLAG at (206) 325-7724.