Ex-Gay Themed Billboards Anger Texas’ LGBT Community
Thu. January 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Houston, TX -
A series of billboards touting a Christian alternative to homosexuality have outraged LGBT activists in Houston, Texas.
Fifteen billboards popped up with the message, “I questioned homosexuality. Change is possible. Discover how.” Each billboard features either a man or a woman and is intended to promote Focus on the Family’s upcoming “Love Won Out” conference in Houston February 19.
The conference will focus much of its agenda on “understanding, addressing and preventing homosexuality,” and while representatives for Focus on the Family claim they have members who have been able to change their sexual orientation, community activists say the billboards are just an act of desperation.
"Focus on the Family charges big bucks for this seminar,” community activist Ray Hill told Planet Out. And Grace Community Church, which is hosting the thing, is worried it will take a bath. So the billboards have been put up so the church won't suffer."
Attendance at the conference costs $50 in advance, $60 at the door, and Hill is speculating these last minute billboards indicate that sales aren’t going well.
"I don't know if they're going to get enough suckers in to make it profitable, but they're trying," Hill added. "This is all about money."
Sue Null, an advocacy chair for the Houston chapter of the Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) told the Houston Chronicle that her organization is considering an appropriate response to the billboards.
"For an organization to spend their time and money promoting untruth and lies against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders is a deplorable situation," she said.
John Paulk, founder of Focus on the Family and author of the book Love Won Out, the inspiration behind these conferences, made the cover of Newsweek for claiming people could change their sexual orientation. He left the organization after being photographed by a Human Rights Campaign staffer at a gay bar in Washington, D.C.
Written By Ross von Metzke
Fifteen billboards popped up with the message, “I questioned homosexuality. Change is possible. Discover how.” Each billboard features either a man or a woman and is intended to promote Focus on the Family’s upcoming “Love Won Out” conference in Houston February 19.
The conference will focus much of its agenda on “understanding, addressing and preventing homosexuality,” and while representatives for Focus on the Family claim they have members who have been able to change their sexual orientation, community activists say the billboards are just an act of desperation.
"Focus on the Family charges big bucks for this seminar,” community activist Ray Hill told Planet Out. And Grace Community Church, which is hosting the thing, is worried it will take a bath. So the billboards have been put up so the church won't suffer."
Attendance at the conference costs $50 in advance, $60 at the door, and Hill is speculating these last minute billboards indicate that sales aren’t going well.
"I don't know if they're going to get enough suckers in to make it profitable, but they're trying," Hill added. "This is all about money."
Sue Null, an advocacy chair for the Houston chapter of the Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) told the Houston Chronicle that her organization is considering an appropriate response to the billboards.
"For an organization to spend their time and money promoting untruth and lies against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders is a deplorable situation," she said.
John Paulk, founder of Focus on the Family and author of the book Love Won Out, the inspiration behind these conferences, made the cover of Newsweek for claiming people could change their sexual orientation. He left the organization after being photographed by a Human Rights Campaign staffer at a gay bar in Washington, D.C.
Written By Ross von Metzke