More PFOX Lies and Distortions

Both Truth Wins Out and Pam's House Blend are carrying articles on the latest untruths being disseminated Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays ("PFOX"). Like most of the Christian Right organizations, PFOX apparently considers itself exempt from the Commandment against bearing false witness and lying. Candidly, in my opinion, about the only thing truthful on PFOXis web site is the statement that "PFOX not a therapeutic or counseling organization." Beyond that, little or nothing should be deemed true or trustworthy, including the statement that "Each year thousands of men, women and teens with unwanted same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality." Neither PFOX nor any of the other Christianist organizations can produce any documentation to back up this claim and what one sees is the same handful of tired "ex-gays for pay" being trotted out to give witness to their alleged conversion. The lack of veracity demonstrated by PFOX is to be expected since as Ex-Gay Watch has reported it was founded by Family Research Council, which in turn was founded by Daddy Dobson. Here are some highlights from Truth Wins Out that address the false statements put out by PFOX in reaction to the Washington Post story on 15-year-old Saro who I did a post about a little over a week ago:

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On its website, PFOX expressed its displeasure with The Washington Post for publishing what it called “a sympathetic article about a 15-year-old boy named Saro who described his homosexual feelings and how Gay Straight Alliance student clubs help such gay teens to deal with discrimination and bullying in high school and middle school.” . . . [PFOX claimed that] Research has shown that the risk of suicide decreases by 20% each year that a person delays homosexual or bisexual self-labeling.* Early self-identification is dangerous to kids.”

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Dr. Remafedi’s study was the one cited by PFOX to back their unfounded conclusions. Today, Dr. Reamafedi [pictured above] released the following comments to Truth Wins Out:

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“My work has been cited by PFOX in response to a Washington Post article on gay-straight alliances (GSA),” wrote Dr. Remafedi. “PFOX misuses one of my studies on suicide attempts in gay youth to argue that people should not identify their sexual orientation at young ages. Our findings do not support the contention that young people choose their identity or the timing of events in identity formation. Nor is there any evidence that the availability of GSAs influences those developmental processes.”

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PFOX, as well as Focus on the Family, distorted his findings to make the case that young people should not learn about homosexuality because they were sexually confused, and could thus be influenced by educational material. Last year, several researchers held Dobson accountable for misrepresenting their work. Letters and videos from these scientists can be viewed at www.RespectMyResearch.org.

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Based upon my own interactions with Peter LaBarbera, Robert Knight, Stephen Bennett, and others with a vested - think FINANCIAL interest - in maintaining the ex-gay myth, if their lips are moving or they are typing a presentation, the safest assumption is that they are lying, they know they are lying, and that they have no regard for the truth and honesty and do not care that they are lying. They are, in my opinion, utterly disgusting people, not to mention false Christians.