Ex-gays are concerned they may not be able to talk publicly about their experience if the federal hate crimes legislation becomes law.
From a Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) we learn
"PFOX executive director Regina Griggs said PFOX is particularly concerned about protecting the free-speech rights of former homosexuals to speak out publicly about their experience in changing from gay to straight. Griggs said, “Gay activists actively work to suppress information that ex-gays exist and change is possible. They also claim homosexuality is in every way equivalent to heterosexuality and that people who disagree are ‘bigots’ equivalent to racists.”
Griggs said ex-gays and their supporters are subject to a hostile environment where they are labeled as perpetrators of hate against homosexuals simply because they advocate for or live out a different view of homosexuality."
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PFOX Joins African-American Leaders at Capitol Press Conference To Denounce HR 1592
WASHINGTON DC – Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) has joined Bishop Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and other African-American leaders and former homosexuals to publicly oppose what they call a “thought police bill” – the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007” (H.R. 1592 and S. 1002).
According to PFOX, the bill threatens free speech and classifies certain people worthy of extra protection under the law based on sexual orientation (which fails to specifically include ex-gays) and gender identity (which includes transsexualism and transvestism, both defined as mental disorders by the American Psychiatric Association). PFOX families love all of their children equally, whether homosexual or heterosexual. But this bill divides families by elevating the status of one child over another.
Introduced by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the bill provides for additional sentencing penalties for any criminal act that is motivated by bias against a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, among other factors.
PFOX and the High Impact Leadership Coalition spoke out last week at a press conference on Capitol Hill. PFOX president Paul Rondeau said, “This bill adds a whole new class of crime to federal statute – what the person may have been thinking when he committed the crime.” Rondeau and Jackson pointed out that in countries where similar hate-crime legislation has passed – specifically Australia, Canada and Sweden – religious leaders have been criminally charged and sentenced to jail time for preaching against homosexual behavior, along with heterosexual immorality, from the pulpit.
PFOX executive director Regina Griggs said PFOX is particularly concerned about protecting the free-speech rights of former homosexuals to speak out publicly about their experience in changing from gay to straight. Griggs said, “Gay activists actively work to suppress information that ex-gays exist and change is possible. They also claim homosexuality is in every way equivalent to heterosexuality and that people who disagree are ‘bigots’ equivalent to racists.”
Griggs said ex-gays and their supporters are subject to a hostile environment where they are labeled as perpetrators of hate against homosexuals simply because they advocate for or live out a different view of homosexuality.
“This bill seeks to punish intolerance, but instead legislates hatred against ex-gays and provides gay activists the legal means for justification of intolerance against the ex-gay community and their friends,” Griggs said. “The bill serves to protect non-heterosexuals over heterosexuals while ignoring former transgenders who have undergone reversal surgery and former homosexuals.”
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays is a non-profit support, education and outreach organization that encourages unconditional love within families that are touched by homosexuality, and that works to advance societal understanding and acceptance of the reality of sexual orientation change and those who have experienced it.
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For information on hate against ex-gays, read: http://pfox.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=92
For the personal story of a former transgender, read: http://pfox.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49
This news advisory is available online at: http://pfox.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=176
