Jun 10, 2005  |  By: DYANA BAGBY  | COMMENTS     

said.

‘We are not anti-gay’
The SPLC also reports that on Oct. 22, 2004, a short time before Election Day, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, told a crowd of supporters of same-sex marriage bans, “Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.”

Melissa Fryear, gender issues analyst for Focus on the Family and a self-described former lesbian, said it was unfair to label the organization as anti-gay.

“We are not anti-gay,” Fryear said. “We stand for traditional marriage between a man and a woman and believe children benefit with a mother and father. We are what we are for and we believe in defending and nurturing our ideals. If people could see us in a larger scope, they would see the face of Focus on the Family is actually compassionate and understanding.”

The organization supports anti-gay policies, she added, in keeping with its core belief system. Fryear is also a former employee of Exodus International, a program for “ex-gays” that is also labeled anti-gay in the Intelligence Report.

In 1998, Focus on the Family introduced its “Love Won Out” program, a conference in which participants listen to speakers including Fryear; Joe Dallas, a former president of Exodus International; and even Nancy Heche, mother of Anne Heche, the ex-girlfriend of Ellen DeGeneres.

“We think there is a crucial difference between a man and woman living as homosexuals versus a national homosexual movement,” Fryear said. “Every person has incomprehensible value, but at times we oppose efforts to legalize or normalize homosexual behavior.”

Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said the personal vilification and the false science used against gay men and lesbians issued by institutions of the religious right are not only hateful, but dangerous.

“It is quite remarkable how they claim to hate the sin but love the sinner. That’s an absurd claim. We have reports that clearly show this kind of rhetoric paves the way to violence,” he said. “Without question, gay men and lesbians are the most attacked group — and the hate crimes toward them are more violent.”

The typical hate crime offender is a white man between the ages of 14 and 21, and offenders often say they are simply acting out the wishes of the larger community, Potok said.

So when Christian leaders spout anti-gay messages and preachers sermonize on the “moral intrinsic evil” o