PFOX Writes to Hillary Clinton Complaining About Discrimination...No, Really

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), the Virginia based "ex-gay" group is playing victim once again. In a letter to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, PFOX asks that anti- ex-gay discrimination be included in the State Department's human rights report to the United Nations. Apparently Mayor Fenty's tepid apology for honoring PFOX was just too much to bear. Note that Mr. Fenty did not ask for the certificate to be returned.

PFOX is not a benign organization. It does not seek to help anyone and its practices are widely considered harmful by medical and psychological organizations. Truth Wins Out, a group that exposes the fraud and malicious activities of ex-gay groups had this to say about PFOX:

PFOX is a dangerous organization that promotes reparative therapy, a fringe practice rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization in the nation. Attempts to change sexual orientation are condemned by the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association and The American Academy of Pediatrics.

PFOX’s is an irresponsible organization that potentially places children in harms way. The organization’s speaker’s bureau is run by Arthur Abba Goldberg, a former Wall Street criminal mastermind who was sent to prison in 1987 for committing bond fraud. PFOX’s former President, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for malpractice.

PFOX is a political front group founded by the Family Research Council in an effort to use so-called “ex-gays” to lobby in favor of discriminatory laws. The group’s first executive director, Anthony Falzarano regularly smeared gay people claiming, without supporting evidence, that, “70-percent of homosexuals are molested as children.” He also said on CBS News that, “AIDS comes directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”

PFOX makes some wild claims in their letter, spelling and grammatical errors are in the original:

The D.C. Office of Human Rights refused to extend the District’s sexual orientation non-discrimination law to former homosexuals, therefore making ex-gays the only group of people denied public accommodations in the Nation’s Capitol.

Consequently, PFOX sued the D.C. Office of Human Rights last year, which resulted in ex-gays being recognized as a protected class under D.C.’s Human Rights Act. The court ruled against the District Government and held that the Human Rights Act does not require immutable characteristics for sexual orientation status so that ex-gays are entitled to the same legal protections that gays currently enjoy. See Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, Inc. v. Government of the District Office of Human Rights, 2008CA003662 (June 26, 2009).

Let's take this one slowly. D.C. doesn't have a "sexual orientation non-discrimination law." No one does. The idea is absurd. Human rights laws cover a range of categories, and the District does have a Human Rights Act. Only 21 states and the District protect people from discrimination in public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation.

This law, first passed in 1973, states:

"Sexual orientation" means male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality, by preference or practice.

So what then does it mean to be ex-gay? If you are a former homosexual, then you are presumably heterosexual by preference or practice. Heterosexuals are already covered under the law. Perhaps you are still homosexual, either by preference or practice. You are covered again. Maybe you prefer to be heterosexual, but you are still homosexual by practice. Yep, still covered. Perhaps you, as an ex-gay man are having sex with that ex-lesbian, and still getting out to the gay bars. We'll call you bisexual by practice. You are still covered. So what can ex-gay mean? Some freaky other worldly orientation? No just run-of-the-mill sexual orientation, covered by the existing law.

PFOX fails to mention that they lost the court case, referenced in their letter above, against the D.C. Office of Human Rights and the National Education Association (NEA). The court found that ex-gays fall within the current definition of sexual orientation, but that is not relevant since the NEA didn't discriminate against PFOX, they merely excluded a group that they disagreed with. Judge Ross wrote, “Indeed, the HRA would not require NEA to accept an application from the Ku Klux Klan or a group viewed by the NEA as anti-labor union or racist.” So ex-gays were not at any time denied public accommodation in D.C. This was GLAA's position in 2003 when the issue first arose.

The PFOX letter continues:

Nonetheless, at the behest of gay organizations, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty apologized for issuing a certificate of appreciation to the PFOX leadership. This kind of intolerance against ex-gays occurs all across this country. Each year thousands of men and women with unwanted same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality via non-judgmental environments. Their decision is one only they can make. However, there are others in society who refuse to respect individual self-determination. Consequently, formerly gay men and women are reviled simply because they dare to exist.

Mayor Fenty's spokesperson apologized because the certificate of appreciation should never have been issued in the first place. Adrian Fenty does not in any way support PFOX's hateful and dishonest views. This is not intolerance. This is the rejection of an extremist political view that is unsupported by reality. It isn't intolerance when someone disagrees with you. It isn't intolerance when the Mayor apologizes for his office erroneously accepting your request for ceremonial honor. Expressing political views is at the heart of the First Amendment, and GLAA has defended PFOX's First Amendment rights.

PFOX continues:

Due to media indifference, many Americans are unaware of the widespread intolerance practiced against those who leave homosexuality:

• Unlike gay groups, ex-gay groups like PFOX are routinely denied equal access to participate in public school events, donate books to public school libraries, and present speakers on diversity day.
• Transgenders and cross-dressers are affirmed for changing their gender but former homosexuals are ridiculed for making the decision to change their sexual orientation.
• Ex-gay conferences and seminars across the country are frequently picketed by anti-ex-gay protestors.
• Presidential candidate Barack Obama was criticized by gay activists for allowing ex-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to sing at a fundraiser. They insisted that Obama drop the African-American singer from the program. No other singers received this treatment.
• Harvard University conducted two separate investigations against employee Larry Houston because he discussed his former homosexuality on campus.
• Equality Virginia demanded that Washington DC Metro remove PFOX’s subway billboards advocating tolerance for ex-gays.
• An ex-gay volunteer staffing PFOX’s exhibit booth at the Arlington County, Virginia Fair was physically assaulted because he refused to recant his ex-gay testimony.

The list is endless because intolerance against the ex-gay community occurs continually. This irrational phobia of those who have overcome unwanted same-sex attractions perpetuates misunderstanding and harm against the ex-gay community. It also demonstrates a disregard for diversity and a refusal to respect a basic human right to dignity and self-determination.

Oh, poor pitiful me. If only ex-gays received the same wonderful love and respect that gay and transgender people get. Amanda Hess at the City Paper wrote a wonderful article about the ex-gays, PFOX, and their litany of woes, "The Ex-Gay Movement That Wasn't." Among their other fabrications, Ms. Hess discovers that there aren't any ex-gays. Just hateful people pushing an anti-gay agenda.

The letter concludes:

Please include the ex-gay community in your report to the United Nations. No report on human rights in the United States can be complete without mention of the status of former homosexuals.

Sincerely,

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays

Frankly, PFOX needs to be included in the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups. We can at least be assured that Mrs. Clinton will not take PFOX at face value. I only hope that she has more alert staff than Mayor Fenty.