Focus on the Family Caught in a Pack of Homophobic Lies

Posted by Guest Blogger at 12:00 PM on July 5, 2007.

This post, written by Pam Spaulding, originally appeared on Pam's House Blend

What's new, you ask? This time, the James Dobson-headed anti-gay propaganda political machine stepped in it with its CitizenLink "coverage" of the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference, which occurred Friday, June 29 to Sunday, July 1.

Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin and David Roberts of Ex-Gay Watch reported last week that Daddy D's organization was making sh*t up has acquired the ability to predict the future. From the CitizenLink story:

The [Exodus] meeting, which began Tuesday and wraps up Sunday, has drawn close to 1,000 people -- and no protesters so far. Across town, a counter-conference drew about 100 people. Thomas and Exodus President Alan Chambers are working to set up talks with the other conference leaders.

Uh, the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference started on Friday. Once caught in the lie, CitizenLink associate editor Jennifer Mesko lied again. Jim:

Well, they don't like being called out as liars, so they are trying to defend their report. But CitizenLink associate editor Jennifer Mesko ends up digging the hole even deeper:

The article I wrote on Thursday included this line about the Exodus conference: "The meeting, which began Tuesday and wraps up Sunday, has drawn close to 1,000 people -- and no protesters so far. Across town, a counter-conference drew about 100 people."

Apparently miffed at the reference to "100 people," [Ex-Gay Watch's David] Roberts accused me of "supplying attendance figures seemingly out of thin air." But I got the numbers from reliable people who attended both conferences -- although their thinness is not a matter of record. [emphasis mine]

You see, she's lying again. She admits that she wrote the article Thursday. That's June 28th by my calendar. The conference didn't start until Friday June 29th. I should know. I actually did attend both conferences, but I couldn't say that until the evening of the twenty-ninth -- more than twenty-four hours after her miraculous past-tense reporting.

David's response:

Skipping the idea that I was miffed over the number itself, how can Ms. Mesko truthfully claim that "reliable people" had attended a conference which would not start until the next evening? Is this honest reporting? She even admits to having received the correction request from Soulforce yet still she did nothing to fix it.

...How did her "reliable people" attend and report on the attendance of a conference that was not there? And one must also ask, how many other reports on CitizenLink use equally "reliable sources"?

Homobigots...busted.

***

Also, Dan Gonzales at BTB has more interviews with ex-ex-gays who attended the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference. Each told of how they sincerely went into these programs believing they could be "cured" of their homosexuality. And in each case they realized it simply didn't work.

Here's one, with an attendee who tried hard to change, even thinking that he might be falling in love with a wonderful woman as a result of an ex-gay program...but then he found himself in love with a man in the church.

Tagged as: religious right, dobson, focus on the family

Pam Spaulding is the editor and publisher of Pam's House Blend (pamshouseblend.com), honored as "Best LGBT Blog" in the 2005 and 2006 Weblog Awards.