Apr 13, 2010
Gay & Lesbian Community Confronts Paid “Ex-Gays” In Colorado Springs Vanguard Church
Vanguard Church, a bastion of christian hate in Colorado Springs, hosted a discussion between volunteers from the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center and paid “ex-gay” employees of the international corporate christian hate groups Focus on the Family and Exodus International.
The paid “ex-gays” took the stage seeking to legitimize their bosses discredited corrective therapy “cures” and homohate agenda. The local Gay and Lesbian panel members volunteering from Colorado Springs provided the 900 congregants of Vanguard in attendance a refreshing and unbiased glimpse into the normal everyday life of Gay and Lesbian people.
The contrast was dramatic! The paid “ex-gays” regurgitated their emotionless testimonial of personal homosexual molestation and salvation through corrective therapy and prayer. The local volunteers representing the small but enthusiastic Gay and Lesbian community in Colorado Springs simply talked about their very normal and happy lives. The crowd seemed shocked that those “drowning in the homosexual lifestyle” could actually be well adjusted and happy members of society.
Panelists were on their best behavior Monday during a public discussion on homosexuality at Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs.
But it wasn’t all wine and roses.
Former gay Jayson Graves told about 900 people in attendance that heterosexual relationships offer what “no other type of relationship can,” thereby implying that same-sex relationships are inferior.
The Rev. Wes Mullins, who is gay, dismissed the notion often trumpeted by Focus on the Family, one of the sponsors of the event, that a bad father figure is a potent force in making people gay.
That’s an “old story that should be over by now,” Mullins said.
But, in general, Vanguard’s 90-minute “Homosexuality” round table, presented as part of its annual “Community Discussion” series, was about allowing Christian gays and ex-gays to share their stories and find common ground.
Three main issues divide the gay community from many Bible-believing Christians. First, are people born gay, or do they become gay through environmental factors? Second, is trying to change one’s sexual preference psychologically harmful? Third, is being gay a sin in the Judeo-Christian sense?
Prior to the event, it was decided that the panel discussion wouldn’t become a debate. Even so, through their stories, some of the six panelists took a stand on the polarizing issues.
The panelists representing the gay viewpoint were Bill Oliver, head of the local chapter of gay advocacy group Integrity; Mullins, pastor of Pikes Peak Metropolitan Church in the Springs; and Springs psychotherapist Dara Hoffman.
The ex-gay group consisted of Graves, a Vanguard Church counselor; Jeff Johnston of Focus on the Family; and Vanguard member David Vetter.
The event focused on the stories of the six panelists, followed by a short question-and-answer session with the audience.
Oliver said during his talk that he never struggled with being gay and Christian, but he did wrestle with accepting his sexuality in a heterosexual world.
“Trust me, if being gay was a choice, it’s not the choice I would have made,” Oliver said. “However, it’s the person I am. It’s the person God made me most authentically to be.”
Oliver said he’s a sinner, but not because he’s gay. “I believe the great challenge for me is not who we love, but whether we love,” he said.
Vetter told of his being molested as a child by a caregiver and of being attracted to other teenagers in high school. “In college, I realized I was definitely gay,” he said.
But Vetter no longer considers himself gay, and he says his Christian faith and help from friends at Vanguard are a big reason why.
Both Mullins and Graves spoke of reparative therapy, a controversial program that attempts to cure people of same-sex attraction through counseling and workshops. Graves claimed that the form he received was successful, while Mullins criticized any form of reparative therapy.
Security was heavy at the event and included uniformed Colorado Springs police officers.
But everyone was respectful of the panelists, even as they expressed competing views.
“Loving means a lot of things,” Graves said in response to an audience question about the different opinions expressed, “and one of those things is to listen (to one another).”
In addition to Focus on the Family, the event was sponsored by Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Colorado Springs Independent.
Here is some biographical information on two of the three paid “ex-gays” on the panel. The third, David Vetter, is simply a self loathing Gay who jumps on the “ex-gay” wagon only long enough to satisfy his minister then promptly falls off.
Jayson Graves runs Healing for the Soul, a corrective therapy ministry, and is a board member of the international terrorist group Exodus International. Exodus International board members recently lobbied the Ugandan Parliament to include the death penalty for Gays and Lesbians who do not convert to heterosexuality. Exodus and it’s members ministries are directly responsible for millions of Gay and Lesbian deaths by perpetuating the lie that sexual orientation is changeable.
**Corrective therapy includes electro aversion therapy (electrodes attached to the testicles) for Gays and corrective rape for Lesbians. Every accredited psychological and medical organization in America agrees that sexual orientation is fixed and cannot be changed. Exodus International and their sadistic christian therapists are torturing and raping Gay and Lesbian teens throughout the world. Many countries have outlawed these barbaric corrective therapy techniques but unfortunately Exodus International still finds plenty of rich and desperate parents seeking to “cure” their Gay or Lesbian child.
Jeff Johnston, an employee of Focus on the Family, pushes the destructive lie that Gays and Lesbians are made when children are molested by homosexual predators. This completely discredited lie has been used by Focus on the Family for 30 years to push violence and discrimination against the Gay and Lesbian community.
**By repeating the lie that Gays and Lesbians are raping and recruiting children Focus on the Family successfully created a link between the healthy, normal homosexual and criminally repugnant child molesting pedophiles. This is done to transfer our societies hatred towards pedophiles onto the Gay and Lesbian community. Focus on the Family has made billions in tax free donations over the past 30 years defending christian children against the nonexistent evil homosexual pedophile.
Personally I do not feel that the Gay and Lesbian community should ever share a stage with the destructive and violent “ex-gay” movement. “Ex-gays” do not exist…this is clearly shown by the fact that the only “ex-gays” they could come up with are paid by christian hate groups to be “ex-gays”.
Focus on the Family and Exodus International are responsible for millions of Gay and Lesbian deaths as well as the on going oppression our community struggles with daily.
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