A new documentary, The Cure for Love, explores a discreet network of ex-gay ministries throughout Canada.

According to Xtra.ca, “The documentary follows the lives of people on the inside of the movement: a pastor who runs an online youth forum, a robotics engineer who considered suicide, and Brian and Ana — two people who married last year after they ‘reoriented.’”

The documentary, produced by Christina Willings, premieres Saturday, April 12, on Canada’s Global TV.

Addendum: Here’s an interview with Christina Willings, published by the National Film Board of Canada.

Focus on the Family admitted today that Canadian Bill C-250 has caused it to alter its Canadian antigay propaganda.

Bill C-250 added penalties to the Criminal Code of Canada for inciting hatred or encouraging genocide of people on the basis of sexual orientation, in addition to race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, color, and disability.

The law states that no one may be convicted if:

(a) if he establishes that the statements communicated were true;
(b) if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text;
(c) if the statements were relevant to any subject of public interest, the discussion of which was for the public benefit, and if on reasonable grounds he believed them to be true; or
(d) if, in good faith, he intended to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters producing or tending to produce feelings of hatred toward an identifiable group in Canada.

The key defense is (a): Speech may not be punished if it’s true.

And that has been a problem for Focus on the Family, which — its critics allege — has persistently relied in the United States upon sweeping, unfounded, and malicious falsehoods about the behavior and values of same-sex-attracted persons as a class.

Today, Focus communications operative Gary Booker told WorldNetDaily:

“In particular, our content producers are careful not to make generalized statements nor comments that may be perceived as ascribing malicious intent to a ‘group’ of people and are always careful to treat even those who might disagree with us with respect,” Gary Booker, director of global content creation for Focus, told WorldNetDaily.com.

“Occasionally, albeit very rarely, some content is identified that, while acceptable for airing in the U.S. would not be acceptable under Canadian law and is therefore edited or omitted in Canada.”

In the United States, the First Amendment to the Constitution has acted as a bar against similar legislation.

An antigay outfit called Life Productions aired a Canadian TV ex-gay ad featuring a man with no name, no history, no evidence of a sexual orientation, and no explanation of how he “changed.”

In the ad, the mystery man claims that his (somewhat dubious) existence is proof that people can “change,” but he offers viewers no guidance on how or where to change. Instead, he implies that the recognition of gay persons’ equality under the law somehow threatens the public’s ability to learn about no-name people like him.

Since no guidance is offered in the ad, nor on Life Productions’ web site, the ad appears to be a ploy by Life Productions to collect personal information from troubled individuals without guarantees of privacy nor promises that the information won’t be shared with antigay political organizations. Worse, presumably troubled individuals are told by the web site’s contact form that “due to high volumes of mail we regret we cannot answer everyone.”

After an initial airing on CTV, Canada’s largest private broadcaster, a Facebook campaign last week persuaded the network to revisit the ad. Its issue advocacy and implicit approval of discrimination were found to violate the network’s ethical standards, and CTV withdrew the ad.

Critics of the ex-gay political movement sometimes observe that successful ex-gays rarely seem to exist as real people with real names — except when they are paid political hacks of the religious right. Critics also observe that the movement commits more resources to politics than to helping people with specific paths to “change.”

This ad unwittingly fuels critics’ arguments.

Hat tip: XGW