I’d love to know what PFOX’s Regina Griggs is so afraid of?
What is she hiding?
It seems that she may be the only Executive Director of a non-profit in America that has no public photograph. I find it shady and suspicious that she dodges cameras and tries to conceal her identity. There are fugitives with an easier to find profile and photo.
Is there something that she is not telling us? Is she simply ashamed to be shown publicly, given PFOX’s heinous lies?
If she is going to run a grotesque propaganda campaign, she has a moral duty to come out of the shadows.
There is a brochure on the website of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) that says,”Get Smart, Get The Facts”. Unfortunately, PFOX is fact averse when it comes to accepting that the District of Columbia has rescinded a certificate supposedly honoring the “ex-gay” organization.
On April 28, 2010, a controversy erupted after it was discovered that Adrian Fenty, then the mayor of Washington, D.C., inadvertently signed a “Certificate of Appreciation” for radical PFOX activist Regina Griggs. An ecstatic PFOX plastered the certificate prominently on its website. According to a gushing PFOX press release:
The government of the District of Columbia has awarded a certificate of appreciation to Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). The certificate, signed by D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, recognizes Griggs for her “dedication, commitment, and outstanding contributions as Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.”
“Regina’s award is well-deserved,” said Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays. PFOX presented the award to Griggs last week in honor of her ten years of volunteer service to parents and the ex-gay community.
Like most everything with PFOX, the dust-up was a combination of grandstanding and smoke and mirrors. As for the certificate, it was essentially meaningless — no more than a perfunctory piece of paper signed by auto pen that virtually anyone could attain with minimal effort.
Nevertheless, PFOX deceptively pretended that the paper was a significant achievement that conferred the endorsement of the DC government. (Yes, the group’s actions are truly as desperate and pathetic as they sound.)
Upon learning that PFOX had received the lame piece of paper and was misrepresenting it as a real accomplishment, the mayor’s office took back the “honor”. The mayor’s office released a statement saying:
“A staff level error was made when the request for the certificate in question was fulfilled. We apologize for the error as it runs contrary to the Mayor’s vision of a more open and inclusive city.”
This very public and humiliating spanking occurred in April 2010. Yet, PFOX still has the certificate proudly displayed on its website.
Clearly, PFOX is an untrustworthy and unscrupulous organization with few morals and little regard for truth. If the group had one scintilla of integrity, it would have taken the certificate down from its site in April. Yet, the group continues to misrepresent itself and mislead the public — including potential clients in which it is trying to hawk expensive “ex-gay” snake oil cures.
To view the rescinded certificate, please visit the PFOX website and scroll down to the right hand corner.
Ironically, PFOX was allowed into the World Bank program as a DC-based charity*, even as it blatantly continues to defy the will of the DC government and parades a certificate that it was plainly told was invalid.
It is impossible to shame PFOX, because the group is shameless.
** PFOX is also fudging its DC credentials in its attempt to access taxpayer money through the World Bank. In reality, PFOX is not even close to DC. Its headquarters is in Reedville, VA — 127 miles and a two hour and forty minute drive southeast of the nation’s capitol. To be listed as a charity an organziation has to have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.” No one familiar with the workings of this group can claim that PFOX has but minimal ties to the District.
TWO Pledges To Help Educate The World Bank About PFOX’s Record of Hate and Harm
NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out today praised the World Bank’s plan to eliminate matching funds for the “ex-gay” hate group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), and called it a “positive step in the right direction.” The bank took this extraordinary step after learning more about PFOX’s reprehensible record and strong objections from staff who were upset PFOX had been included on the World Bank’s list of approved charities.
“We are grateful that the World Bank ensured that taxpayers will not be subsidizing PFOX’s anti-gay campaign,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We pledge to continue educating the World Bank on this vital issue. The more they learn about PFOX’s history of hate and harm, the less likely they will consider PFOX a legitimate charity.”
Last week, Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner discovered that a small number of anti-gay staff-members at the World Bank had recommended PFOX as a charity for this year’s Community Connections Campaign. World Bank matching funds were to be given to the chosen charities. Depending on the level of employee participation, the bank’s matching funds are either 50 percent or 100 percent of the employee donations.
Truth Wins Out and Change.org launched an online petition to drop PFOX from the list of charities. World Bank staff also made a persuasive case against using taxpayer funds to assist PFOX. The World Bank decided to take another look at PFOX and elected to change their guidelines. According to the new rules:
Bank-matching funds will be provided to those organizations that have, through prior participation, established a track record of support with staff. Organizations that have come on the list this year will not be offered matching funds in this year’s campaign, though the Bank will match any contribution that has been made to this latter group prior to today, November 15, 2010. We will review the new organizations after one year, to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match in the FY12 campaign.
Truth Wins Out preferred that PFOX be completely dropped from the list this year, but is satisfied with this interim measure that starves the hate group of taxpayer funds. In 2011, TWO will disseminate key information to World Bank staff and management to ensure they are aware of PFOX’s dubious record.
“It is a shame that other first time charitable organizations will have to suffer because of PFOX’s unseemly presence,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “Sadly, the PFOX baby is so toxic that the bathwater had to be flushed to avoid contaminating the entire program’s reputation.”
In August, two key members of PFOX spoke at the “Truth Academy”. The conference was hosted by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality’s founder Peter LaBarbera, whose website was listed as an official “hate site” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
At the Truth Academy, PFOX Board President Greg Quinlan raised eyebrows with an offensive speech. Quinlan explained how he allegedly went from gay-to-straight, and found support from an Assemblies of God Church that accepted him because he allegedly was not effeminate.
“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan told the chuckling crowd. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”
At the same conference, Arthur Abba Goldberg, the convicted Wall Street thief who runs PFOX’s speakers bureau, demonstrated PFOX’s unscientific use of stereotypes.
“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Abba Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”
“PFOX is a dangerous organization that traffics in ugly slurs and crass stereotypes,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “Given PFOX’s level of vitriol, it would seem reckless and irresponsible to give this group charitable status in the future.”
PFOX’s former board President is Richard Cohen, who still serves as the “therapy” guru of the organization. Cohen runs the International Healing Foundation and sent his protégé, Caleb Lee Brundidge, to Uganda. The result of his visit was the introduction of the deadly and draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association on March 23, 2002 for multiple ethics violations.
PFOX is an anti-gay political organization founded in 1998 by Anthony Falzarano with the help of an $80,000 Family Research Council grant. Falzarano once called University of Wyoming hate crime victim Matthew Shepard a “predator to heterosexual men.” He also said on CBS News that, “AIDS comes directly from Satan. He uses homosexuals as pawns and then he kills them.”
“PFOX likes to claim that they ‘love’ LGBT people,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “But their syrupy rhetoric does not match their record, nor reality. From the moment this organization was founded, it showed open hostility and extreme animus towards LGBT people.”
There are also lingering questions as to whether PFOX should have been listed as a charity, given that to be included in the World Bank’s Community Outreach Program, an organization is required to have, “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.”
PFOX fails to fulfill the criteria. The organization is based in Reedville, VA — placing PFOX 127 miles — and a two hour and forty minute drive — southeast of the nation’s capitol. PFOX also does not list any legitimate chapters in DC or Virginia. The only “contact” e-mail listed in DC or VA is that of the national organization based in Reedville.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.
The World Bank won’t decertify antigay parents group PFOX as a beneficiary of employee charity, but the Bank won’t match employee donations to the antifamily organization, either — for now.
Metro Weekly reported last week that the bank — part of a multibillion-dollar international foreign-aid institution that is governed by its 187 member countries, with significant influence from the world’s economic superpowers — had admitted Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays to the bank’s Community Connections Campaign. The Campaign matches employees donations to a list of authorized charities that claim to serve employees’ local communities.
The World Bank Group employs approximately 8,000 workers at its headquarters (pictured) in Washington, D.C. These staffers may choose the CCC as a means for automatic charitable donations from their paychecks. PFOX, however, has no documented ex-gay constituency in the D.C. area and, despite Bank requirements, provides no inclusive charitable services.
The Bank’s legitimization of a group that abuses youth and parents with discredited diagnoses and damaging “treatments” for homosexuality prompted protests and petitions by Truth Wins Out and other ex-gay watchdogs. One anonymous bank LGBT staffer complained:
“If a charitable association supporting female genital mutilation, a pro-life organization or an association claiming it can turn black people white had wiggled its way in the CCC, The Bank’s management would have removed it immediately and issued an apology.”
No such removal is yet forthcoming. Indeed, the Bank has claimed that “diversity” is the reason why an antigay, pro-bully group was added to a charity list that includes the pro-equality parental support group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
While PFLAG is a legitimate support group for parents, with support from the mental-health community, PFOX is anything but.
As Truth Wins Out notes, a former PFOX board member, Richard Cohen (who still serves as a therapy guru to the organization), was intimately involved in efforts to create legislation in Uganda that would punish homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment. Furthermore, the director of PFOX’s Speakers Bureau, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for bilking poor communities with bond schemes. And PFOX has also had its tactics condemned by the worldwide psychological and medical profession, with leaders from the organization being thrown out of professional groups such as the American Counseling Association for violating ethical protocols.
According to TBD.com writer Amanda Hess, a Community Connections Fund rep wrote to one concerned employee that, despite the Bank’s supposed commitment to a safe workplace, “it does mirror society and so there are staff with many differing viewpoints to accommodate which makes for a delicate balancing act” in the Bank’s charitable policies. Hence, inclusive pro-safety charities are to be balanced by exclusive pro-harassment groups with no demonstrated charitable purpose.
The Bank’s only concession thus far is a newly announced probationary period in which the CCC prrogram’s list of faux charities prove their popularity — not their integrity — with Bank staff. According to an internal memo obtained by Hess:
For this year’s Community Connections Campaign, Bank-matching funds will be provided to those organizations that have, through prior participation, established a track record of support with staff. Organizations that have come on the list this year will not be offered matching funds in this year’s campaign, though the Bank will match any contribution that has been made to this latter group prior to today, November 15 2010. We will review the new organizations after one year, to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match in the FY12 campaign.
Since the Bank management in D.C. is violating its own charitable policies and disrespecting respect human rights in its employee-charity campaign, pressure may have to be applied not only to Bank management, but also to key foreign representatives to the bank. Political pressure from Washington-area local political leaders has also proven helpful in the past.
Disclosure: The writer, Mike Airhart, is a former staff assistant of the World Bank Group.
Does the World Bank think that your sexual orientation can be cured? Well, maybe not officially, but that’s not stopping the World Bank from funneling money to an organization that not only tries to convert people from homosexuality to heterosexuality, but also has ties to Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill. Perhaps the World Bank is adjusting their mission statement: “Working for a World Free of Poverty … and Free of Gay People.”
As Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner writes, the World Bank has allowed a controversial ex-gay group — Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) — to join the ranks of its Community Outreach Program, a workplace-giving campaign that allows employees of the World Bank to give money to an organization, and have that money matched by a contribution from the World Bank. Depending on how many employees decide to give money to PFOX, the World Bank will give anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent in a matching donation.
Which means that in the months ahead, the World Bank will be giving money directly to an organization that believes homosexuality can be cured. On top of that, as Truth Wins Out notes, a former PFOX board member, Richard Cohen (who still serves as a therapy guru to the organization), was intimately involved in efforts to create legislation in Uganda that would punish homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment.
And it gets even shadier. The director of PFOX’s Speakers Bureau, Abba Goldberg, is a convicted felon who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for bilking poor communities with bond schemes. And PFOX has also had its tactics condemned by the worldwide psychological and medical profession, with leaders from the organization being thrown out of professional groups like the American Counseling Association for violating ethical protocols.
Wow, if the World Bank is willing to lend credence to an organization like PFOX, what does it say about their overall credibility? For the World Bank, it looks like corporate social responsibility equals corporate endorsement of curing gay people.
What’s also particularly troubling about the World Bank’s endorsement of PFOX is that it looks like the Bank made an exception in order to squeeze PFOX under its Community Outreach Program guidelines. Under those guidelines, a qualifying organization is supposed to have “a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area.” But a 2009 report by the Washington City Paper revealed that PFOX has no presence in D.C.; moreover, the organization’s headquarters are in Reedville, Virginia — a whopping 127 miles from Washington, D.C.
“It is factually incorrect to say that PFOX has a ‘substantial local presence in DC’”, said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Either PFOX is committing fraud against the World Bank, or they are receiving special rights from the organization and inexplicably allowed to pass as a local organization.”
The World Bank has some serious explaining to do, Lucy. Of course, if you listen to World Bank spokespeople, they say that their support of PFOX shouldn’t be considered an endorsement of PFOX’s work. And if you believe that, I think there’s a bridge in Alaska that’s for sale, too.
“‘Because Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) met the minimum criteria for inclusion on the Community Connections campaign, they were included this year,” said a spokesperson for the World Bank, according to Metro Weekly. Ah, such bureaucratic speak for such a serious issue.
Send the World Bank a message that their decision to include PFOX in the Community Outreach Program is as offensive as it is tactless. This is an organization that uses manipulation and discredited psychological tactics to “cure” people of their sexual orientation, has ties to an anti-gay bill in Uganda that could wipe out an entire population of gay people, and who has a leadership that includes people with shady criminal ties. Is that really the type of “charity” the World Bank wants to lend credence to?
Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner has discovered that Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays – PFOX – will soon be able to say that its programming is supported by funding provided to it by the World Bank.
As part of the World Bank’s efforts to ”strengthen communities,” the Community Outreach Program coordinates an annual workplace-giving campaign that includes World Bank matching funds given to various community groups and international nonprofits. Depending on the level of employee participation, the bank’s matching funds are either 50 percent or 100 percent of the employee donations.
Requirements include that the organization be incorporated as a ”not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization,” have ”a substantial local presence in the Greater Washington metropolitan area,” prepare ”an annual IRS Form 990” and adhere to a few other general provisions. The materials also note that the organization must ”[o]bserve and practice a policy of inclusivity and equal opportunity.”
PFOX supports so-called ”conversion” therapy – by which people who identify as gay attempt to become ex-gay – and the National Association for Reparative Therapy (NARTH), specifically.
One of the few videos on the PFOX YouTube channel is a video of an interview with former NARTH president Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. Another shows a televised debate between PFOX’s Peter Sprigg and Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen, who has been writing about the ex-gay organizations for more than a decade.
Besen told Metro Weekly on Wednesday afternoon, ”It’s as sickening as it is scandalous.”
Besen said that the former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen – who Besen described as ”the guru of the organization to this day” – runs the International Healing Foundation and ”sent his protégé to Uganda – and what came from that was the Anti-Homosexuality Bill” that has been the subject of intense worldwide scrutiny and criticism.
”Here’s this group that is tied to what can only be described as an eliminationist campaign, worldwide, against gay people,” Besen said, ”and they’re receiving money from the World Bank?”
The American Psychological Association has studied efforts to help people change their sexual orientation, resulting in a 2009 resolution concluding that ”there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation.”
The resolution went on to ”encourage mental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation when providing assistance to individuals distressed by their own or others’ sexual orientation.”
PFOX, however, describes its mission on its website by stating that, ”Each year thousands of men, women and teens with unwanted same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality.
”However, there are those who refuse to respect that decision,” the site tells visitors. ”Consequently, formerly gay persons are reviled simply because they dare to exist! Without PFOX, ex-gays would have no voice in a hostile environment.”
Besen, though, said of the World Bank’s inclusion of PFOX in its campaign, ”It’s unbelievable that they’re putting forth a group that is rejected by every mental health organization out there. This is not a charity – or, is only in the most technical terms – this is a group that’s not designed to help people, but to hurt them.”
Besen said that PFOX’s inclusion in the campaign could raise questions about the World Bank’s commitment to diversity – both in its workforce and in its programs.
”I think it undermines the World Bank’s claim to be a group that cares about diversity, and it really makes all of their programs suspect,” he said.
The World Bank spokesperson disagreed, writing, ”The World Bank Group is committed to a diverse staff, offering Domestic Partner benefits to same sex couples, including for health coverage, for over 10 years.”
He added that the World Bank ”was the first international financial institution to offer health care insurance coverage for same sex couples.
Besen noted that the move has implications for PFOX as well. ”I think what it also does with PFOX – they’re actually using the World Bank and exploiting them and their reputation to promote their agenda. And the World Bank shouldn’t fall for it.”
As for the next steps, Besen said that the World Bank ”shouldn’t endorse this whatsoever. They shouldn’t hide behind technicalities. Hatred is hatred.
”They should make an example of it. Say, this is not – PFOX does not represent our values.”
The World Bank spokesperson, however, told Metro Weekly only that ”Community Connections has made clear that they will take the views of staff, including GLOBE, in their consideration of what charities will be included next year.”
In an off-the-wall presentation at Peter LaBarbera’s (aka Porno Pete) “Truth Academy” in suburban Illinois on Thursday, so-called former homosexual Greg Quinlan discussed how he allegedly left homosexuality. Quinlan is the current President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) and the founder of the Pro-Family Network.
The presentation was packed with misinformation, crude stereotypes and a healthy dose of gay bashing. Quinlan punctuated his sermon by claiming he wasn’t a limp wristed, flaming faggot, even while shining oh-so brightly onstage.
“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know. I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them,” Quinlan said, as the small audience chuckled. (8:00—8:13)
This was an interesting observation by Quinlan, given that he describes during his talk how he walked into an Assemblies of God church with bleach blond hair and a mullet. Yes, he sounds like a paragon of masculinity.
I’m not sure whether to be offended by his comments or feel sorry for a man who is clearly in denial and deeply ashamed about his gender expression. It is sad that Quinlan can’t accept himself and instead has to resort to bashing people who look and sound exactly like he does.
Quinlan’s tale of transformation begins at age 9 when he “received Jesus Christ”. When he was ten years old, a thirteen-year old friend who lived across the street showed him a Playboy and “introduced” him to homosexuality. I can only imagine how this scene played out:
“Homosexuality, meet Greg.”
“Greg, meet homosexuality.”
“Um, Greg, you can stop shaking his hand now.”
As a young man who had just become a nurse, Quinlan claims he was on the verge of suicide, so he decided to “come out.” He dove into the so-called “lifestyle” with gusto and claims to have become an Ohio lobbyist for the Human Rights Campaign Fund (now the Human Rights Campaign).
“They taught me how to do grassroots activism, how to read legislation, how to lobby my elected official…so that’s how I lobbied.”
The only problem with this fantastical story is that no one working for HRC or affiliated with this organization remembers Quinlan’s contributions. When I worked at this organization I checked with our members in Ohio to see if they had lobbied with Quinlan.
Not a single person had any recollection of working with him. So, while it is possible he licked stamps on volunteer night or attended an HRC dinner, he certainly played no major or memorable role in this organization. In effect, Quinlan is pathetically padding his resume to make his tale more attractive to fundamentalist audiences.
Moving along, after allegedly watching more that 100 friends die of AIDS, Quinlan begins to question the “homosexual lifestyle.”
“I was questioning the homosexual lifestyle. It looked like a dead end to me. It looked like something that was so ugly. Here we are, you go to the bar, you hook up, this back and forth stuff, it just seems so shallow. So lust filled, so immature. But I was there and too prideful to do anything about it. So I stayed there for a little while.”
This catapults him on a journey to rediscover his religious roots. Quinlan starts watching Pat Robertson’s 700 Club and The Praise the Lord Network (PTL). One winter evening, a desperate Quinlan calls into one of the televangelist’s shows and becomes closer to God. Soon, he finds an Assemblies of God with a lovely pastor who loudly condemns the “sodomites.”
We will post more on Quinlan’s bizarre speech, but his trite story is Exhibit A of the self-loathing and shame that happens to young gay people when they are “introduced” to harmful religious indoctrination. If Quinlan had not been subjected to such biblical brow beating in his youth, he might have been an entirely different person. Indeed, he might have had dignity and self-respect, while actually being a real lobbyist for the Human Rights Campaign, rather than an imaginary one.
Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is a despicable group of sick individuals who pretend to be loving parents – but the organization really exists to give family members and friends the tools they need to reject their LGBT “loved” ones. Wow, how nice and Christian.
PFOX is best known for threatening frivolous lawsuits against schools that reject its junk science, staging hate crimes so alleged “ex-gays” can claim to be victims, and grandstanding to gain free publicity for their silly, lost “cause”.
The latest Springer-esque circus act from this sorry group came when an alleged supporter requested from the District of Columbia a “Certificate of Appreciation” for PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs.
Clearly, these are perfunctory pieces of paper signed by the mayor. Yet, when Griggs got her “award”, she plastered it on PFOX’s website and made it look like she was actually endorsed and applauded by Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Yep, it really is that sad.
To be clear, Grigg’s behavior is no different than a kid who is the worst athlete on the block buying himself an MVP trophy and then boasting about his “award” to the kids in the neighborhood. It truly takes a pathetic, morally bereft organization to pull such a disheartening, churlish publicity stunt.
Apparently, Mayor Fenty agrees (if not so explicitly). He had Stephanie D. Scott, Secretary of the District of Columbia, write a letter to PFOX telling Griggs to take down the mayor’s “Certificate of Appreciation” from the group’s website. The June 24th letter reads:
Ms. Griggs:
I am writing to request that you remove Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Certificate of Appreciation from your website. The document was issued in error, as our office failed to adequately review your request.
I thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Stephanie D. Scott, Ph.D.
That is a very kind way of saying, “we had no idea that a manipulative hate group would exploit the system and grandstand in such a shameless way.”
As of today, PFOX is still displaying the award, as if the discredited group had actually been honored and not, instead, been upbraided by the mayor.
L-O-S-E-R-S
Finally, I am going to say something politically incorrect. If you are Grigg’s gay son, (is it Jason Griggs?) it is time to crawl out of the closet. You mother is not the head of a run-of-the-mill anti-gay group. She is the bigot who is posing as the alternative to PFLAG, the pro-gay group that helps parents.
In other words, parents who are desperately seeking help and guidance from legitimate sources are finding your mother instead, who is selling them lies about LGBT people. It is time that you stepped up and stopped her dangerous charade. How many parents have rejected their gay children because they found Regina, instead of genuine support?
Mr. Griggs, you’ve been silent long enough. You are no longer a kid (unlike those harmed by your mom). It is time to grow up and speak out.
(The Awakening Conference was sponsored by the Freedom Federation and held April 15-16 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen reports live from the event )
If the Religious Right fringe one day establishes a theocracy in America, no one will be able to credibly claim that they did not explicitly broadcast their dubious intentions. Having just spent two days at “The Awakening” conference at the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’ Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one message was unmistakable: Many key Religious Right figures vehemently reject separation of church and state and believe America is a fundamentalist Christian nation.
“The Bible is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” thundered Cindy Jacobs of General’ International from the stage. “I believe there is an awakening to do just that.”
What’ frightening is that many leaders on the Religious Right hold a basic belief system that is seemingly incompatible with democratic forms of government. Their central tautological argument is that liberty originated from God and so the only way to be truly free is through a theocratic system that honors the creator of freedom.
Huh? Exactly.
According to this mindset, God has ordained the faithful to be in positions of leadership, rendering any form of government that does not elevate these “chosen ones” or reflect their extreme views as illegitimate.
The Saturday night rally began with a surprising controversy. Lou Engle (pictured), the constantly rocking, intense, mustachioed cleric of The Call with the booming voice of a professional wrestler declared, “We are here to honor all denominations. There will be no tongues tonight.”
This left many in the audience offended, and well, tongue-tied. In a huff, several people stormed out of the main chapel. Sensing a gaffe, Engle soon reappeared on-stage and happily declared, “I apologize, we can speak in tongues!”
At this heavily advertised event, there was no shortage of the paranoid and prejudiced. But, one pleasant surprise was that attacks on LGBT people were on the decline. The crowd was more riled about President Barack Obama’ healthcare plan, which the Family Research Council’ Tony Perkins referred to onstage as “a socialistic time bomb.”
The big news at the conference came from Engle. While sitting in the audience during the “LGBT Agenda” breakout session, he spoke up and conceded that the next generation of evangelical Christians is largely supportive of LGBT rights (but not abortion). Engle said that when he preaches against gay people, the Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle, a giant in right wing circles, said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle, such as an intercession at a 500,000 strong youth rally. When he floated this idea to the activists on-stage, The Liberty Counsel’ Matt Barber said they should privately discuss such a rally after the forum.
Good luck with that idea, considering the breakout session at Falwell U. drew only 15 people. Virtually everyone in the small crowd was a hardcore anti-gay activist from groups such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). Clearly, gay bashing was an issue that was not motivating many young people, as it has been in the past. (Although, it seems Engle’ group, The Call, may already be testing his intercession plan in Uganda) (Read More)
Continuing its insane strategy of harassing corporations, the hate group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is urging PepsiCo shareholders to vote in favor of Shareholder Proposal No. 4 — the Charitable Contributions Report. While PFOX claims to represent ex-gays, they have virtually none in the organization, strongly suggesting they are a political and legal front group.
The nutty PFOX resolution demands that PepsiCo to explain its standards for donations. PFOX is upset because it claims PepsiCo is contributing to Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). This is a group that helps families accept loved ones who happen to be gay.
“Why does PepsiCo fund organizations like PFLAG which issue religious publications urging readers to undermine other religions with which PFLAG disagrees?” asked Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX. “Is this the best use of PepsiCo funding?”
“In response to a similar proposal last year, PepsiCo claimed that it is “committed to diversity and inclusion without imposition of personal judgment.’ So why does PepsiCo continue to fund organizations which hate the ex-gay community?”
“The PepsiCo Shareholder Proposal No. 4 asks PepsiCo to divulge its standards for funding and account for how the Company’ charitable contributions are actually used, a reasonable request,” said Griggs. “PepsiCo’ actions adversely affect its public image, goodwill, and stock value.”
PFOX is once again playing victim and angry (aren’t they always?) that PFLAG refers to so-called “ex-gay” conferences as “anti-gay”. Well, maybe because they portray gay relationships as sinful, counterfeit and as sexual brokenness. Any reasonable person would conclude that such depictions of an entire group of people are, indeed, anti-gay.
Once again, PFOX is coming across as unglued and divorced from reality by pursuing a bizarre strategy of portraying so-called “ex-gays” as hapless victims. In reality, PFOX is an aggressively dishonest organization that singles out LGBT people for ridicule and persecution.
PFOX was founded in the late 1990′s by Anthony Falzarano, with political and financial backing from the Family Research Council. He was replaced by Richard Cohen (pictured with tennis racket), the discredited therapist who was expelled for life from the American Counseling Association. The group also has close ties to Arthur Abba Goldberg – the founder of JONAH and a former Wall Street con artist who served hard time for bilking investors.
Clearly, PFOX is an untrustworthy and unscrupulous organization with few morals and little regard for truth. If the group had one scintilla of integrity, it would have taken the certificate down from its site in April. Yet, the group continues to misrepresent itself and mislead the public — including potential clients in which it is trying to hawk expensive “ex-gay” snake oil cures.
Last week, Metro Weekly’s 
Which means that in the months ahead, the World Bank will be giving money directly to an organization that believes homosexuality can be cured. On top of that, 
If the Religious Right fringe one day establishes a theocracy in America, no one will be able to credibly claim that they did not explicitly broadcast their dubious intentions. Having just spent two days at “The Awakening” conference at the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’ Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one message was unmistakable: Many key Religious Right figures vehemently reject separation of church and state and believe America is a fundamentalist Christian nation.
The Saturday night rally began with a surprising controversy. Lou Engle (pictured), the constantly rocking, intense, mustachioed cleric of 
Continuing its insane strategy of harassing corporations, the hate group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is urging PepsiCo shareholders to vote in favor of Shareholder Proposal No. 4 — the Charitable Contributions Report. While PFOX claims to represent ex-gays, they have 
