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03/31/2010
Video: It's an A & B conversation, they just wanna C everyone outta homosexuality
Exodus International is once again trying to earn validity for their annual "Day of Truth," in which they essentially propagandize children with pro-"ex-gay" materials. But since the "gays can change" advocacy group has learned over they years that the straightforward "we want to 'convert' you" approach isn't all that palatable to the mainstream, they have become savvier about how they sell the day to the public.
Their approach this year: To make a video featuring students from University of Central Florida talking about a myriad of issues surrounding homosexuality. The video's editors make it clear that homosexuality is a "struggle" for some and a controversy with many churches, and are certain to include words like "lifestyle" when referring to sexual orientation. However, since they are also conscious of the need to not seem anti-gay, they also include several quips that stress the need to not "hate" gays and that seemingly seek to clear up misconceptions about gay lives. The whole thing ends up looking like this:
(*note: The host of this vid, Kirk Chambers, is a nephew of Exodus president Alan Chambers)
(*note 2: Don't bother trying to rate or comment this video. Exodus has disabled both comments and star ratings. Of course)
Okay, so the vide comes across as nice, which is precisely the point. Exodus is acutely aware of how they are perceived, which has made them extra careful about how they handle messaging. Never mind that their sole focus -- their SOLE focus! -- is on "changing" LGBT people. Never mind that their work foments shame in the minds of countless LGBT people (especially youth). If they can make it seem like a "conversation," than, their thinking goes, it will seem less like they are preaching one certain dogma and are instead engaging in a productive back-and-forth. In some ways, this makes their work 10X more dangerous than it would be otherwise.
The bottom line is that Exodus' script is one that was 100% penned by their own unwavering, personal faith views. They could cull their body of knowledge from the known realm of credible science, but they choose to instead discredit the same. They could work to combat the very real and very demonstrable problem of anti-LGBT bullying like GLSEN's Day of Silence is designed to do, but they instead create this contrived "Day of Truth" that's designed to reject GLSEN's principled efforts. Exodus could have a conversation. A REAL conversation. Instead, they nod and shake their head and feign interest in what their opposition is saying, when in fact they're really just waiting to talk so that they can continue their own "gays can change" fallacies. Do not be fooled, America!
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*We actually like the way the conversation is playing out of Day of Truth's website:
Survey [DOT]
