Regina Griggs finally chimes in on 'Foleygate'; as per usual, her chime rings of untruth

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10/23/2006

by Jeremy Hooper

Like a stubborn child who insists on putting her foot in her mouth even after the grown ups say "No honey, that's wrong," Regina Griggs of the Parents and Friends of Ex-gays & Gays (PFOX) is once again working her "gays can and should change" angle this morning. Except instead of casting her usual wide net of propagandistic horse dung, Ms. Griggs is instead taking her flawed ideas and offensive demonization to the political arena, targeting one specific, national attention-grabbing individual.

Via a press release sent out this A.M., Ms. Griggs suggests that instead of alcohol rehab and perhaps help for his apparent affection for younger individuals, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley should seek help "overcoming his unwanted same-sex attractions." She says:

"Mr. Foley, did you know that there are numerous cases where sexual abuse has led to homosexual orientation? Homosexuals contact us daily for help in overcoming their same-sex desires?"

"Like Mr. Foley, many were taken advantage of sexually by adults when they were young teenagers. They never had a chance to fulfill their heterosexual potential and often feel guilty or at fault. But there is an alternative to unwanted same-sex attractions. No one is born gay. Thousands of ex-gay men and women have overcome their same-sex attraction. Sexual reorientation therapies and ex-gay ministries provide a safe place to talk about the painful past and receive help in overcoming unwanted same-sex attractions."

"Mr. Foley's sexual solicitation of teenage boys is wrong. Mr. Foley must be held accountable for his actions, as should anyone who knew about his behavior and also those who used the page for political reasons"

"Society must take a stand and stop the deliberate misinformation that people are 'born gay' and can't overcome unwanted same-sex attractions. Failure to get involved will produce more victims like Mr. Foley who then become abusers themselves."

But since we've already pointed out in a long-winded piece how the "ex-gays" use flawed methodology and a handful of extremely biased studies to make their claims that gays are likely to (a) have been molested as children and (b) become molesters themselves, we're not going to even dignify Ms. Griggs' claims in this area, as they were pulled straight from her behind. And since we have a whole section detailing the countless ways the "ex-gays" misuse studies, employ their own junk scientists to back up their flawed notions, and just blatantly make sh*t up as they carry out their "unsupported by every major medical and mental health organization" campaigns, we also feel no need on this Monday morning to go into yet another rant on this topic. And since we've decried the almost unreal ways the professionally gay-unfriendly among us have tried to make the Foley scandal a statement about his long-hidden sexual orientation and not about his inappropriate behavior (a problem in either the heterosexual or homosexual community), we see no reason to try and break that connection either.

So what will we tackle? Well, we just want to use this piece to ask Ms. Griggs one thing we've always wondered. That is: "Ms Griggs, how can you seriously sleep at night after saying things like 'Society must take a stand and stop the deliberate misinformation that people are 'born gay' and can't overcome unwanted same-sex attractions," when YOU HAVE TO KNOW that your side's ideas are supported by NO credible science, studies, or common sense!? Even if you seriously believe in your heart of hearts that gay folks (including your son) can change their sexual orientation, the kinds of people who actually do RESEARCH to put studied information into the public spectrum are in almost universal agreement that the 'ex-gay' notion is flawed! It would seem that you 'ex-gay' proponents would actually look more credible and less ill-intentioned if instead of acting like the millions of actual gays who feel by their life experience that they were born gay are just WRONG and that the countless researchers who refute your claims are simply showing a 'liberal bias,' you owned up to the fact that you guys and gals have a LOT, LOT, LOT to prove in order to appear grounded in reality. But rather than taking that approach, you kids quite militantly insist that your team has beaucoups of information to back up your claims, and then you just get the vast network of 'pro-family' groups (who want sexuality to be 'changeable' so it can look like they are 'hating the sinner, not the sin') to finance and support your assertions. You guys are like glorified conspiracy theorists who have -- due to religious convictions, fears, and still all-to-prevalent homosexuality stigma -- managed to reel in a few fish.

So we ask you again, Regina: How can you go through life painting our own "gays cannot and should not 'change'" cries as "deliberate misinformation," when your team is so widely refuted that even calling your claims "misinformation" seems generous?" You can send your answer to [email protected]."

We'll let you know if Ms. Griggs responds. However, our Inbox is already frightened that she's going to give it a long-winded speech about how it was designed by God to be "exit only."