Ads link homosexuality, child abuse
on Virginia TV
Commercials featuring 'ex-gays' funded by church
By KATHERINE VOLIN
Friday, December 02, 2005
http://www.washblade.com/....
Critics of a new series of television commercials sponsored by a local church claim the ads imply a link between homosexuality and sexual abuse, a contention disputed by the pastor at the church.
Lynn Carter, associate pastor at Arlington Assembly of God, in Arlington, Va., said the ads were intended only to extend a welcome to people who might have felt demonized by Christianity.
The commercials spotlight at least two "ex-gays." One commercial features a man, the other features a woman, and each says they were sexually abused as a child and later lived a "gay lifestyle." Both commercials end with the person claiming they are now heterosexual and Christian.
Gay activist Wayne Besen, author of "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals & Lies behind the Ex-gay Myth," said that linking sexual abuse with homosexuality is a familiar message from ex-gay groups.
I almost fell over the first time I saw this commercial (the guy version first and the girl version second) and was relieved to find later a similar outrage from others (all of us straight by the way).
Unlike was stated in the article attached, these commercials don't "imply" a link between homosexuality and sexual abuse during childhood. Both commercials feature a subject who states they didn't love themselves because of sexual abuse in childhood and that forced them into the gay lifestyle. And then they have the gall to say the ads were intended to "welcome" those who don't normally attend church.
http://arlingtonag.org/...