Protest planned at Christian homosexuality conference

ST. LOUIS -- A conference aimed at helping Christians address homosexuality or change their sexual orientation will be met with protests from the gay rights community when it meets Feb. 25 in St. Louis.

Billboards along St. Louis highways have advertised the "Love Won Out" conference sponsored by Focus on the Family and Exodus International, two Christian organizations.

The signs show a man saying: "I Questioned Homosexuality. Change is Possible. Discover How."

People from the gay rights community met this week to plan a response to the conference, according to Julie Brueggemann, executive director of PROMO, a Missouri lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political action group.

Brueggemann said a peaceful protest at the First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester, the conference site, is being organized to educate those attending about their position.

"We are opposed to the idea that homosexuality can be cured like a disease," she said.

Officials with Focus on the Family, an evangelical group based in Colorado Springs, Colo., said the conference has visited about 40 cities in North America since its creation in 1998, and most conferences are met with protest.

Mike Haley, the co-founder of the conference with Focus on the Family, said more than 1,000 people are expected to attend.

He said changing someone's unwanted same-sex attractions is only a small part of the daylong meeting.

Haley said the program focuses on communication and understanding and about half of those attending are usually Christians who want to reach out to loved ones who are homosexuals.

"Some gays may never change. The Christian community has failed to understand that and address the issue peacefully and with kindness," Haley said. "You can believe homosexuality is wrong and still be a kind and generous to a gay or lesbian person. That's what this conference tries to teach."

The conference will be led by a psychologist and a doctor as well as people who claim to have abandoned homosexuality. Haley said he lived for 12 years in the gay community before he changed.

There also will be a session on same-sex marriage called "Straight Thinking on Gay Marriage."

"We have a moral belief toward homosexuality and marriage," said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus, which is based in Orlando, Fla. "Preaching tolerance (as we do) doesn't mean agreeing with homosexuals on every point and issue."

Ken Haller, an assistant professor at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said sexuality is a very complex field of study.

"Trying to change sexual orientation is like changing a person's handedness," Haller said, speaking on behalf of PROMO. "Someone can change their behavior, but sexuality is something that is determined very early and it doesn't change."

The American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association oppose any psychiatric treatments and therapies to change one's homosexual orientation, he said.

Officials with both Focus and Exodus say those stances are politically motivated and are not shared by everyone in their respective professions.

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On the Net:

Focus on the Family: http://www.family.org

For the Personal Rights of Missourians: http://promoonline.org

Exodus International: http://www.exodus-international.org