PFLAG NATIONAL BLOG: FOCUS ON THE FIELD
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Metro DC PFLAG’s David Fishback Debates PFOX on “NewsTalk”
On March 15, Metro DC PFLAG’s Advocacy Chair David Fishback debated with Peter Sprigg, the Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council and board member of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays). The discussion took place on TBD-News Channel 8’s NewsTalk, and was hosted by reporter Bruce DePuyt.
The segment focused on a recent event in Montgomery County, Maryland in which PFOX fliers were distributed to high school students. The fliers urged students to “contact PFOX or other organizations with ''ex-gay'' ministries” if they wanted more information on the organization, and stated “there is no scientific evidence of sexual orientation being innate, [or] that people can choose to be heterosexual.”
Amidst the public outcry against PFOX’s twisted efforts at youth outreach, David Fishback “spearheaded the [Metro DC] chapter’s response…he’s vocal, he’s passionate, he’s well-informed, and he’s speaking out,” says Metro DC PFLAG’s website, “He’s everything you would expect from a parent defending his or her child from harm.”
''PFOX touts the notion that people can overcome their feelings of gender attraction, and states on their website that sexual orientation therapies have proven to be effective,'' David said during the televised debate. ''Now the problem with that is this is a false notion, the idea that people can change their sexual orientation through therapies… those therapies have been rejected by every American mainstream medical and mental health professional association, including the American Medical Association.”
And yet, says Sprigg, “''Anyone who takes offense at this flier is reading into it things that simply are not there.” What they really do, he insists, is “address the notion that many young people have confusion over their sexual feelings, and that those who have unwanted sexual attractions can change.”
In response, David has announced his chapter’s plan to distribute 50,000 fliers in mid-April with information from PFLAG, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Equality Maryland Foundation. Thank you David for speaking out for equality and safety for our young students!
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