Tips-Q has a marvelous article on the new website “TrueTolerance.org”, a venture of Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and the Alliance Defense Fund. The site is a direct response to GLSEN’s Day of Silence, scheduled for this Friday, April 17. More on that later.

First, let’s look at the parties involved. Focus on the Family (FotF) is the multi-million dollar group behind the radio program of the same name. Founded and led by James Dobson, FotF has been a major player in the Religious Right since Jerry Falwell came up with the term. FotF is closely (Dobson sits on both Boards of Directors) related to Family Research Council, the president of which said last month that America should side with the Axis of Evil. For more on the danger of FotF, please read this booklet (pdf) by Jeff Lutes, produced by Soulforce.

Next up we have Exodus International (EI). They’re a lovely group, billing themselves as “the largest information and referral ministry in the world addressing homosexual issues”. Sounds cool, right? It’s vague enough that you wouldn’t guess that they are the big dog of the ex-gay industry. For more than you can stomach, read this post about EI’s participation in last month’s anti-gay conference in Uganda, where being gay is punishable by law.

Then there’s the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). The group was co-founded by none other than…James Dobson. It’s basically Bizarro-ACLU.

Okay, now we know the players, how about their game? Friday’s Day of Silence is a student-led program in its 13th year drawing attention to bullying in schools, with a specific emphasis on homophobia and heterosexism. The participants make a vow of silence for a day, and there are other optional events that are suggested by GLSEN.

The day is historically non-combative, and GLSEN even suggests that students tell their teachers what’s going on or if the school makes a fuss to plan events for the evening. That’s not what Dobson’s cabal will tell you at truetolerance.org, though. According to them, the mean old Homosexuals (and their queer-lover friends) should be telling people that their ex-gay mularky is true.

Tips-Q went through the information offered at the site, and surprising no one, there are outright bald-faced lies. Here are just two. (ADF lies are double indented.)

It is worth mentioning though—that while GLSEN’s claims of harm from change-is-possible statements are completely unsubstantiated—there is plenty of research supporting the fact that people can change their sexual orientation.

Unsubstantiated? The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association have formed the “Just the Facts Coalition.” In 1999, they developed and endorsed “Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel.” It includes a number of quotations from major professional organizations expressing concern about reparative therapy and other methods of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation. One example is the American Academy of Pediatrics, which stated: “Therapy directed specifically at changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.”

A recently released, peer-reviewed, longitudinal study by Stanton L. Jones, Ph.D., and Mark. A Yarhouse, Psy.D., found solid evidence that long-term change away from homosexual orientation can and does occur. They also found that, overall, participants were not psychologically harmed by faith-based change.

That article has never been published is a peer reviewed scientific journal. The authors are both on the faculty at Pat Robertson’s Regent University.

The more I read, the less I understand how people can buy into this nonsense. Are they better liars than I give them credit for? Or are people just paying that little attention?