Letters to the editor: Ex-gays deserve respect too

With respect to your April 10 article “National Day of Silence recognizes gay struggles” on… With respect to your April 10 article “National Day of Silence recognizes gay struggles” on tolerance of gays, I would add that tolerance should also extend to ex-gays. Each year, thousands of men and women with same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality. However, some refuse to respect that choice. As a result, ex-gays are subject to an increasingly hostile environment where we are reviled simply because we dare to exist.

For example, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Educational Network spent thousands of dollars distributing a school booklet condemning ex-gays. The gay Human Rights Campaign demanded that a contributor (AOL’s Mrs. Steve Case) reconsider her sizeable donation to a children’s school merely because it had indirect ties to an ex-gay ministry. Ex-gay author Richard Cohen received death threats from gay activists for releasing his book “Coming Out Straight.” The list is endless because every day brings new hostile acts against the ex-gay community.

The harassment of ex-gays by gays themselves is a sad end to the long struggle for tolerance by the gay community. That ex-gays are now oppressed by the same people who until recently were victimized themselves demonstrates how far the gay rights movement has come. We now need to face the other side of sexual orientation – intolerance of ex-gays. Please remember that former homosexuals are also worthy of respect.

Sincerely,

Regina Griggs

Executive Director

PFOX – Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays ‘ Gays

Fort Belvoir, Va.