Billboards claiming homosexuality can be ‘cured’ to come down following complaints
‘Ex-gay’ billboards promoting gay ‘cure’ therapies, will be taken down following complaints from the LGBT community in a small town in Texas.
In response to a billboard by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), the LGBT community in Waco, Texas decided to hold their own Pride event in 2017.
The billboard read: “Ex-Gays Prove Change is Possible.”
The company behind the billboards, Swift Media, have confirmed that they will come down by the end of October, after complaints by Carmen Saenz, the founder of Interwaco.
Saenz said: “The people that own that company don’t want any controversy. They don’t want to fall down on either side when I explained to them what reparative therapy is…they had no idea.”
Swift Media has said the billboards will come down and that it will not renew its contract with PFOX.
The pastor at Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church, Charley Garrison, spoke out about the billboards.
He told KTRE-TV: “Ex-gays implies there’s something wrong with gay, lesbian, and transgender people.”
“Ex-gay therapy does not do any good and in fact, can do harm in increasing the suicide rate in the LGBTQ community.”
The owner of a billboard in Dallas which carried a similar message, put up by David Pickup, took down the ad.
Pickup has defended the practice of gay “cure” or “conversion therapy”.
So now the LGBT community in Waco will go towards a Pride event for next year, hosted by the Church.
“Quite simply, self-hatred is not therapy. But it is dangerous!” Garrison wrote on Facebook.
“Join others in opposing the message of this billboard, by contributing to an LGBT Pride event in 2017. You may wish to make a pledge of any amount for each week the billboard remains standing. Or you may choose to make a single donation. Any donation you make will go toward celebrating the diversity of Waco’s LGBT community, rather than condemning it. Instead of getting angry at the billboard’s message, allow it to motivate you toward supporting Waco’s LGBT community.”
