Homophobic hate group official has a gay daughter who is married to a woman
The daughter of an executive who works for a homophobic hate group has revealed she is married to a woman.
James Dobson’s Focus on the Family is a listed anti-LGBT hate groups with a history of spreading homophobic propaganda and lobbying against gay rights.
The group has a history of extreme comments, with Dobson claiming the 2012 massacre of innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was “God’s judgment” for the acceptance of gay marriage.
The group has also claimed that the “primary goal” of the gay rights movement is to legalise paedophilia; that homosexuality is a curable mental condition; and that public schools are being used to groom children “barely out of babyhood” into gay lifestyles.
But one of the group’s execs has a daughter who is gay – and married to a woman.
Amber Cantorna revealed her story in her new book ‘Refocusing My Family: Coming Out, Being Cast Out, and Discovering the True Love of God’, which was released this month.
Writing for HuffPost, Amber opened up about her relationship with her parents, who are influential within Focus on the Family.
She explained: “As a Christian, evangelical, homeschooled daughter of a Focus on the Family executive, gay was the one thing you were never supposed to be.
“I was taught to strongly oppose the ‘gay agenda’ because they were a sexually loose group of people who were destroying God’s design for the family unit. The word ‘hate’ may not have been spoken aloud, but it was implied, and now that person I was taught to hate, was me.”
She added that struggling to terms with her sexuality led to depression, self-harm and “suicidal ideations”.
Amber later came to terms with her own sexuality and fell in love with a woman – but her family did not take the news well.
She explained: “The day I told my family I was gay changed the course of my life forever. Comparing me to murders, pedophiles, and bestiality, they told me I was selfish for doing this to the family and revoked my keys to their home.
“I’ve never felt more pain in my life than I did in the months that followed as they subtly, yet blatantly, pushed me to the outside and shunned me from the family.”
Rather than focusing on the family, she explained, “ties were cut completely”.
Her family continues to completely shun Amber – and were not present at her wedding to her partner, who she describes as “the love of my life”.
She adds: “Losing everything I’ve ever known and loved has been by far the hardest path I’ve ever journeyed on, yet in the process of refocusing, I’ve been led into a place of joy and peace I wouldn’t have otherwise known.
“The ability to love and embrace myself and others for all the beautiful parts that bind us together has granted me so much freedom.
“In the end, authentic living has led me to the reward of having a stronger faith, and an even more focused family.”
She is far from the only gay relative of someone in the anti-LGBT movement.
Tony Abbott, the de facto leader of Australia’s anti-gay marriage movement, has been regularly confronted by his gay sister.
Mr Abbott has called on Australians to vote against equal marriage against the wishes of his own sister Christine Forster, who is waiting for the right to marry her same-sex partner.
Tony Abbott said: “If you don’t like same-sex marriage: vote no.
“If you are worried about freedom of speech and freedom of religion, vote no.
“If you don’t like political correctness, vote no, because this is the best way to stop it in its tracks.”
The intervention has not gone down well with Ms Forster, who has been waiting for the right to marry her fiancée Virginia Edwards for nearly four years.
Mr Abbott’s sister, who is herself a Liberal councillor in Sydney, posted a line-by-line takedown of her brother.
Ms Forster wrote: “If you value mutual respect: vote yes. If you want all Australians to be equal: vote yes. If you believe in free speech: vote yes.
“If this is about the people: vote yes.
“If you want the person you love to be in every sense a part of your family: vote yes.
“If you don’t believe your relationships (or anyone else’s) are second rate: vote yes.
“If you believe your own marriage is a good thing: vote yes!”
Ms Forster regularly called out her brother’s approach on same-sex marriage while he was Prime Minister – understandably, given his militant opposition prevented her own wedding from going ahead.
Mr Abbott’s own daughters backed up their auntie in the row over their dad.
Tony’s daughter Frances Abbott even starred in a ‘Yes’ ad, explaining: “You can’t help who you fall in love with.
“Love just happens sometimes and it’s unexpected and that’s kind of what’s the awesome thing about it.”
“I look at Aunty Chris and I don’t think she planned to fall in love with Virginia, it just happened!
Ms Abbott added: “To see Aunty Chris marry Virginia, to do it here in front of friends and family, it would be so special and I’m so, so hoping that that’s what I get to be a part of.
“I think marriage equality would make society a much better place.”
