Ex-gays win right to leaflet schoolchildren
A group who advocate ‘conversion therapy’ for gay people will be allowed to distribute literature to children promoting their beliefs.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) took a local school board in the US state of Virginia to court for refusing to distribute their leaflets to high school students.
An agreement was reached last week which allows PFOX the same access as other groups to children as young as five.
On their website, PFOX state:
“No one is born gay. All scientific studies, including those by gay scientists, have not found any gay gene or gay brain centre. There is no medical test for a gay gene. There is no scientific or DNA test for sexual orientation.
“Ex-gays are living proof that homosexual orientation is not fixed permanently. People can and do make the decision every day to seek help in overcoming unwanted same-sex attractions.
“Because of PFOX, the public is beginning to recognise that ex-gays have much to contribute to the understanding of sexual orientation.”
PFOX has campaigned against sex education in schools, and says it wants to leaflet children with information about ex-gays and contact details for ‘questioning youth.’
Their lawyer, Timothy Tracey, told AP that they would target children aged 9 to 14 at middle school rather than younger students.
“If there’s anything distributed that’s upsetting to parents, they would need to address those concerns to PFOX,” Arlington County school spokeswoman Linda Erdos told AP.
“We would hope that organisations use discretion.”
