Date: Thu, 7 Jul 94 8:43:31 MDT [send queries to cendo@spot.colorado.edu or call Frank Whitworth at Ground Zero at 719-635-6086. Notes of encouragement for Dr. White that are e-mailed to cendo@spot.colorado.edu will be printed and hand delivered to Dr. White at his fasting spot] Ground Zero, Inc. Colorado Springs, Colorado July 6, 1994 1-719-635-6086 PRESS RELEASE Minister Begins Seven-Day Fast to call for End of Attacks on Gay and Lesbian People Colorado Springs, CO -- On Monday at 1 p.m., the Reverend Dr. Mel White, an openly gay minister from Dallas, Texas, will begin a seven-day "fast for understanding" in front of the world headquarters of FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, a Colorado Springs-based religious group. With this fast, Dr. White calls for an end of the attacks against gay and lesbian Americans by the Religious Right. "In the last six months, Focus on the Family has quietly assumed leadership of an unprecedented attempt by extremist Christians to exert political and moral control over the nation," say Dr. White. "Attacks against gay and lesbian people have become a pivot point in their movement." Focus on the Family (FOF) was chosen as the site of the fast because its leader, James Dobson, has become the primary spokesman of the Religious Right, according to Dr. White. FOF employs over 1,200 employees and has an annual budget of $150,000,000. The group, which backed Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2, has FOF chapters in all 50 states. "Like his powerful allies -- Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Kennedy, Lou Sheldon and the others -- Dobson has discovered that attacking gay and lesbian Americans as the new 'evil empire' is an effective way to raise money and mobilize volunteers to achieve their larger political goals," says White. RELIGIOUS RIGHT INSIDER "Fasting is an ancient Christian tradition," Dr. White explains. "And though I have never fasted publicly, it is the only way I know to demonstrate my growing concern about the war of disinformation being waged against gay and lesbian Americans by my old friends and clients on the Religious Right." An author as well as a minister, Dr. White wrote books for Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other Christian leaders. He was an inside witness to the development of anti-homosexual strategies within the Religious Right. White was cast out of the circle when he disclosed his homosexuality. He is now Dean of the Cathedral of Hope, in Dallas, which has the world's largest gay and lesbian congregation. "Since the collapse of the Communist 'evil empire' in 1989, the Religous Right has turned to anti-homosexual and anti-abortion rhetoric to raise money and mobilize volunteers," Dr. White warns. "But in the past few years their crusade 'to abolish abortion and homosexuality' has evolved into a national movement to enforce the fundamentalist Christian agenda on all Americans." FOCUS ON GAY BASHING In fact, gay bashing has become a science. On May 16-18, 1994, in Colorado Springs, John Eldredge, FOF's Director of Seminars, and two other FOF leaders helped convene a secret conference for nearly 40 national organizations on the radical right to plot and coordinate the next year's national campaign against gay and lesbian Americans. Focus on the Family controls a vast media and publishing empire with popular daily and weekly radio broadcasts aired on approximately 1,800 stations; with more than 2,000,000 trained politcal volunteers enrolled in affiliated groups in all 50 states. "James Dobson may speak of love and reconcilliation," Dr. White explains, "but the endless flow of misinformation about homosexuality that flows from Focus on the Family and its allies pollutes the national environment and leads directly to ruined lives, broken families, intolerance, suffering and death." BEARING FALSE WITNESS A quick review of FOF documents reveals that Jim Dobson and his allies continue to insist, quite falsely, on the tired old lies that there is a "gay agenda" that threatens American values, that gays and lesbians "are not trustworthy parents," that they "abuse, molest, and recruit children," that they "should not hold responsible positions in schools and churches," that they "are a threat to disipline in the military," and they all "lead godless, sinful lives." "All his charges are untrue," Dr. White continues. "Dobson and his allies have no reliable evidence to back their claims against America's lesbians and gays. They've misused 6 or 7 Biblical verses to condemn us, and they have backed their condemnation with the false data of the discredited psychologist Paul Cameron (whose vicious work about gays and lesbians prompted his expulsion from the American Psychological Association) and with the false and unproved claims of such proponents of 'ex-gay therapy' as Joseph Nicolosi (who can produce no long-term evidence that sexual orientation should or can be changed.) "Dr. Dobson may claim to love gay and lesbian people," explains Dr. White, "but he refuses to consider the vast array of scientific, psychological, ethical, pastoral and Biblical evidence that would refute his caricature of homosexuality and homosexuals. Dobson lost any credibility as a professional psychologist when he endorsed the ugly, inflammatory, and tragically misleading video tape, "The Gay Agenda" by Peter LaBarbera. And he continues to demonstrate his close-minded approach to this issue by refusing to dialogue with gay and lesbian Christian leaders." PUBLIC HAS BEEN MISLEAD White continues, "In the hysteria that follows this barrage of anti-homosexual misinformation, well-meaning Americans volunteer time and money to eliminate the imaginary 'gay threat.' Already, there is anti-homosexual legislation pending or being petitioned in 35 different states. This legislation on city, county and state levels dehumanizes, demeans, and effectively disenfranchises gay and lesbian Americans." "And the environment of misunderstanding, fear and hatred created by the outpouring of disinformation by Dobson and the others leads directly to the destruction of families, to the alarming rise of suicide and suicide attempts among gay and lesbian teenagers, to violence against innocent lesbians and gay men, and to a growing mood of intolerance and discrimination across the country." "I am hoping," add Dr. White, "that this fast will help alert my fellow Americans to the lies being told about our gay brothers and sisters and to the tragic consequences of those lies in the lives of people they love. Even more, I hope more people will begin to realize that James Dobson and his allies on the Radical Rights are a threat not just to lesbians and gays, but to all Americans who cherish freedom and justice for all."