Sidenote: PFOX is no longer a part of the Exodus Member Ministry network. The separation occurred last summer and was amicable.
The PFOX Press Release (most of it) parsed with my comments:
Disney Ordered to Include Ex-Gays in Shareholder Resolution
BURBANK, Calif., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed the Walt Disney Company to accept a shareholder resolution requesting the inclusion of ex-gays in Disney’s sexual orientation policies and corporate diversity programs. Disney had opposed the ex-gay resolution and asked the SEC for permission to exclude it from stockholder consideration.
“Like many corporations, Disney implements mandatory diversity training for employees that emphasizes gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders, but fails to include ex-gays,” said Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). “It is a serious omission both for the ex-gay community and their supporters.”
Disney should be about Cinderella, Mickey Mouse and all that other “it’s a small world after all…” stuff, not the culture war. I have written on this subject before. I know a few folks out at Disney and the other parks in the area who are on a Christian post-gay journey. They’re workplace problems, if they have any, aren’t over being “ex-gay” it’s over being a “Christian.” The goal of our work at Exodus isn’t to create “ex-gay’s” and an “ex-gay” community. Our goal is as our mission statement reads, “Mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality.” We are the Body of Christ … not some terminally unique “ex-gay” class.
“Employees who support the ex-gay community are not welcomed to express their views and fear they would be forced to undergo sensitivity training because they support former homosexuals,” said Griggs. “Ex-gays are forced to remain closeted because they are not protected by diversity policies and are subjected to open disapproval by others in the workplace. The inclusion of ex-gays will cost Disney nothing to implement and would provide true diversity and respect in the workplace.”
I don’t believe this will provide “true diversity and respect.” Diversity training works to silence dissenting views of pro-gay ideology in the workplace. Is this effort basically using the same method to silence dissent against “ex-gays?” Silencing all discussion in the name of “diversity training” isn’t healthy for friendships or working relationships. Only through honest, open, friendships can authentic tolerance for what we may not personally agree with be fostered.
If I am working at Disney, I don’t want the great minds behind Mickey Mouse telling my gay friends how to view and think of me. I want to talk to them as co-workers/friends to do a good job as a team regardless of what they or I do (or don’t do) at home. We have to find some way to have some level of mutual respect without shutting each other down in the name of diversity.
Personally, I don’t care what the woman acting like Cinderella thinks if she helps to make lifelong memories for my nieces. Again, the folks I know who work there are not there to receive validation for their viewpoints or identity. They are there because it is a fun job and it pays the rent. But open honest disagreements with gay ideology or a Christian post-gay worldview should be encouraged as a natural part of discussion between co-workers who become friends … on their break time not in forced diversity training.
The resolution cites a recent judicial decision issued by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In that case, brought by PFOX, the Court ruled that former homosexuals are a protected class that must be recognized under D.C.’s sexual orientation non-discrimination laws. The Court held that sexual orientation does not require immutable characteristics.
People on a post-gay Christian journey are lied about and maligned all the time. Along with constructive criticism we receive from time to time, we are persecuted and caricatured mercilessly.
To that I say, so? Other people’s opinions and words matter but they are what they are … opinions and words.
We know who we are and are confident in our faith whether others accept us or not. We live in a great society that respects free speech. There is no documented widespread pattern of violent crime/abuse against us as “ex-gays.” There isn’t any economic disenfranchisement and of course being on a Christian post-gay journey can prove homosexuality isn’t immutable but being “ex-gay” isn’t immutable either. Those three criteria (documented widespread pattern of discrimination, economic disenfranchisement and immutability) are some serious criteria used to define protected classes (like African Americans and women) in the past. Adding sexual orientation and transgender identity in any way to protected class status is highly questionable and I believe inappropriate. Adding a mythical “ex-gay” class is also beyond my scope of imagination.
I say mythical because I reject the definition of an “ex-gay community.” I do so because I am a Christian … period. I will not identify with and actively resist the formation of an “ex-gay” community in policy and/or reality. If you want to support me, our work or our friends on similar post-gay journeys … support us as Christians … your brothers and sisters in Christ. I didn’t leave the gay identity behind to pick up an “ex-gay” defined identity.
I don’t know Bobbie Strobhar but I assume he has a good heart and wants nothing but the best for people like us. I genuinely appreciate the thought behind the effort but PFOX’s messaging is confusing and, in a roundabout way, reinforcing pro-gay reasoning through identity politics.
John Westcott
Julie Neils
Exodus International Blog
Catherine H
I’ll miss you too! Thanks for posting this!
James C.
Toni Kline
Disney Ordered to Include Ex-Gays in Shareholder Resolution http://tinyurl.com/ydh85ga
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
I totally agree with you Randy!
In my journey I find a few things as stumbling blocks that work against the greater work being done in my life. The message of PFOX is confusing …
On one hand it would be nice to raise awareness of people in our community and in our church’s that there are people on a Post Gay journey and there are people in the GLBT Community who are seeking truth and need to find a safe church community that would enable them to find the answers they’re in search of. But getting over the ex-gay plateau can only happen in a God centered focus journey in Christ rather than a mind set of needing to change my sexual orientation.
I struggle far less when I am on a God centered focus journey and believe you me I know the difference. However, I have to ask then, how is this going to play out in Disney? How will Disney portray the lives of people on a journey out of homosexuality and how will they discuss this in their “diversity” training? How will they portray the message? Because the message in and of itself is more to do with Jesus Christ and a work of restoration and healing… it’s a Christian message. It’s a message of Salvation and Reconciliation!
Disney Ordered to Include Ex-Gays in Shareholder Resolution … http://bit.ly/8pxlzj
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Very well-reasoned post, Randy. My biggest quibble with identity politics — especially as they manifest in such things as diversity training — is the fact that they assume homogeneity to groups that are extremely heterogeneous. Because I work for my university’s residence life department, I’ve had to sit through some GLBT diversity training sessions and they are offensive even to my other gay friends who have to sit through them. After all, who wants their story told for them? It’s ridiculous to think that because of one trait, an individual can be so easily categorized, defined, and “taught” in a training session. Everyone is an individual and should be treated as such. If any group — black, white, gay, or straight — wants to actually do something to eliminate stereotypes (not just make new ones) then things such as diversity training really need to die.
And if that’s true for the gay community, it’s also true for the “ex-gay community.” For one, what even defines an ex-gay? I have known tons of people who have been involved in Exodus and they are hardly all alike. Some are Mormon, Roman Catholic, or Oneness Pentecostal, which means I have theological differences with them that are much more important than sexuality issues. I’m celibate for my faith but I identify as gay, so I can see myself fitting into the “gay community” by some definitions or the “ex-gay community” according to others. And if I date a girl (like I’m very open to), then where will I be? The idea of putting people into categories is simply dumb. There are actively gay people who refuse to identify as “gay,” celibates who identify as “gay,” men with homosexual attractions who identify as “straight,” post-gays, queers, people who like NARTH and Richard Cohen and people who dislike them, Republicans, Democrats…
Sorry, I’m ranting. But the idea that any group of people can be boiled down to one ideology is kind of ridiculous and frustrating. I do think that the same kind of diversity and individualism that exists in the gay community (i.e. they aren’t all promiscuous and godless), exists among ex-gays (or people on a post-gay journey, or whatever). To engage in identity politics denies that diversity instead of affirming it, and it is also another example of the Nanny State: higher authorities telling us how to get along instead of allowing people to do the hard work, build bridges, and create authentic relationships with others of different viewpoints, identities, orientations, and lifestyles.
Whew.
Thanks for your thoughtful response Jay. It’s nice when we are on the same page … for the most part
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Exodus International, Randy Thomas and Bob Bryant, SUZ EX-SLAVE TO SIN. SUZ EX-SLAVE TO SIN said: RT @RThomasETC: RT @ExodusIntl Disney Ordered to Include Ex-Gays in Shareholder Resolution http://tinyurl.com/ydh85ga [...]
Randy, I want you to know how deeply thankful I am that you are serving our LORD in humble obedience to His call on your life. This is an absoultely critical truth.
Thank you,
Richard
That is a very kind thing to say Richard. I appreciate you and your friendship.
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