The first step for Christian conservatives to win the war against the gay movement is to rebrand the terms, said a few panelists at this weekend’s The Awakening conference at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
“‘Gay’ is a left-wing socio-political construct designed to create grounds for fundamental rights [based on] whimsical capricious desires,” said Ryan Sorba, chairman of the Young Conservatives of California. “Gay identity does not exist.”
Sorba proposed alternatives to the word “gay,” which received approval by a unanimous show of hands by the 40-some audience members:
“Same-sex attraction”
“Same-sex intercourse”
“Sodomy”
“Unnatural vice”
Later in the discussion, it was suggested that gays should also be referred to as “anti-Christian.”
The one self-described ex-gay on the panel, Greg Quinlan — who founded the Pro Family Network in 1996 and is now the president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) but spent his gay years lobbying for the LGBT-rights group Human Rights Campaign – explained that his foray into homosexuality was caused by abuse from his father and looking at Playboy magazine as a young boy.
“Feelings change, and they don’t define you,” Quinlan said, noting that through counseling he was able to re-orient his sexual attraction, which led to a heterosexual marriage (he’s now divorced).
“If you had all the facts, you wouldn’t choose to be gay,” Quinlan, 52, said. “When you live a lie, you tell a lie. Truth is not a philosophy. Truth is a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. Tell the truth in love, but it isn’t love until you tell the truth.”