Report on anti-gay ‘Love Won Out’ ministry
So-called ‘ex-gay’ conferences target LGBT youth and tear families apart
by Roberta Sklar


NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — A new report released May 6 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute entitled, “A Report from Love Won Out: Addressing, Understanding, and Preventing Homosexuality,” provides a first-hand account of an anti-gay conference that took place in Minneapolis, Minn., in September 2004.

The report’s authors, Jyl J. Josephson, an Associate Professor at Rutgers University-Newark, and Cynthia Burack, an Associate Professor at Ohio State University, detail the theories and world views espoused by the presenters and “ex-gay” leaders who spoke at the conference, one of at least four such conferences sponsored annually by Focus on the Family around the country.

“‘Love Won Out’ is one of the most harmful programs sponsored by James Dobson’s organization,” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). “Their speakers are nothing more than snake oil salesman peddling pernicious and discredited theories about how parents can ‘prevent’ homosexuality in their children. It is homophobia, not love, that wins out at these conferences.”