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Los Angeles City Council Condemns Fundamentalist Hate Conference

Unanimous Decision Says 'Ex-Gay' Views Lead Quickly to Violence
'Creates an Environment Where Matthew Shepard's Murder Can Happen'

Compiled by Badpuppy's GayToday

A Los Angeles conference titled Making Sense of Homosexuality and which opened last Friday has been unanimously condemned by the Los Angeles City Council. Religious conservatives at this conference are openly propagandizing their discredited "Ex-Gay" theory, namely that homosexuality is a curable disease.

Council members and other critics have made clear that the conference is in fact an anti-gay event that will promote the kind of hate that incites violence against gays and leads to outright tragedies as the recent beating death in Wyoming of 21-year old Matthew Shepard.

Jackie Goldberg, the only openly homosexual Councilmember said: "These people are not just about spewing hate, they are about putting actual lives in danger, mine included�It gives people permission to be angry enough to take violence against individual members of my community.''

Conference organizers nervously denied the charge that they are hatemongers.

Jackie Goldberg

Said one: "We have a right to view homosexuality as a developmental disorder.'' This outdated view, however, conflicts with the findings of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association.

. "The purpose," said a hate conference flier, "is to explain to a wide audience how the homosexual movement has targeted children, the family and popular culture in its attempt to increase its numbers and acceptance in society."

The Fundamentalist conference agenda includes the role of "counselors" and "how children are being indoctrinated through homosexual propaganda in school and in the media.''

The "hatemongering" flier continues: "Constitutional scholars will discuss why homosexuality is not a civil rights issue and how homosexuals are trying to destroy organizations such as the Boy Scouts, which seek to promote decency and traditional morality."

Keith Olberg

Republican politicians scheduled to speak at the anti-gay conference included California state Assemblyman Keith Olberg, R-Victorville, and California state Sen. Raymond Haynes, R-Riverside.

Councilmember Goldberg denounced the dangerous discredited "disease" theory as "voodoo science'' "They are about saying I can be cured,'' she complained. "I have things probably that could be cured, but my sexual orientation is not one of them, because it's part of who I am as much as ethnicity and race is part of who I am.''

Introducing the motion to condemn the conference was L. A. Councilmember Mike Feuer who said that while he respects free-speech rights, he believes the L.A. City Council must take a stand against activities he views as "hateful and divisive".

Feuer said: "We have seen the results of a push in our society to marginalize members of gay and lesbian communities�It dehumanizes them. It creates an environment where Matthew Shepard's death can be perpetrated.''

Councilmember Joel Wachs blasted the conference's co-sponsor, the Claremont Institute, saying, "They need to be thoroughly and roundly condemned for giving cover to a cowardly and disrespectful group.''

Richard Alarcon, another Councilmember, scornfully dismissed the conference : "Saying one's sexual preference is so basic to our human existence to think somebody can be recruited, to think that lifestyles can be changed by some kind of propaganda instead of some nature we are born with, is ridiculous."

Los Angeles' Mayor Richard Riordan issued a statement saying: "I condemn any and all rhetoric that preaches hatred, intolerance or divisiveness. It has no place in the city of Los Angeles.''

Richard Alacron