Ex-Gay Pride Event Postponed Because of Violence Threats

by Staff Writer

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A celebration of ex-gay leaders and supporters was scheduled for July 31 at the Family Research Council, but security threats have forced organizers to postpone it until September.

A celebration of ex-gay leaders and supporters was scheduled for July 31 at the headquarters of the Family Research Council, but security threats have forced organizers to postpone it until September. According to the Christian Post, the organizations planning the event, Voice of the Voiceless and Equality and Justice for All, have received "negative attention," "hate e-mails" and "harassment" over the event, leading officials to move the event to an undisclosed location to protect the safety of attenders, guests, and keynote speakers.
"There started to be a lot of online chatter about trying to disrupt this event," commented Christopher Doyle, cofounder of Voice of the Voiceless, "trying to demonstrate against it, trying to protest it. Basically, after experiencing all of that hate and harassment toward us online and also directed at FRC, we just started to take a second look at this event."
He continued, "So there's just a lot of hatred and ill sentiment going on out there right now. And we feel like we didn't want this event to be dominated by these extremists coming and protesting and surrounding the building, and intimidating people as they were trying to come in. We wanted this to be a very positive event."
Doyle and the event organizers have now expanded the celebration to make September Ex-Gay Awareness Month.