Love Won Out, a Focus on the Family-sponsored program designed to help gays and lesbians overcome same-sex attraction, has been hit hard by the
Focus founder Dobson
family group’s financial woes.
On Tuesday, Focus announced it would suffer a $6 million shortfall to its yearly $138 million budget, the Associated Press reported.
The shortfall was the impetus to Focus’ giving up the staging of its controversial Love Won Out program, which started in 1998 and has been held in more than 50 cities worldwide. Taking over the program is Exodus International, an anti-gay Orlando, Fla.-based group made up of a coalition of ministries, AP said.
Of the migration of Love Won Out, Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said Wednesday that “these are challenging times for organizations and individuals all across the globe.
“It is not an inexpensive undertaking to put on a Love Won Out event,” he said in a news release. “And contrary to what our detractors say, the conferences rarely have recouped the financial investment made in them. That is a cost we have always paid because of the positive impact the events have had.”
A recent report by the American Psychological Association has given critics of Love Won Out further ammunition against the program.
On Aug. 5, the APA issued a report saying that trying to change gays into heterosexuals can be damaging psychologically to them, leading to depression and suicidal tendencies.
The report, based on two years of research, states that no solid evidence exists supporting reparative therapy, which purports to change gays into heterosexuals, AP reported.
Focus Action, the political arm of the family group, issued a news release last week calling the report into question.
“The APA is really failing to not only represent science, which is its primary responsibility, but it’s also failing to inform people,” Joe Nicolosi, founder and director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, said in the news release.
Jeff Johnston, gender issues analyst at Focus, said in the news release that the APA report is flawed because the agency begins with the false assumption that homosexuality is OK.
Is Focus in trouble financially because of the recession, or is it a combination of the recession and that its message, including its view of homosexuality, is out of step with the times?
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Focus: “Challenging times” contribute to exodus of Love Won Out is a post from: The Pulpit