'Gay' protections expanded to ex-'gays'

A court decision that is being described as precedent-setting because it applies standard non-discrimination protections now provided to homosexuals to people who have left the lifestyle is being publicized by an activist group involved in the dispute.

According to Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, Superior Court Judge Maurice Ross of the District of Columbia ruled the protections available to homosexuals under the D.C. Office of Human Rights and the laws it oversees also apply to former homosexuals.

The decision was released in June, but it was not publicized until now so that the opportunity for homosexual activists to appeal it would pass, according to Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX.

Her organization had expected activists to realize the importance of the decision and contest it, she told WND.

"We are gratified that the ex-gay community in Washington, D.C., now has the same civil rights that gays enjoy," she said.

Her organization had gone to court over the issue of disparate treatment for homosexuals and those who have chosen to leave the lifestyle..

The issue came up in a complaint PFOX filed against the National Education Association for refusing to provide public accommodations to former homosexuals.

"By failing to protect former homosexuals, the sexual orientation laws gave more rights to homosexuals than heterosexuals who were once gay," said Griggs. "So PFOX asked the court to reverse the OHR's decision, which it did. The court held that ex-gays are a protested class under 'sexual orientation.'"

PFOX had asked the court to order the NEA to allow it to set up a booth at NEA conventions, much like homosexual-promoting organizations. The court rejected the request, saying the NEA had concluded the presence of former homosexuals could create a disruption.

But Griggs said the far bigger issue was the precedent that ex-homosexuals should be protected the same way homosexuals presently are guarded.

"All sexual orientation laws and programs nationwide should now provide true diversity and equality by including former homosexuals," Greg Quinlan, a director of PFOX, said. "I have experienced more personal assaults as a former homosexual than I ever did as a gay man."

Griggs said the NEA also now should add former homosexuals to all of the "sexual orientation resolutions" that it has or will adopt, which now cite "gays, bisexuals, and transgenders" but discriminate against former homosexuals by excluding them.

"The NEA must also stop its bias against the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus by appointing an ex-gay caucus member to the NEA Sexual Orientation Committee. This committee is staffed with members of the NEA's gay and transgender caucus, although the ex-gay caucus has asked for inclusion," Griggs said.