Lawsuit, Not a Lawsuit

I was CC'ed on a series of emails this week, discussing whether PFOX-GAG actually did file a lawsuit in DC court. Their press release said they had, Wayne Besen said they hadn't, and it was the opinion of at least one lawyer in this email thread that maybe the petition that was filed could technically be considered a lawsuit.

The Blade followed up on the question.

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, a national group known as PFOX, last week announced it was “suing” the D.C. Office of Human Rights to overturn a decision that ex-gays do not belong to a protected category under the city’s Human Rights Act.

An office spokesperson called the PFOX announcement inaccurate, though, and noted the group filed a petition, not a lawsuit, before the D.C. Superior Court to appeal the 2005 decision.

James Maloney, a PFOX attorney, called the petition “a lawsuit of sorts,” but acknowledged it was essentially a routine appeal of a decision that he said unfairly denied “ex-gays” protections under the Human Rights Act. National ‘ex-gay’ group appeals D.C. human rights office decision

So the Office of Human Rights says there was no lawsuit, PFOX-GAG says there was, sort of. Gee, it's hard to decide who to believe here -- a spokesman for a government office that protects citizens' rights, or the attorney for an organization that is based on a premise that is patently false and fundamentally bigoted.

Maloney said the appeal is important because it could lead to a court order requiring the city to include “ex-gays” as a protected category under the Human Rights Act’s sexual orientation clause.

The clause lists gays, bisexuals and straight people as protected from discrimination under the act.

Regina Griggs, the executive director of PFOX, said that while “ex-gays” consider themselves heterosexual, they are often subjected to discrimination because of their status as “ex-gay” rather than as straight.

Interestingly, only obnoxious "ex-gays" are discriminated against. People who used to be gay, and now aren't, enjoy all the privileges of straight people. People who used to be gay, and now aren't, who go around telling everybody that homosexuality is a choice and that gay people should decide to be straight, find they are unwelcome lots of places.

There is another interesting story embedded in this one. Every year PFOX-GAG tries get the National Education Association to let them set up a booth at their convention, and every year they get turned down.

The PFOX appeal stems from a decision to dismiss a complaint that PFOX filed against the National Education Association. The complaint alleged that NEA discriminated against “ex-gays” as a class by denying a PFOX application to maintain an exhibit booth during a 2003 NEA convention.

NEA initially argued that the content of PFOX’s proposed exhibit was inconsistent with NEA’s mission because it promoted alternatives to homosexuality rather than acceptance of homosexuality.

NEA General Counsel Bob Chanin said last week that NEA has since agreed to allow a PFOX exhibit if a recently formed “ex-gay” caucus of NEA members organizes it.

In its 2005 decision, the D.C. Office of Human Rights says its determination that ex-gays are not covered under the human rights act as a class separate from heterosexuals is based on court rulings and legal precedent that define categories protected from discrimination as “immutable characteristics,” such as race and gender.

But that's the whole issue -- the backbone of PFOX-GAG's ideology is the premise that sexual orientation is not only mutable but that it can be changed at will, though there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation is a choice and nobody, gay or straight, feels that way, except for a few people who work for these organizations.

If you have followed this story, you will find this interesting, PFOX-GAG's officers and Board of Directors:

Paul Rondeau, Purcellville, Va., President/Director
Estella Salvatierra, Fort Belvoir, Va., Vice President/Director
Scott Strachen, Fort Belvoir, Va., Secretary/Director
Michelle Hoffman, Fort Belvoir, Va., Treasurer/Director
Regina Griggs, Fort Belvoir, Va., Executive Director
Retta Brown, Fort Belvoir, Va., Director
Peter Sprigg, Washington, DC, Director
Robert Knight, Alexandria, Va., Director

A lot of the Fort Belvoir people have the same post office box number, so you don't know where they live, really, but that's where PFOX-GAG told the IRS they were. We know a lot of these characters. Some are professional haters, and some are just minor-league ignoramuses. Paul Rondeau has been involved with other nutty groups, Ella Salvatierra is a lawyer, Regina Griggs is in charge of it all and she's a sad story, she has a gay son who who won't go "ex" for her. Retta Brown actually lives in our county, I think, I don't know why she has a Virginia address in PFOX-GAG's IRS documents. Peter Sprigg, as well, lives in MoCo, he's a professional, Vice President for Policy at the Family Research Council, which is a big-bucks anti-gay organization, Robert Knight is another pro, he used to be at the Family Research Council, then he was one of the Concerned Women for America but now he's Director of the Culture and Media Institute, doing the same thing. We saw Peter and Robert speak at the CRC's hate-fest a couple of years ago. We saw Michelle Hoffman address the Montgomery County school board once, but I don't know anything about her or Scott Strachen.

So PFOX-GAG is tied into the big national groups, but they are a small organization with a small budget. Their mission is absurd, they wear their hatred of gay people on their sleeve, and our county's public schools send their flyers home with our kids. They have filed some sort of paper with the courts, trying to get "ex-gays" added to the DC nondiscrimination law, as if there is a problem with discrimination against straight people.