Focus on the Family Analyst Responds to 'Love Won Out' Protests
Focus on the Family believes that the protesters at the pre-event breakfast for the ''Love Won Out'' conference held recently in Boston have misunderstood the objective of the seminar.
Focus on the Family believes that the protesters at the pre-event breakfast for the “Love Won Out” conference held recently in Boston have misunderstood the objective of the seminar.
On Thursday, over 600 members of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry (RCFM) gathered in front of Tremont Street Baptist Church, Mass., in protest of Focus on the Family and its “Love Won Out” conference.
RCFM is made of clergies, churches, and faith-based organizations that support same-sex marriages and actively pursues legal recognition of same-gendered marriages. The organization protests against the “Love Won Out” conference because it believes, “Focus on the Family…[is] trying to force their narrow, extreme religious views of sexuality and marriage on the rest of us…Its goal is to prevent homosexuality and to convert gays and lesbians into heterosexual conservative Christians.”
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During an interview with the Christian Post, Melissa Fryrear, Gender Issues Analyst for Focus on the Family, explained that supporters of gay marriages have the wrong impression of the purpose of “Love Won Out” conferences and that the goal of the event is to respectfully communicate and share Focus on the Family’s beliefs on homosexual marriages.
Fryrear also emphasized that the conference is not closed and narrow-minded, as some have claimed, but that lesbian and gay activist are greatly welcome to attend the event.
“We welcome gay and lesbian activist to attend the ‘Love Won Out’ event,” Fryrear said. “We would love to have them there because they will hear a message of grace and compassion.
“Rather than going on hearsay, and often things are not true or misrepresented we would welcome that they hear first hand what is being represented at the ‘Love Won Out’ conference.”
Although gay activists are welcomed to attend the event, Fryrear says their protests and demonstrations are not.
“The hypocrisy of the pro-gay proponents [is that] they say they are for tolerance and for diversity and yet they are very intolerant of the Christian view of homosexuality and very intolerant of homosexuality,” she stated. “And so it is certainly hypocrisy on their end.”
The “Love Won Out” conference in Boston will mark the 36th presentation of the event, which began in 1998 and has reached out to 26,000 people in 32 cities internationally. The conference is highly popular and the seminar schedules are booked two years in advance.
Fryrear, who is one of the conference speakers, has faith that “Love Won Out” will remain successful with high attendance despite the protests, which she says occurs at almost every “Love Won Out” event.
“We will always continue to do what we do,” Fryrear said in closing. “We will always continue to hold our events because we are so well receive by people who are open to a respectful and sincere dialogue on this issue.”
The 36th presentation of “Love Won Out” will occur in Boston, MA at Tremont Temple Church on Oct. 29.
For more information visit: http://www.lovewonout.com/
