A battle of beliefs at 2 events today

The battle of beliefs over the idea that gays can become heterosexual will play out today at two events in Colorado Springs.

In the north part of town, Focus on the Family will hold its "Love Won Out" program, which the ministry created in 1998 to help gays overcome same-sex attraction. Focus has since held 52 of the seminars in the U.S. Its most recent, in Anchorage, garnered national media attention because Sarah Palin's church, Wasilla Bible, advertised it.

The other event, called "Love Came Out," is being sponsored by a coalition of local gay leaders who want to warn people of the dangers of trying to change one's sexual orientation. The free program takes place at Shove Chapel on the Colorado College campus, and features gay speakers who participated in so-called reparative programs and now question such faith-based attempts to change one's sexual orientation.

The group also plans a small demonstration today outside Focus headquarters.

Nori Rost, senior pastor of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs, said the Focus event sends the message that homosexuality is a choice and a sin.

"They don't understand that our impulses are an inherent part of who we are," Rost said.

"It is not something that should be changed. And they add to that the layer of spiritual acceptance - that if you are gay or lesbian, you are spiritually flawed."

"Love Came Out" will offer alternative explanations of biblical passages used by some Christians to condemn homosexuality, Rost said.

Wes Mullins, senior pastor of Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church in Colorado Springs, said he participated in faith-based reparative therapy programs, including "Love Won Out" in 2000, during a years-long period when his Christian beliefs were at odds with his sexual orientation.

Mullins now believes that reparative programs are dangerous.

"You cannot successfully suppress your sexual orientation," Mullins said.

Some critics say "Love Won Out" spreads intolerance, but Melissa Fryrear of Focus, who said she's overcome same-sex attraction through Christian programs, doesn't agree.

"We are not trying to force anyone to think or believe as we do," said Fryrear, director of gender issues at Focus. "Our intention is to offer an alternative, an option. If someone is dissatisfied with living a homosexual life, then we want to help."

Though many scientific studies suggest that people are born with their sexual orientation, Focus research analyst Jeff Johnston said he believes it has more to do with how they are raised - in other words, nurture, not nature.

"Pro-homosexual advocates and their allies aren't dealing with all the evidence in their insistence that people are ‘born gay' and cannot change," Johnston said in a statement.

But Daniel Gonzales has a different view. The 28-year-old Denver resident will be one of four panelists at the "Love Came Out" event, where he'll talk about embracing his sexual orientation after years of trying to change it while attending faith-based reparative programs.

"It all boiled down to trying to make up excuses for what was causing my attractions and convincing myself that my attractions had some other meaning and ultimately could be ignored or pushed aside," Gonzales said.

"If that sounds like a fancy way of saying ‘repression,'" he said, "that would be exactly right."

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