Date:         Fri, 15 Jul 1994 09:10:01 -0400

[ Send all responses to cendo@spot.colorado.edu ]

Wednesday, July 13, 1994

Colorado Springs, CO -- Mel White and his life-partner, Gary Nixon, spent
a restless night at their fast site in front of the world headquarters of
James Dobson's Focus on the Family ministries. The security guard had to
jump from his car to warn away one determined late night caller and
several times, well after midnight, people honked their horns, spun their
wheels or yelled "faggot" as they sped away.

At exactly 9 AM, Dr. White, Robert Mone and Franklin Whitworth from
Ground Zero, Buzz Frum, from PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Families of
Lesbians and Gays) and the Rev. Rost from the Colorado Springs
Metropolitan Community Church walked into the world headquarters of Focus
on the Family.  They were greeted by Vice President H.B. London and given
a one-hour tour of the 225,000 square foot headquarters and the 175,000
square foot distribution center. According to their guide, Focus receives
10,000 letters and 3,500 phone calls daily and mails out approximately 50
million letters and parcels of materials every year.  During the tour,
Dr. London told Dr. White that several of his facts about Focus were
wrong.  For example, the Focus annual budget was $97 million not $150
million as Mel had claimed.  Dr. White apologized for any errors in the
numbers in his press release and promised to change them immediately.

>From 10 AM to 11 AM, Mel White and his associates met with four Focus
leaders. "The spirit of our meeting was excellent," Dr. White explained
later. "Although we didn't come to any kind of agreement during this
opening round of talks, both sides expressed themselves honestly and
openlu." After their meeting with Focus leaders, Mr. Buzz Frum, the PFLAG
parent, why he was in solidarity with Dr. White's fast.

"I am an evangelical Christian, too," he said, "and a long-time supporter
of Focus on the Family.  But when God blessed our heterosexual home with
a lesbian daughter and a gay son, we began to realize that Jim Dobson and
his colleagues were not right about everything.  We love and respect our
homosexual children as God loves and respects them. And though we still
don't know everything about sexual orientation, we can see God's spirit
working in our gay children's lives. We are so saddened and alarmed by
the cloud of misinformation that Focus, Colorado For Family Values, and
other organizations are distributing about gay people.  During the
Amendment 2 campaign," he added, "our son's life was threatened.  The
misinformation flowing out of Focus leads directly to intolerance and
discrimination against our own children and I was glad to warn Focus of
the great harm they are doing to my family and across the nation to other
families with gay and lesbian children."

"During the afternoon, dozens of people dropped by the fast site to
encourage Dr. White and the people who were fasting with him.  Samuel
Behrens, a young gay lawyer, came California representing Christian Gays
and Lesbians For Justice, a group of Christian activists from the Western
region of Evangelical Concerned.  Duane Johnson, the MCC pastor in
Richmond, Virginia, was snet by his congregation to join in the fast. "I
am here," he explained, "because I understand the ignorance and suffering
these people help create.  My church in Richmond is half way between
headquarrters cities of Jerry Falwell and Pat Roberson. Like James
Dobson, these men may be sincere," he said, "but they are sincerely wrong
about lesbian and gay people.  And their misinformation must be
confronted and condemned by all of us."

At 5 PM, Dr. White received a five-page press realease from Focus on the
Family totled "Speaking of Disinformation: A Response to Mel White's
Criticism of Focus on the Family." After correcting several of Dr.
White's statistics on the financial and political clout of the Focus's
worldwode ministries, the unknown author of this unsigned "Social
Research Brief" listed 8 "false assertions" made by Dr. White.

"In denying just eight of many assertions," Dr. White replied, :and in
defending their tired old case against homosexuality, Focus has
accomplished for me exactly what I came here to do.  Behind the loving,
Focus on the Family image, is a growing obsession to caricature and
condemn gay people.  Their press release is so replete with misleading
and inflammatory rhetoric against lesbians and gays that I'm going to
quite using my 13-page summary of their words against us and just use
their own news release to prive my point. Any thoughtful American who
reads through their lurid and totally inaccurate description of the 'gay
lifestyle' or the imaginary 'gay agenda' will realize how desparate Focus
is to keep alive their demeaning and dehumanizing caricature of
homosexuals.  I can't understand why they insist on misusing a handful of
Biblical texts and the discredited research of a handful of their
'authority' figures to condemn us.  It is so unlike anything Jesus would
say or do."

By 8 PM more than 100 people gathered at the fast site for a candlelight
vigil to support the fast.  Heterosexual and gay parents brought their
brought their children.  Gay and lesbian couples stood hand in hand.
Local pastors and members of gay arriming congreagtions joined in the
vigil.  More than a dozens individual gay and lesbian Christians in the
crowd told this reporter that this vigil was their first step out of the
closet and into the front lines of this war against them.  After a moving
program of special music and speeches, the crowd lit their candles,
walked to the entrance of Focus on the Family's world headquarters, and
stood peacefully at the barricades signing, "We Shall Overcome" and
"Jesus Loves Me, This I Know."