from Mel White
http://www.soulforce.org/JAMES DOBSON FACES MORAL DILEMMAFOLLOWING A SOULFORCE PICNIC AND RALLY AT FOCUS ON THE FAMILY WORLD HEADQUARTERS ON SUNDAY MAY 1, VOLUNTEERS TRAINED IN NONVIOLENCE WILL CREATE A DIFFICULT MORAL CHOICE FOR JAMES DOBSON On Monday, May 2, 2005, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family will have to make a moral decision. Will he receive a Soulforce delegation of gay and lesbian people of faith and families, friends, and clergy into his massive world headquarters? Or will he lock them out? Monday, May 2, is a normal workday for more than 1,000 Focus on the Family employees. Soulforce volunteers, trained in relentless nonviolent resistance, are determined to deliver to Dobson and his staff thousands of letters that illustrate the tragic consequences of the anti-gay rhetoric of Dobson and other fundamentalist Christian leaders. "If we are locked out of Focus on the Family," says Jeff Lutes, MS, LPC, a psychologist and family counselor from Austin, Texas, who is heading up this nonviolent intervention, "the nation will see clearly that the truth about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people is being locked out with us." Over 1000 people of faith from Colorado and all across the country will be joining with Soulforce in Colorado Springs outside of James Dobson's organizational headquarters at Focus on the Family. Just outside the entrance to Focus on the Family on May 1, there will be a press conference at 12:45pm, a family picnic, and a rally with speakers and entertainment. During the rally, cards will be passed out on which people can write their letter to James Dobson to add to the thousands already collected to be delivered the next business day, May 2. "On Monday, May 1, James Dobson has to make a moral decision," explains the Rev. Dr. Mel White, Executive Director of Soulforce. "Does he welcome this delegation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people with supportive clergy and other people of faith? Or does he lock us out and force us to risk nonviolent civil disobedience and arrest? We can't just go away and ignore the terrible consequences of Dobson's ignorance and bigotry." "If Dr. Dobson denies the opportunity for interaction and dialogue by locking us out, he is saying that he is not open to the latest scientific and biblical evidence that homosexuality is simply another example of God's glorious and diverse creation," said Reverend Robyn Murphy, staff pastor at Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church in Colorado Springs. "We are calling this a family intervention, as we are all really part of the same family," Jeff Lutes explains. "As a member of the human family, James Dobson is our brother who has become a dangerous and misleading force to millions. We are coming to Colorado Springs to show him that his refusal to hear the truth about God's gay children leads to wasted lives and ruined families. We pray that this time, James Dobson will hear us." Soulforce has documented many of the hurtful words of James Dobson, in a booklet entitled A FALSE FOCUS ON MY FAMILY: Why every person of faith should be deeply troubled by Dr. James Dobson's dangerous and misleading words about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
http://www.soulforce.org/http://www.soulforce.org/televangelists/dobson/2005action/index.shtmlhttps://www.soulforce.org/cgi-bin/order.cgi?donation=customThe purpose of Soulforce is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.
