Two Arrested Holding Dobson Accountable for Anti-gay Statements
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SOULFORCE PRESS RELEASE: April 28, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Paige Schilt, Media Director
Cell: 512-659-1771
paige@soulforce.org
Local Soulforce Contact: Christopher Hubble, Soulforce Colorado State Organizer
Cell: 720-226-8291
cahubble05@yahoo.com
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(Colorado Springs, CO) — At approximately 10:30 a.m. on April 28, 2007, Christopher Hubble and Leigh Lyon of Denver, Colo., were arrested and removed from Dr. James Dobson’s ministry headquarters in police custody. The couple entered the campus after an earlier vigil during which participants silently prayed for Dr. Dobson’s wholeness and then read aloud numerous inflammatory and dehumanizing statements that Dr. Dobson and his associates have published over the years regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families. After entering the campus, and being confronted by ministry officials, Hubble and Lyon refused to leave until the organization’s founder, Dr. Dobson, takes a step toward reconciliation with LGBT communities by ceasing his misleading statements about research on lesbian and gay parents.
The two were charged with trespassing, processed at a nearby facility, and released.
"The goal of this direct action campaign of civil disobedience is not to embarrass or shame Dr. Dobson–but to open his heart," said Hubble. "I sincerely hope that this ‘nonviolent conversation’ will persuade him and his associates to finally end their partisan campaign of untruthful rhetoric which causes so much suffering for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."
On February 19, during the first Focus on the Facts action, Soulforce was challenged to document Dr. Dobson’s and his colleagues’ negative bias toward LGBT people. More recently, in a Reuters article, Dr. Dobson claimed that he has never made a hateful statement about lesbians and gays, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.
Hubble and Lyon attempted to present Dr. Dobson with two dozen yellow roses and evidence of his anti-LGBT statements. The Soulforce booklet "A False Focus on My Family" and open DVD letter "Dear Dr. Dobson" comprise exhaustive documentation of Dr. Dobson’s and his associates’ hurtful and misleading statements about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
"As a mother, I am here to stand against the condemnation that Dr. Dobson and his colleagues heap on gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people and the parents that raise them–because it results in suicides and alienation from God. I want to see this end and I am here to say NO MORE! God loves us all," said Lyon.
Dr. Dobson and associates frequently attempt to discredit LGBT parenting with references to "more than 10,000 studies that have showed that children do best when they have a mom and a dad." According to the American Psychological Association (APA), such claims rely on "studies that simply do not address gay and lesbian parents and their children."Moreover, "no credible evidence shows that children raised by lesbian or gay parents differ in any important respects from those raised by heterosexual parents." In recent months, several social scientists — including Dr. Carol Gilligan of New York University and Dr. Kyle Pruett of Yale — have publicly rebuked him for mischaracterizing their research conclusions.
Focus on the Facts is an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience modeled on Gandhi’s Satyagraha campaigns in South Africa and India. In the words of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi "believed in the efficacy of pitting the soul force of the Satyagraha against the brute force of the oppressor and in effect converting the oppressor to the right and moral point."
Soulforce is a national civil rights and social justice organization. Our vision is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. For more information, go to www.soulforce.org.
For more information about Dr. Dobson’s misrepresentation of social science research and other Soulforce resources, visit:
- Soulforce booklet A False Focus On My Family
www.soulforce.org/article/false-focus-family - Soulforce DVD Dear Dr. Dobson
www.soulforce.org/article/dear-dr-dobson-video - Soulforce Letter to Time Magazine
www.soulforce.org/article/899 - Soulforce and Truth Wins Out Teleconference on LGBT Parenting Research
www.soulforce.org/article/1189
CO-SPONSORS INCLUDE:
LGBT Caucus of the Douglas County Democrats: supports the DC Dems and their candidates, and advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) issues in Douglas County, Colorado; provides a forum in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens and supporters may gather and discuss issues and advise the county Party on matters of interest to the LGBT community; promotes activities in support of the LGBT community in Douglas County and Colorado.
Pikes Peak Gay & Lesbian Community Center: Proudly serving the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Pikes Peak region since 1978. (www.ppglcc.org/)
Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church in Colorado Springs: fully supports and sponsors Soulforce in its endeavors to fight for social justice and against all forms of oppression towards the LGBT community.
Just Spirit: A Center for People of all Faiths to Work for Justice…
Founded in 2006 and based in the conservative Christian stronghold of Colorado Springs, CO, Just Spirit is dedicated to fighting the overwhelming influence of the Religious Right and the onslaught of its ultraconservative agenda for the lives of all Americans.
(www.justspirit.org)
Dobson’s and Associates’ Quotes Read During April 28 Vigil
"The homosexual agenda is a beast…It wants our kids…" Focus on the Family Citizen Magazine, January 2003.
"Communities do not let prostitutes, pedophiles, voyeurs, adulterers, and those who sexually prefer animals to publicly celebrate their lifestyles, so why should homosexuals get such privileges?" James Dobson’s War On America, Gil Alexander-Moegerle, Prometheus Books, 1997.
"The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, it’s holiness." Love Won Out Director, Mike Haley, in an interview for The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War, Dan Gilgoff.
"Saying there’s a constitutional guarantee for two homosexuals to marry is just a few steps away from saying there’s a constitutional guarantee to marry more than one person, or for relatives to marry, or even for people to marry their pets," Dr. James Dobson, Cybercast News Service, May 18, 2004.
"Solid, irrefutable evidence proves that there are lethal consequences to engaging in the defining features of male homosexuality — that is, promiscuity." Straight Answers, Exposing the Myths and Facts About Homosexuality, Focus on the Family’s "Love Won Out" series, p. 12.
"Lesbian relationships are equally unhealthy and just as life-threatening as gay male relationships." Straight Answers, Exposing the Myths and Facts About Homosexuality, Focus on the Family’s "Love Won Out" series, p. 21.
"Moms and dads, are you listening? This movement is the greatest threat to your children. It is a particular danger to your wide-eyed boys, who have no idea what demoralization is planned for them." Dr. James Dobson, Bringing Up Boys, "The Origins of Homosexuality," p.125.
"Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 by the empire of Japan served to energize and mobilize the armed forces of the United States, it would appear that the vicious assault on marriage and the church in recent months has begun to reinvigorate people of faith. I see indications that the church is marshalling its forces and preparing to meet the challenge. Evil has a way of overreaching, and that appears to have happened regarding the blatant lawless attack on marriage and biblical morality," Marriage Under Fire: The State of our Union, Focus on the Family’s website.
"Any incident that happens to place a particular strain on the relationship between a child and parent of the same sex is potentially causative," The Truth Comes Out: The Roots and Causes of Male Homosexuality, Focus on the Family’s "Love Won Out Series," P. 10.
"They don’t just want marriage. They want to destroy marriage and the family as we know it." Focus on the Family, CitizenLink Q&A: The Homosexual Agenda, July 25, 2003.
"Traditional marriage between one man and one woman can not co-exist with homosexual marriage. It will destroy the family." The Battle for Marriage, television simulcast to over 700 churches, May 23, 2004.
"What do we know about this disorder? Well first, it is a disorder, despite the denials of the American Psychiatric Association." Dr. James Dobson, Bringing Up Boys, "The Origins of Homosexuality," P. 115.
Soulforce is a national civil rights and social justice organization. Our vision is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. For more information go to www.soulforce.org.