As for the conferrence organizers, they were cordial enough to me, but I got the definite impression that the march and rally were “their baby” and their own LOCAL expression of their dislike for Focus on the Family. I did not ask to speak at the Rally and they did not mention me from the podium. That’s OK. They were making their statement. I agree they used the phrase “hate group” too often in referrring to FOTF. They clearly like FOTF about as much as they approve of George Bush and the war in Iraq.

One of the speakers, Pastor Nick Warner, did a good job of clarifiying that he thought it was “ignorance” of who we were as Gays and Lesbians, not hate.

The organizers seemed to be saying, “We don’t want or need a cure”, “We like our lives and our valley just the way they “, “now kindly go home.”

In retrospect, I wish they would have spect some time educating the crowd about what EXOUDS and NARTH teach, but I understand that they had a different set of priorities and a panel of guest speakers to get through. They made it clear tath they were ticked off with the Mayor for “welcoming” FOTF to Palm Springs. I tend to agree that he goofed. Indian Wells has its own Mayor who could have made any comment that HE felt necessary. It would have saved Mayor Oden a lot of grief in the long run.

Also, as I have said before, your average Joe or Jane gay person barely knew what EXODUS was and new NOTHING of NARTH or it’s recent, HUGE, errors in editorial judgement.

Is it true that even some at NARTH are upset about the Berger/Schoenewol MESS? They really need an editorial review committee. By the way, there has still been NO formal apology or retraction from NARTH about the Schoenewolf article — so I assume that Joseph Nicolosi and NARTH must agree with its contents. Very troubling.

We ex-gay watchers were there, holding our signs, smiling, waving, and greeting everyone who entered the grounds with a cheerful “Good Morning!” (And as you can probably imagine, we really meant it — every morning in Palm Springs is a Good Morning. We greeted each and every participant who entered via the main North entrance, and many waved and smiled back. We were there to greet everyone during the 7:00-9:15 check-in

The Rallyites, however were 45 minutes late, and left a half-hour early. They marched around in sullen circles. The leader warned us that we should get in line and march around too, because, apparently, proper protest protocol (PPP) requires this. (Actually, she said that not standing around was “loitering”, although the sherrif said we were fine as long as we stayed on the curb.)

Those who think they know better are not likely to take much advice from “rubes” like us, but I think we were a much better message to send: a warm wave, a smile and a cheerful “Good Morning!” — A greeting which was returned by a good number of folks who were driving in that morning. It’s better to show who we really are rather than to confirm the worst fears of who they say we are.

David Blakeslee

The Unity Rally folks still have the false statement up there. When you click the link now however, it takes you to a sign in page which is password protected.

“in the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professional inttegrity” to “issue a public apology on the front page of their website for publishing such an outrageous and offensive article.” They go on: “Dr. Schoenewolf’s peculiar views have no place in civilized discourse.”