Journalist Invited to Meet 'Ex-Gays' She Says Don't Exist

by Jim Brown
June 1, 2004

(AgapePress) - The night editor of an Illinois newspaper is being taken to task for dismissing the existence of ex-homosexuals.

Penny Weaver is a copy editor for the Journal Gazette in Mattoon, and recently wrote a column supporting homosexual "marriage." After receiving a news release from the group Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays (PFOX), she asked to be removed from their mailing list and stated that "there is no such thing as an ex-gay."

Dr. Warren Throckmorton, director of college counseling at Grove city College in Pennsylvania, says Weaver holds to a view that is unfortunately all too common among those in the mainstream press.

"I understand that there is a cultural conventional wisdom about this that says 'once gay, always gay.' But I would invite [Weaver] to meet some former gays," Throckmorton says. "I would invite her to have a real serious, sincere discussion with people who have come away from a gay identity -- and find out who they are, and learn about them."

Weaver's comment, the professor says, has been hurtful and offensive to former homosexuals. "The leadership of the Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays were quite offended by the bluntness of the statement," he shares. "I've had fifteen e-mails from former homosexuals who want to know where they can write [and] who they can call to express the view that they exist."

Throckmorton sys the appropriate response from the paper's publisher would be to issue an apology. Weaver told American Family Radio News that she wishes she had not made the remark about former homosexuals and is considering an apology -- but claims she was not operating in a professional capacity when she stated it.