Ed note: As Barnum said there’s a sucker born every minute . . . do you think that’s why there as so many LGBT folks around? Oh wait – he meant something else.
A traveling national conference billed as an event "to provide help for those struggling - and those whose loved ones struggle - with unwanted same-sex attractions," drew about 700 people to a Mountain View church on Saturday.
The gathering at the evangelical Christian church, Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, also drew a small protest by members of the Bay Area's gay and lesbian community incensed by the conference topic, the longstanding controversy on whether gays can be "converted" - or turned into so-called "ex-gays" through a Christian "step out" program.
It was the first time that Love Won Out, a 10-year-old traveling conference sponsored by Focus on the Family, an evangelical group based in Colorado Springs, Colo., was held in the South Bay.
Inside the church, there were conference sessions on "Understanding Male Homosexuality," "Hope For Those Who Struggle," and "Straight Thinking on Gay Marriage."
"Christians want to know how to respond to a loved one who is living homosexually," said Melissa Fryrear, director of gender issues for Focus on the Family.
Fryrear was one of the keynote speakers at the conference and recounted her personal story as "someone who lived homosexually for a decade."
After counseling and the help of Exodus International, a group whose mission is helping gays "to overcome homosexuality," Fryrear said, she "began to step out of homosexuality."
See Hundreds gather to learn about 'ex-gay' movement @ San Jose Mercury News, USA
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