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| 'Love Is Love': media firm uses LGBT language to send anti-gay message | 'Love Is Love': media firm uses LGBT language to send anti-gay message |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Evangelical group rejects claims its BuzzFeed-style videos, aimed at ‘the next generation’, preach conversion therapy | Evangelical group rejects claims its BuzzFeed-style videos, aimed at ‘the next generation’, preach conversion therapy |
| Josiah Hesse | Josiah Hesse |
| Tue 23 Jan 2018 12.00 GMT | Tue 23 Jan 2018 12.00 GMT |
| Last modified on Tue 23 Jan 2018 17.51 GMT | |
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| The “Love Is Love” video begins with a teenage girl, Emily, telling the story of coming out to her parents. “Love is not necessarily between a man and a woman,” she recalls saying. Footage plays of two women, dancing and flirting. “If you’re truly a Christian, you’re on my side … because God is love.” | |
| Between the title and the rainbow flag, you could easily mistake this for a pro-LGBT video from the It Gets Better or Truth Wins Out campaigns. But it’s actually from Anchored North, an evangelical media company that uses short-form videos to proselytize on behalf of Christianity via social media. | Between the title and the rainbow flag, you could easily mistake this for a pro-LGBT video from the It Gets Better or Truth Wins Out campaigns. But it’s actually from Anchored North, an evangelical media company that uses short-form videos to proselytize on behalf of Christianity via social media. |
| For the first half of the four-minute video, Emily’s life is ticking along nicely, including getting engaged to a woman. Then she’s invited to a church. “I Googled [Bible] verses on homosexuality,” she recalls, “and it scared me really bad.” | For the first half of the four-minute video, Emily’s life is ticking along nicely, including getting engaged to a woman. Then she’s invited to a church. “I Googled [Bible] verses on homosexuality,” she recalls, “and it scared me really bad.” |
| By the end, Emily is cuddled up with a handsome young man in gray sweater, as she explains: “It’s not gay to straight, it’s lost to saved.” | By the end, Emily is cuddled up with a handsome young man in gray sweater, as she explains: “It’s not gay to straight, it’s lost to saved.” |
| At one point in the video, Emily uses the popular LGBT-affirming phrase “born this way”, but twists it to say that all humans are born with sin, but there is hope in Jesus. | At one point in the video, Emily uses the popular LGBT-affirming phrase “born this way”, but twists it to say that all humans are born with sin, but there is hope in Jesus. |
| “Homosexuality, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, rape, all of these things are manifestations of the true problem,” said Greg Sukert, a co-founder of Anchored North, “which is the deceitful and wicked heart that all people are born with.” | “Homosexuality, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, rape, all of these things are manifestations of the true problem,” said Greg Sukert, a co-founder of Anchored North, “which is the deceitful and wicked heart that all people are born with.” |
| Sukert vehemently denies that the video promotes “conversion therapy” – the psycho-spiritual practice of seeking to turn someone from gay to straight, or trans to cisgender. | Sukert vehemently denies that the video promotes “conversion therapy” – the psycho-spiritual practice of seeking to turn someone from gay to straight, or trans to cisgender. |
| “The message of someone changing their attraction or desires is not the same as conversion therapy,” he says. “That whole thing is the use of psychotherapy to alter someone’s behavior, which is not what we’re communicating. What we’re saying is God changes the heart.” | “The message of someone changing their attraction or desires is not the same as conversion therapy,” he says. “That whole thing is the use of psychotherapy to alter someone’s behavior, which is not what we’re communicating. What we’re saying is God changes the heart.” |
| While Sukert may reject the “conversion therapy” label, his “Love Is Love” video promotes the idea that anyone in a same-sex relationship would be much happier (and in God’s favor) in a heterosexual relationship. | While Sukert may reject the “conversion therapy” label, his “Love Is Love” video promotes the idea that anyone in a same-sex relationship would be much happier (and in God’s favor) in a heterosexual relationship. |
| Sukert says he and Anchored North are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs, which call them, as they see it, to help lost souls. | Sukert says he and Anchored North are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs, which call them, as they see it, to help lost souls. |
| “Since this video was released, Emily has taken so much heat,” he says. “She’s received death threats. People are denying her experiences altogether, saying things like ‘you were never gay, just bisexual’, ‘you’re lost’, ‘you’ve succumbed to the church’s suppression’.” | “Since this video was released, Emily has taken so much heat,” he says. “She’s received death threats. People are denying her experiences altogether, saying things like ‘you were never gay, just bisexual’, ‘you’re lost’, ‘you’ve succumbed to the church’s suppression’.” |
| Several states have banned the practice of conversion therapy, with several more states considering outlawing it, due to studies that show it can lead to depression, anxiety and even suicide in LGBT persons. The practice was affirmed by the Republican National Committee’s 2016 platform, and has received support from the vice-president, Mike Pence, and the former congresswoman Michele Bachmann, whose husband operates a conversion therapy clinic. | |
| The video has been viewed more than 2m times on Facebook, not including views on the Anchored North website, where you can find other videos with titles including “Do Aborted Babies Go To Heaven?” and “I Forgave My Rapist”. The videos appear tailor-made for millennial audiences on smartphones. | The video has been viewed more than 2m times on Facebook, not including views on the Anchored North website, where you can find other videos with titles including “Do Aborted Babies Go To Heaven?” and “I Forgave My Rapist”. The videos appear tailor-made for millennial audiences on smartphones. |
| Sukert said a large inspiration for the video series was BuzzFeed. | Sukert said a large inspiration for the video series was BuzzFeed. |
| “They’ve mastered content that focuses on raw, authentic, sometimes humorous stories. And the things that are shaping the next generation’s worldview are these short-form videos online, so we’re taking a page from the culture of today, but the message is staying the same.” | “They’ve mastered content that focuses on raw, authentic, sometimes humorous stories. And the things that are shaping the next generation’s worldview are these short-form videos online, so we’re taking a page from the culture of today, but the message is staying the same.” |
| Deb Cuny, a spokeswoman for the #BornPerfect campaign, which speaks out against the dangers of conversion therapy, was in high school when she came out to her fundamentalist Christian parents. For years, their lives centered around conversion therapy classes, retreats, and even supernatural “cleansing” sessions to rid her bedroom of demonic spirits. | |
| “Eventually I decided I was definitely going to hell and became very depressed,” she said. “I had so much self-hate around my sexuality.” | “Eventually I decided I was definitely going to hell and became very depressed,” she said. “I had so much self-hate around my sexuality.” |
| More than a decade later, Cuny and her parents use terms like “brainwashed” and “abuse” to describe that time. Cuny has since embraced her sexuality, and is on her way to becoming an Episcopal minister. | More than a decade later, Cuny and her parents use terms like “brainwashed” and “abuse” to describe that time. Cuny has since embraced her sexuality, and is on her way to becoming an Episcopal minister. |
| She sees Anchored North’s suggestion that their videos don’t support conversion therapy as particularly insidious. | She sees Anchored North’s suggestion that their videos don’t support conversion therapy as particularly insidious. |
| “I want to expose all the different subtle practices of the church that don’t have the label of conversion therapy, but clearly are,” she said. “Any attempt to change someone’s sexual or gender identity, even through something as subtle as prayer, is conversion therapy.” | “I want to expose all the different subtle practices of the church that don’t have the label of conversion therapy, but clearly are,” she said. “Any attempt to change someone’s sexual or gender identity, even through something as subtle as prayer, is conversion therapy.” |
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