Exodus joined with 19 other groups to oppose federal hate crimes legislation to launch an ad campaign in seven newspapers across the US. The ones featuring former homosexuals and the Philly 11 were placed in the following papers to influence specific Senators to vote against hate crimes legislation:
The Orlando Sentinel, Senator Bill Nelson
The Indianapolis Star, Senators Lugar and Bayh
The Nevada Appeal, Senators Reid and Ensign
Roll Call, All of Capital Hill (Runs 12/12/05)
The link above is to the Roll Call Ad because the text is the same except for the different Senators contact information.
The following Ads are not featuring former homosexuals but part of the overall campaign. They are also powerful ads
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The Richmond Times Dispatch, Senator John Warner
The Reno Gazette Journal: Senators Reid and Ensign
Omaha World Herald, Senator Ben Nelson.
The text of the ad featuring Exodus Representatives Randy Thomas and Mike Ensley along with two former lesbians say...
Why would anyone vote for unequal justice? Hate Crime laws say we were MORE VALUABLE as homosexuals than we are now as former homosexuals. Whatever happened to the constitutional guarantee of equal justice under law? The very notion that a homosexual who suffers a violent crime is somehow worth more than a former homosexual who suffers the same crime is absurd. But that’s exactly what the current “hate crimes” legislation in Congress will do . . . elevate one over the other based solely on one’s sexual preference. Such a law means that the two straight men who killed Matthew Shepard would receive a harsher sentence than the two homosexual men who raped, tortured and killed 13-year old Jesse Dirkhising. There is no moral difference between these two crimes. But under new federal “hate crimes” legislation, one would be punished more severely than the other! That’s not only unfair, it’s unjust, and simply un-American. Something is terribly wrong when 11 people peacefully protesting a homosexual event in Philadelphia are arrested and jailed, but activist homosexuals disrupting a pro-family event in Maine are not. Something is terribly wrong when a Boston parent is arrested and jailed for merely objecting to pro-homosexual material being forced on his kindergarten child at school, but hundreds of homosexuals there using sound trucks and blocking the entrance to a church conference hosted by former homosexuals are not. Something is terribly wrong when federal law will make the punishment for a violent crime harsher merely because of a victim’s sexual preference. Something must be done NOW to protect equal justice! We urge the Congress to realize that every violent crime is a hate crime . . . and that the only true justice in America is EQUAL justice under law.