http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=61302
2/21/2006 6:07:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Christopher Norfleet of Focus on the Family, 719-548-4570 or [email protected]
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Feb. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Focus on the Family's international Love Won Out conference on homosexuality comes to St. Louis this Saturday, Feb. 25, and organizers are anticipating record-breaking attendance numbers.
"We could not be more pleased with the response," said Mike Haley, host of Love Won Out and a former homosexual. "We will have people coming from at least 23 different states on Saturday, and we're set to break our all-time record with more than 1,300 attendees. All despite the controversy stirred up by opposition groups in St. Louis."
Local gay activists have promised a protest the day of the event, and the host church, First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester, was vandalized last week. Just today, one of several promotional billboards, which feature the conference message that "Change is Possible" for homosexuals, was defaced with paint.
Haley said that, despite these incidents, the conference will take place as planned.
"We are here to share a message of hope and healing," he said. "Men and women who are unsatisfied living homosexually have the ability and the right to change. Love Won Out exists to encourage them, and to call on those who have gay friends and loved ones to reach out with truth and love.
"Offering people the freedom to change is not something that should be derided or attacked. While we often hear the homosexual community calling for 'tolerance,' there seems to be little tolerance left over for us."
Speaking of the planned protest, Haley said that opposition is common in cities Love Won Out visits. "As a former homosexual I can attest that I have faced much more intolerance since leaving homosexuality than before," he said. "But I and thousands of others know that change is possible -- we have the right to share that message and the love of Christ with those who want to hear it."
Interviews are available by phone, or via Focus' in-house satellite uplink studio, prior to the conference. A press conference will be held at noon, Saturday, at the conference: First Evangelical Free Church, 1375 Carman Rd., Manchester. Media credentials are available by request.
Media wishing to cover the event or arrange an interview should contact: Christopher Norfleet: 719-548-4570, [email protected].