WHERE SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING MEETS LGBT EQUALITY

Coral Ridge Ministries, We Are Living Proof

Members:

This ad features John and Anne Paulk, who had been featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine for a feature about "ex-gays." Paulk disgraced himself and his affiliation with anti-gay group Focus on the Family when he was later found in a gay bar in Washington DC.

It shows former lesbians and gays who've paired up and had children together as heterosexuals. After saying how long they'd "been" gay, one says, "We were broken and looking for love in the wrong places."

Coral Ridge Ministries is part of the coalition that created quite a stir with "ex-gay" print ads, which ran in major newspapers nationwide and consequently got much media attention.

The tagline is: "It's not about hate. It's about hope."

Using this line appears to reveal a vulnerability on the part of Coral Ridge Ministries. The religious right has long been criticized by the gay community as spreading hate and the ad attempts to reframe the issue.

The campaign aired in Washington DC and the group tried to show it on Orlando stations during Gay Day at Disneyworld but was ultimately turned down by all but a religious station.

User Comments
Keith
I have always wondered if "ex-gays" actually discovered their bisexuality rather than there heterosexuality. Love is a blessing no matter what form it might take.

Rick
This is the kind of advertising and propaganda that's kept the gay community under the heel of the religious groups for the last two decades. The ex-gay movement is the most twisted form of homosexuality. I get so disgusted when I see or hear ads for homosexuals anonymous or Exodus International. All of these organizations are funded by many large Christian groups, to aggressively nullify the gay community out there, to turn us into the cookie-cutter families they want us to be. I think that just because they are unhappy and unfufilled living out a false American dream, why should they drag us down with them as well? By telling us we are unhappy and lost, or lonely, they only seek to make us feel this way, everyone feels lost/lonely/unhappy occasionally, whether you are gay, straight, bisexual, whatever. This sociological and psychological attacks are destructive and hurtful on a subliminal level and even more so dangerous, they are manipulative!

Andrea
What are the talking about? It IS about hate!

Cate
This ad is so unbelievably plastic and fake it's a miracle that these types of supposedly "reformed" people even take *themselves* seriously!

Kasumi Jo
This ad is so embarassing and laughable! No one can change who you are. I happen to love somebody of the same sex and I don't need someone else to brainwash me to change.

Mark
The negative sign and its description should include as criteria the concept that people can change who they are, which they can't.