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WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Formerly gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals came to the nation’s capital this week to warn members of the United States Senate against the dangers of the so-called Equality Act, which threatens to diminish religious liberty and severely hinder those seeking to deal with unwanted same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria.
About 50 members of the “Changed” movement gathered at the foot of the U.S. Capitol to make their stories of personal transformation known – finding their way out of homosexuality and transgenderism – and to urge Congress not to cut off access to the religious and personal counseling that often plays a role in healing childhood sexual and emotional abuse and trauma which led to embracing those lifestyles.
‘We left LGBTQ because we wanted to’
“Changed has come to D.C. to appeal to our president and to Congress to focus on human dignity apart from identity politics,” said Elizabeth Woning of California, co-founder of the Changed movement and a former lesbian, now married to her husband for 15 years. “America deserves to know there’s more to the story when it comes to LGBTQ experience.”
“LGBTQ is also becoming an ideological worldview that Americans must have the right to embrace or reject on the same terms as religion,” continued Woning. “Many, like us, have changed. We left LGBTQ because we wanted to, and others join us every day.”
Greg Quinlan: The Equality Act is not about equality
“Homosexuality doesn’t have to last a lifetime,” declared Greg Quinlan of New Jersey. “All of us here prove that change is possible.”
“The Equality Act is not about equality,” said Quinlan. “The Equality Act has nothing to do with equality. It has to do with utter, absolute, dominance, and what we are doing with that is that we are erasing the truth from our children.”
“We have the right to determine what happens to our children and to protect them from something we know to be harmful,” he continued. “So I urge Congress not to take up this bill. I urge Congress to table this bill.”
Daniel Mingo: If the Equality Act is passed into law, ‘it will give unequal rights to a minority’
If the Equality Act is passed into law, “It will give unequal rights to a minority, taking away the rights of many, many more,” asserted Daniel Mingo of Kentucky.
“I was sexually molested at 13, which led to anonymous sexal encounters with other males for approximately the next 30 years,” recounted Mingo. “I chose to leave that life, going into recovery for sexual addiction. I also became a born-again believer, and I have been following Jesus now for 51 years.”
“By choosing to leave the gay life, by choosing to stop those anonymous sexual encounters, I was able to determine my own course of treatment, which others would not be able to do if the Equality Act is passed,” said Mingo.
Jason Maxwell: ‘Today I stand before you a fully changed man’
Jason Maxell traveled from Arkansas to say “I am a survivor and overcomer of LGBT indoctrination that many in our country and churches have falsely partnered with, that says, ‘I was born that way.’”
“Other LGBTQ don’t have to choose to find healing from sexual and emotional childhood trauma,” he explained, “but I want to make sure that they have the freedom to make that choice if they want to,” and have the option to seek “pastoral care, lay counseling, and professional counseling.”
“Today I stand before you a fully changed man, a husband of almost 10 years, and a father of 3 beautiful girls,” said Maxwell. “I’m standing here for the future of this country, a future in which my daughters, their future spouses, their children, and their grandchildren will have the right to go to public schools without worrying about being sexually indoctrinated to believe that their daddy, their grandfather, was a hateful bigot for simply choosing to heal from his childhood trauma.”
“Those who have experienced childhood sexual and emotional trauma and abuse deserve the right to heal,” he added.
Tamika Sanders: This legislation will leave people trappeed
Tamika Sanders, founder and executive director of Coming Out, Inc., said “legislation that says that change is not possible says that we don’t exist,” and it “forces individuals to remain trapped.”
Sander’s organization offers support services and resources to men and women of all ages dealing with emotional, sexual, spiritual, and relational brokenness that may have contributed to alternative lifestyle choices regarding their identity and sexuality.
Legislation that bans “any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression will force individuals to remain silent, with no voice, with no one to talk to about their internal conflict and struggles, and absolutely nowhere to find healing and wholeness,” asserted Sanders.
Government should ‘undermine the parental role by subverting and indoctrinating children at a young age’
“Let me be clear: Government should not mandate what sort of sex-ed should be received by students in public schools, and they should especially not tell children how they should form understanding of sexuality and sexual identity,” said David Reece. “The government should not mandate how a child’s parents should interact with their sexuality. The government’s job should be to empower families to raise children well, not undermine the parental role by subverting and indoctrinating children at a young age.”
“The Equality Act threatens my freedom to offer the same pastoral counseling that I received, that delivered me out of sexual addiction, that healed the effects of abuse and neglect, that helped me live the life that I dreamed of living,” said Drew Berryessa, a pastor from Oregon.
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMEN: Tell them to oppose the Equality Act! Click to contact your federal politicians, now.
“Equality is never achieved by silencing another community. It’s never achieved by persecuting another viewpoint, and specifically people of faith and conviction. The Equality Act does that.”
“The Equality Act would take away protections from women with stories like mine to access counseling that would help us heal from LGBTQ-related trauma,” said Bree Stevens of California.
The Equality Act, “HR5, eliminates the freedom that I found when I gave my life over to Jesus willingly,” said Gabriel Pagan, from Georgia, now a happily married man with a young son and twins on the way. “HR5 eliminates truth, and the ability to choose counseling where people can explore for themselves, and not get their identity or their freedom from peoples’ opinions around them, or subcultures.”
Ken Williams, co-founder of the Changed movement: ‘I should have the right to have this life if I want to’
“America may soon make a dramatic turn,” announced Ken Williams, co-founder of the Changed movement, “based upon whether we choose to hang on to personal freedom, rights of conscience, rights of freedom of speech, freedom of religion; or whether we go with a now dominating mainstream ideology.”
“What we’re asking is: Please don’t take away our rights. Please let us determine what our sexuality is,” said Williams.
“Washington: Take your hands off of our sexual identities,” demanded Williams. “Please don’t oppress us. We have followed our convictions. We left LGBTQ because we wanted to.”
Williams pulled out a large poster with pictures of him with his wife and 4 children. “It’s the joy of my life that I had the freedom to experience this,” he said, pointing to his family.
“Should everyone be forced to have this same thing?” he asked. “No. But I should have the right to have this life if I want to.”