Gay conversion group's billboard star not a twin … but is gay
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Version 0 of 1. When the gay-to-straight conversion group PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays), put up a controversial billboard on one of the busiest highways in Richmond, Virginia, it thought it had found a clever way to highlight its belief that homosexuality is a choice, not a given. On the left side of the billboard the group showed a clean-cut, dapper young man dressed in a suit. On the right side was a picture of the same man dressed in a white T-shirt. In between the images, the billboard said: “Identical twins: One gay. One not. Nobody is born gay.” PFOX used studies looking at instances in which one twin is gay and one is straight to support its contention that there is no “gay gene” and that people can change from gay to straight. The argument was immediately challenged on scientific grounds. Now a new objection has been raised. The twins shown in the billboard, it transpires, are not twins at all. They are in fact a single male model called Kyle Roux, who lives in South Africa. And a further salient fact has emerged: Roux is openly gay. And proudly so. New @PFOX4U Billboard is terrific! So true: http://t.co/zVjdqDFjE3 pic.twitter.com/OhJhuGh3dN He told the Virginia TV station WWBV: “It just seems like there’s no place in today’s world for an organisation that is promoting this as being some kind of deviant or distasteful lifestyle. I’ve lived my life openly gay and happy for my entire life.” In a statement released in answer to ensuing criticism, PFOX said by it stood by its interpretation of twin genetics, and added: “PFOX believes respecting the lives of those who have made a decision to seek change is part of building a tolerant society.” The controversial billboard is still up, and is scheduled to remain so until 4 January. |