Some people, when they die, leave complicated legacies. James Dobson, who died at age 89 on Aug. 21, was one of those people.
Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was known across North America for his strong advocacy of a brand of conservative Christian morality that he packaged as “family values.” His views on disciplining children shaped generations of children, especially in evangelical families.
For some, Dobson was a positive force. But others viewed him in a very different light. This included Christians who were members of the LGBTTQ+ community. Dobson saw homosexuality as sin and he opposed LGBTTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage. At the same time, he promoted the discredited idea of conversion therapy to change LGBTTQ+ people into heterosexuals.
One person who knows the negative impact of Dobson’s teaching is Lucas Wilson of Toronto. Wilson, 34, is a member of the LGBBTQ+ community and a survivor of conversion therapy. He has compiled a book of stories about the negative effects of conversion therapy, called Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy.
Read my column in the Free Press about
Dobson, conversion therapy and Wilson’s book.
