Lesbians draw focus to Focus on the Family
A lesbian couple in Colorado Springs is facing trespassing charges following a protest Monday at Focus on the Family headquarters over founder James Dobson’s cheery, sugarplum views on same-sex parenting.
Robynne Sapp and Dotti Berry, of Blaine, WA, said they took a guided tour of the Focus grounds, hand in hand, then sat down on the floor of the lobby and refused to leave until Dobson met with them. They wanted him to "publicly recant" statements he made in an essay in a December issue of Time magazine.
The two women are members of Soulforce, a gay and lesbian activist organization that has held numerous protests at the Focus campus.
"I am here to mirror Dr. Dobson’s human essence, so that the reflection will cause him to fully understand why it is important to begin telling a new and true story, one that empowers all of us," said Berry.
Colorado Springs police were called, and the two "mirrors" were escorted off the property, Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger told the Rocky Mountain News.
Dobson’s essay in Time, "Two Mommies Is One Too Many," claims that "children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father."
His message "diminishes us," Sapp said. "Dr. Dobson has been misrepresenting gay and lesbian families, claiming we’re sinful and not fit to raise children and dangerous."
Schneeberger, however, challenged the women to come up with anything in Dobson’s writings that shows him to be negative toward gay people -- at which point onlookers’ mouths fell open in disbelief over Schneeberger’s ability to sell a line like that without blushing.
"We don’t believe standing up for traditional families diminishes (anybody)," Schneeberger added.
Sapp and Berry are due in court on March 14.
