The publicized aim of the anti-gay “Love Won Out” conference in Seattle this weekend is to “heal” homosexuals. The Stranger’s Wayne Besen believes otherwise.

The organization behind the conference, Focus on the Family, contends that homosexuality is a choice rather than a genetic predisposition. What is interesting about this, Besen points out, is that

Poll after poll show that when people believe that homosexuality is inborn, a dramatic and undeniable shift toward full acceptance occurs. A November 2004 Lake, Snell, Perry, and Associates survey showed that 79 percent of people who think homosexuality is inborn support civil unions or marriage equality. Among those who believe sexual orientation is a choice, only 22 percent support civil unions or marriage rights.

Besen concludes that “Love Won Out is not about changing gay people – which isn’t possible – but about changing public opinion.” As The Stranger’s Dan Savage writes in “It’s War,” another article in the weekly’s Queer Issue 2005,

“We’re at war. There’s the shooting war, of course, the one over in Iraq. There’s a war at home too.”