Last week, the World Bank caught the ire of scores of LGBT activists, after the Bank decided to include an ex-gay therapy organization as part of its Community Connections Campaign. The group in question, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), was listed as one of a host of charities that World Bank employees could donate money toward, with the World Bank then matching employee donations with a 50-100 percent simultaneous contribution.
Why did this trouble LGBT activists? The reasons are many. First could be that PFOX believes that homosexuality and same-sex attraction can be cured, and have endorsed controversial “ex-gay” therapy programs that have been discredited and debunked by every major medical and psychological organization. It could also be that the guru of PFOX’s therapy program is an ex-gay honcho with ties to Uganda’s horrific “Kill the Gays” legislation, that would criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment. Or it could be that the head of PFOX’s Speakers Bureau is a convicted felon who bilked poor communities out of lumps of money in a bond scheme.
With a reputation like that, one has to wonder what the World Bank was thinking when they approved PFOX as a qualified charity under its Community Connections Campaign. Moreover, as Truth Wins Out noted, it looked as if the World Bank bent the rules to allow PFOX to obtain charity status, since their Community Action Program is supposed to honor charities that have an active presence in Washington, D.C. PFOX most certainly does not, and their headquarters are more than 120 miles away.
Well, some good news. It looks as if the World Bank is thinking twice about their decision to add PFOX to the Community Connections Campaign. Earlier today, the World Bank issued a statement saying that they will not be giving any matching funds to PFOX, or any charities that are new with the Bank this year, effective today.
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