Prayer breakfast draws protests

LGBT community objects to guest

Calling his message hate speech, critics have unleashed a torrent of opposition against one of the speakers for the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, and against the Fort Lauderdale mayor himself.

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly, a conservative Christian who has spoken out against same-sex marriage and adoption of children by same-sex couples, is one of three personalities invited to speak at the prayer breakfast, scheduled for April 28. Though Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler wasn’t involved in the decision to invite Daly, and the city provides no funding, he’s been swept up in the undercurrent of controversy. Some have called on Seiler to denounce Daly’s beliefs, refuse to attend the breakfast, or take some other action to distance himself from Focus on the Family’s message.

Daly says he has softened his approach to the gay community over the years, and that some of his prior commentary, like a prediction that “civilization goes down” with same-sex marriage, were “too strident.” After the cultural shift of the recent past,

and the legalization of same sex marriage, he said he’s focused on protecting rights for Christians. He talked of brokering a social peace with lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender people, rather than jabbing elbows.

“I’m in a different place in terms of what it means to love my neighbor,” he said Friday. “I’m less finger-wagging.”

But his belief that homosexuality is a sin, and the work of Focus on the Family on issues like gay adoption, sound like hate speech, said Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis, who is openly gay and a longtime activist. The Focus on the Family website has reams of material about homosexuality, including articles headlined “When a Loved One Says, ‘I’m Gay’: The Stages of Grief,” “Freedom from Homosexuality,” and “Revisionist Gay Theology.”

“It’s about believing that others deserve less in society, it’s language that makes it acceptable to commit hate crimes against those people,” Trantalis said. “Those are the things that concern me.”

Seiler and the event organizer, Stephan Tchividjian, president of the National Christian Foundation of South Florida, say the message will be more loving than some suspect.

The theme of the prayer breakfast this year is “Together,” Tchividjian said, a response to the bitter divisions in today’s society.

Because of Daly’s work, and his more temperate approach compared to predecessor James Dobson, he fit the bill, Tchividjian said. Like Daly, he said Christians haven’t done a good job reaching out to LGBT people.

“Christ was a radical communicator and a leader and his harshest words were to the religious community, who looked down at everyone else because they didn’t think or act like them,” said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel (whose brother Tullian was pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian). “His most compassionate words were to those who lived and believed the most radically different than him. That’s what I like about Jim Daly. He more represents the heart of Christ in a world of significant diversity.”

Seiler, a Catholic who in 2014 voted against a city resolution in support of same sex marriage, has fashioned a friendly relationship with the gay community. A former Wilton Manors mayor and a Democrat, Seiler has not been publicly critical.

Still, his detractors said he should do more than abide in silence.

“He kept saying ‘never met the man, never met the man,’ ” Wilton Manors Commissioner Julie Carson, one of four openly gay commission members there, said. “We don’t have to meet people to stand away from the hate speech and bigotry they bring with him.”

The protest is gaining momentum.

As Seiler’s inbox fills, LGBTQ news websites have questioned the mayor with headlines like: “Friend or Foe.” Some of those who are incensed said they plan to protest outside the 7:30 a.m. convention center event. National gay rights activist Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out said he’ll travel to South Florida to protest. Greater Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce President Keith Blackburn said he’s “disappointed” in Seiler and said only the messenger at Focus on the Family, not the message itself, has changed. The Broward Democratic Party issued a statement of opposition Friday, calling Seiler’s association with Daly “deeply disappointing and extremely troubling.”

“For years, Mr. Daly expressed hostility towards members of the LGBTQ community,” the statement reads. “Further, his organization, Focus on the Family, raised hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in antiLGBTQ causes.”

Daly, host of the Focus on the Family daily radio broadcast, has been quoted calling gay activism a “form of fascism.” Focus on the Family has encouraged people who are gay to undergo therapy to shed same-sex attraction.

Carson said the organization’s teachings can hurt, and lead to violence. She said her brother is also gay, is married to a man, and is raising two adopted children and a foster child.

“Even though my nephews are completely at ease with all of this,” she said, “I’d imagine if they went somewhere where a preacher talked about their dads being doomed for Hell it would scare them and affect them in ways I don’t think are necessary.”

South Florida has a large gay population, according to Gallup poll data analyzed in 2015. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach region ranked 17th out of 50 metro areas in percentage of people who self-identified as LGBT.

Seiler has deflected the criticism in email responses.

“I have never met or communicated with Mr. Daly or anybody from Focus on the Family,” Seiler wrote in an email to one critic. “My message is, has been, and will be one of kindness, compassion, inclusion, tolerance and respect.”

Daly, 55, partly raised in foster care, said he doesn’t plan much of a speech; rather, he has a question-andanswer session in mind. Focus on the Family works to repair marriages and keep families intact, he said. They believe families are best when a man is married to a woman.

“I don’t think anyone’s thinking how do we combat, how do we turn it back around?” Daly said of issues like same-sex marriage. “I’m not in any conversation like that. It’s here. Now it’s like how do you guys respect our space now? I would hope a person like me could come to Fort Lauderdale, express my opinions and views, hopefully respectfully, and even if someone disagrees with me, let’s be civil. Don’t call me a hatemonger.”

“It’s misguided, I think, the controversy,” Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Romney Rogers said. Rogers and his wife used to organize the breakfast, but are no longer directly involved.

“Jim Daly is a community builder. He’s reached out across party lines and all kinds of lines, to try to get the conversation going about ‘hey, we’ve all got to live together. Let’s fine common ground on issues.’ ”

Seiler