Watchmen on the Walls ( lv, Sargi uz mūriem) is an international

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

ministry based in Riga, Latvia. It describes itself as "the international Christian movement that unites Christian leaders, Christian and social organizations and aims to protect Christian morals and values in society." According to a

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...

(SPLC) ''Intelligence report'' the group's name derives from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, in which the "

watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-vo ...

" guard the reconstruction of Jerusalem. "The cities they guard over today, say the contemporary Watchmen, are being destroyed by

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

." The group was founded by former California American Family Association director Scott Douglas Lively and New Generation Church preacher Alexey Ledyaev. Lively is a co-author of ''

The Pink Swastika ''The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party'' is a 1995 pseudohistorical book by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams. Drawing on Samuel Igra's 1945 book '' Germany's National Vice'', Lively and Abrams argue that the crimes committed by homose ...

'', a controversial book that falsely claims that homosexuality found in the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

contributed to the extreme militarism of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Leaders of the Watchmen support

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...

, a controversial practice discouraged by mainstream mental health organizations as detrimental to individuals and society,

Conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...

is discouraged by mainstream mental health organizations as not only causing harm to

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

individuals, but also causing social harm by disseminating inaccurate views about

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

and the ability of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and bisexual people to lead happy, healthy lives.() that attempts to change

and suppress lesbian, gay and bisexual behaviors.Straight Like Me: 'Ex-Gay' Movement Making Strides
Casey Sanchez, Intelligence Report, Winter 2007. Watchmen leaders have told audiences at

ex-gay The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relat ...

events "one of the most important things you can do is start an ex-gay movement here." A Watchmen member was a featured keynote speaker at Focus on the Family's travelling ex-gay ministry Love Won Out in 2007. Watchmen on the Walls is listed as a hate group by the SPLC, which considers it "a virulently anti-gay group"."No clashes between protesters, Watchmen on the Walls"
by Bob Young and Janet I. Tu, ''The Seattle Times'', 21 October 2007. Being listed on SPLC's website "does not necessarily imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity." Leaders of the Watchmen on the Walls movement insist "they do not hate gays — or anyone else." The SPLC states, "In Latvia, the Watchmen are popular among

Christian fundamentalists Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...

and ethnic

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

, and are known for presiding over anti-gay rallies where gays and lesbians are pelted with bags of excrement." According to the SPLC the Watchmen have a following among Russian-speaking evangelicals in the Western U.S. among immigrants from the former Soviet Union and members are increasingly active in several cities "long known as gay-friendly enclaves", including Sacramento, Seattle, and Portland.

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* {{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220010101/http://www.watchmenonthewalls.com/ , date=February 20, 2011 , title=Official website Evangelical organizations Protestantism in Latvia LGBT and Protestantism Organisations based in Latvia Conversion therapy organizations

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