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

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

ministry based in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It describes itself as "the international

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 su ...

(SPLC) ''Intelligence report'' the group's name derives from the Old Testament

book of Nehemiah The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedic ...

, in which the "

watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...

" 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 peop ...

." The group was founded by former California

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.

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 homosex ...

'', 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 politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

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 cli ...

, 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 cli ...

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 is a ...

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 Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

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

and suppress

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, 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 Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

's travelling ex-gay ministry

Love Won Out Love Won Out, later known as True Story, was an ex-gay ministry launched by Focus on the Family in 1998. It was founded by John Paulk. Its website's stated purpose was "to exhort and equip Christian churches to respond in a Christ-like way to the ...

in 2007. Watchmen on the Walls is listed as a

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...

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 Protestantis ...

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 The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics. Sexuality * Human sexuality ** Sexual diversity ** Gendered sexuality *** Human male sexuality *** Human female sexuality *** Transgender sexuality * Sexual attraction ** And ...

rallies where gays and lesbians are pelted with bags of excrement." According to the SPLC the Watchmen have a following among Russian-speaking

evangelicals Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

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.

Notes

References

External links

* {{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

See also

Notes

References

External links