Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment

Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment, commonly abbreviated as HOME, is a United States-based advocacy organization founded in 1990 by Wayne Lela. The organization is based in Downers Grove, Illinois, and describes its work as an effort to defend heterosexuality and challenge arguments supporting homosexual activity. Its public messaging has centered on opposition to homosexuality, same-sex relationships, and LGBT rights, using claims presented as scientific, logical, or grounded in natural law. HOME is not a conventional consumer brand or commercial enterprise. It is an issue-oriented organization whose activities have primarily involved distributing literature, maintaining an informational website, and appearing at educational institutions. Its stated positions have included support for criminalizing homosexual relations and opposition to legal protections for LGBT people. Public descriptions of the group have also reported arguments that the continued legality of homosexuality could create a pathway toward the legalization of other activities that HOME characterizes as immoral or harmful. The organization has additionally promoted claims connecting homosexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, and Freemasonry. The group’s campus activity has generated recurring controversy. Since at least 2002, Elgin Community College in Illinois permitted HOME to operate an information booth once each semester while emphasizing that the college did not endorse the organization’s views. In 2004, the presence of HOME prompted mixed responses from students and faculty, and college officials indicated that the arrangement might be reconsidered because the group’s message appeared inconsistent with the institution’s nondiscrimination and student-safety policies. HOME also distributed flyers at Northwestern University in 2005, where reporting described students generally accepting and discarding the material. In 2006, Joliet Junior College required Lela to use a remote free-speech area. Students at the University of Chicago protested Lela’s flyer distribution in 2007. On November 22, 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated HOME an anti-LGBTQ hate group. The designation was based on the SPLC’s assessment that the organization promoted known falsehoods and focused on portraying homosexuality as harmful. This classification is a description by an external monitoring organization, not a legal designation by a court or government agency. Public information about HOME’s current activities, organizational structure, leadership beyond its founder, finances, membership, and present operating status is limited. Accordingly, the organization’s current status and scale cannot be established from the available reference material.

Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment, or HOME, was established in 1990 by Wayne Lela, a former Catholic who later described himself as agnostic. The organization was formed in the United States as an explicitly pro-heterosexual and anti-homosexual advocacy group. Its public purpose has been to challenge the legitimacy of homosexual relationships and arguments supporting homosexual activity, while promoting heterosexuality as the preferred moral and social framework. HOME’s materials have used appeals to science, logic, and natural law. The organization has opposed LGBT rights and argued that homosexual relations should be criminalized. Its published positions have included the claim that legal penalties for homosexual behavior would not constitute discrimination, and it has compared homosexual activity with conduct such as exhibitionism or incest. HOME has also made claims associating homosexuality with sexually transmitted diseases and has alleged connections between Freemasonry and the spread of homosexual values. These claims and arguments have been widely criticized as prejudicial and factually unsupported. A significant part of HOME’s public activity has involved distributing printed material at schools and universities. Elgin Community College allowed the organization to maintain a booth once per semester beginning in or before 2002, while making clear that the institution did not endorse HOME’s message. The arrangement became controversial in 2004, when students and faculty expressed mixed reactions and a college official said the policy could be reconsidered because the group’s message appeared to conflict with the school’s nondiscrimination and student-safety commitments. The organization also appeared at Northwestern University in 2005, where it distributed flyers that many students reportedly accepted before discarding. In 2006, Joliet Junior College required Wayne Lela to operate from a remote free-speech zone, limiting the group’s ability to reach students passing through the main campus. In 2007, students at the University of Chicago protested while Lela distributed flyers condemning homosexual behavior. These incidents placed HOME within broader disputes over campus speech, institutional nondiscrimination policies, and the treatment of groups whose messages were regarded by students and administrators as hostile to LGBT people. On November 22, 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated HOME an anti-gay hate group. The SPLC explained that its classification reflected the organization’s focus on alleged harms of homosexuality and its propagation of what the center considered known falsehoods. The designation is an assessment by a civil-rights monitoring organization rather than a government or judicial finding. Available reference material does not establish HOME’s current leadership, membership, financial position, legal structure, or level of activity. Its website is identified in historical and directory material, but the organization’s present operational status cannot be confirmed from the supplied sources.

• 2010

  Southern Poverty Law Center designation

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  The Southern Poverty Law Center designated HOME an anti-gay hate group, citing its alleged propagation of known falsehoods and attacks on gay people.

• 2007

  Protest at the University of Chicago

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  Students protested while Lela distributed flyers denouncing homosexual behavior at the University of Chicago.

• 2006

  Joliet Junior College imposes a free-speech-zone restriction

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  Joliet Junior College required Wayne Lela to distribute HOME materials from a remote designated free-speech area.

• 2005

  Flyer distribution at Northwestern University

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  HOME distributed flyers at Northwestern University, prompting student reactions reported in campus media.

• 2004

  Elgin Community College reviews campus access

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  Reactions from students and faculty led college officials to consider whether HOME’s campus presence was compatible with the institution’s nondiscrimination and safety policies.

• 2002

  Recurring booth at Elgin Community College

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  Elgin Community College began permitting HOME to establish an information booth on campus once each semester, while distancing itself from the organization’s views.

• 1990

  Organization founded

  [1]Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org

  Wayne Lela founded Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment in the United States.

An explicitly anti-homosexuality and anti-LGBT rights advocacy organization that presents its positions as defenses of heterosexuality, morality, and natural law.

• Advocacy materials

  Advocacy flyers and pamphlets

  Printed materials used in campus outreach and public advocacy. The materials have presented HOME’s opposition to homosexuality and LGBT rights, along with arguments framed around morality, science, logic, and natural law.

• Online advocacy

  HOME website

  The organization’s website has served as an online outlet for its position statements and arguments concerning heterosexuality, homosexuality, public policy, and morality. The current accessibility and activity level of the site are not established by the supplied sources.

• 2010

  Designation as an anti-LGBTQ hate group

  The Southern Poverty Law Center classified HOME as an anti-gay hate group, stating that the organization promoted alleged falsehoods and attacked gay people on multiple levels.

  Source

• 2007

  Campus protests and access disputes

  HOME’s campus outreach led to protests at the University of Chicago and restrictions at Joliet Junior College, while its presence at Elgin Community College prompted institutional concern about discrimination and student safety.

  Source

Read more

• 2005University campus flyer distribution

  United States

  HOME distributed flyers at Northwestern University and other campuses as part of its public outreach.

  Outcome. The activity generated negative student reactions and contributed to continuing debate over campus access and speech.

  Source
• 2002Elgin Community College campus booth

  United States

  HOME used a recurring information booth at Elgin Community College to distribute its literature and communicate its anti-homosexuality positions to students.

  Outcome. The college continued to distinguish itself from HOME’s message, while later controversy led officials to consider whether the arrangement should continue.

  Source

• 2006

  Use of a remote free-speech zone at Joliet Junior CollegeStrategy

  Background

  The college required HOME founder Wayne Lela to conduct flyer distribution from a designated area away from the main flow of students.

  Action taken

  HOME continued its outreach under the campus restriction, with substantially reduced direct visibility to students.

  Aftermath

  Lela criticized the arrangement because students would have to go out of their way to encounter the organization’s materials.

  Source

1. 1Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environmenten.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official HOME websitehome60515.com