Anne Heche: Pay no attention to my unloving mother

Actress Anne Heche -- ex-lover of Ellen DeG. and daughter of a closeted gay man who died of AIDS -- has released a statement condemning her mother for participating in "ex-gay" conferences sponsored by arch-foamer group Focus on the Family.

"The 'Ex-gay' events that are going on right now make me sick," she writes... "The fact that my mother is using my name to promote this movement makes me even sicker. I could not disagree more adamantly with what she and her group of unloving, unaccepting, Bible preaching hate mongers are doing. I do not believe that homosexuality is something that should be brainwashed out of someone. I do not believe that homosexuality should be anything but celebrated if that is the thing that makes an individual feel good about their life.

"And for anyone who thought my mother's prayers had anything to do with me marrying a man, forget it. I can safely say that my mother has nothing to do with any decision I make. It has always disturbed me the way religion can twist something to make people feel badly about themselves. Isn't a loving heart an accepting, caring heart? Certainly my mother has never been 'loving.'"

Anne Heche is the daughter of artist Don Heche, who was a closeted gay man who died in 1983 of AIDS. Anne's sister Susan Bergman wrote the book Anonymity about his life and how he and his family dealt (and didn't deal) with his being closeted about his sexuality and his illness.