Gay rights groups are furious over a Virginia billboard with the words "nobody is born gay" splashed across the front.
The billboard on Interstate 95 in Richmond was paid for by a nonprofit therapy group named Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), NBC 12 reported.
"Identical twins: One gay. One not," reads the billboard that features male twins, one of which is apparently gay.
"We believe twins research studies show nobody is born gay," reads the billboard, which does not specify which twin is supposed to be gay.
PFOX, the president of which is a proclaimed "ex-gay," helps people who have made the choice to stop being gay through "love and support of family, friends, the community and the church," according to the nonprofit's website. They believe sexual orientation is a personal decision and is not biologically determined.
But for many LGBTQ groups, the billboard's message is one of surprising ignorance in a nation where a record number of states are allowing same-sex marriage.
"I am shocked and really disappointed that at the end of 2014, we have a billboard in the middle of our city that says that kind of hate," Beth Panilaitis, executive director of the LGBTQ youth support group Rosmy, told NBC 12.
"No young person or adult should be walking down the road and see something that says that they are not OK as they are," she added.
PFOX stood by the billboard, paid for through Lamar Advertising, in a statement published on its website.
"We find it interesting that the attacks against the billboard and ex-gay community have nothing to do with the facts," PFOX said.
"Identical twins have the same genes or DNA. They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions. If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay...
"Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated," the group said.
But other LGBTQ supporters aren't buying into the nonprofit's argument.
"We do not know why people are heterosexual," Bill Harrison of the Richmond Gay Community told NBC 12. "What we do know is that this type of therapy has caused many people to commit suicide."
The billboard is reportedly staying up until the beginning of January.
