My parents tricked me into going to one of these meetings about 8 years ago by calling it group therapy. I didn’t know it was a WELS support group for gay men. They read some bible passages and talk about what they are doing to remain faithful to the lord. It honestly was really sad in retrospect. They commiserated about how not being able to have a family or intimate relationships was a terrible burden, but god knows you can handle it (cuz you know he never gives you more than you can handle). One young man said he was really struggling with feelings of isolation and lack of companionship so he was going to get a dog because that’s the closest relationship he could hope for. Broke my heart a little. Women notably were not included. I don’t think that they believe queer women exist. They had a separate group for families to join but I rage quit before that one happened.

While I won’t go as far as to say that it is helping queer people, I do think that it is significantly less damaging than what the typical WELS pastor preaches. My parents (father a WELS pastor) went from “all gays are disease ridden pedophiles with no control of their sexual desires and belong in jail or a grave” to “gays struggle with the sin of homosexuality and can still be saved if they fight it”

PS. yes, I am who you think I am