Overview

• Dobson built Focus on the Family into a major media ministry and helped start the Family Research Council after bestselling parenting books and a nationally syndicated radio show expanded his reach.
• Allies offered tributes emphasizing his family advocacy and gentleness, with praise from figures including Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and evangelist Franklin Graham.
• LGBTQ advocates and former “ex‑gay” leaders condemned his role in promoting conversion efforts, pointing to hires such as John Paulk and the Love Won Out conferences and detailing the personal damage they experienced.
• Exodus International disavowed conversion therapy in 2013, yet The Trevor Project reported in 2023 that more than 1,300 practitioners still operate in 48 states and that roughly 700,000 people have undergone such practices.
• Coverage situates his influence in the rise of the Religious Right and its integration into GOP politics from the Reagan era to Trump, while noting his diminished prominence in today’s MAGA-centered conservative movement.