Former 'Ex-Gay' Lears Denounce 'Conversn Therapy' In A New Documentary : NPR

Contents:

• WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
• EX-GAY MAK A COMEBACK
• MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
• EX-GAY MISTRI
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• AN OLR, WISER EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER
• ANNE PLK HASN’T GIVEN UP ON EX-GAY MISTRY
• EX-GAY MISTRI
• FOUNR OF FIRST ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRY DI, AND THE TRIBUT ARE POURG
• THE ‘FATHER’ OF EX-GAY MISTRY DI
• FORMER DIRECTOR OF ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRY LOVE ACTN MARRI SAME-SEX PARTNER

WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.

Alan Medger, the first executive director of Exod Internatnal, scribed as “a change self-perceptn which the dividual no longer intifi him- or herself as homosexual. Recent bat among nservative Anglins and Prbyterians over whether someone n claim a “gay inty” are only the latt round of siar disput that have echoed church rridors for years. As Stott wrote Issu Facg Christians Today back 1982, “In every discsn about homosexualy we mt be rigoro differentiatg between this ‘beg’ and ‘dog, ’ that is, between a person’s inty and activy, sexual preference and sexual practice, nstutn and nduct.

In the Uned Stat, as the 1969 Stonewall rts New York announced the birth of the gay rights movement, orthodox Prottants were already askg what posive visn Scripture giv for people who are gay. In a statement, the lears clared, “We repent of the cripplg ‘homophobia’ … which has loured the attus toward homosexual people of all too many of , and ll our fellow Christians to siar repentance. Schaeffer foraw signifint cultural chang when, 1978, an Orthodox Prbyterian Church ngregatn San Francis found self sued for releasg a gay employee who had vlated the church’s of nduct.

EX-GAY MAK A COMEBACK

Church historian Richard Lovelace’s 1978 book Homosexualy and the Church garnered hearty endorsements om evangelil lumari Ken Kantzer (a former CT edor), Elisabeth Ellt, Chuck Colson, Harold Ockenga, and Carl F. First, would require profsg Christians who are gay to have the urage both to avow [acknowledge] their orientatn openly and to obey the Bible’s clear junctn to turn away om the active homosexual life-style.

The church’s sponsorship of openly avowed but repentant homosexuals learship posns would be a profound wns to the world ncerng the power of the Gospel to ee the church om homophobia and the homosexual om guilt and bondage.

MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE

Yet this was the Christian visn of Lovelace and Henry, Ockenga and Ellt, Kantzer and Colson, Lewis and Graham, Schaeffer and Stott, and a young gay evangelil Anglin who felt too aaid to e his own name, even though he was still a virg.

As I watch evangelil church and nomatns fumble their way through discsns of sexual orientatn and inty, often enforcg the language and tegori of a failed ex-gay movement, we’re missg the real battle: The surroundg culture has nvced the world that Christians hate gay people. They are already send-gusg their fah bee they hear all around them that Christians hate gay people, and they n’t pot to anyone their ngregatn who is gay, is fahful, and is loved and accepted as such. Sce the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) took homosexualy off the books as a psychologil disorr 1973, the bate over reparative therapy—an attempt to change someone's sexual orientatn to heterosexualy—has ntued wh ltle rigoro rearch.

Joseph Nilosi, a clil psychologist California who was then print of the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), the untry's largt anizatn for practners of ex-gay therapy.

EX-GAY MISTRI

I left the office wh a py of Nilosi's most recent book, Healg Homosexualy, and a worksheet that tegorized different emotns unr the brics of "te self" and "false self.

THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.

My mother might not have so easily found rmatn about ex-gay therapy had the Christian right not planted this stake the culture ad appeared 23 years after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA) classified homosexualy as a mental illns. A small group of therapists ntued to practice talk therapy that enuraged patients to see homosexualy as a velopmental disorr, but they remaed on the ge until the Christian right took up their e. Foc on the Fay lled s new ex-gay mistry Love Won Out and talked about healg and rg for ex-gay movement turned the rhetoric of gay rights agast self: Shouldn't ex-gays be able to pursue therapy and live the liv they want whout facg discrimatn?

Together wh the late Charl Soris, a psychiatrist who led the opposn to classifyg homosexualy as a mental illns, Nilosi formed NARTH 1992 as a "scientific anizatn that offers hope to those who stggle wh unwanted homosexualy.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

Nilosi remas NARTH's most visible are no reliable statistics for how many patients have received ex-gay treatment or how many therapists practice , but the late 1990s and early 2000s, ex-gay therapy enjoyed a legimacy hadn't sce the APA removed homosexualy om s diagnostic manual. Whether or not the Christian right's alliance wh the ex-gay movement had nstuted a D-Day the culture wars, had succsfully challenged the prevailg ia that the bt choice for gay people was to accept themselv. I read one of Nilosi's books, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexualy, that he tri to posn himself as a supportive father figure, typifyg the sort of relatnship that he believ his patients never had wh their own father.

What translated to the larger culture was: The father of the 1973 revolutn the classifitn and treatment of homosexualy, who uld not be seen as jt another biased ex-gay csar wh an agenda, had validated ex-gay therapy.

Richard Cohen, the founr of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays)-tend as the ex-gay unterpart to PFLAG (Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays)-was expelled om the Amerin Counselg Associatn for ethics vlatns.

FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY

Among them were Alan Downg, the lead therapist of JONAH (Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy), who ma his patients strip and touch themselv ont of a mirror; NARTH member Christopher At, who was nvicted of "unlawfully, tentnally and knowgly [g] peratn of" a client; and Exod-affiliated Mike Jon, who asked a patient to take off his shirt and do ph-ups for movement also suffered several high-profile fectns. " In 2007, Exod -founr Michael Bsee apologized for his role startg the as a rponse to the rurgence of ex-gay therapy, mastream profsnal anizatns also took a harr stance.

But the sprg of my sophomore year, the disparate parts of myself I had managed to hold together-the part of me that thought beg gay was wrong, the part that slept wh men anyway, the part of myself I let the world see, and the part that suffered silence-me undone. While took years of unselg to disabe myself of the ias I had learned while unrgog therapy wh Nilosi, was the first time I enuntered profsnals who were affirmg of my sexualy, and the first time I allowed myself to thk was all right to be gay. He looked like he do his Facebook pictur: solid and short, wh a shaved head and large brown had iated penncy-and-neglect proceedgs agast his parents at age 16 to pe ex-gay therapy.

For two s, McKrae Game was a top-tier figure among ex-gay Christians and a leadg advote for nversn therapy, a unselg practice wh the goal of helpg LGBTQ people supprs their homosexualy and bee “straight.

AN OLR, WISER EX-GAY MOVEMENT

” But Game, 51, now disavows the movement and acknowledg he has been gay all told the Post and Courier that nversn therapy proved to be trimental, a “lie” and “false advertisg. The most proment ex-gay anizatns have shnk or shuttered; lears have fected; and many church now fear that beg associated wh such wily discreded techniqu will st them as unwelg or bigoted. Addnally, the Inter is rife wh stori of LGBTQ people who have reported sufferg psychologil harm as a rult of participatg the programs and proment Christians are quietly tryg to rurrect ex-gay Christiany, and the new rnatn is hipper and perhaps more evolved.

Yet beneath the smetic tweaks ss the same msage that has damaged many liv over many s: If you’re a Christian wh same-sex attractns, change is both possible and first wave of Amerin ex-gay Christiany the 1970s alced around mistri and anizatns specifilly voted to the e. But the current wave is far more centralized, beg led by pennt thors and personali who are embedd the nservative Christian world rather than segregated to an issue-specific views differ ever so slightly om the next while orbg tightly to siar them, such as the possibily of “former homosexuals” havg a healthy heterosexual marriage, differentiatg between one’s behavr and inty, and a ubiquo, if obligatory, nod to church’ historil failur to love people who intify as of the movement’s most articulate lears is Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a former women’s studi profsor at Syrace Universy who says she “adopted a lbian inty” her 20s as a rult of beg fluenced by femist philosophy. ”When I spoke wh her, I asked if she nsirs herself “ex-gay, ” and she said she do not e that label to scribe herself but then proceed to scribe how she was once, but is no longer, a lbian.

AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER

But then Butterfield add that she disurag the age of the term “gay Christian” and even oppos “Si B” Christians who accept their LGBTQ inty but are mted to celibacy for relig reasons. But she prents a msage that will rg faiar to the many LGBTQ people who have survived ex-gay mistri and therapy: Through the power of J, same-sex sir n and should be overe.

For Butterfield, homosexualy is not an inty that scrib who a person is but, rather, a sful actn that a person do — but n stop preach her gospel of change through her popular books, speech at Christian nferenc and church, and is the unmistakable msage of the life she now liv.

ANNE PLK HASN’T GIVEN UP ON EX-GAY MISTRY

Butterfield left her female partner after her nversn and is now married to her hband, artist Jackie Hill Perry is another risg ex-gay star who formerly intified as a lbian and is now married to a man.

”When I prsed her, the thor of “Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been” said that she has never met anyone who has experienced a plete change sexual orientatn, but she add that she has read stori about people who have. Perry also reils at the term “ex-gay” bee that giv the imprsn that someone will stantly eradite their homosexual sir: “I love my hband, but I also experience same-sex attractn. This clus people like Matt Moore, a wrer who was highlighted a piece that was origally published 2013 (later updated 2016) reportg that he had an active profile on the gay datg app Grdr.

At least not claims that his parents’ divorce and an experience of sexual asslt created same-sex sir him at a young age, but he preach that J is helpg him overe his homosexual I spoke to him, he said he “had to make a choice of my fah over my feelgs. Many Amerins believed at the time that homosexualy was a mere matter of choice, and worse, a s that would endanger one’s eternal their mds, same-sex-attracted Christians who wanted to live a life of hols uld supprs their sexual sir through some mixture of prayer, spirual disciple and therapy.

EX-GAY MISTRI

Mistri and anizatns rose up and preached the ex-gay eventually the movement was plagued by shiftg public opn, and ex-gay Christiany’s most proment lears began repudiatg the movement and tellg the tth about s failur. Chambers, who once lled homosexualy “one of the many evils this world has to offer, ” lobbied agast marriage equaly and touted exampl of happily wed “former homosexuals, ” said that 99.

9 percent of ex-gay mistry participants he had met had not experienced a shift sexual Bethel Church, a mega-ngregatn based Reddg, Calif., wh a popular worldwi worship mic brand, may be tryg to fill that void. Ex-gay lears traveled to church and appeared on televisn news programs cg a lany of exampl of happily married “former homosexuals” to monstrate that sexual orientatn is a choice and that change is Chambers would unrgo a radil change of heart. ”As a former Exod participant who once lived a “gay liftyle” but was able to achieve a succsful straight marriage, Chambers was the perfect ndidate to lead the anizatn.

FOUNR OF FIRST ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRY DI, AND THE TRIBUT ARE POURG

”The movement tradnalists believed would be their savg grace the fight agast LGBT rights was quickly beg their Achill’ chosen to lead Exod 2001 was like beg the ex-gay Pope followg the Catholic sex-abe sndals.

“For those who nnot rencile their fah and sexualy, they n be affirmed their choice of celibacy and vote their liv to more life givg than ‘riddg themselv of the mon homosexualy, ’” Chambers says. Interview highlights clu extend web-only answers and have been eded for length and clary: Interview Highlights Thomas on how he joed the "ex-gay" movement and Exod Internatnal I was out of the closet the '80s. It's bee very lennial-driven bee there are younger people who've grown up homophobic and transphobic environments who are ready and willg to take the place of people like Randy.

THE ‘FATHER’ OF EX-GAY MISTRY DI

The bate ntued this June, when Exod Internatnal held s 32nd annual nference Irve, California, featurg dozens of speakers and semar lears who have qu homosexualy. Jon and Yarhoe lnched the study to try to rolve differenc between their profsnal muny, which warns that "reparative therapy" for homosexuals is both impossible and dangero, and ttimoni they have heard om those volved ex-gay movements. Though crics of ex-gay movements sometim ce rearch fdgs warng agast reparative therapy, Jon and Yarhoe found that published rearch did not actually bear out their claims.

FORMER DIRECTOR OF ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRY LOVE ACTN MARRI SAME-SEX PARTNER

PATH clus Courage (Roman Catholic, wh an emphasis on chasty), Homosexuals Anonymo (moled on aa as a nfintial lay anizatn), JONAH (Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy), and NARTH (Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy, a non-relig anizatn of mental health profsnals). … People most nomatns never thought they would have to addrs a biblil view of homosexualy, jt as many parents never thought they would have to rpond to a dghter who me home and said, 'I'm a lbian.