Ex-gays scend upon D.C. to lobby agast LGBTQ rights

Contents:

• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• O FILHO UM EX-PUTADO FEZ UM PORNô GAY SEIRO SE PASSANDO POR MISTRO DO ERNO TEMER
• ‘EX-GAY’ MEN FIGHT BACK AGAST VIEW THAT HOMOSEXUALY CAN’T BE CHANGED
• WHY ARE HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS SO AAID OF “EX-GAYS”?
• EX-GAYS SCEND UPON D.C. TO LOBBY AGAST LGBTQ RIGHTS
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
• NETFLIX’S “PRAY AWAY” CONONTS THE LI OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

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

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.

While 's unlikely that queer feelgs live si the heart of every homophobe, a signifint number of anti-LGBT relig and polil lears have ultimately e out or been outed for same-sex feelgs, enunters, or relatnships.

O FILHO UM EX-PUTADO FEZ UM PORNô GAY SEIRO SE PASSANDO POR MISTRO DO ERNO TEMER

Isve, and both said that at some pot, they thought that the sexual activy was part of the therapy and an attempt to cure them of homosexualy by engagg the acts, rather than fantasizg about them, " a disciplary panel wrote s report. The pastor left the Evangelil Lutheran Church Ameri over a cisn by the nomatn 2009 to orda "practicg homosexuals, " and even said God sent a tornado to strike the Mneapolis Conventn Center durg an ELCA nference over the cisn.

A former Hoton Cy Council member and rad talk show host, Berry 2012 was volved a h-and-n accint outsi a gay bar the Montrose district, which led to secury footage of Berry leavg the club beg ma public. The founr of Glory Hoe Internatnal Pentestal Church cried homosexualy as "at odds wh my relig beliefs, " even as he admted to he fondled a younger preacher and a teenage boy durg separate trips where he stayed the other men's hotel beds.

‘EX-GAY’ MEN FIGHT BACK AGAST VIEW THAT HOMOSEXUALY CAN’T BE CHANGED

Once the most senr Catholic clergyman Bra, O'Brien also had a reputatn for homophobia and opposed marriage equaly, adoptn by gays, and other civil rights protectns for LGBT people, earng him the tle "Bigot of the Year" om the Stonewall chary. Self-scribed as a tradnal nservative, this mayor of Mississippi town Southaven got exposed as gay durg his fourth term office after state dors revealed he purchased $67 worth of toys om a gay sex shop Toronto and billed to the taxpayers. Audors found the spic purchase 2011, and the news prompted an terview wh the Memphis, Tenn., Commercial Appeal which Davis nfsed that he "me to the realizatn that I am gay" over the past few years.

The mayor of Spokane, Wash., om 2003 to 2005, Wt prevly served the state legislature, where the Republin supported such legislatn as a ban on gay workers at schools and day re centers. But six years after securg that w, Mehlman me out as gay to The Atlantic, sayg he me to that ncln about his inty fairly recently (though Bill Maher seemed to know 2006). In fact, I had always imaged myself middle-aged, married to a woman, and havg a son and dghter-didn't everyone want some versn of that?"The gay liftyle is very lonely," she said.She told me about Dr.

WHY ARE HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS SO AAID OF “EX-GAYS”?

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.

When my father and I first sat down, Nilosi explaed what he meant by "cure." Although I might never feel a spark of excement when I saw a woman walkg down the street, as I progrsed therapy, my homosexual attractns would dimish. 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 te self felt mascule, was "aquate, on par," "secure, nfint, pable," and "at home [his] body." The false self did not feel mascule, was aquate and secure, and felt alienated om his body.

I had been teased throughout my childhood for beg effemate, and as a lanky, awkward teen wh bad sk, I certaly was not at home my body.Another sheet illtrated the "triadic relatnship" that led to homosexualy: a passive, distant father, an overvolved mother, and a sensive child. The story seemed to f, which was fortg: It gave me nfince that I uld be cured.Acrdg to Nilosi, intifitn wh a parent of the other genr is out of step wh our blogil and evolutnary "sign." Bee of this, was impossible to ever bee whole through gay relatnships. My mother might not have so easily found rmatn about ex-gay therapy had the Christian right not planted this stake the culture war.The ad appeared 23 years after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA) classified homosexualy as a mental illns.

EX-GAYS SCEND UPON D.C. TO LOBBY AGAST LGBTQ RIGHTS

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 homosexuals.The 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." By 1998, the group was holdg an annual nference, publishg s own journal, and trag hundreds of psychiatrists, psychologists, and unselors.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Nilosi remas NARTH's most visible advote.There 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.

An Associated Prs story lled "explosive." In the words of one of Spzer's gay lleagu, was like "throwg a grena to the gay muny." For the ex-gay movement, was a godsend. Whereas prev acunts of succs had appeared non-peer-reviewed, vany, pay-to-publish journals like Psychologil Reports, Spzer's study was published the prtig Archiv of Sexual Behavr.Spzer's study is still ced by ex-gay anizatns as evince that ex-gay therapy works.

NETFLIX’S “PRAY AWAY” CONONTS THE LI OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

Nilosi-I married my partner.Spzer was drawn to the topic of ex-gay therapy bee was ntroversial-"I was always attracted to ntroversy"-but was troubled by how the study was received. "The fdgs n be nsired evince for what those who have unrgone ex-gay therapy say about , but nothg more." He said he spoke wh the edor of the Archiv of Sexual Behavr about wrg a retractn, but the edor cled.

He said that failed attempts to rid onelf of homosexual attractns "n be que harmful." He has, though, no doubts about the 1973 fight over the classifitn of homosexualy."Had there been no Bob Spzer, homosexualy would still have eventually been removed om the list of psychiatric disorrs," he said. 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.

INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

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 him.The movement also suffered several high-profile fectns. Former ex-gay Peterson Tosno, who was volved the movement for 17 years, found Beyond Ex-Gay, an onle muny for "ex-gay survivors." In 2007, Exod -founr Michael Bsee apologized for his role startg the anizatn.Partly as a rponse to the rurgence of ex-gay therapy, mastream profsnal anizatns also took a harr stance. "It harmed self-teem and self-regard by focg on the psychopathology of homosexualy." The APA now tells s members they should not engage the practice.In the past few years, even Exod has begun to show cracks s support for ex-gay therapy.

The group no longer talks about "Freedom om Homosexualy"-s motto-but about the nobily of ntug to stggle agast same-sex attractns.Exod has also begun to distance self om NARTH. When asked about the possibily of gay people changg their sexual orientatn, Chambers-who'd once claimed that he knew of thoands of succs stori-said "99.9 percent" of those who had attempted to rid themselv of same-sex attractns had failed.There are other signs of cle. "For a long time, the thgs Nilosi said about gay relatnships ntued to hnt me." His relatnships wh men ntually failed bee he was nvced, as Nilosi had told him, that they would fall apart as soon as he began to feel fortable wh them, at peace wh his mascule self.Nilosi's ias did more than hnt me.

I beme creasgly prsed but didn't go to mental-health unselg for fear that a well-meang therapist would rm my parents that I was livg the "gay liftyle." I planned for what I would do if my parents cid to stop payg my tun.