The Aspect of 'Ex-Gay Therapy' That No One Is Talkg About... and Should Be | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• 5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• HOW TO EX AN "EX-GAY" STUDY
• THE ASPECT OF 'EX-GAY THERAPY' THAT NO ONE IS TALKG ABOUT... AND SHOULD BE
• EXPERIENC OF EX-EX-GAY DIVIDUALS SEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY: REASONS FOR SEEKG TREATMENT, PERCEIVED HELPFULNS AND HARMFULNS OF TREATMENT, AND POST-TREATMENT INTIFITN
• WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
• EX-GAY THERAPY VIO
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• WELL-KNOWN EX-GAY THERAPIST COM OUT AS GAY, SEEKS TO DATE MEN
• 'EX-GAY' THERAPIST ALLEGEDLY FOUND SOLICG 'HOOKUPS' ON GAY DATG APPS
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• GAY THERAPY, GAY THERAPISTS, GAY TREATMENT

MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE

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. 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.

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.

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

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.

5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

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. 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.

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. When Samuel Brton read the headl about McKrae Game — a former lear wh the South Carola “nversn therapy” mistry Hope for Wholens — g out as gay and renouncg the “ex-gay” mistry he helped lead, Brton was anythg but surprised.

C., on a nstutnal amendment to outlaw gay marriage South Ann Chasta / AP fileConversn therapy, sometim lled “ex-gay therapy” or “reparative therapy, ” is the psdoscientific and often relig practice that purports to change a person’s sexual orientatn or genr inty. The ntent practice has been nmned by nearly every major medil associatn and has been associated wh creased rat of suici his g out story, Game told The Post and Courier that, havg grown up as a Southern Baptist South Carola, “homosexualy and Christiany didn’t go together, ” and he was tght that beg straight was a ticket to heaven, “and not hell.

HOW TO EX AN "EX-GAY" STUDY

”“So there is no qutn my md that bee of his work, he has tly srred, emotnally srred, many, many, many LGBTQ youth, ” Brton BrtonThe Trevor ProjectBrton said they, too, grew up a fah tradn that reacted wh horror when they me out, and that they, too, once intified as “ex-gay.

In the past two years alone, there were Norman Goldwasser, the South Florida nversn therapist who was acced of g the screen name “hotnhairy72” to solic hookups on Manhunt and Gay Bear Natn, and David Mathon, a Mormon nversn therapist om New Jersey who renounced his work and wrote on Facebook that “ was time for me to affirm myself as gay. ”In 2014, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights published an open letter om ne former nversn therapists, cludg several om the now-shuttered ex-gay mistry Exod Internatnal, who lled for a ban on nversn ex-ex-gay activists wrote that they “once believed that there was somethg morally wrong and psychologilly ‘broken’ about beg LGBT, ” as per their unrstandg of Christiany.

“I had only known a very unhealthy party life after beg thrown out of the hoe for beg gay, and here were a bunch of sober people offerg me answers for everythg — and offered me my first groundg, whout realizg was killg off part of who I was. Eighteen stat pl the District of Columbia have banned the practice for mors, acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, though a slim majory of Amerins still live jurisdictns where nversn therapy is still legal for bans n’t do all, acrdg to Brton, and eedom of relign will always grant some leeway for the vout to unsel their flock to reject homosexualy if that is their theologil LGBTQ advot mt also w the argument, and the bt way is to take a three-track approach, Brton said.

THE ASPECT OF 'EX-GAY THERAPY' THAT NO ONE IS TALKG ABOUT... AND SHOULD BE

”“It feels like the worst Venn diagram of your life, that neher si wants to claim you, ” Brton said he n “personally relate to not beg Christian enough for Christians, not beg gay enough for the LGBTQ muny. But mastream psychologists say the therapy is effective, uhil and often harmful, exacerbatg anxiety and self-hatred among those treated for what is not a mental 2013, two s volvg the therapy to nvert gay people to heterosexuals h the urts, wh one seekg to sue unselors who offer the therapy and the other seekg to fend are five thgs you need to know about the therapy and the current psychologists say nversn therapy don't workA diagnosis of major prsn do not evoke much rponse, eher a stigmatizg or supportive, om a person's social work, a study dited.

Instead, societal ignorance, prejudice and prsure to nform to heterosexual sir are the real dangers to gay people's mental health, acrdg to a 1997 statement on "nversn" or "reparative" therapy by the APA. [7 Absolutely Evil Medil Experiments]More recently, people who have been through nversn therapy report talk therapy that emphasiz psdoscientific theori, such as the ia that an overbearg mother and a distant father make a child gay. His therapist blamed his parents for Arana's homosexualy, and urged him to distance himself om his female bt Lev, one of the men sug Jonah for ceptive practic, says that he qu nversn therapy after his therapist had him strip down and touch himself to "rennect wh his masculy, " acrdg to the New York 's happeng the urts?

It didn’t of the most proment advot of nversn therapy the 1940s and 50s was Edmund Bergler, who saw homosexualy as a perversn and believed he uld "cure" gay people wh a punishment-based, nontatnal therapy the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn stopped classifyg homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973, nversn therapi lost support. In 2003, famed psychiatrist Robert Spzer, who spearhead the removal of homosexualy om the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's mental disorr list 1973, reported the journal Archiv of Sexual Behavr that terviews wh nversn therapy patients suggted that some people uld change their sexual paper was cendiary and highly cricized, given that relied on terviews wh patients stead of measurable benchmarks of same-sex sir.

EXPERIENC OF EX-EX-GAY DIVIDUALS SEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY: REASONS FOR SEEKG TREATMENT, PERCEIVED HELPFULNS AND HARMFULNS OF TREATMENT, AND POST-TREATMENT INTIFITN

Arana reports speakg to Robert Spzer, a psychiatrist who played a crilly important role the removal of homosexualy om the list of mental disorrs the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn.

The abstract of Spzer’s 2003 article reported, “The majory of participants gave reports of change om a predomantly or exclively homosexual orientatn before therapy to a predomantly or exclively heterosexual orientatn. He claims to have been cured of his homosexualy, but rather than startg a new life of avoidg homosexualy altogether, he now seeks to be a therapist to discs and listen to other men's gay experienc.

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

Vulnerable participants seekg out this therapy, prsured by external or ternalized homophobia, should not be subjected to dividuals who are likely to be g them for some subnsc or even nsc self-gratifitn. This qualative study ed an ductive ntent analysis strategy (Patton, 2002) to exame the experienc of thirty-eight dividuals (31 mal and seven femal) who have been through a total of 113 episos of reorientatn therapy and currently intify as gay or lbian. 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 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.

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.

EX-GAY THERAPY VIO

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.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

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.

WELL-KNOWN EX-GAY THERAPIST COM OUT AS GAY, SEEKS TO DATE MEN

“Conversn” or “ex-gay” therapy is the harmful and psdoscientific practice of attemptg to make homosexual or bisexual people heterosexual and to keep trans people om affirmg the genr wh which they intify.

Branch shut down 2013); John Plk, the poster-child for ex-gay group Love Won Out; John Smid, former director of ex-gay group Love In Actn and Tim Rymel, former outreach director at Love In Actn. Nilosi, who believed that male homosexualy was a velopmental disorr ed by childhood trma and “genr nfn, ” was a founr and past print of the Natnal Associatn of the Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), perhaps the bt-known secular anizatn phg nversn therapy the U. Shut down 2013 and soon after that, an SPLC-brought lawsu agast ex-gay group JONAH (Jews Organizg for New Alternativ to Homosexualy; later Jews Organizg for New Alternativ to Healg) shut down 2015 after a jury led that the group’s practic amounted to nsumer d.

Anti-LGBT and ex-gay groups have also begun g “relig liberty” and “ee speech” arguments to promote and fend nversn therapy and, 2018, started llg bans “mt stay gay” bills, rebrandg the practice as “dividual choice” while negatg the practice’s harmful history.

'EX-GAY' THERAPIST ALLEGEDLY FOUND SOLICG 'HOOKUPS' ON GAY DATG APPS

Mathon told Stephenson, "Any therapy that is based on the ia that beg gay is a psychologil disorr, which 's not, that believ that beg gay is wrong or bad, which 's not, and that n be changed and ought to be changed – any therapy based on that ia has a great potential of harmg people. But provirs, ually unlicensed, n often disguise the terms they e to avoid beg terms clu:Sexual attractn fluidy exploratn therapy (SAFE-T)Elimatg, rcg, or creasg equency or tensy of unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA)Reparative therapySexual reorientatn effortsEx-gay mistryPromotg healthy sexualyAddrsg sexual addictns and disorrsSexualy unselgEnuragg relatnal and sexual wholensHealg sexual brokennsConversn therapy techniqu n lead to feelg “ls than” or “damaged, ” impactg self-teem.

A number of medil and mental health anizatns have issued public statements rejectg the e of nversn therapy bee of many provirs who claim to be qualified to provi nversn therapy are often not licensed mental health practners or medil study found that LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or qutng) people who are rejected or discrimated agast are:8 tim more likely to report havg attempted suiciAlmost 6 tim more likely to report high levels of prsnMore than 3 tim as likely to e illegal dgs3 tim more likely to be at high risk of HIV and other STDsAcrdg to rearch, nearly 700, 000 LGBTQ adults the U. Conmned by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, ex-gay therapy is based on the belief that a person n be "cured" of their sexual attractn and that nversn om homosexualy to heterosexualy is possible.

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

A Florida psychologist who has pared homosexualy to obssive-pulsive disorr and claimed that he uld change clients’ sexual orientatn through therapy was found solicg “hookups” on gay datg apps, acrdg to LGBTQ nonprof Tth Ws Goldwasser, clil director of Horizon Psychologil Servic Miami Beach, Florida, allegedly ed the screen name “hotnhairy72” to meet other men on Manhunt and Gay Bear Natn. The Manhunt profile, which has sce been leted, clus several nu imag that appear to be of Goldwasser and lists a number of terts, cludg “datg, ” “kissg, ” “married men, ” “massage” and a seri of more explic activi, acrdg to screenshots provid to NBC News by Tth Ws Ben, the founr and executive director of Tth Ws Out and thor of the 2003 book “Anythg but Straight: Unmaskg the Sndals and Li Behd the Ex-Gay Myth, ” said his anizatn was alerted to Goldwasser’s alleged profile by someone who claimed to have been one of the licensed psychologist’s former “gay nversn therapy” said after receivg the tip, he created a fake profile for “Brandon” to try to nnect wh Goldwasser directly.

”The number Ben said he ed to munite wh Goldwasser is listed as belongg to Norman Goldwasser on several different webs, and when NBC News lled the number, the voicemail greetg claims to be that of Norman Goldwasser of Horizon Psychologil News ntacted Goldwasser by phone and email to quire about his views on homosexualy, "gay nversn therapy" and his alleged gay datg profil. "Goldwasser did not immediately rpond to NBC News' follow-up qutns regardg his current stance on so-lled nversn therapy, whether the gay datg profil unearthed by Tth Ws Out were his and his rponse to Ben's public claims that Goldwasser is misleadg and dg a msage posted to Tth Ws Out’s webse, Ben explaed that the anizatn “do not engage the outg of people participatg ex-gay programs unls there is overwhelmg hypocrisy, exchange of merce, and the threat of harm to LGBT youth. The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn stated that the "potential risks" of this type of therapy "are great, cludg prsn, anxiety and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.

"Acrdg to the Williams Instute at UCLA School of Law, approximately 700, 000 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults have unrgone nversn therapy at some pot their liv, cludg about 350, 000 who received this treatment as adolcents. In , he pathologiz homosexualy, parg to obssive-pulsive 2010, he wrote an article for nservative webse Free Republic where he promoted the now-funct anizatn Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy (JONAH), which Quartz recently scribed as “the biggt Jewish gay ‘nversn therapy’ anizatn.

GAY THERAPY, GAY THERAPISTS, GAY TREATMENT

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. 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.

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. 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.