Is It Possible to Pray the Gay Away? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• PRAYG THE GAY AWAY, ONE AWAY MSAGE AT A TIME
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• “WHY DON’T GOD ANSWER PRAYERS TO TAKE AWAY GAY FEELGS?”
• CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”
• GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALG YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATNSHIPS OM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSN THERAPY KDLE EDN
• MICHELE BACHMANN CLIC: WHERE YOU CAN PRAY AWAY THE GAY?
• 'PRAYG THE GAY AWAY': TRMA SURVIVORS CSA TO BAN NVERSN THERAPY
• PRAY AWAY: THE HARROWG TE STORY OF THE "EX-GAY" MUNY THE FILM
• ‘PRAY THE GAY AWAY’
• CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?
• PRAY AWAY GO DEEP INTO THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN THE '70S

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

Disregardg all evince that the ex-gay movement is credibly damagg to more than 90% of those who unrgo "treatment" (bee they clearly jt didn't believe God enough), Settg Captiv Free wants you to know that you were not "born this way. " Homosexualy is a s that you need to purge om your system, and the only way to do is to follow their three-parts-a-day the app is only downloadable om Google Play (iTun and the 69, 822+ people who petned them don't believe nversn therapy for some reason), there is an abridged versn available on the mistry’s webse. Stop Callg Your Homosexualy an "Alternative Liftyle": It's "Wicked, " "Evil, " and a "S": The are the only thgs you should ever ll om now on, preferably hhed ton.

‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?

Change For the Right Reasons (the Glory Of God): After all, homosexualy is nothg but "lt, porn, and sexual immoraly, " ss that are applible only to gay people and never to straight on. Remove Yourself From Anythg Even Remotely Gay: Don't watch porn (aga, 's only a gay thg), don't go on gay webs, and most of all, certaly don't associate wh gay people.

Realize That Beg Homosexual Mak You Feel Alone Fet that we told you to shut yourself away om most of the world, and ignore the ia that maybe gay people feel so alone bee of the discrimatory and hateful attus that they face, helped by people like . The revelatns surroundg Marc Bachmann's psychotherapy practice along wh his statements equatg gay people to barbarians reflect the eply held view among too many people that homosexualy is a psychologil or moral choice that n be altered and ed should be. There are several nservative relig anizatns, like Exod Internatnal and Homosexuals Anonymo, that claim to have helped people change their sexual orientatn through prayer, unselg, or a batn of both.

Moreover, there are licensed mental health profsnals who practice what are lled reparative or nversn therapi signed to make gay people heterosexual.

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT

He and his followers claim that gays and lbians suffer om a damagg blend of childhood trma, shamg their fai of orig, and chronic unmet needs for love and affectn om their same-sex parents. Robert Spzer, a proment psychiatrist who, oddly enough, led the charge to remove homosexualy as a disease om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual, had unrtaken rearch wh 200 women and men who unrwent reparative therapy and believed themselv to be "cured" of homosexualy, as evinced by their abily to engage sexual relatns wh the oppose sex, marry heterosexually, and nceive children.

In fact, there are many reports of people unrgog treatments offered by ex-gay mistri who not only return to homosexualy but have also been trmatized by this so-lled therapy. It is important to regnize that the great majory of psychotherapy profsnals argue vociferoly that such "treatment" is uhil bee homosexualy is not an illns — rather the "illns" is our tolerance of sexual and genr behavrs fallg outsi rtrictive societal norms.

PRAYG THE GAY AWAY, ONE AWAY MSAGE AT A TIME

I also tell clients that reparative and nversn therapi, bis beg effective, are psychologilly harmful to gays and lbians, which is another reason I do not remend them and will not assist clients procurg such treatment. People like Marc and Michele Bachmann believe that acceptg and even celebratg gay and lbian people will evably lead to the moral cle of our society.

Pray First That You Always Defe Others as Children of GodProbably the first and most important nsiratn when we pray for gay iends and fay members is the state of our own hearts. Ask God to keep your gay loved one healthy physilly and mentally, pray for their growg discernment and wisdom, and for them to grow love for Him—jt as you would pray for anyone else you Bible tells to pray for others, and that pleas the Lord. Both of the circumstanc take away personal that your gay loved one to ntact wh wise people who affirm their personhood full while offerg biblil tth.

Your gay iend or fay member needs to be rpected as a child of God, and sometim is not you, but another, who creat active pathways to real spirual change. God is jtice, and all His sir for our life are for our good; His boundari on our behavr allow te eedom, livg full liv that are pleasg to are several plac the Bible where homosexualy is discsed. We mt also affirm the tth of the Bible wh nfince and obedience to God, not strayg away om Biblil tth prayer, word, or That Homosexual Friends and Fay Rpect Their Christian Loved OnYears ago, a gay iend shared wh me her hop of someday gettg married.

‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE

Most Christians I know want gay members of society to have every legal benef available—to be allowed to arrange fanc together, make health cisns for one another, and partner on other important life issu.

Rpect for this om the gay muny whout risn or the mon label of “tolerant” is very sence, we are to tst God changg hearts and liv, and our prayers for loved on is a very important part of that.

“WHY DON’T GOD ANSWER PRAYERS TO TAKE AWAY GAY FEELGS?”

Lord J please liver themFather God I e to you the name of J and by the Power of the Holy Spir askg that you would liver my iends and fay om the spir of homosexualy this is a perversn that has swept across this natn and has ma bld to what is Your clear and te will.

Help me to overe my fear of the Oppose Sex or Kolpohobia and Homosexualy and be able to enter willgly and romantilly to marriage wh a Mature Woman of God who will keep me on J path, pecially when I want to pull away and turn back to my homosexual urg Which I do often even though I sire to be cured and be able to bee Heterosexual as God Intend. Exod Internatnal, evangelilism’s flagship ex-gay mistry, shut down 2013 after former lear Alan Chambers said had ed pa and harm to too many people and that more than 99 percent of those who’d sought help there hadn’t actually experienced an orientatn change.

While mistri cludg Exod Internatnal and Foc on the Fay ed to preach that homosexual sire should be elimated, most evangelil church, pastors, and mental health profsnals today emphasize chasty amid sir that might last a lifetime. Even the Nashville Statement, a 14-pot manifto by the plementarian Council of Biblil Manhood and Womanhood, matas that homosexual sire may never change. When Amerin documentarian Kriste Stolakis set out to make her but feature film, she knew she wanted to she a light on the “ex-gay” movement, which nsists of those that believe a person’s genr inty or sexual orientatn n be changed.

CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

Shot before the Covid-19 panmic, the film chronicl the rise — and subsequent fall — of Exod Internatnal, a nversn therapy anizatn that, acrdg to the team behd the the film, began as a Bible study group the 1970s nsistg of five evangelil men who were lookg to help one another leave the “homosexual liftyle. But years after risg to stardom the relig right, many of the “ex-gay” lears, whose own same-sex attractns never went away, have sce e out as LGBTQ and disavowed the very movement that they helped to grow.

GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALG YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATNSHIPS OM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSN THERAPY KDLE EDN

Stolakis’ list of terviewe “Pray Away” clus Randy Thomas, the fal vice print of Exod Internatnal; Yvette Cantu Schneir, the former head of Exod’ women’s mistri; and John Plk, one of the most bt-known “ex-gay” people the world. “Somethg my team and I talked about a lot makg this film is, this really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward, ” said Stolakis, whose other directorial creds clu “The Typist” and “Where We Stand.

”While many former lears have renounced and spoken out agast the “pray the gay away” movement, Stolakis said “the larger culture of homophobia and transphobia, ” particularly relig muni, has allowed the movement to ntue wh younger lears, even wh the dissolutn of Exod Internatnal 2013 and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage the U. Alone, nearly 700, 000 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults have been subjected to some form of nversn therapy durg their lifetime, acrdg to a 2019 report om the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law. ”Wh “Pray Away” set to but more than 190 untri on Netflix this week, Stolakis wants to make one thg clear to every prospective viewer: The “ex-gay” movement was never led by jt “a uple of bad appl.

”“As long as that larger culture of homophobia and transphobia exists — be our church, any relig muny, our polil sphere or our culture — some versn of nversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement will ntue, ” she explaed.

MICHELE BACHMANN CLIC: WHERE YOU CAN PRAY AWAY THE GAY?

I didn’t have anyone I uld talk to about my dilemma but I did have a dial-up nnectn 1997, the same year AOL lnched Instant a closeted kid the '90s, AIM was like a crawlspace om your home to a gay bar.

'PRAYG THE GAY AWAY': TRMA SURVIVORS CSA TO BAN NVERSN THERAPY

I was ready to block her when she replied < then there was watchg an episo of Ricki Lake featurg men who claimed to be ex-gay, I searched AOL profil for guys who were part of this gay-turned-straight movement.

Sean wasn’t one of was his late 20s, raised the Midwt, and studyg to be a therapist at an Evangelil universy while workg for an undisclosed but proment ex-gay anizatn.

When I had no luck, I applied what ltle I knew about him to 2003, several months after we stopped talkg, ex-gay activist Michael Johnston, a poster boy for the movement and an adviser to Jerry Falwell, had what associat scribed as a “moral fall” and checked to a Christian rehab Kentucky. I'd tell him about all the moments that led me to the happs I experience he'd let me, I'd share the story of that time I slammed this boy, whose Czech name I uldn't pronounce, agast the wall of a gay bar durg my first kiss.

PRAY AWAY: THE HARROWG TE STORY OF THE "EX-GAY" MUNY THE FILM

Movi|‘Pray Away’ Review: Atong for an Anti-Gay Stance ADVERTISEMENTIn this documentary, people who had promoted the ia that sexual orientatn uld be changed exprs their AwayDirected by Kriste StolakisDocumentaryPG-131h 41mThe Netflix documentary “Pray Away” profil several people who, the public sphere and the ntext of Christiany-cloaked “nversn therapy, ” peddled the ia that homosexualy uld be changed, and who now regret the sufferg they ed. Michael Bsee, a founr of Exod Internatnal, nsired one of the major anizatns that preached that sexual orientatn uld be changed, was both an early promoter and an early harms nversn therapy , and the tactics , aren’t news at this pot, and “Pray Away” is more tertg when foc on how most of s subjects eventually embraced gay and bisexual inti spe havg formerly been so public their homophobia.

I was readg your article about Gay Teen Suicis and Bullyg, about how some people pray and pray for God to take away their gay feelgs and there is a reason that he don’t that they don’t know about. I want to VERY rpectfully suggt that “acceptg one’s gayns” is not the bt solutn to the grief and sadns that bound up realizg one has same-sex sir.

‘PRAY THE GAY AWAY’

So often, people pray and ask God to relieve their symptoms and make their liv easier (and this, of urse, go way beyond askg God to take away gay feelgs. No one is born gay; we are such plex creatur, beg ma the image of God, that feelgs, attus and beliefs are shaped over time by our life experienc, and filtered through our temperaments.

She is a equent speaker for MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) and Stonecroft Mistri (Christian Women's Connectns), and serv on the board of Livg Hope Mistri, a Christ-centered outreach to those alg wh unwanted homosexualy. July 11, 2011 &#151; -- A former patient who sought help om the Christian unselg clic owned by GOP printial hopeful Michele Bachmann and her hband, Marc, told ABC News he was advised that prayer uld rid him of his homosexual urg and he uld eventually be "re-oriented. ""[One unselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay, " said Andrew Ramirez, who was 17-years-old at the time he sought help om Bachmann & Associat suburban Mneapolis 2004.

CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?

But Ramirez's acunt, which was first reported by The Natn, is siar to the unselg ssn that appears on new unrver vio shot by a gay rights advocy group last month. That footage shows another unselor at the Bachmann clic tellg a gay man posg as a patient that, wh prayer and effort, he uld eventually learn to be attracted to women and rid himself of his gay the full report tonight on ABC News' "Nightle" disclosur have provid h sight to what Michele Bachmann has lled her fay bs -- the primary source of e for her fay as she left her law practice to move to polics. Marc Bachmann was asked if his clic tried to nvert patients om gay to straight an terview wh a lol newspaper 2006, and said, "That's a false statement.

PRAY AWAY GO DEEP INTO THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN THE '70S

Clton Anrson, who heads the associatn's Office on Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Concerns, told ABC News that his anizatn did an exhstive review and found no evince that efforts to nvert someone om gay to straight uld succeed. Qutns about the clic's approach to unselg gay patients prompted the Vermont-based advocy group Tth Ws Out to send a gay man unrver, wh a mera, to seek guidance om a Bachmann associate.

"I told my therapist that I was stgglg wh attractn to the same sex, and that my attractns were overwhelmgly, predomately, exclively homosexual, " said John Becker, the man who vised the clic five tim late June.