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

Contents:

• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• 5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP
• ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALG YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATNSHIPS OM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSN THERAPY KDLE EDN
• PRAYG THE GAY AWAY, ONE AWAY MSAGE AT A TIME
• PRAY AWAY GO DEEP INTO THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN THE '70S
• WHAT DO “PRAY THE GAY AWAY” MEAN?
• MICHELE BACHMANN CLIC: WHERE YOU CAN PRAY AWAY THE GAY?
• CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?

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.

5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP

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. Even better, feel ee to refer to your homosexualy wh water-based metaphors: It's a "broken cistern" that will never satisfy your thirst. 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.

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

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 .

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

But if at the end of this 60-day therapy, you still have homosexual tennci, then you didn't really believe and you didn't really want to change. 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.

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

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. 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.

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.

CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

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

The bt-known group of such clicians is the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), led by psychologist Joseph Nilosi. 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. Reparative therapy supposedly helps gay clients bee heterosexual by workg wh them to amelrate toxic feelgs stemmg om their damaged childhoods.

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.

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

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. 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.

Nobody their right md would want theirs kids to be homosexuals even the homosexuals themselv wouldn’t want their kids to be gays or lbians. 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.

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

By the end of the so-lled 'treatments, ' I believed the ernment was lookg for me bee the gays had brought AIDS to Ameri and that I now had this disease ragg through me.

In fact, he got so ed to reprsg his te self that, even after he me out, he wasn't entirely sure how to be: When he got to llege and first enuntered the gay muny, he immediately "me out a ball of glter. " He embraced a sparkly, Freddy Mercury-stage-show-liftyle bee he saw a bunch of out-and-proud homosexuals and thought that was how was done.

PRAYG THE GAY AWAY, ONE AWAY MSAGE AT A TIME

Go to a hardware store on the day of the gay pri para and you might hear an old du wh a beer gut lament, "Why do them gays have to be so flamboyant?

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

But if you see somebody sportg an outlandish stume, 's not about makg homosexualy look fun to help "turn kids gay" (if Sam's gayns uld survive electroshock torture, then we're pretty sure another kid's straightns n survive a few paras and some sequ boas); 's about showg closeted gay kids that homosexualy isn't tomatilly a lifetime of misery. For more sir perspectiv, check out 5 Reali of Beg Gay a Country Where It's Illegal and 6 Shockg Reali of the Secret 'Troubled Teen Indtry'. 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.

WHAT DO “PRAY THE GAY AWAY” MEAN?

Even the Nashville Statement, a 14-pot manifto by the plementarian Council of Biblil Manhood and Womanhood, matas that homosexual sire may never change. 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.

It's a movement that's born out of a larger culture of homophobia and transphobia that still persists the majory of Christian church today. 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. They also had a group for the gays, and unrneath all of that olns there was this toxic theology that said that you need to overe homosexualy.

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

Stolakis on what the ex-gay and nversn therapy movement looks like today Conversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement has always been practiced lolly.

CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?

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.

But only after I left my gay inty— exchange for a new inty Christ—did I realize the special rentment Hollywood rerv for nverts like me. Exod was born 1976 at a large nference Anaheim, California, seekg to help homosexuals who wanted to rid themselv of unwanted same-sex attractns through a seri of ad hoc and unscientific theraptic methods. Attempts to “pray away the gay” all too often fail, leavg stgglg folks not only mad at God or personally srred but, far worse, a state of apostasy.