Experience: I was a gay-nversn therapist | Life and style | The Guardian

Contents:

• TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS
• 8 PEOPLE ON SURVIVG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• UNRVER AT A CHRISTIAN GAY-TO-STRAIGHT CONVERSN CAMP
• EXPERIENCE: I WAS A GAY-NVERSN THERAPIST
• TOP 10 GAY CAMPGROUNDS AMERI
• GAY CONVERSN NEAR ME
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY NEAR ME
• GAY PARIS
• THERAPISTS SPECIALIZG GAY COUNSELG | NEAR ME & ONLE

TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS

A new llectn of photos is providg a strikg ― and horrifyg ― visual recreatn of the barbaric practice of gay “nversn therapy” and the impact has on s victims. Photographer Paola Pares first learned of the “Clis Dhomosexualizacn” her home untry of Ecuador four years ago om a iend.

8 PEOPLE ON SURVIVG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

After pletg a project lled “Unveiled” that documented her own g out procs ― cludg filmg herself wh three meras as she me out to her parents ― Pares cid the foc of her next work would be on the gay “nversn therapy” clics.

We want to sign an tnal mpaign that centers around teachg people about homosexually, LGBT rights, genr inty and human rights. ”Check out more imag om “Until You Change” throughout this article and learn more about the photographer’s relatnship wh the victims of the gay “nversn therapy” clics and what she hop the impact of this project will be by readg our terview wh Pares Pares PhotographyHuffPost: What spired the project?

” I sat my parents down for a nversatn and told them I was gay ont of three meras – a pletely surreal and liberatg experience. From “Unveiled” I had a lot of gay men and women ntact me around the world to thank me for sharg such an timate moment wh the world.

UNRVER AT A CHRISTIAN GAY-TO-STRAIGHT CONVERSN CAMP

But sce the people nsir homosexualy a disease, they treat as an addictn. The laws prohib that the clics treat homosexuals.

EXPERIENCE: I WAS A GAY-NVERSN THERAPIST

Ex-gay mistry. ”The harms of nversn therapySan Francis State Universy found that “pared wh LGBTQ young people who were not rejected or were only a ltle rejected by their parents and regivers bee of their gay or transgenr inty, highly rejected LGBTQ young people were:.

TOP 10 GAY CAMPGROUNDS AMERI

57, 000 youth (ag 13-17) across all stat will receive nversn therapy om relig or spirual advisors before they reach the age of UCLA Williams InstuteStatements by Natnal AssociatnsAmerin Psychologil Associatn:Affirms that same-sex sexual and romantic attractns, feelgs, and behavrs are normal and posive variatns of human sexualy regardls of sexual orientatn inty; reaffirms s posn that homosexualy per se is not a mental disorr and oppos portrayals of sexual mory youths and adults as mentally ill due to their sexual orientatn nclus that there is sufficient evince to support the e of psychologil terventns to change sexual orientatn; enurag mental health profsnals to avoid misreprentg the efficy of sexual orientatn change efforts by promotg or promisg change sexual orientatn when providg assistance to dividuals distrsed by their own or others’ sexual orientatn…Amerin Psychiatric Associatn:… In 1997 APA produced a fact sheet on homosexual and bisexual issu, which stat that “there is no published scientific evince supportg the efficy of “reparative therapy” as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientatn. ”The potential risks of “reparative therapy” are great and clu prsn, anxiety, and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patient. Many patients who have unrgone “reparative therapy” relate that they were accurately told that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy dividuals who never achieve acceptance or satisfactn.

The possibily that the person might achieve happs and satisfyg terpersonal relatnships as a gay man or lbian are not prented, nor are alternative approach to alg wh the effects of societal stigmatizatn discsed…Therefore, APA oppos any psychiatric treatment, such as “reparative” or “nversn” therapy, that is based on the assumptn that homosexualy per se is a mental disorr or is based on the a prri assumptn that the patient should change his or her homosexual of US anizatns that have nounced nversn therapy:. Also known as “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapy, the programs e var forms of psychologil manipulatn, and sometim physil abe, to nont “same-sex attractns, ” or “SSA’s.

GAY CONVERSN NEAR ME

Diree Akhvan’s The Mistn of Cameron Post (adapted om the novel by Ey Danforth), out now, follows a young gay woman named Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is sent away to a gay nversn mp the mid-1990s, where the close iendships she forms wh the other participants serve as a rpe om the ongog psychologil torments flicted upon her.

There was one really abive act, where three misters held me down for six and a half hours and were screamg my face, tryg to get the gayns out of me.

I asked them, “Do this mean that I’m not gog to be gay anymore?

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY NEAR ME

Well, there is this thg lled gaydar …” — some parts of the church believe gaydar is the abily to see a mon another person.

Like the movie, there’s this whole iceberg scene [about disverg the “” of one’s homosexualy] and the girl the movie mocked . There was really not much worse than beg gay.

So, the day after I’d go to [nversn therapy] I’d bury myself the perdil sectn of the library and read articl about homosexualy and the more of those articl that I read, the broar perspective that I got. For one of my class I had to wre a paper talkg about why I was gog to Hell for beg gay. I was g terms like “SSA” and not llg myself gay for a very long time.

GAY PARIS

I gus now I intify as gay, and I fely believe there’s no changg that, and even if there was I don’t know that you should.

When I started realizg that I was gay, I officially me out and was still tryg to change at 15. From basilly about 12 to 21 I was dog some variatn of “prayg the gay away.

I had been raised to believe that beg gay is horrible and terrible and awful and sful, and you’re gog to go to Hell. But also I was gay.

THERAPISTS SPECIALIZG GAY COUNSELG | NEAR ME & ONLE

The gay part of my life is great. We watch gay movi together and all that jazz. And of urse that marriage got dicey — I end up ex-gay therapy at the referral of a pastor at about the age of 37, 38.