Chattg wh a lear of the ‘ex-gay’ movement about nvertg some to heterosexualy - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• CHATTG WH A LEAR OF THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT ABOUT NVERTG SOME TO HETEROSEXUALY
• EX-GAY THERAPIST RPONDS TO SBC'S 'REPARATIVE THERAPY' STANCE
• ‘EX-GAY’ CHRISTOPHER DOYLE ASKS HRC TO FUND ‘REPARATIVE THERAPY’ FOR ACCED CO-FOUNR, VICTIM
• EX-GAY COMMUNY LOBBI CONGRS FOR REGNN, PROTECTN FROM DISCRIMATN
• CREEP OF THE WEEK: LONELY EX-GAY CHRISTOPHER DOYLE
• CHRISTOPHER DOYLE CLAIMS GAYS OPPRSG 'EX-GAYS'
• PFOX SNAGS ANOTHER EX-GAY BOARD MEMBER!
• THE EX-GAY PROBLEM: YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE?
• EX-GAY PRI
• 'EX-GAY' ACTIVIST CHRISTOPHER DOYLE DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM EXOD INTERNATNAL
• 'I KNOW PERSONALLY WORKS': MAN WHO SUED MARYLAND TO OVERTURN GAY NVERSN BAN AT CENTER OF NEW FILM
• FEWER THAN TEN PEOPLE SHOW UP FOR EX-GAY PRI EVENT THAT EXPECTED TO DRAW ‘THOANDS’
• FAY REARCH COUNCIL TO LNCH ‘EX-GAY PRI MONTH’
• FEWER THAN TEN SHOW UP FOR EX-GAY PRI EVENT THAT EXPECTED TO DRAW ‘THOANDS’

CHATTG WH A LEAR OF THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT ABOUT NVERTG SOME TO HETEROSEXUALY

Last fall, a group lled Voice of the Voicels announced that they had performed an unrver vtigatn of Virgia’s public universi to see if their unselg centers for gay and lbian centers were discsg “nversn therapy”: therapy that would help a person who didn’t want to be homosexual swch to heterosexual. Many of the unselors were LGBT-intified and believe strongly they were born homosexual, so to suggt that homosexual feelgs n change for some dividuals is threateng to them. However, the same n be said about dividuals like myself and the clients that e to therapists like me, sce I have also experienced change my sexual orientatn ( would be threateng to suggt that we were born homosexual).

However, some of the unselors (pecially the younger stunts) we talked to at Virgia universi openly admted that there is fluidy sexual orientatn; however, they have been doctrated by activists to believe that SOCE therapy is “brawashg” or “prayg away the gay” and therefore have negative perceptns. A large part of the Camp Climate Report is dited to rrectg the stereotyp and tg LGBTQ Rource Centers about what SOCE therapy really is…I thk ’s also important for the unselors to unrstand that SOCE therapy is only remend for stunts who are qutng or have unwanted SSA – practicg SOCE therapy wh a client who is secure their gay inty n be problematic, my opn.

For example, when the APA formed a Task Force 2009 to evaluate SOCE therapy they refed to allow ex-gay therapists or highly qualified psychologists who actually work wh dividuals unrgog SOCE therapy on the Task Force. Instead, you had six gay-intified psychologists that had prevly gone on the rerd as opposg SOCE therapy for philosophil reasons makg nclns for a theraptic modaly they neher have trag or experience practicg…’s no wonr that their bias seeped through the report, even unnscly! Organizatns such as the Amerin Associatn of Christian Counselors and the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy, which prise over 50, 000 licensed mental health practners, both support the rights of clients to pursue SOCE therapy (and they also support a client’s right to pursue gay-affirmative therapy, I might add).

EX-GAY THERAPIST RPONDS TO SBC'S 'REPARATIVE THERAPY' STANCE

It uld also be argued that the memberships of the AACC and NARTH probably overlap a good al, so addg their numbers (to 50, 000) may have a lot of ’re right, there uld be some overlap between AACC and NARTH, and let’s jt assume that the beliefs around the etlogy of homosexualy poed by NARTH and AACC are not mastream (although I am not nvced this is te) – do that mean their opns don’t unt or that their voic should not be heard? For example, the Task Force sisted that SOCE therapy oute rearch should exhib high methodologil standards while not mandg the same creria be ed to evaluate the efficy of gay affirmative therapy, which they asserted to be the appropriate theraptic terventn for all homosexually oriented dividuals. Essentially, they flt the rearch on SOCE based on methodologil flaws, yet ce studiwh siar methodologil flaws to support their ncln that gay-affirmative therapy is superr.

I received an vatn to attend the first annual Ex-Gay Awarens Month Conference hosted by Voice of the Voicels, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, and Equaly And Jtice For All.

This troductn upled wh stori shared by some of the most urageo men and women I've yet to enunter illumed me to the love and support the ex-gay muny serv as they face tremendo hostily om gay 's not jt gay activists who beltle the mistry of ex-gay awarens advot, therapists and support group lears. Perfectly named Voice of the Voicels (VOV), this non-prof advot for "the rights of former homosexuals and enurag fah-based muni to love and support dividuals alg wh unwanted same-sex attractn.

‘EX-GAY’ CHRISTOPHER DOYLE ASKS HRC TO FUND ‘REPARATIVE THERAPY’ FOR ACCED CO-FOUNR, VICTIM

" VOV's -founr and Print is Christopher Doyle, an intifyg ex-gay now hband, psychotherapist, tor, thor, and an advote whose mistry I have grown to greatly rpect over the past year. Any time the church at large seeks to elevate the dialogue on homosexualy, there will be ground gaed as well as signifint ntroversy and feelgs doubt, Moore's acknowledgement of the church's failgs their mistry towards those who experience same-sex attractns (SSA) is important, both our rpect for the digny of all people, but also, our unrstandg that people who experience SSA have been nmned om the pulp and mistreated, misunrstood, and margalized for feelgs they did not 's ments that the "ia that one is simply the sum of one's sexual inty is somethg that is psychologilly harmful ultimately" is a statement I pletely agree wh – my clients e to me and my lleagu distrsed about unwanted homosexual feelgs, but 's not the sexual feelgs we treat or seek to change.

Homosexual feelgs are often the rult of unrlyg sexual trma or emotnal tachment om same-sex peers and parents – when dividuals realize the source of their feelgs and pursue healg their liv, change happens the pews, and change happens the unselg office. My sire is for Rsell Moore to s down wh me and so many of the men that I know who's liv have been transformed bee of Christian therapists who unrstand how to help those stgglg wh unwanted SSA so we n better help the church their mistry towards those stgglg wh homosexualy.

EX-GAY COMMUNY LOBBI CONGRS FOR REGNN, PROTECTN FROM DISCRIMATN

“It is outrageo and tragic that the Founr of the largt gay activist anizatn the world is moltg boys, while at the same time their learship is phg for laws across the Uned Stat to keep those same boys out of the unselg office to heal trma at the hands of homosexual pedophil, ” mented Christopher Doyle, Co-Founr and Print of VoV. Many who were among the most proment spokpeople and apologists for the “ex-gay” movement have rented their views and exprsed ep sorrow for the pa their work ed over the years. John Plk, who was once the poster boy for the movement, appearg on the ver of Newsweek  1998 wh his then wife, now is livg as an openly gay man, and is dog the hard work of apologizg to those who were hurt by his work.

| (Photo: Screengrab/Voice of the Voicels)Christopher Doyle, the print and -founr of Voice of the Voicels (VoV), the only anti-famatn league for former homosexuals and people who have unwanted same-sex attractn, told The Christian Post on Tuday that the anizatn is mandg that every state regnize former homosexuals as a protected and VoV will also hold a rally and prs nference at the Supreme Court Wednday afternoon. We're not discrimated agast bee we're livg heterosexual liv; we're discrimated agast bee we're former homosexuals and we dare to have a different viewpot, an opposg viewpot.

"He ntued, "Jtice Kennedy, his DOMA cisn, basilly said that gays and lbians serve the right to marry bee they've faced anim this untry, meang that they've faced hatred and discrimatn; they serve equal rights.

CREEP OF THE WEEK: LONELY EX-GAY CHRISTOPHER DOYLE

When you see all of this g agast you, 's unrstandable why people – whether they're ex-gay or Christians who disagree wh homosexualy – would be aaid to speak up, bee seems like everyone is agast them. And I hope they n receive hope om people like me, and people who are gog to be out there tryg to give them a voice, " he Doyle's opn, members of the ex-gay muny and their supporters are ifyg what the media, and mastream science and mental health people say, which is that if you have same-sex attractn, you're gay. But if you were to ask Christopher Doyle, print and -founr of Voice of the Voicels, an anizatn that lls self “the only anti-famatn league for former homosexuals, ” this whole ex-gay pri thg is workg fabuloly.

Which is kd of weird, bee if this whole “ex-gay” thg is really, well, a thg, then where are the thoands of people Doyle claims have thrown the homo monkey off their backs? Look, there is no doubt that people who intify as ex-gay exist, but their existence do not negate the existence of LGBT people and the legimacy of love between people of the same sex.

CHRISTOPHER DOYLE CLAIMS GAYS OPPRSG 'EX-GAYS'

Doyle’s sistence that bee a handful of people claim to have st off their same-sex sir then gay people are not, fact, real, is ak to climate-change niers nyg global warmg bee a miscule sub-set of scientists aren’t on board. [pullquote]Look, there is no doubt that people who intify as ex-gay exist, but their existence do not negate the existence of LGBT people and the legimacy of love between people of the same sex. The followg excerpt is om the article “Chattg wh a lear of the ‘ex-gay’ movement about nvertg some to heterosexualy” by Tom Jackman on the Washgton Post Webse: … Tom Jackman: “So if SOCE is not ‘brawashg’ or ‘prayg away the gay, ’ what is ?

PFOX SNAGS ANOTHER EX-GAY BOARD MEMBER!

Apparently not ntent wh simply shamg out and proud LGBT people, the "ex-gay" movement, a group of mostly right wg fundamentalists who believe people n "change" their sexualy, are now tryg to anize an "ex-gay pri" para. "Meanwhile, Doyle also says that happy homosexuals and their alli are "livg the Stone Age: "If they want to ntue to live the Stone Age and claim that people were born gay and they n't change, well, that's their choice, too, we're not gog to wa for them. Of urse others see as a matter of protectn: stoppg people om enterg to a dub "theraptic" practice that's proven to e psychologil and sometim physil 's sudn assertn of his pri and rights as Exod Internatnal, once the lear the ex-gay craze, apologized and closed up shop, well aware that s brand of relign-based hysteria do more harm than good.

“I wish ex-gay rourc like those available through PFOX had been around to help me when I was high school, ” said Christopher Doyle, a former homosexual and PFOX board member. “Christopher’s Story, ” a sectn which tails Doyle’s journey om childhood sexual abe, through homosexualy, and fally to heterosexual marriage and fatherhood, was jt posted on the PFOX Web se on Sept. But don’t hurt PFOX to have a uple of ex-gay humans around that n claim to advote for, if only to balance out the lns of gay humans the anizatn is mted to rallyg Doyle’s IHF b suat him at Liberty Universy, the fundamentalist Baptist stutn Lynchburg, Virgia.

A profile The Guardian tak a look at the new owners of the inic newsmagaze, Newsweek, and how IBT Media -founr Johnathan Davis believ that gay people n be cured through “gay-to-straight” reparative (on nversn) theraly. Lda Harvey of Missn Ameri explaed Monday that gays and lbians are attracted to people of the same-sex bee they are empty si and seek to “absorb” the personali of others. On Tuday, Amerin Fay Rad’s Sandy Rs spoke to Ex-Gay Pri Month anizer Christopher Doyle about Wednday’s ex-gay lobby day on Capol Hill, and nfintly predicted that “thoands of ex-gays are scendg” on Washgton for a prs nference planned at the Supreme Court.

THE EX-GAY PROBLEM: YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE?

The followg excerpt is om the article “Settg the Rerd Straight on ‘Gay Conversn’ Therapy for Mors” by Christopher Doyle on the Christian Post webse: “… In a senate hearg Febary, a reprentative of the Washgton Department of Health, which has jurisdictn over profsnal licensg and fields approximately 10, 000 plats a year, said that the current staff has 11 years of stutnal knowledge and no one was aware of a sgle plat allegg that a licensed therapist had attempted to erce someone to not beg gay. “In my clil experience, I have worked wh roughly 50-75 adolcents (mostly young men) who have been distrsed by homosexual sir that did not align wh their valu and life goals. For the clients, unrlyg issu for the velopment of same-sex attractns are intified and rolved over the urse of treatment, wh out typilly nsistg of a rctn of homosexual feelgs, along a ntuum, and an crease heterosexual feelgs.

(2011) followg large sampl of youth found that seventy-five and sixty-six percent of adolcents, rpectively, who ially intified their sexual orientatn as “homosexual” or “unsure, ” reported exclive heterosexual attractn at follow-up. “While most people would agree that forcibly subjectg gay-intified youth to unrgo therapy to change sexual orientatn is wrong, that do not mean the state should remove the optn for youth (pecially those who experience homosexual feelgs due to sexual abe) to explore the origs of their same-sex attractns and nsir whether they want to pursue therapy that affirms their self-intified and preferred heterosexual inty.

I am reful to say "life" and not "liftyle" so not to offend any gay and lbian readg this who may be quick to st me as a homophobe or tth is no one simply choos to have same-sex attractns (SSA). I make this claim not wh a preponrance of scientific evince, but wh the clil experience of my own practice as a psychotherapist over the last three years, pl an addnal twenty years of observatns om my lleagu at the Internatnal Healg twenty-three years, we have found that 99 percent of our clients who experience homosexual feelgs have very sensive temperaments. Until 1969, on the attails of the Civil Rights Movement, when the morn-day gay rights movement June 28, 1969, at a homosexual bar on Greenwich Village New York Cy, a group of gay patrons fally had enough of the abe by lol police, who regularly me to their tablishments and harassed and beat up the patrons.

EX-GAY PRI

This was the spark that l the fire throughout Ameri, igng the morn-day gay rights this time on, natnal groups began to sprg up, cludg the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force. Their goal was to emulate the strategi of the Civil Rights movement to ga acceptance for homosexualy and change public opn twenty years, and gay rights groups and activists were makg -roads many areas, most notably wh the removal of homosexualy om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's Bible. Wh this momentum, many brilliant gay and lbian profsnals began to strategize how not jt to ga tolerance for homosexualy wh the Amerin public, but to actually normalize and equate wh 1989, two Harvard-ted gay men, Madsen (a nropsychiatrist) and Kirk (a Madison Avenue marketg expert), published what monly me to be known as the Homosexual Manifto.

Bee if homosexuals n change, the whole foundatn of 'born this way' tumbl like a stack of elimate this obstacle, prciple number eight the Homosexual Manifto is employed: "Make victimizers look bad. Mark Regenes, a profsor at the Universy of Texas, whose rearch published the peer-reviewed Social Science Rearch, found that children raised by homosexual parents suffered lower out, pared to heterosexual parents, across twenty-four statistilly signifint measur. Organizatns such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and other anti-ex-gay activists vote lns of dollars each year to try and nvce persons who are unhappy wh their SSA that change is not possible, and fact, that is downright harmful.

'EX-GAY' ACTIVIST CHRISTOPHER DOYLE DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM EXOD INTERNATNAL

In an pecially brazen attempt to doctrate society, CBS's primetime show Crimal Mds voted an entire episo last week to portray ex-gays as reprsed, vlent crimals who are brawashed by Christian nversn-mps that e electroshock therapy and torture to turn gays third and fal method is to attack former homosexuals who have e public wh their stori of change. All you have to do is read the ment sectn at the end of this and any other article I've wrten, and any number of the strategi will be employed to disqualify my experience and those of the ex-gay personal favore, however, is the oldie-but-goodie, "you're jt a big mean liar and you didn't change at all – you're still really attracted to dus – and you're only pretendg not to be gay bee your Bible-thumpg fay and Christian upbrgg ed you to ternalize your homophobia and rort to self-hatred... "Even though I've been married to my wife for over six years, have three betiful children, and have not relapsed eight and-a-half years, the activists claim that I, and others like me, am still homosexual.

If you or your anizatn is terted partnerg to help sponsor our Ex-Gay Pri Awarens Day on Capol Hill and Eveng Dner/Receptn, please ntact Co-Founr and Actg Director, Christopher Doyle at [email protected]. VoV is strategilly holdg Ex-Gay Pri Month July, after June’s annual gay pri month, orr to draw attentn to the ever-creasg phenomenon of ex-gays or former homosexuals; that is, dividuals who formerly had unwanted same-sex attractns and/or lived an LGBT-intified life, but now do not.

VoV is currently anizg events the month of July to highlight the unique role of ex-gays Amerin culture and draw attentn to creasg discrimatn and hostily towards the ex-gay muny society. Bee former homosexuals are the last visible mory Amerin culture and are creasgly subject to hostily om anti-ex-gay activists and the media at large, who is fluenced heavily by the gay-activist lobby that discrimat and margaliz former homosexuals. Is the only jurisdictn that regniz ex-gays as a protected class agast discrimatn the Uned Stat, we believe this is a safe place to gather and celebrate ee om any threat of timidatn.

'I KNOW PERSONALLY WORKS': MAN WHO SUED MARYLAND TO OVERTURN GAY NVERSN BAN AT CENTER OF NEW FILM

If you are a former homosexual, dividual wh unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA), a iend or fay member that knows an ex-gay or dividual wh unwanted SSA, or one of our alli, we wele your support and prence at any of our events! It picts the client, Nathan Gniewek, stgglg, often tearfully and angrily, to al wh his attractn to power of the film om s fly-on-the-wall approach — there are no voiceovers or terviews, and Yeagley kept his belief that gay people shouldn’t have to feel a need to “nvert” on his si of the mera. ”By ntrast, other scen are lighter — Gniewek the embrace of his seemgly supportive fay ral Virgia, attendg a church he is voted to and, at least on screen, don’t seem to pound an anti-gay msage om the pulp.

While his job is not intified, he is shown rehearsg for theatril productns, posg photo shoots and spendg time wh a gay iend, Cameron, wh whom he seems to have a flirty, relaxed other words, don’t seem like there’s external prsure on Gniewek to fight rather than accept his feelgs.

FEWER THAN TEN PEOPLE SHOW UP FOR EX-GAY PRI EVENT THAT EXPECTED TO DRAW ‘THOANDS’

Doyle, who was anizg the sce-nceled Ex-Gay Pri banquet at the Fay Rearch Council, plaed an terview wh the Christian Post that “un-Amerin” LGBT rights advot have “shut out, ” explag that “bee of all this homo-fascism and doctratn the media, ex-gays aren’t given a fair shake. Bis Doyle, ex-gay activists Greg Qulan of Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX), Richard Cohen of the Internatnal Healg Foundatn and Douglas McIntyre of Homosexuals Anonymo also participated. A longtime opponent of gay rights, the Fay Rearch Council is also lnchg two new groups — Voice of the Voicels, and Equaly and Jtice For All — to promote the proposed July 31 "Ex-Gay Pri Month.

""This will be a historic day for ex-gays across the untry as we une on Capol Hill to lobby Congrs to regnize former homosexuals, " Christopher Doyle, -founr and print of Voice of the Voicels, said a prs release. "Followg the Supreme Court's cisn that cleared the way for gay marriage to rume California, Fay Rearch Council print Tony Perks appeared on CBS' "Face the Natn" and clared that Christian bs owners will face prosecutn for not takg part gay vatn to the "Ex-Gay Pri Month" dner promis a celebratn of "the liv of former homosexuals.

FAY REARCH COUNCIL TO LNCH ‘EX-GAY PRI MONTH’

"Voice of the Voicels, which says is a public advocy anizatn of ex-gays that reprents tens of thoands of former homosexuals, has wrten letters to Print Obama askg that he issue a proclamatn regnizg Ex-Gay Pri om Bachmann (whose last name is misspelled on the event vatn), former South Carola Sen. Wayne Ben om Tth Ws Out tak on Rich Wyler om People Can Change for practicg gay reparative founr of one of the natn's largt nversn therapy mistri is askg for fivens after champng the "ex-gay mistry" for two Game, of South Carola, June announced he was gay.

He had found Hope for Wholens, an anizatn promotg the wily discreded practice of fah-based therapy signed to swch a person's sexual orientatn om homosexual to heterosexual. But Gam, whose board of directors fired him two years ago, now says he wants all siar groups shut down for "harmful" UNLIKELY JOURNEY FROM AGNOSTIC GAY MAN IN PRISON TO EVANGELICAL BIBLE PROFESSOR"Conversn therapy is not jt a lie, but ’s very harmful, " Game, 51, told The Post and Courier.

FEWER THAN TEN SHOW UP FOR EX-GAY PRI EVENT THAT EXPECTED TO DRAW ‘THOANDS’