I was 19, gay and ready to be ‘cured’ by nversn therapy | Fay | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS
• THE HISTORY OF GETTG THE GAY OUT
• 11 RIDICULO, STRANGE, AND TERRIFYG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY METHODS FOR 'CURG' HOMOSEXUALY
• I WAS 19, GAY AND READY TO BE ‘CURED’ BY NVERSN THERAPY
• A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT OVER ATTEMPTS TO 'CURE' GAY PEOPLE
• RSIA'S LGBT 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS': PRISONS FOR GAY MEN IN CHECHNYA, REPORTS SAY
• GHANA ANTI-GAY CAMP TO ‘CURE’ 400 LGBT+ PEOPLE
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?
• 7 FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN CAMPS AND HOMOSEXUALY CUR
• 5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP
• CURE YOUR GAYS
• RSIAN CONCENTRATN CAMPS: GAY MEN IMPRISONED AND TORTURED, THIS IS HOW YOU CAN HELP STOP THE ATROCI
• MOSW GAY MAP
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS

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. 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 .

Robert Galbrah Heath, a psychiatrist New Orleans who pneered the technique, ed this form of bra stimulatn, along wh hired prostut and heterosexual pornography, to “change” the sexual orientatn of gay men. This clud the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, which nsired homosexualy to be a psychiatric the 1960s and 1970s, as a vol gay rights movement took to the streets to mand equaly, the profsn began to turn s back on the ncept that people uld be “nverted” to heterosexualy. Their methods varied, and clud everythg om talk therapy to “gay nversn” mps and nferenc, LGBTQ people were isolated om fay and iends, hypnotized, told to pray until their homosexualy subsid, stcted to beat effigi of their parents, mocked, ached on “proper” genr rol, and told their sexualy was unnatural and And Anne Plk, both “formerly gay” pose wh their son, Timothy, a mpaign for Gay Conversn to Heterosexualy.

And Exod Internatnal, an umbrella group that nnected var nversn therapy groups and gay mistry anizatns, closed down 2013 after nearly 40 years of operatns after s print, Alan Chambers, cid ’s impossible to change someone’s sexual orientatn.

THE HISTORY OF GETTG THE GAY OUT

Conley's memoir of his time there, Boy Erased, chronicl how the mp's nversn therapy followed the ia that beg gay was an addictn that uld be treated wh methods siar to those for abatg dg, alhol, gamblg, and other addictns. Lobotomy kniv of the sort ed to "treat" homosexualy the 1950s–1970sHomosexualy was nsired a psychiatric disorr until 1973, when was removed om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM).

Though same-sex attractn was once nsired a dangero, unwanted ndn by medil profsnals, pecially the 19th and 20th centuri, today doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists all agree that not only is homosexualy not an illns, but there is no proven method to relieve a person of his or her sexual orientatn (nor is there any reason to attempt ), believe or not, there are many anizatns alive and well (and well fund) the world who enavor to nvert gay men and women to heterosexualy and seems hardly a week go by whout some new report on victims of "repairative therapy" -- or ex-gay lears, like former Love In Actn Director John Smid, admtg that the entire movement is a sham. Earlier this year Marc Bachmann, hband of printial hopeful Michele Bachmann, was acced of nng a nversn therapy clic and jt last week the Atralian newspaper the Brisbane Tim reported on a group known as Exod Global Alliance that reli on "exorcisms, huggg, behavural management and marriage, " to treat homosexualy. The methods are cel and equently vlent, om applyg electric shocks while beg forced to watch gay porn, to md ntrol gam aimed at persuadg LGBT “patients” their sir are rooted dysfunctnal or “disempowerg” relatnships wh their LIA the msage was unequivol: homosexualy meant unhapps, isolatn and ath.

Like other gay teens, Conley went through the motns of havg a girliend as a way to “cure” himself, but he was also a vorac rear who found novels a unterweight to the Bible that helped expand the horizons of his world. There, she jok about an ia for a TV seri, Preachers’ Wiv Gone Wild, while he surreptly observ their handsome the ironi of nversn therapi such as LIA is the fact that they are n and managed largely by gay men who have been through the programme themselv, renounced their past and now seek to make others do the same. Conley characteris them by their “ex-gay s” which the rners of their lips “stretched beyond the lims of normalcy” such person was John Smid, former executive director of LIA and a gay man and Christian who would eventually adm that he’d “never met a man who experienced a change om homosexual to heterosexual”.

11 RIDICULO, STRANGE, AND TERRIFYG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY METHODS FOR 'CURG' HOMOSEXUALY

We were learng Step One of Love Actn’s 12-Step programme, a set of prcipl equatg the ss of fily, btialy, paedophilia and homosexualy to addictive behavr such as alholism or gamblg: a kd of Alholics Anonymo for what unsellors referred to as our ‘sexual viance’. In my ongog rearch on this perd, I’m lookg at how the exprsn of homosexual sire, private clatn and public propriety llid India – and how the prsure of social tradn and faial duty to marry and procreate overled same-sex sire for those who sought treatment.

Frd himself had explicly stated by 1935 that homosexualy was not an illns and strongly disuraged attempts to treat ; neverthels, by the 1950s, his theori were wily misappropriated by nservative Amerin and émigré psychiatrists vted reaffirmg the heterosexual, breadwner-homemaker hoehold the wake of World War II. Already by the 1960s, such cur had provoked ristance: April 1965, jt months after that TIME article ran, the Philalphia-based gay rights anizatn Jan ved Hadn to give a lecture on his rearch, only to surprise him wh fierce ristance om the dience.

I WAS 19, GAY AND READY TO BE ‘CURED’ BY NVERSN THERAPY

Gay activists would also claim a major victory December 1973, when the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn voted to remove “homosexualy” om the send edn of the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM-II), which meant that homosexualy was officially no longer nsired a disorr self.

The diagnosis of homosexualy was immediately replaced by “sexual orientatn disturbance, ” renamed “ego-dystonic homosexualy” DSM-III, which was released 1980 unr the learship of Spzer and social worker Ja Williams. The urt refed to hear claims that homosexualy uld be cured om JONAH’s experts, who clu a social worker and clil stctor at Oh State Universy; a psychiatrist and preceptor at Massachetts College of Pharmacy and Health Scienc; and a former Universy of Toronto profsor of psychiatry.

The clean-cut, married father of two is the lear of Exod Internatnal, an anisatn that believ n help people to "fd eedom om homosexualy through the love of J Christ" is one of the mistri of the so-lled "ex-gay" movement, a ntroversial fundamentalist Christian mpaign that enurag gay people to renounce their sexualy. The allegatns me after a few eyewns and survivors said terviews wh the Rsian publitn that they were arrted and taed at one of the secret prisons Argun, a town the Chechen Republic, 100 gay men have been reportedly taed and at least three killed the past week Chechnya by the police.

A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT OVER ATTEMPTS TO 'CURE' GAY PEOPLE

" In 2005, Smid tried to clarify those ments to a reporter om the pro-gay Memphis magaze Fay & Friends: "I said [to Otton], 'It would almost be better if you weren't alive than to return back to the life that you have stggled so much to leave. Although the stated aim of the movement is to turn gays straight and brg them to God, actually now has as much to do wh battlg the gay rights movement by tryg to prove that sexualy is not an immutable characteristic like race or genr. Foc on the Fay, the largt and wealthit Christian Right anizatn the untry, now v Smid to appear several tim a year on an ex-gay lecture circu lled Love Won Out, where he speaks on masturbatn and "healg homosexualy.

Christian Coaln founr Pat Robertson fanc studi on ex-gay "nversn therapi, " and the late Moral Majory lear Jerry Falwell, who once famoly claimed that gays, lbians and other agents of liberalism spurred the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was a keynote speaker at a 2006 ex-gay nference. The Amerin Fay Associatn, another Christian Right group, distribut "It's Not Gay, " a vio that ex-gay ttimoni — cludg that of a man who has sce admted to holdg gay sex parti — to claim that 95% of gay upl are not monogamo. The Tradnal Valu Coaln, a major California-based anizatn listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for s vilent anti-gay activi, and Florida-based Coral Ridge Mistri have even created their own ex-gay holiday, Natnal Comg Out of Homosexualy Day, fallg one day after Natnal Comg Out Day.

Reparative or sexual reorientatn therapy, the psdo-scientific foundatn of the ex-gay movement, has been discreded by virtually all major Amerin medil, psychiatric, psychologil and profsnal unselg anizatns. " The powerful Amerin Medil Associatn, for s part, officially "oppos the e of 'reparative' or 'nversn' therapy that is based on the assumptn that homosexualy per se is a mental disorr or based upon the a prri assumptn that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientatn.

RSIA'S LGBT 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS': PRISONS FOR GAY MEN IN CHECHNYA, REPORTS SAY

About the only time the word "gay" appears the ex-gay lexin is the phrase "gay liftyle, " which is largely seen as scribg a hedonistic mix of one-night stands and sexually transmted diseas that culmat early ath or abandonment when youthful bety fas. Frank Worthen, who ns the ex-gay rintial program New Hope out of an apartment plex San Rafael, Calif., wr his curriculum workbook Steps Out: "Our primary goal is not to make heterosexuals out of homosexual people.

GHANA ANTI-GAY CAMP TO ‘CURE’ 400 LGBT+ PEOPLE

In a move s officials aim to replite natnally, PFOX, wh the help of Alliance Defense Fund and the Thomas More Law Center ("Christiany's answer to the ACLU"), sued the Montgomery County School District Maryland for the right to operate a high school ex-gay club.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

" Thomas says he was rcued om the attack by a "pair of angry lbians" but nohels sists that hate crime laws would make his life "as a former homosexual ls valuable now than when we were livg as homosexuals. To back up their claims that homosexualy is purely a viant liftyle choice, ex-gay lears equently ce the Thomas Project, a four-year study of ex-gay programs, paid for by Exod, that reced subjects exclively om Exod mistri. But no one the study reports beg fully heterosexual; acrdg to the study's thors, even the 11% group "did not report themselv to be whout experience of homosexual aroal, and did not report heterosexual orientatn to be unequivol and unplited.

Neverthels, the study was hailed by Exod, Foc on the Fay and the Southern Baptist Conventn as "scientific evince to prove what we as former homosexuals have known all along — that those who stggle wh unwanted same-sex attractn n experience eedom om . Dpe s rhetoric that "eedom om unwanted homosexualy is possible, " Exod officials seem quietly aware that few, if any, of the thoands of people who participate their mistri actually change their sexual orientatn.

"You folks here, so many of you that have e out of homosexualy or are battlg to e out, listen, you are right the middle of the battle bee if you exist, then this whole gay civil rights thg go out the door, " Brown said to applse.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?

The same weekend as the Exod Revolutn nference, jt a e down the road at the mp of Universy of California-Irve, 100 men and women gathered for the first-ever Ex-Gay Survivor's nference, subtled "Undog the Damage, Affirmg Our Liv Together. Stt Tucker, another alumn of LIA who is now openly gay, said that for years he flted himself for failg to turn straight until he realized the programs had the oppose effect, isolatg him a "ghetto" of gay men tryg to bee straight. That said, the vast majory of viss rema trouble-ee, even for visors who equent the cy’s ls-than-secret gay bar and club bt hotels MoswThe historic exterr of the Hotel Metropol, facg the ternatnally-celebrated Bolshoi Theatre and close to many of the other ma thgs to do Mosw, is nothg pared to s sumptuo terrs.

7 FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN CAMPS AND HOMOSEXUALY CUR

10 Countri wh the Biggt Gay Populatns the World7 Facts About Gay Conversn Camps and Homosexualy Curare gay nversn mps n by relig anizatnsn gays be nvertedurt s challenge gay therapydo gay mps e tortureDo gay nversn therapists feed li to patientsdo gay nversn therapy workis gay therapy legal the USis homosexualy a choiceis shock therapy ed gay nversn mpsIs their a study favor of gay nversn therapyis there a cure to human sexualyList XFanceSlishowwhat is shock therapywhich untry has the largt gay populatnwhich stat have outlawed gay therapy for morswhy are gay mps legalwhy are gays flamboyantwhy is gay therapy wrongShow ls.

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. Can be Tth Televisn if the trope is merely allud to, such as a homophobic character ''mentng'' as a possible rponse to a gay or lbian character's sexualy, or to a transgenr or non-bary character, or if an LGBT person tri but fails. Once que mon, this trope is creasgly beg a discreded one due to homosexuals, general, beg moved to the realm of formerly acceptable targets as well as some thartic backlash agast the once mon ia of "curg" homosexualy.

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

There is also the growg body of rearch showg that homosexualy is likely to have a blogil e, and attempts to "cure" wh psychotherapy or other non-medil techniqu are not only ually effective but n often be dangero, and the rejectn of this trope by all major medil and psychologil anizatns such as the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn. A 'cure' for homosexualy would not rult a functnally asexual person, but a heterosexual person, bee the kd of people who thk that homosexualy is a disease that needs to be cured are generally not gog to accept asexual inti, eher.

This is a se where this clearly isn't supposed to be seen as a good thg and may, fact, unt as some form of dark social satire sce was published 1967 when attempts at 'curg' gay men of their homosexualy were pretty much the norm.

In Love Dgged by Jam Klise, the ma character attempts to cure his own homosexualy by takg an experimental pill that claims to be able to remove homosexual urg, even though 's currently untted and the si effects clu nsea, rage problems, and bldg headach. Before he do, however, a trmatic event him to remember that he already unrwent this procre the past to fet another boy after their relatnship ed him to be on the receivg end of btal homophobia — a procre that obvly didn't actually cure him of his homosexualy. In Pat Barker's The Eye In The Door om The Regeneratn Trilogy, some members of the Brish parliament see gays as a threat to society, and there's a lot of talk about curg homosexualy through therapy—'s a nstant threat the background, although 's never tried on any of the ma characters.

CURE YOUR GAYS

The victim was a former spokman for an anizatn that supposedly cur homosexualy; when qutned, members of the group — a gay man and a lbian who are married, havg been tragilly brawashed and warped by the group — acknowledge that there's no such thg as a cure for their orientatn and that choosg to supprs their sexual sir is as much a "liftyle choice" as beg part of gay culture— and jt as much of a stggle.

The ma plot for the ntroversial short-lived televisn TLC documentary My Hband's Not Gay which four wiv of four random Mormon men are nial of their hbands' sexuali and try to "cure" them through any means possible.

It was eventually learned that the doctor himself was gay and was havg an affair wh one of the men, who killed him bee the doctor wanted to stop his treatment so they uld have a legimate relatnship, which would have stroyed his marriage.

RSIAN CONCENTRATN CAMPS: GAY MEN IMPRISONED AND TORTURED, THIS IS HOW YOU CAN HELP STOP THE ATROCI

In The CW's Riverdale, after g to terms wh beg a lbian and velopg a close bond wh Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom gets sent agast her will to a nversn hospal by her homophobic mother Penelope a selfish attempt to cure her dghter of her "mons". Seri creator Shawn Ryan has said that the disappearance and lack of direct reference to Julian's homosexualy was due both to Michael Jace's disfort wh shootg so many gay scen and bee a lot of his rearch he saw that (unfortunately) que a few married "ex-gays" Christian circl that had unrgone sexual "reorientatn" therapy tend to still claim they're straight for a long time. Subverted one episo which gut-stars Neil Patrick Harris (who was still officially the closet at the time) as the lear of an ex-gay club who Jack gets a csh on and ends up showerg wh, after is disvered that EVERYONE the club was actually g as a datg service.

MOSW GAY MAP

From The Book of Mormon: The song Turn It Off starts off as var Mormon missnari givg advice on "turng off" unpleasant feelgs/memori (sister dyg of ncer, physilly abive father) but once a 'formerly gay' missnary reveals his stggl wh his "really strange feelgs for Steve" the song sudnly ncentrat on advice about how to stop havg gay thoughts, even though this is not remotely related to the ma character's problem. In Dragon Age: Inquisn, one of the major reasons Dorian Pav left Tevter was bee his own father tried to e Blood Magic to make Dorian heterosexual ( should be noted that this has more to do wh Tevter obssn wh bloodl, rather than actual dislike of homosexualy self).

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Ntendo did adm that the origal scene me out terribly, said that they didn't mean for to e off as gay nversn therapy, and both apologized and changed the scene for the lolizatn: here Soleil and the Male Avatar mutually agree on havg her bldfold as she mentally and physilly tras wh him to foc better on the battlefield.

After Landon's fundamentalist mother forbids him om datg Larisa followg a rather disastero home vis, Michelle terven by sendg her a ll falsly claimg that everyone at school was nvced that Landon was gay and Larisa was curg him.

The last issue of Sonichu before s long hiat volv Chris-chan donatg some of his "pure straight" blood to science so that they n create a vacce that eras homosexualy on a geic level, which he to turn his arch-nemis straight and "turned him good" and jects to the water supply wh the help of Time Travel, eventually eraditg homosexualy off the face of the Earth entirely. In orr to prevent or cure any possible homosexualy, Homer tak Bart to stare at a billboard of a sexy woman ( jt mak him want to smoke sce 's a cigarette ad), to a steel l to see manly men at work (who all turn out to be gay), er huntg, and fally jt shootg at reer a pen.