One of the biggt "ex-gay" groups, Exod Internatnal, recently nceled a nference due to lack of tert. The group has e for relentls cricism the past few years.
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WHY ARE HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS SO AAID OF “EX-GAYS”?
The annual nference of Exod Internatnal, a group that claims to "help" gay people "reject" their homosexual urg and inty, is unrway North Carola. * ex gay conference *
The annual nference of Exod Internatnal, a group that claims to "help" gay people "reject" their homosexual urg and inty, is unrway North Carola. Exod is a leadg anizatn the bs of blendg fah and the msage that not beg gay is simply a matter of ristg sexual urg that tell gays they want to be wh someone of their own genr; the July 14 article nference attene Jaye Thomas, a Rutherfordton rint who works wh a group lled Tth Mistry Spartanburg, SC, and claims to be a heterosexual man who once was gay, go so far as to characterize beg gay as "the bondage of sex addictn. That msage leav a lot about gay life--fay, children, ep and abidg votn to a life partner--out of the picture, which is foced sharply on sex.
Bandg together as Equaly Asheville, gay and secular Christians, var pastors, and supporters of GLBT equaly have created a pendium of alternativ to the Exod program. The gay-iendly unter-program is lled "You're Fe Jt the Way You Are, " reports the Cizen-Tim. Chambers says that he, too, was once gay, and explas, "There is right to choose one's passage life.
But 's the claim that gays lookg to "nvert" to straights n pray their way to heterosexualy that ncerns, even alarms, mental health profsnals. Another myth is that Exod claims that God sends gay people to Hell simply for their sexualy. Chambers refuted that, sayg, "The tth is that homosexualy do not send people to hell.
‘EX-GAY’ NFERENC ON THE WANE
* ex gay conference *
Gay people live heaven. And do mean that gay people n some sense "transform" themselv to straights? Said the print of the Asheville chapter of Parents and Friends and Lbians and Gays (PFLAG), Cathere Carmichael, "Sexual behavr n be altered, but do not change that sexual inty, " the Cizen-Tim reported.
Carmichael said that when people who have ternalized the ia that beg gay is somehow bad or ferr to beg straight hear "claims that group support n help change one's sexual orientatn, another perspective needs to be seen. Contued Carmichael, "For people who intify as GLBTQ, I thk 's very emotnally-strsful" when relig anizatns send the msage that gays and lbians ought to re-format their sexual inti.
But not all Christians thk alike about gays. Whereas Billy Graham's dghter, Anne Graham Lotz, spoke at the nference, and Exchange Mistri' Eric Didia, who claims to have left homosexualy behd at age 25 after ntractg hepatis B, says that, "you n't be Christian and live as a homosexual, " others are ls willg to view gay people as livg outsi of God's plan by fn.
GAY CONFERENC
The LGBT movement is terrified to let ex-gays e "out of the closet." Why? Bee the existence of ex-gays prov that... * ex gay conference *
Even as people associated wh Exod Internatnal were stgglg to vert themselv to heterosexuals, Hoffman was qutng the msag he's been given that gays and God were somehow not on the same si.
Said Hoffman, "I grew up beg tght that beg gay was wrong wh the church om wonrful lovg people, " addg, "but that's what they had been tght. But Randy Thomas saw the issue starkly different terms, sayg, "There is a culture war gog on, and people need answers to their fah bee the pro-gay si says embrace and accept, " the Cizen-Tim reported.
Others view homosexualy as part and parcel of other aspects of their liv they don't wish to ntue livg wh, such as Rodney Hicks, whose md beg gay was bound up wh his unhealthy relatnship wh dgs and alhol. Add Hicks, "The nference is great bee you get to learn what ed you to bee gay and helps you to have eedom om that. Most scientists argue that homosexualy is at least partly geic.
It seems that Exod Internatnal has nceled an upg nference due to lack of tert. The "ex-gay" mistry has had a difficult time reverg * ex gay conference *
Studi have also suggted that gays and lbians may have differenc their nrophyslogy that might help acunt for their ep nnectn and attractn to people of their own genr. In another of the articl om July 16, the Cizen-Tim reported that gay wrer and advote Wayne Bon was also town, and that he had addrsed a crowd at Asheville's Firtorm Caf?
Bon is the founr of Tth Ws Out, an "ex-ex-gay" group that advot for former "ex-gays. "Ex-gays" are people who believe that, wh prayer and, possibly, some form of psychologil terventn, they have "nverted" to heterosexuals.
What is unclear, and disagreed about, is whether "ex-gays" have actually changed their natural sexual sir, or whether they were tly gay to beg wh.