Conversn Mistri and Ex-Gay Mistri - Oh Psychologil Associatn

Contents:

• MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS
• 11 RIDICULO, STRANGE, AND TERRIFYG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY METHODS FOR 'CURG' HOMOSEXUALY
• WHY ARE HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS SO AAID OF “EX-GAYS”?
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• THE TTH ABOUT NEW STUDY CLAIMG EX-GAY NVERSN THERAPY WORKS
• EX-GAY THERAPIST PROMIS TO TURN GAY BRAS STRAIGHT
• SUCCSFUL TREATMENT TOOLS FOR WORKG WH GAY MEN THERAPY
• SEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALS
• MY HELLISH YOUTH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY AND HOW I GOT OUT

MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE

Joseph Nilosi, a clil psychologist California who was then print of the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), the untry's largt anizatn for practners of ex-gay therapy. I left the office wh a py of Nilosi's most recent book, Healg Homosexualy, and a worksheet that tegorized different emotns unr the brics of "te self" and "false self.

My mother might not have so easily found rmatn about ex-gay therapy had the Christian right not planted this stake the culture ad appeared 23 years after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA) classified homosexualy as a mental illns.

A small group of therapists ntued to practice talk therapy that enuraged patients to see homosexualy as a velopmental disorr, but they remaed on the ge until the Christian right took up their e. Foc on the Fay lled s new ex-gay mistry Love Won Out and talked about healg and rg for ex-gay movement turned the rhetoric of gay rights agast self: Shouldn't ex-gays be able to pursue therapy and live the liv they want whout facg discrimatn? Together wh the late Charl Soris, a psychiatrist who led the opposn to classifyg homosexualy as a mental illns, Nilosi formed NARTH 1992 as a "scientific anizatn that offers hope to those who stggle wh unwanted homosexualy.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS

Nilosi remas NARTH's most visible are no reliable statistics for how many patients have received ex-gay treatment or how many therapists practice , but the late 1990s and early 2000s, ex-gay therapy enjoyed a legimacy hadn't sce the APA removed homosexualy om s diagnostic manual.

Whether or not the Christian right's alliance wh the ex-gay movement had nstuted a D-Day the culture wars, had succsfully challenged the prevailg ia that the bt choice for gay people was to accept themselv.

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

I read one of Nilosi's books, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexualy, that he tri to posn himself as a supportive father figure, typifyg the sort of relatnship that he believ his patients never had wh their own father. What translated to the larger culture was: The father of the 1973 revolutn the classifitn and treatment of homosexualy, who uld not be seen as jt another biased ex-gay csar wh an agenda, had validated ex-gay therapy. Richard Cohen, the founr of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays)-tend as the ex-gay unterpart to PFLAG (Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays)-was expelled om the Amerin Counselg Associatn for ethics vlatns.

Among them were Alan Downg, the lead therapist of JONAH (Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy), who ma his patients strip and touch themselv ont of a mirror; NARTH member Christopher At, who was nvicted of "unlawfully, tentnally and knowgly [g] peratn of" a client; and Exod-affiliated Mike Jon, who asked a patient to take off his shirt and do ph-ups for movement also suffered several high-profile fectns.

WHY ARE HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS SO AAID OF “EX-GAYS”?

" In 2007, Exod -founr Michael Bsee apologized for his role startg the as a rponse to the rurgence of ex-gay therapy, mastream profsnal anizatns also took a harr stance.

But the sprg of my sophomore year, the disparate parts of myself I had managed to hold together-the part of me that thought beg gay was wrong, the part that slept wh men anyway, the part of myself I let the world see, and the part that suffered silence-me undone.

THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.

While took years of unselg to disabe myself of the ias I had learned while unrgog therapy wh Nilosi, was the first time I enuntered profsnals who were affirmg of my sexualy, and the first time I allowed myself to thk was all right to be gay. He looked like he do his Facebook pictur: solid and short, wh a shaved head and large brown had iated penncy-and-neglect proceedgs agast his parents at age 16 to pe ex-gay therapy. 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.

An offshoot of the techniqu was “aversn therapy, ” which was found on the premise that if LGBTQ people beme disgted by homosexualy, they would no longer experience same-sex sire. ” LGBTQ people had long protted the cel and scientifilly dub forms of “treatment, ” but the ncept that homosexualy was a disease was accepted by the majory of the medil tablishment. 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.

In 1973, the APA removed homosexualy om the DSM, s fluential manual of psychiatric disorrs, and medil profsnals began to distance themselv om techniqu they had once embraced. 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.

THE TTH ABOUT NEW STUDY CLAIMG EX-GAY NVERSN THERAPY WORKS

“I read books and listened to dtap about how to have a ‘rrective and healg relatnship wh J Christ, ’” wr Jam Guay, a gay man who attend weekly therapy and nversn semars as a teen. 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 practic have no basis science or medice and they will now be relegated to the dtb of quackery, ” said California ernor Jerry Brown as he signed a bill banng gay-to-straight therapy the state 2012.

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. From bicyclg to tticle transplants, below fd 11 ridiculo, strange, and terrifyg methods for "curg" homosexualy:Ridiculo 'Cur' For HomosexualyBefore You GoPopular the CommunyYou May Like.

The 19th century wrer Osr Wil is revered by many the gay and lbian muny but, believe me, if he were alive now, he’d be totally exasperated wh the whg, hysteril malntents who domate today’s gay lobby. If “ex-gays” exist, this means that people n change their sexual orientatn — and this means that the foundatn the homosexual rights movement, the ia that they are “born that way” and th nnot help themselv, go right out the wdow.

EX-GAY THERAPIST PROMIS TO TURN GAY BRAS STRAIGHT

Many ex-gays are aaid to e out of the closet bee of the harassment they will receive — their nam, phone numbers and personal rmatn posted on gay webs, attacked at ex-gay exhib booths, prs releas issued agast them, etc. The tactics of gay activists are to go after anyone who out publicly as ex-gay, force them back to the closet, and then claim that ex-gays don’t exist bee there aren’t any out public. ”3 This is an odd assertn, sce a tailed review of homosexual obuari showed several exampl of men who were happily married, who had children, and who nsired themselv “straight” sudnly abandong their fai and embracg the homosexual “liftyle.

For example, Nicholas Cummgs, a former Print of the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, has stated that he knows of hundreds of homosexuals who have succsfully changed their orientatn. But the “scientific” methods ed this study would make any legimate rearcher crge; the “study” managers did not terview a large group of “ex-gays;” they simply sought out people who claimed that they had been harmed (an tensive procs that took a full five years) and then nmned such therapy.

Robert Spzer of Columbia Universy surveyed a wi range of ex-gays and found that 1% of the men and 4% of the women had been clilly prsed durg the prev twelve months. Regardls of the half-baked ratnalizatns and “studi” they may posss, homosexual activists are simply aaid of ex-gays, the same manner that ancient Greeks were aaid of the basilisk.

SUCCSFUL TREATMENT TOOLS FOR WORKG WH GAY MEN THERAPY

Now may be impractil to “nvert” totally om homosexualy to heterosexualy, but if unselg n allow a gay man to rpond sexually to women, should be enuraged and appld, not lambasted or lampooned. In natns where “nversn therapy” has been banned, homosexual activists have liberately approached Christian unselors pretendg to want to bee straight, and have lied to them orr to strip them of their licens.

As one leadg English homosexual activist said, “We want to root out therapists and psychiatrists who are practicg the techniqu and ultimately brg an end to them through exposg them, as well as disptg their meetgs. Psychologists and unselors the jurisdictns are forbidn to unsel homosexuals their attempts to bee straight — even if they want this unselg — but are perfectly ee to tell a straight person all about the many alleged benefs of homosexualy. It is morally repugnant and downright dangero the way the extremists monize young people and prey on the fears of parents through their so-lled ex-gay programs.

The leadg anizatn that advot for the nstutnal rights of the dividual to terme for themselv what help they need is Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). Spzer, who had been vicly attacked by homosexuals for years, and who was sufferg om Parkson’s disease, fally gave to the prsure and announced that he was repudiatg the rults of his studi this field.

SEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALSSEXUAL REORIENTATN THERAPY INTERVENTNS: PERSPECTIV OF EX-EX-GAY INDIVIDUALS

For two s, McKrae Game was a top-tier figure among ex-gay Christians and a leadg advote for nversn therapy, a unselg practice wh the goal of helpg LGBTQ people supprs their homosexualy and bee “straight. ” But Game, 51, now disavows the movement and acknowledg he has been gay all told the Post and Courier that nversn therapy proved to be trimental, a “lie” and “false advertisg.

The most proment ex-gay anizatns have shnk or shuttered; lears have fected; and many church now fear that beg associated wh such wily discreded techniqu will st them as unwelg or bigoted. Addnally, the Inter is rife wh stori of LGBTQ people who have reported sufferg psychologil harm as a rult of participatg the programs and proment Christians are quietly tryg to rurrect ex-gay Christiany, and the new rnatn is hipper and perhaps more evolved. Yet beneath the smetic tweaks ss the same msage that has damaged many liv over many s: If you’re a Christian wh same-sex attractns, change is both possible and first wave of Amerin ex-gay Christiany the 1970s alced around mistri and anizatns specifilly voted to the e.

MY HELLISH YOUTH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY AND HOW I GOT OUT

But the current wave is far more centralized, beg led by pennt thors and personali who are embedd the nservative Christian world rather than segregated to an issue-specific views differ ever so slightly om the next while orbg tightly to siar them, such as the possibily of “former homosexuals” havg a healthy heterosexual marriage, differentiatg between one’s behavr and inty, and a ubiquo, if obligatory, nod to church’ historil failur to love people who intify as of the movement’s most articulate lears is Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a former women’s studi profsor at Syrace Universy who says she “adopted a lbian inty” her 20s as a rult of beg fluenced by femist philosophy. ”When I spoke wh her, I asked if she nsirs herself “ex-gay, ” and she said she do not e that label to scribe herself but then proceed to scribe how she was once, but is no longer, a lbian. But then Butterfield add that she disurag the age of the term “gay Christian” and even oppos “Si B” Christians who accept their LGBTQ inty but are mted to celibacy for relig reasons.

But she prents a msage that will rg faiar to the many LGBTQ people who have survived ex-gay mistri and therapy: Through the power of J, same-sex sir n and should be overe.

For Butterfield, homosexualy is not an inty that scrib who a person is but, rather, a sful actn that a person do — but n stop preach her gospel of change through her popular books, speech at Christian nferenc and church, and is the unmistakable msage of the life she now liv.