It is dangero to be different. The mm recently llected materials to document gay-nversn therapy—and the objects allow curators like myself to explore how real people experience the risks.
Contents:
- ELECTRIC SHOCKS, RAPE AND SUBMERSN: 'GAY CUR' AND THE FIGHT TO END THEM
- MORMON 'GAY CURE' STUDY USED ELECTRIC SHOCKS AGAST HOMOSEXUAL FEELGS
- UK ARMY OFFICERS FORCED ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT ON GAY SOLDIERS
- THE HISTORY OF GETTG THE GAY OUT
ELECTRIC SHOCKS, RAPE AND SUBMERSN: 'GAY CUR' AND THE FIGHT TO END THEM
Gay Brish soldiers were subjected to electric shock treatment an effort to “cure” them of their homosexualy, acrdg to a damng vtigatn to historic homophobia the UK armed forc. * gay electric shock *
He jt sed and told me that was how he would cure me of beg gay. He had heard om others the gay muny that the “therapy” uld “cure” him of homosexualy but his cursy turned to terror when he realised that the treatment volved gettg electrocuted, and he left before the ssn end.
He claims a full urse of 30 hour-long ssn, wh three or four electric shocks each, st 30, 000 yuan (£3, 126) and termed to expose the clic’s abe of gay men and women, Yang sought to sue the clic.
Although Cha legalised homosexual relatns 1997 and removed om a list of mental illns 2001, is still nsired taboo wir society and many gay people feel prsured by their fai to get married and have while has been difficult to stop the clics offerg this abive practice, Yang claims the publicy surroundg the se is important to raise awarens of the issue and change public opn. “Our aim durg this mpaign is to te the public that gay people nnot be cured, ” he explas. “Bee we won the se and the media published this rmatn, many parents of gay people now know that if they send their son or dghter to the clic is not legal.
MORMON 'GAY CURE' STUDY USED ELECTRIC SHOCKS AGAST HOMOSEXUAL FEELGS
LGBT rights mpaign group All Out are askg people to report “gay cure” activi happeng around the world – whether they have had direct experience of nversn therapy their lol muny or seen reported the media – on the Gay Cure Watch webse. The database of cinc will then be studied and All Out will lnch targeted mpaigns agast Out director Matthew Beard says the fdgs om the mpaign show “gay cur”, which have been found to lead to anxiety, prsn and suici, is enmic many velopg practice is a particular problem Lat Ameri where the church is hugely fluential. Although gay himself, he rells how he was brawashed to thkg that homosexualy was a s.
When he was 18 he beme a pastor, married a woman and had two formed a movement wh other members of the church that targeted gay people on the streets, outsi nightclubs and at pri events. That clud throwg away magaz which might aroe gay feelgs and cuttg ntact wh iends nnected to the gay muny. In 2013, he helped mpaign agast legislatn that would allow psychiatrists the untry to treat homosexualy as a disease and the bill was eventually applds the law’s feat ngrs but says the fight agast relig fundamentalism Brazil will ntue for many years to e.
Photograph: Mric Lima/AFP/Getty ImagThe activist believ tn is the key to endg “gay cure” therapy Brazil. “No matter how many laws we have, people get to adulthood already poisoned by homophobia, ” he says.
UK ARMY OFFICERS FORCED ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT ON GAY SOLDIERS
“People need to unrstand om an early age that there is nothg wrong wh someone beg gay, lbian or transgenr. ”In Ecuador, “gay cure” clics may claim to offer spirual remptn but are not n by relig anisatns. Tatiana Corro om the Urgent Actn Fund has led rearch on gay rights Ecuador and claims that although the ernment promised to shut down clics the untry 2012, ltle has changed and clics are still beg allowed to operate.
Corro believ legal reforms are urgently need to put an end to gay nversn. She would therefore like to see a law passed Ecuador that bans any therapy that claims to cure homosexualy.
THE HISTORY OF GETTG THE GAY OUT
Activists globally may differ their approach to endg gay nversn therapy, but they are uned their belief that tg people about the absurdy of the practice is paramount. "I was never actively gay, never had any enunters wh men -- never had moments when I failed and actually had sex wh other men, " he his unrcurrent of feelgs put him direct nflict wh the Church of J Christ of the Latter-day Sats (LDS) and s prcipl.
"As teens we were tght that homosexualy was send only to murr the ey of God, " he said.
"I thought he was my savr, " said Cameron, who enrolled wh 13 other willg subjects, all Mormons who thought they might be gay, for a three- to six-month urse of therapy. "Homosexuals were seen as a "prient, expendable populatn, " acrdg to Cameron.