Is It Possible to Pray the Gay Away? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• DID MIKE PENCE SUPPORT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY?
• MIKE PENCE IS NOT ANTI-GAY – I’M A GAY MAN WHO KNOWS HE’S BEEN FALSELY ACCED
• MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE
• ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOV. MIKE PENCE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS OVER THE YEARS

DID MIKE PENCE SUPPORT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY?

In October 2016, an image appeared on social media accg Indiana's ernor (and Republin printial nomee Donald Tmp's nng mate) Mike Pence of supportg "gay nversn" therapy, particularly the e of electric shocks as part of the practice:.

Although he didn't say so outright, the posn has been wily terpreted as signalg Pence's support for "gay nversn" therapy, which seeks to "cure" patients of beg attracted to members of the same sex. Acrdg to the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, electric shocks were one of the techniqu ed to addrs homosexualy through "aversn therapy" prr to the group's cisn 1973 to stop classifyg as a mental disorr. The potential risks of reparative therapy are great, cludg prsn, anxiety and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patients who have unrgone reparative therapy relate that they were accurately told that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy dividuals who never achieve acceptance or satisfactn.

MIKE PENCE IS NOT ANTI-GAY – I’M A GAY MAN WHO KNOWS HE’S BEEN FALSELY ACCED

The possibily that the person might achieve happs and satisfyg terpersonal relatnships as a gay man or lbian is not prented, nor are alternative approach to alg wh the effects of societal stigmatizatn discsed. Tmp’s nng mate July, he has faced plats om groups cril of his rerd on gay and transgenr rights, who said he has long been an opponent of the gas ma by the L. It has been discreded by the medil tablishment and nounced by gay and transgenr Pence’s spokman, Marc Lotter, nied to The Tim over the weekend that the vice print-elect supports the practice, sayg a past mpaign statement had been misterpreted.

Groups rema skeptil, potg to his rerd of opposn to gay rights as a member of Congrs and as ernor of Indiana and an approvg reference to nversn therapy the 2016 Republin Party, what is nversn therapy, and why is Mr. ”Conversn therapy has been nmned by a range of groups, cludg the Amerin Medil Associatn and the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, which said was based on the view that homosexualy is a disorr, an ia “that has been rejected by all the major mental health profsns.

MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE

”Brothers on a Road Ls Traveled, a support group for men who want to stop beg attracted to other men, said s method clus velopg “an ternal sense of masculy” and “disverg our te needs unrlyg some of our homosexual longgs and triggers.

”There are equently relig overton to nversn therapy, which is often promoted by groups wh ti to nservative Christian anizatns like Foc on the Fay, which says on s webse that “homosexual stgglers” n “leave homosexualy” wh the help of support groups like Homosexuals Anonymo or by “beg more like J.

‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?

”Rece Prieb, the chairman of the Republin Party and the g Whe Hoe chief of staff, told reporters that the language did not refer to nversn therapy, but gay and transgenr groups did not believe him. “One is ex-gay nversn therapy and the other is transgenr hormone therapy, and I hardly believe that Tony Perks was puttg a plank the Republin Party platform endorsg the rights of parents to provi their children wh transgenr hormone therapy. ”The Hoe chamber epted an ovatn – and among the first to stand appldg was Vice Print Mike that don’t seem like the rponse one would expect om an anti-gay bigot who supports so-lled “gay nversn therapy, ” that’s bee isn’t.

Dpe false accatns ma agast him, Mike Pence is not a gay man myself – and someone who not only r eply about the issu but advoted on behalf of the LGBT muny myself for years – this is not an assertn I make TRUMP'S PLAN TO END THE HIV EPIDEMIC AND WHAT SPARKED ITThere is absolutely nothg – nothg at all – Mike Pence’s rerd to dite he se himself as a culture warrr who believ LGBT Amerins are the false accatns that the evangelil stalwart is a vilent homophobe who went out of his way to target gay people for harassment, opprsn, and even physil torture have dogged Pence for claim rurfaced last week, when lbian actrs Ellen Page appeared as a gut on “The Late Show wh Stephen Colbert” on CBS. Page ed a discsn of the recent alleged racist and homophobic hate crime agast “Empire” televisn star Jsie Smollet to cricize the vice is absolutely nothg – nothg at all – Mike Pence’s rerd to dite he se himself as a culture warrr who believ LGBT Amerins are the enemy.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

”Page’s words reprent a distillatn of every anti-gay charge that has ever been hurled at Mike Pence – and they’re all the root of the vice print’s erroneo mislabelg as an anti-gay extremist is Pence’s admtedly poor handlg of the passage of Indiana’s versn of the Relig Freedom Rtoratn Act 2015 durg his term as ernor of the legislatn asserted that ernment “may not substantially burn a person's exercise of relign” – a rather specific law wh narrow applitns.

” Of urse, that wasn’t the se, but the false narrative spread across the natn, sparkg went on the offensive, clarg: “If I saw a rtrant owner refe to serve a gay uple, I wouldn't eat there anymore, ” while llg for a détente between advot of relig liberty and those workg toward LGBT kerfuffle nclud wh jt such a rapprochement. The Republin-ntrolled Indiana state Legislature passed – and Pence signed – an amend versn of Relig Freedom Rtoratn Act that stated uld not be ed to discrimate agast the LGBT then beme the first ernor Indiana history to sign protectns to law based on “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty” – hardly the actns of an anti-LGBT ascendg to bee then-ndidate Donald Tmp’s vice printial pick, false accatns of homophobia agast Pence arose slanro mem started appearg onle falsely statg that Pence wanted to e electric shock treatments to “shock” the gay out of people.

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT

Speakg on MSNBC last year, liberal activist Brandon Wolf said Pence wanted to round up gay people and put them “ncentratn mps” – a ludicro assertn that was not qutned by host Joy Reid.

“The accatn is totally false wh no basis fact, ” Pence’s prs secretary, Alyssa Farah, rpond when qutned about the nversn therapy asked for proof of Pence’s penchant for nvertg people om gay to straight, the bt – ed the only – example people provi is a 19-year-old entry a mpaign webse which Pence stated he supported rethorizg HIV/AIDS fundg only if rourc were “directed toward those stutns which provi assistance to those seekg to change their sexual behavr. ”Dpe the ntued wails of liberals tent on keepg the lie alive about his supposed homophobia, Mike Pence has acted wh grace, a spir of cln, and a mment to be a vice print for all HERE TO READ MORE FROM GREGORY T. Pence is also a longtime proponent of “pray the gay away” nversn therapy and once advoted for the e of feral fundg to treat people “seekg to change their sexual behavr.

FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY

Vice Print Mike Pence once argued that homosexualy was a choice durg his fight the early 1990s agast lol efforts Indiana to ban discrimatn based on sexual orientatn.

But scty of Pence’s rerd on LGBT issu tensified recently when Whe Hoe Deputy prs secretary Judd Deere suggted last week a tweet that the vice print wasn’t anti-gay bee he was havg lunch wh the Irish prime mister, who is gay, and his partner durg a state vis. The ltle-explored episo the 1990s, unearthed lol newspaper clippgs durg a eper KFile review of Pence’s rerd on LGBT issu, highlights an early wdow to the now-vice print’s public activism and views opposn of gay rights.

Pence argued the 1990s that, unlike protectns for Ain Amerins, homosexuals choose or learn to be gay and was part of a “grassroots-generated movement for regnn of homosexual rights” natnwi. I do not choose whether I am a black Amerin … the great vast majory of the psychologil muny says homosexualy at a very mimum is a choice by the dividual, and at the maximum, is a learned behavr.

‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE

The Amerin Psychologil Associatn said 1992 that data did not support the view that homosexualy was a choice and studi at the time the 1990s suggted homosexualy was blogil and geic. The arguments ma the 1990s by Pence would echo those he later emphasized when he ran for Congrs 2000 when his platform protted extendg civil rights protectns to gay Amerins. But the 1990s ments show for the first time Pence llg homosexualy a choice and offer a clearer view to Pence’s view on gay Amerins at the time.

Dignatg gay Amerins worthy of such protectns unr the law, Pence said, would open “a Pandora’s Box of legal rights and legal difficulti” and was part of grassroots movements by gay activists for creasg their rights.

The ordance, which featured exemptns for church and church-affiliated groups, would give a group of ne people appoted by the mayor the abily to vtigate and mediate discrimatn plats agast homosexual or bi-sexual rints hog, public acmodatns, and employment. Public opn polls the US at the time were equally divid over whether homosexualy should be accepted by society and many of the ballot iativ 1992 aimed at nouncg homosexualy or repealg measur that protected homosexuals om discrimatn had mixed rults.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOV. MIKE PENCE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS OVER THE YEARS

Though some rints and relig misters argued agast the measure bee they said homosexualy was a s and they did not want to hire or rent to homosexuals, Pence and the Indiana Policy Review opposed the measure on public policy grounds. “It opens up om a legal standpot … a Pandora’s Box of legal rights and legal difficulti once you intify homosexuals as a discrete and sular mory. While Pence is bt known for his bumblg attempt to rebrand antigay bigotry as relig liberty last year, that was hardly his first foray to the fields of homophobia.

To prove that he wasn’t sglg gay people out, Pence was also willg to jail marriage clerks who supplied a license or clergy who performed the weddg. Longg for the good old days of plete visibily for gay people, Pence predictably ignored the preponrance of evince support of repealg Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.