My Harrowg Journey Through Gay Conversn Therapy Rsia | GQ

Contents:

• PRAYER AND PA: WHY GAY NVERSN THERAPY IS STILL LEGAL SPE DANGERS
• I SPENT SEVEN YEARS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY PROGRAMS BEFORE BREAKG FREE
• WHY IS TEXAS GOP BACKG GAY NVERSN THERAPY?
• TEXAS GOP ADVANC NTROVERSIAL GAY NVERSN THERAPY PLATFORM
• TEXAS GOP PLATFORM DRAFT ENDORS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• GAY 'NVERSN THERAPY' ADVOT HEARTENED BY REPUBLIN ELECTORAL VICTORI
• GOP NEW HAMPSHIRE ERNOR SIGNS LAW BANNG GAY NVERSN THERAPY
• GAY NVERSN BAN GETS PERSONAL FOR LAWMAKERS EMOTNAL BATE
• MNOTA GOP LEAR HAS FAY STAKE GAY NVERSN VOTE
• MY HARROWG JOURNEY THROUGH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY RSIA

PRAYER AND PA: WHY GAY NVERSN THERAPY IS STILL LEGAL SPE DANGERS

” Read More: Illois Bans Gay Conversn Therapy for Mors Annie Dickerson, a New York legate and longtime nfidante to GOP billnaire Pl Sger, who has bankrolled an effort to ph back agast the social nservative planks, was the most arnt voice opposn on the mtee, repeatedly sparrg wh Perks and other members.

Legate Rachel Hoff, the first openly gay member of the mtee, troduced an amendment to rewre the GOP’s language on same-sex marriage to allow for a range of view-pots on the issue, as opposed to the strong rejectg the ial draft. An amendment that sought to argue that gay marriage “subverts child’s rights to blogil parent” drew nmnatn om the morate members, cludg an dible gasp of, “Hello, what was that?

And the other thg about nversn therapy is that bee we know that is wrong scientifilly, the nversatns are now more secret, more private, ”Shurka noted that other groups no longer emphasize gog om gay to straight, but have rebrand to gog om lost to saved ― a troublg msage bee uld reach teenagers who are stgglg to fd acceptance, whout unrstandg the te agenda behd the anizatns.

I SPENT SEVEN YEARS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY PROGRAMS BEFORE BREAKG FREE

”Conversn therapy, also known as reparative or ex-gay therapy, has been wily discreded as uhil and effective but persists many parts of the untry, ually through church, and is a battleground issue for gay rights mpaigners and those who argue that banng would curtail relig some nservativ seek to ph back agast recent advanc rights for gay and transgenr people, a move is unr way to add an implicly pro-nversn therapy plank to the Republin party platform that will be approved at s nventn Cleveland next Christopher, the Texas-born thor of Hidg om Myself, a memoir about his experience wh nversn therapy, said the GOP’s platform plans are “very troublg. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/RtersLast month a California urt heard a challenge om a mister to the state’s first--the-natn ban (enacted 2012 and effective 2014) on licensed therapists attemptg to change the sexual orientatn of practice gaed h attentn June when a GoFundMe page was set up to raise legal fe to extrite Sarah, a 17-year-old, om a “pray away the gay” mp east Texas where she was allegedly sent by her parents agast her “Save Sarah” mpaign raised $64, 218.

WHY IS TEXAS GOP BACKG GAY NVERSN THERAPY?

It really do take a toll on you, ” he rells a boot-mp type weekend at a retreat about an hour om Dallas where participants unrwent tense physil activy, “then they really try to break you down emotnally, ” that was particularly tough and ed him to qutn not only whether he uld change, but whether he should want bizarre and paful experienc turned him away om the procs, he said, as did beg iends wh a gay man who was happy after takg the ntrastg path of g out and acceptg his a relig hoehold, Sean Sala, 31, said he was his late teens when he went to Livg Hope, an “ex-gay” mistry the Dallas regn then affiliated wh Exod Internatnal, a work which shut down 2013 and apologised for directg “years of undue judgment” at the gay muny. ”Asked if he believed some of the people he has worked wh have changed om beg gay to straight, Chelette said: “If you mean by ‘straight’ they’re no longer dog the gay practic that they may have been dog before as hookg up wh people or havg sex wh other people of the same genr, y, we’ve had people that have done that. “The practice is based on the false premise that beg lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr (‘LGBT’) is a mental illns or disorr ed by a velopmental ficiency, trma, and/or unmet emotnal needs, ” the plat stat.

Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty ImagLast year a group lled Jews Offerg New Alternativ for Healg was orred to pay $72, 400 damag to former clients after a New Jersey jury cid mted nsumer d when claimed gay people uld be “cured” through methods cludg tellg participants to beat an effigy of their mother wh a tennis racquet and strippg naked group ssns. In the face of growg opposn to the practice and recent advanc for LGBT rights, the Texas Republin party has reerated s support for nversn therapy and s opposn to gay Texas GOP signalled s backg for nversn therapy by scribg as legimate and efficient a plank of s 2014 platform and re-affirmg s latt manifto, adopted by party members lls for overturng last year’s US supreme urt cisn legalisg same-sex marriage natnwi and stat: “No laws or executive orrs shall be imposed to lim or rtrict accs to sexual orientatn change efforts for self-motivated youth and adults. ”It also says that “Homosexualy is a chosen behavr that is ntrary to the fundamental unchangg tths that has [sic] been ordaed by God the Bible, regnized by our natns [sic] founrs, and shared by the majory of Texans.

”Nbt believ that the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub Florida last month adds urgency to efforts to end a practice found on the ia that beg gay is a form of sickns. The realy is that I’d known I was gay sce I was probably ten years old, ’s not somethg I chose, ’s not somethg that was veloped out of some terrible event my childhood, ’s jt another part of my personaly, jt another part of who I am. 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.

TEXAS GOP ADVANC NTROVERSIAL GAY NVERSN THERAPY PLATFORM

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. ”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.

TEXAS GOP PLATFORM DRAFT ENDORS GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

”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. “Homosexualy is neher a mental illns nor a velopmental disorr and anyone seekg to ‘cure’ LGBTQ people is mtg d, ” Li workg to fend nversn therapy, Domen and other group members also claimed nversn therapy isn’t real.

For one, there are varyg levels of therapy, om rmal pastoral unselg to lobotomi, and the church that acunt for the majory of this sort of unselg have no rponsibily to report to any Ben, the executive director of the group Tth Ws Out, which fights agast “anti-gay relig extremism, ” agreed that thgs like shock therapy are que rare. He argued that the ma danger of nversn therapy is that mak gay people feel ls than, that n do psychologil damage, and make them feel, wrongly, that homosexualy is a add that the heterosexual relatnships rultg om nversn therapy uld also be damagg for the spoe, as there’s no evince anyone n actually change their sexual the Changed group ― which featured the hashtag #OnceGay on s lerature promotg members’ stori ― says sexual orientatn is a choice.

GAY 'NVERSN THERAPY' ADVOT HEARTENED BY REPUBLIN ELECTORAL VICTORI

A ltle over 12 years ago, my “ex-gay” unselors at Love Actn, a now-funct gay nversn therapy facily Memphis, Tenn., employed language that is currently beg echoed the Republin Natnal Commtee’s suggted platform planks. When given a chance to follow the lead of our prumptive printial nomee and reach out to the LGBT muny the wake of the awful terrorist massacre Orlando on the gay nightclub Pulse, the platform mtee said no. So he began to try to pray the gay began a seven-year journey through ne gay nversn therapy programs, also lled reparative therapy, which clud hypnotherapy, physil psychotherapy, evangelil spirual groups, and a 12-step addictn revery program.

Print Obama supported a natnal ban, and some stat have already passed such gay nversn therapy has re-entered the natnal spotlight after a draft of the GOP's official 2016 platform—much farther to the right than years past, and far more nservative than Donald Tmp's own posns—ntaed language that seemed to support s implementatn and e.

GOP NEW HAMPSHIRE ERNOR SIGNS LAW BANNG GAY NVERSN THERAPY

"Fergon began to try to pray the gay man most rponsible for that language is Tony Perks, head of the Fay Rearch Council and an official mtee member of the Republin Platform 2016.

")Furthermore, news recently rurfaced that Donald Tmp's nng mate, Mike Pence, durg his first succsful n for Congrs 2000, supported gay nversn therapy, wrg on his mpaign webse, "Rourc should be directed toward those stutns which provi assistance to those seekg to change their sexual behavr. I tried ne different modali, cludg an evangelil Christian group that tried to "pray the gay away" and a 12-step addictn revery program bee one bishop advised me that my same sex attractn was related to beg addicted to attentn om the urtroom durg Fergon v.

GAY NVERSN BAN GETS PERSONAL FOR LAWMAKERS EMOTNAL BATE

The ia behd is that you were homosexual bee eher your mother had metaphorilly strated you and ma you lose touch wh your male power, or society had emasculated and femized would the person do after grabbg the orang? After a Journey Into Manhood retreat, you're now ntact wh all of the other closeted gay men who are tryg to make work their fah muny or to marry a woman or to sta a marriage they are already wh a woman. It was based on the unfortunately wispread theory that your homosexualy is related to absentee fatherg and not havg same-sex peers when you were velopg, and that you projected sexual sire onto the absence of the male relatnships your life.

Reporter's Note: The People Can Change webse advertis for the Journey Into Manhood retreat, wh a lendar of upg events cludg retreats Indiana, Utah, Poland, Texas and California the next three say the retreat is not relig nature, but is "immersn tensive emotnal-healg work, signed specifilly for men who are self-motivated and ser about rolvg unwanted homosexual attractns.

MNOTA GOP LEAR HAS FAY STAKE GAY NVERSN VOTE

” Also lled “nversn therapy, ” this dangero psdo-medil practice aimed at transformg homosexuals to heterosexuals has been wily monstrated to be both effective and harmful, not to mentn offensive. However, much like drapetomania (the psdo-scientific “disease” an enterprisg whe man nveniently intified the mid-19th century was scribed as the ndn that led black slav to attempt pe), homosexualy is fact not an illns, but rather a fact of human nature. The Texas Republin party would endorse psychologil treatment that seeks to turn gay people straight unr a new platform partly aimed at rebg laws California and New Jersey that ban so-lled "reparative therapy" on mors.

A ph to clu the new anti-gay language survived a key vote late Thursday Fort Worth at the Texas Republin Conventn where, across the street, Tea Party star US senator Ted Cz fired up atten at a rally to fend marriage as between a man and a the new proposed plank, the Texas GOP will "regnize the legimacy and efficy of unselg, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seekg healg and wholens om their homosexual liftyle.

"The full nventn of nearly 10, 000 legat om across Texas will take a fal vote on the platform nservativ Texas uld still emerge wh a rare victory on a separate issue: removg s-old platform language that stat, "Homosexualy tears at the fabric of society. For years, the party has refed to let gay GOP anizatns rent booths the nventn therapy language was serted at the urgg of Cathie Adams of Dallas, lear of the fluential Tea Party group Texas Eagle Fom and a oime chairwoman of the Texas Republin, whose group backed Tea Party outsirs who domated Texas Republin primary rac this year, said she simply promoted language proposed by a man who she says he was helped by such therapy. The bill was signed by Republin Governor Chris Christie, a possible 2016 printial ndidate who oppos same-sex marriage but has said that he believ people are born gay and that homosexualy isn't a on a feral appeals urt also upheld a siar ban California last fall, sayg that tryg to change a mor's sexual orientatn through tense therapy appeared dangero.

MY HARROWG JOURNEY THROUGH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY RSIA

The California legislature has ced reports, experts and anecdot volvg suicis, substance abe and other behavr by young recipients of the ducked a qutn about his state party's platform on gays, sayg he would leave up to the "grassroots at the nventn.

There are multiple sectns alg wh the issue, cludg language that reads: "We affirm that the practice of homosexualy tears at the fabric of society and ntribut to the breakdown of the fay un. It still, however, ntas a sectn cricizg homosexualy:Homosexualy mt not be prented as an acceptable alternative liftyle, public policy, nor should fay be refed to clu homosexual upl.