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

Contents:

• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• GAYG_THE_PRAY_AWAY
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• PRAYG THE GAY AWAY GAYG THE PRAY AWAY PRAYG FOR MORE GAY MORE. GAY.
• 'GAYG THE PRAY AWAY,' VIA THE WASHGTON POST
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• GAYG THE PRAY AWAY MEMWHAT'RE YOU FUCKG GAYS?

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

The revelatns surroundg Marc Bachmann's psychotherapy practice along wh his statements equatg gay people to barbarians reflect the eply held view among too many people that homosexualy is a psychologil or moral choice that n be altered and ed should be. As someone who profs to help gays and lbians bee "straight, " Dr.

GAYG_THE_PRAY_AWAY

There are several nservative relig anizatns, like Exod Internatnal and Homosexuals Anonymo, that claim to have helped people change their sexual orientatn through prayer, unselg, or a batn of both. Moreover, there are licensed mental health profsnals who practice what are lled reparative or nversn therapi signed to make gay people heterosexual. The bt-known group of such clicians is the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), led by psychologist Joseph Nilosi.

He and his followers claim that gays and lbians suffer om a damagg blend of childhood trma, shamg their fai of orig, and chronic unmet needs for love and affectn om their same-sex parents. Reparative therapy supposedly helps gay clients bee heterosexual by workg wh them to amelrate toxic feelgs stemmg om their damaged childhoods. Robert Spzer, a proment psychiatrist who, oddly enough, led the charge to remove homosexualy as a disease om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual, had unrtaken rearch wh 200 women and men who unrwent reparative therapy and believed themselv to be "cured" of homosexualy, as evinced by their abily to engage sexual relatns wh the oppose sex, marry heterosexually, and nceive children.

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

In fact, there are many reports of people unrgog treatments offered by ex-gay mistri who not only return to homosexualy but have also been trmatized by this so-lled therapy.

The real diseas are homophobia and heterosexism, not homosexualy.

It is important to regnize that the great majory of psychotherapy profsnals argue vociferoly that such "treatment" is uhil bee homosexualy is not an illns — rather the "illns" is our tolerance of sexual and genr behavrs fallg outsi rtrictive societal norms.

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

I also tell clients that reparative and nversn therapi, bis beg effective, are psychologilly harmful to gays and lbians, which is another reason I do not remend them and will not assist clients procurg such treatment. People like Marc and Michele Bachmann believe that acceptg and even celebratg gay and lbian people will evably lead to the moral cle of our society. Gayg_The_Pray_Away.

u/Gayg_The_Pray_Away. Gay the pray away.

When Amerin documentarian Kriste Stolakis set out to make her but feature film, she knew she wanted to she a light on the “ex-gay” movement, which nsists of those that believe a person’s genr inty or sexual orientatn n be changed. Really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward.

PRAYG THE GAY AWAY GAYG THE PRAY AWAY PRAYG FOR MORE GAY MORE. GAY.

Shot before the Covid-19 panmic, the film chronicl the rise — and subsequent fall — of Exod Internatnal, a nversn therapy anizatn that, acrdg to the team behd the the film, began as a Bible study group the 1970s nsistg of five evangelil men who were lookg to help one another leave the “homosexual liftyle.

'GAYG THE PRAY AWAY,' VIA THE WASHGTON POST

But years after risg to stardom the relig right, many of the “ex-gay” lears, whose own same-sex attractns never went away, have sce e out as LGBTQ and disavowed the very movement that they helped to grow. Stolakis’ list of terviewe “Pray Away” clus Randy Thomas, the fal vice print of Exod Internatnal; Yvette Cantu Schneir, the former head of Exod’ women’s mistri; and John Plk, one of the most bt-known “ex-gay” people the world.

“Somethg my team and I talked about a lot makg this film is, this really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward, ” said Stolakis, whose other directorial creds clu “The Typist” and “Where We Stand. ”While many former lears have renounced and spoken out agast the “pray the gay away” movement, Stolakis said “the larger culture of homophobia and transphobia, ” particularly relig muni, has allowed the movement to ntue wh younger lears, even wh the dissolutn of Exod Internatnal 2013 and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage the U. Alone, nearly 700, 000 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults have been subjected to some form of nversn therapy durg their lifetime, acrdg to a 2019 report om the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law.

”Wh “Pray Away” set to but more than 190 untri on Netflix this week, Stolakis wants to make one thg clear to every prospective viewer: The “ex-gay” movement was never led by jt “a uple of bad appl. ”“As long as that larger culture of homophobia and transphobia exists — be our church, any relig muny, our polil sphere or our culture — some versn of nversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement will ntue, ” she explaed.

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

Movi|‘Pray Away’ Review: Atong for an Anti-Gay Stance ADVERTISEMENTIn this documentary, people who had promoted the ia that sexual orientatn uld be changed exprs their AwayDirected by Kriste StolakisDocumentaryPG-131h 41mThe Netflix documentary “Pray Away” profil several people who, the public sphere and the ntext of Christiany-cloaked “nversn therapy, ” peddled the ia that homosexualy uld be changed, and who now regret the sufferg they ed.

Michael Bsee, a founr of Exod Internatnal, nsired one of the major anizatns that preached that sexual orientatn uld be changed, was both an early promoter and an early harms nversn therapy , and the tactics , aren’t news at this pot, and “Pray Away” is more tertg when foc on how most of s subjects eventually embraced gay and bisexual inti spe havg formerly been so public their homophobia. Gayg the pray away.

Exod Internatnal, cricized for 'reparative therapi' for gay Christians, to shut down. As we discsed our prev post on Exod last week, the media's equently referenced "pray the gay away" quote lacks a named source. As our teemed head GetRelignista — tmatt — has noted, "In all of my years verg ex-gays, I’ve never met anyone who actually claimed they uld pray the gay away.

GAYG THE PRAY AWAY MEMWHAT'RE YOU FUCKG GAYS?

Like the Associated Prs and Relign News Service stori vered the prev post, the Post article not Exod head Alan Chambers' ments on theology and changg posn on how to relate to the gay muny:.

In an apology to the gay muny, Chambers noted that he “nnot apologize for my eply held biblil beliefs about the boundari I see scripture surroundg sex” and marriage but add that he will no longer “fight you on your beliefs or the rights that you seek. The New York Tim, too, not that Chambers still believ that Scripture do not ndone homosexualy.

Has anybody seen any verage where Chambers — or any other advot of the ex-gay movement — actually said that they n "pray the gay away?