The Gaytheist Agenda

It’s getting so accusations against “ex-gay” “therapists” are almost as predictable as those against clergy. Truth Wins Out has the full must-read story, but here are some excerpts: ***POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING. Descriptions of sexual abuse below, and in linked article.***

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) released an exclusive video statement today from two former clients of “ex-gay” life coach Alan Downing. The clients, Ben Unger and Chaim Levin, alleged that during individual therapy sessions, Downing (pictured) made them undress in front of a mirror and touch their bodies while the significantly older therapist watched. Unger and Levin call the sessions a “psychological striptease” and believe they were harmed by what they consider unprofessional behavior and sexual misconduct.

Downing, who admits he is still attracted to men, is a major player in the “ex-gay” industry and a practitioner of so-called “reparative therapy”. He is the lead therapist for Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) and is listed on the People Can Change website as a “Senior Trainer” for Journey into Manhood, which is a controversial “ex-gay” backwoods retreat designed to supposedly make gay men more masculine.
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“While I was standing there without my clothes on, he asked me to touch my genitals,” says former Downing client Chaim Levin. “Once again, I communicated that I was not comfortable with it. And he was like, you know, ‘just feel yourself. Just feel it for a second. So, you can grasp your masculinity physically.’”

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How many innocent people have to suffer at the hands of these charlatans before somebody steps in and shuts them down? This is perversion for profit, predation masquerading as “love”, potentially lifelong damaged billed as therapy. The fact that the purveyors of these “ex-gay” programs hide behind their religion while exacting such abuse makes their behavior that much worse.

 
Related posts:

Actor Glenn Shadix On His ‘Ex-Gay’ Shock Therapy

Bigoted Sham that is “Ex-Gay” Movement.

The Truth About Ex-Gay “Therapy” Again

When The APA Denounces “Ex-Gay” Therapy What Are the RRRW Anti-Gays To Do? Lie, Of Course.

 

Various pieces from around the Internutz.

 
How the most religious states fare.

Classically Liberal dissects multiple reports and studies to show what I’ve long known, and have reported more than once–that God and religion simply aren’t the answer to society’s woes.

 
While Judge Considers Same-Sex Marriage Case, House Church Leader says the Verdict Doesn’t Matter

A church leader declares many Christians have lost their way, and turned Christianity into a crusade against others rather than an effort to bring others to Christ and seek God’s Kingdom. It’s nice to see one of them speak up since our voices go largely ignored when we say it.

 
Gay harassment, bias crimes often go unreported

This isn’t anything most of us don’t already know, but it bears repeating because it’s urgent, and because the RRRW tries fervently to ignore/deny it.

 
How the Game is Played

You probably saw the NYT article that claimed 50% of gay married men are in “open marriages”. What you didn’t see is how they distorted the study, and outright lied, to once again smear gay couples. Read the facts at Truth Wins Out.

 
Anita Bryant and Me

One person’s encounter with the original “OMG won’t somebody please think of the children?!?!” anti-gay Liar for the Lord.

 

As if demanding gay people be forced into “reparative therapy” wasn’t enough, Brian Fischer now wants more.

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Every state in the Union at the time of the Founding had laws which made homosexual behavior illegal. In fact, that noted icon of the left, Thomas Jefferson, wrote a law for the state of Virginia that mandated castration as punishment for two men apprehended for male-to-male friskiness.
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This raises the question, then, as to whether sodomy laws should be, or legitimately have been, repealed just because they are rarely enforced.

The answer to this is a clear and unequivocal “No.”

Think for a moment of the current social controversies that could potentially be avoided if homosexual conduct was still against the law.
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Gay marriage: problem solved. We should never legalize unions between any two people when the union is forged specifically to engage in felony behavior. Would we sanction, for instance, the formation of a corporation whose stated purpose was to import illegal drugs?

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Hate crimes laws: problem solved. We wouldn’t throw a pastor in jail for saying that illegal behavior is not only illegal but also immoral. For instance, he’s free to say that murder is not only contrary to man’s law but also to God’s law. End of the threat to freedom of religion and speech.

Special rights for homosexuals in the workplace: problem solved. No employer should be forced to hire admitted felons to work for him. End of the threat to freedom of religion and freedom of association in the marketplace.

This list could actually be extended, but you get the point. Laws not only curb dangerous and risky behavior, they keep such behavior from being normalized, sanctioned and endorsed by the rest of society, and as such render an enormous benefit to a healthy culture.
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Bothered by those pesky gay people asking for equal civil rights? Solve the problem by making gay illegal! Then Teh Gays could be jailed, castrated, or even put to death legally. Now where have I heard that idea before?

So after Fischer and his AFA friends take out gay people, who will they want to go after next? Who will they next want to criminalize and eradicate in the name of their “deeply held religious beliefs”?

 

Some high schools in Montgomery County, MD, sent students home with fliers from PFOX. It’s part of PFOX’s ongoing effort to push their anti-gay agenda into the nation’s schools, and foist discredited, harmful, bigoted “reparative therapy” on children. (Peter Sprigg, who declared that gay people should be imprisoned, is a board member of PFOX.) PFOX is flat-out lying to these children, and the school system is allowing it.

Some Montgomery County high schools passed out fliers this week from an organization that contends gays can become heterosexual through therapy, and the schools say they cannot prevent the use of their distribution system by such groups.

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The schools are required to distribute literature that isn’t deemed hate speech from any registered nonprofit organization four times a year, the result of a 2006 lawsuit, said Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Public Schools.
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“These fliers are probably counter to what is available in our health curriculum, but that curriculum focuses on respect, and we respect freedom of speech,” said Patricia O’Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase), president of the Montgomery County Board of Education.
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She admits that what PFOX is pushing contradicts the health curriculum. Then she mentions “respect”, but where is the respect for the LGBT students who are being told they are broken, flawed, deviant creatures who need to “change” in order to please others? Once again the health and safety of LGBT citizens takes a back seat to the perceived rights of others to abuse them.

But hey, if it’s only about free speech and presenting alternative ideas to kids then when can we send the kids home with fliers telling them they can become Ex-Christians?

 
Further reading:

RRRW Homophobes Distort Scientific Evidence To Bolster Claim that Homosexuality is Bad. Find Out What They Didn’t Tell You.

The Truth About Ex-Gay “Therapy” Exposed, Again.

When The APA Denounces “Ex-Gay” Therapy What Are the RRRW Anti-Gays To Do? Lie, Of Course.

 

Keep in mind that every reputable professional organization states that homosexuality is not a disorder, but is a normal orientation like heterosexuality. They also firmly denounce so-called “reparative therapy” as ineffective and potentially harmful, given that sexual orientation is not changeable. None of that matters to people like Brian Fischer, who rely not on facts but the opinions of ancient sheepherders. These opinions have been deemed “holy”, and are therefore something people like Fischer can use to add a sheen of respectability and authority to their own personal bigotry.

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It might be worth noting that what I actually suggested is that we impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse, since both pose the same kind of risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. I’d be curious to know what you think should be done with IV drug abusers, because whatever it is, I think the same response should be made to those who engage in homosexual behavior.
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Riiiiight. Because HIV/AIDS can’t be contracted through heterosexual “behavior”. According to the CDC, the fastest growing group of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses is among heterosexual women of color. It’s time, for the good of all, to bury the myth that AIDS is a “gay disease”.

If you believe that what drug abusers need is to go into an effective detox program, then we should likewise put active homosexuals through an effective reparative therapy program.

Homosexuality is not a mental illness or an addiction. It does not need “therapy”, particularly not from charlatans pushing pseudo-science and demeaning lies designed not to help but to manipulate and even torture.

Secondly, I’m afraid you’re simply wrong about the Bible’s perspective on the law and homosexuality.
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I don’t give a fig about the Bible’s perspective on homosexuality or the Koran’s perspective or any other “holy” book’s perspective. We do not live in a theocracy and our laws should not be based on anybody’s interpretation of “holy” books or religious doctrine. If they were, well, just look to modern day theocracies to see how life would be.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told “Christians don’t hate gay people. Christians don’t bear any ill will toward gay people. No Christians in America want to see harm come to gay people.” Blah blah blah. Sorry, I didn’t buy it before and I’m not buying it now. There are far too may people like Brian Fischer proving just how much Christians do hate gay people and want to see them harmed.*

 

* Please don’t attempt the “Not a True Christian” line. He’s one of you. If you don’t like what he’s doing in the name of your religion speak out against him or stew silently, but don’t try to disown him to make yourself look better.

 

Shadix, known for roles like “Otho” in the movie Beetlejuice , was subjected to painful electric shocks as part of his “reparative therapy”. Is it any wonder many of us don’t buy it when the RRRWers claim they “love” us and want to “help” us? Help? Sounds more like sadistic torture to me. Thankfully Shadix came through on the other side.

In 2005 Mark Benjamin went undercover, posing as a gay man who wanted to “change”. Read part one of his expose on Salon, then watch his interview with Rachel. Hat tip, Truth Wins Out.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 
Related posts: Rachel Maddow vs. “Ex-Gay” Richard Cohen.

Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Law: Rick Warren Defends the Indefensible and Lies.

 

Rachel masterfully exposes Cohen as the lying, hateful bigot he is. It’s a thing of beauty.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It’s hard to believe anything about the “ex-gay” industry could be fun, but this movie is. But I’m a Cheerleader tells the story of Megan, a girl who seems to have it all. She’s young, beautiful, Christian, a cheerleader, and has a hot boyfriend. But there’s something amiss, or so others seem to think. Megan may be…a lesbian! So her parents put her in an “ex-gay” program and that’s where the fun begins. This movie exposes the sheer fatuity and insanity of the techniques used, and the beliefs held, by the people who run these programs. The ultimate message of the movie is beautiful.

Imagine if every gay person heard those words instead of “burn in hell pervert”, “you have to change (to please God/Jesus/us)” or other intolerant, cruel, damaging responses. Granted in a perfect world there would be no need for “I don’t care that you’re gay” because one’s sexual orientation wouldn’t be an issue, but we’re not in a perfect world…

Even as a 3-year-old, Russ Baker-Gorringe sensed he was different from the other boys he watched playing kick the can in the street.

But, as a Mormon, he grew up believing that faith could heal what he later realized he was feeling: He was gay. He served a mission, married a “beautiful” woman in an LDS temple and had four children.

“I knew I was attracted to men,” Baker-Gorringe says. “My core belief, in every step I took in my church activities, was that there was something wrong with me. … But with God all things are possible, and this could be fixed.”
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Last month, the American Psychological Association passed a resolution advising mental health professionals against telling their clients they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments. No solid evidence exists that such efforts work, the APA concluded, and some studies suggest the potential for harm.
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“There were others who had felt this way their whole life — just like me,” recalls Baker-Gorringe, who served in an LDS bishopric and a stake presidency. “I had felt so long like I was the only Latter-day Saint that must have to deal with this.”

But even with that support and the help of a “very understanding” wife and children, Baker-Gorringe became severely depressed when his continued efforts to change — including through prayer, scripture study and obedience to LDS teachings — did not work.
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A decade ago, he was hiking with his wife and four kids in Glacier National Park and decided to take his own life. He wanted it to look like an accident to spare his children the sorrow of a suicide.

He stood on a rope bridge, strung above a deep ravine, and swung one leg over. Gazing at the backs of his family, hiking ahead of him, he bid a silent farewell. In that moment, his then-14-year-old daughter, Emily, turned around. She ran to her father and pulled him away from the edge.

“I saw the look on his face, and I knew he was going to do it,” Emily Fuchs, now 24, says. “I told him, ‘Dad, I don’t care that you’re gay. I think you’re exactly how you’re supposed to be. I love you.’ ”

Baker-Gorringe began to question some of his beliefs about homosexuality. Ultimately, he and his wife decided to divorce.

He met his partner, Joe Baker, a few years later. The two married in a religious ceremony at Holladay United Church of Christ — a congregation that Baker-Gorringe left the LDS Church to join — in 2005. Fuchs and her three siblings walked their father down the aisle. They, too, left the LDS Church, Baker-Gorringe says, after feeling like their dad was stigmatized and watching their grandparents disown him.
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“Marriage is not an all-purpose solution,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, writes in a 2007 Ensign article. Some “attempts have resulted in broken hearts and broken homes.”

Still, David Melson, executive director of Affirmation, says “there’s no consistency” in the way the guidelines are implemented by lay clergy in LDS congregations. Some still are advising marriage to gay members, he says, or even telling parents to kick their gay kids out of their homes so as not to “contaminate” siblings.

“The church has done tremendous damage to families, to individuals,” Melson says. “The breaking up of families, the homelessness, the suicide has to end. We would like to work with the church to do that, but, with them or without them, we would like to make an effort to end the damage now.”
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“Most accredited psychologists don’t approve of such therapies,” Diamond says. “There’s a lot of concern that people are still being given the message that they can change their orientation through these sorts of techniques when there’s really no evidence that that’s true.”

Behaviors might change, Diamond says, but the “attractions, themselves, don’t appear to go away.”

The “longstanding consensus” of the behavioral and social sciences, the APA reports, is that homosexuality is a “normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation.”

For Fuchs, seeing her father finally fall in love has been the “most healing thing” since she watched him nearly take his own life. For months after the incident, she was like a “leech,” clinging to her father, even checking on him in his sleep to ensure he was OK. She told herself it was her responsibility to keep him alive.

She’s happy her mom has remarried, too.

“They can finally have the love they’re supposed to have,” she says. “My mom and my dad.”