Outed!

Surfacing later this year, according to Truth Wins Out and the website Ex-Gay Watch, a new, biased, politically motivated, five-year "ex-gay" study called "The Thomas Project" will sing the praises of ex-gay therapy a la the controversial Dr. Stanton Jones. With this ultra-conservative, right wing religious "researcher" of Wheaton College at its helm, the study is promising to finally prove that ex-gay therapy actually works. But don't take it at its word. With its methodology involving phone calls to hand picked, ex-gay lobbyists and religious leaders, requesting information as to how and why they'd changed, these studies are absurd, at best, given the lack of clinical controls and lie detectors or other key physical measures to assess inaccuracy. Going one step further, while this anti-gay, homophobic cause already claims to cure hundreds of thousands of non-heteros, unconfirmed reports claim that the study recruited 150 participants at best! We pshaw any such non-academic and non-clinical research claiming to be worth a salt in terms of 'remedying' the 'curable' ailment of homosexuality.

In fact, despite 100 years of staunch effort, these "ex-gay" ministries, or shall we say miseries, have found no cure, as evidenced in human sexuality textbooks, the DVD Fish Can't Fly, and a recent episode of Fox's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. Call it reparative, aversion, reorientation, or conversion therapy, you're not fixing anything, and there is no such thing as an ex-gay. As groups like the American Medical Association have stated, there is no published scientific evidence that supports the efficacy of treatment to change one's sexual orientation. Any therapies claiming such are not recommended for those with same sex attractions, especially given that since lesbians, gays, and bisexuals aren't ill, it makes absolutely no sense to cure them! Furthermore, groups like the American Psychiatric Association have stated that people who accept their sexual orientation are better adjusted. This isn't surprising when you consider that these ex-gay programs are often run by ex-gay workers who lack professional training, and who call their work "pastoral counseling."

Playing on the troubles of those struggling with their true sexual orientation, these programs have been decried unethical, unproven, unsafe, and abusive. With their either you-give-up-your- spirituality-or-sexuality sick game of forced choice, you're told that you're a failure, sinner, bad person, unacceptable, and not worthy of love if you choose the latter. Combine this emotionally abusive "there's something wrong with you" with the attitude of "my sexuality is superior to yours" and "God doesn't love gays" and you've got one form of covert sexual abuse. Deemed a fallacy and failure by even some open-minded religious leaders themselves, these efforts are based on false psychology and poor Biblical interpretation. You're not changing one's orientation; you're just making someone feel guilty about it.

In light of the ex-gay movement's track record thus far, the aforementioned study's credibility, as well as that of the ex-gay movement's, ought to fall under the harsh light of scrutiny if not outright ban. Given, too, its unscientific methodology and the fact that several ex-gay leaders, like John Paulk, who was busted in a Washington, D.C. gay bar after claiming he shed his homosexual desires, have been the center of highly public sex scandal cases, we think they may be the ones in need of a cure.

Comments

[Marc001]

Ex-gay ministries don't change anyone; they simply help them find a comfortable level of self-denial. They do it through making gay out to be a "sin" and showing the consequences for such acts (usually burning in hell). People with religious upbringings are the most susceptible to this dispicable form of brainwashing, but we humans practice this in many other ways when confronted with something we simply can't handle. Instead of acknowledging it, we just move into to another part of our self-conscience. Luckily, time is slowly taking the stigma out of being gay. IN 50 years, I wonder if our children's children's will even think that gay is a bad thing, but just simply a part of the human condition.

[caesarf]

Read my profile... You'll know I'm on your side in this and a variety of other things.

That said, why is it so many view the scientific method as something they can use when it fits their needs and discard otherwise?

The same method that is being used as a positive example here (correctly so) to show that ex-gay therapy is bunk, has shown on several occasions that homeopathy, dousing, astrology, psychic ability, etc... are bunk as well.

I praise the author of this blog for using the medical professions opinion in this matter as a definative, but must wonder where and why so many that would agree with it draw the line.

[schwinnrider]

Your comment piqued my curiosity, as there was no mention of hoo hoo in the post. I read the authors' biographies, and sure enough, there it was. Thanks for the spot on commentary. Hoo hoo is always hoo hoo and science it is not.

[jeskiley]

Great article, but I challenge you to take the "poor biblical interpretation" to the next level, and actually counter it yourself. The Good Book, by Peter J. Gomes, goes into incredible depth when confronting the Bible's true position on homosexuality (he's a gay minister).

I was raised secular, thankfully (glad for the perspective, and enjoying my dig for the truths I missed), but I really believe it's our generation's time to get educated on what these battles are all about, and be the torchbearers, instead of continuing to allow each other to be victimized.

I can only hope that someday classical education will return to our public schools, and we can raise generations of children to understand where and how our thinking began, what belief systems are, and why it is important to come together collectively in truth. We are somewhat blameless when the tools are beyond most of our grasps.

I'm educating myself on the Christian worldview, because I think the truth lies somewhere in there for all of is. I'm using a great textbook called Omnibus from Veritas Press dot com. I had to stumble across one text entry by a person who described liberals as people who want the freedom to abort babies and pursue homosexual lifestyles. But, it's a great teaching text of the entire classical tradition, not too difficult to navigate, and if I had to digest and forgive one offensive point of view for the sake of the rest of the good guidance, I did so without regret.

Just one more offering of a cure.

[snaggster]

Ex-gay ministries are religious in nature (to state the obvious). god is what should "fall under the harsh light of scrutiny".