exgay movement
How American Evangelicals are Killing Gay People in Africa
Published October 21, 2009 @ 08:19PM PT
Hate never made for a good export. But that hasn't stopped a prominent group of American evangelicals from trying to ship their anti-LGBT principles abroad. One glaring example of right-wing theology run amuck across the globe is fresh out of Uganda, where legislative efforts to attack Ugandan LGBT people reached fever pitch this week.
Uganda is an interesting example of how the radical religious right in the United States has sought to take their battle against all things related to homosexuality to a global level. Earlier this year, a prominent group of evangelicals -- among them representatives from Exodus International and Defend the Family International -- attended a conference in Uganda aimed at discussing ways to fight homosexuality. The goal of the conference was to brainstorm ways that the government, schools and churches in Uganda could "wipe out" homosexuality from the country.
From American religious leaders to participate in something like this shows some pretty gross disrespect for human rights. What's worse, their support has lent credence to a bill introduced in Uganda's parliament this week that will imprison people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and will imprison straight people who support gay rights. Oh, and let's not forget that the bill also calls for HIV-positive gay people to be put to death.
All of that and a bag of chips, and it's all courtesy of American evangelicals.
"Anti-gay groups have long viewed Uganda as a laboratory to experiment with Christian theocracy," writes Besen. "These American 'ex-gay' activists clearly left their stamp on this evil legislation, giving Ugandan officials a way to justify the abuse because they can claim that 'sinful' gays can choose to change."
And the proof is in the pudding -- or in this case, the actual text of the legislation, which reads like it could be lifted straight off the hate-filled pages of Exodus International's Web site. Here's a juicy nugget from the bill:
This legislation further recognizes the fact that same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic and that people who experience this mental disorder can and have changed to a heterosexual orientation.
It also recognizes that because homosexuals are not born that way, but develop this disorder based on experiences and environmental conditions, it is preventable, especially among young people who are most vulnerable to recruitment into the homosexual lifestyle.
Homosexuality is a mental disorder. Homosexuality can be cured. Homosexuality can be prevented. Did somebody put some crazy in the Ugandan Parliament's water?
Nope, far from it. Instead, American conservative religious leaders have been feeding Ugandan politicians this type of rhetoric for quite some time. According to Besen, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been embraced by American fundamentalists as "the key man" in Africa to helping spread conservative Christianity. This homophobic bill is really just the latest in a history of efforts by U.S. religious groups to spur anti-gay sentiment in Uganda, and the entire African continent.
It's worth sending a message to officials in Uganda that this type of legislation is a clear violation of human rights. Uganda now has a choice: Do they want to be a country with one of the most vile human rights reputations in the world, or do they want to show that they can be responsible actors in the world community and respect the rights of all of their citizens?
This, to me, is by far the clearest example of how these 'ex-gay' ministries are not only damaging to LGBT people; they're damaging to international human rights. People will be murdered and imprisoned because of the work of organizations like Exodus International and Defend the Family International.
(Photo courtesy of Stig Nygaard's photostream on Flickr, used under creative commons license.)
The Financial Collapse of Focus on the Family?
Published August 13, 2009 @ 03:51AM PT
OK, maybe it's a bit too premature to call it a financial collapse. But suffice it to say, one of the loudest anti-LGBT organizations is facing huge money problems, to the point where they've been forced to outsource their anti-LGBT programming. Focus on the Family, according to AP, is about to fall $6 million short of its annual budget. While they sent out an emergency fundraising appeal to try to close that gap, one thing is clear: Focus on the Family's rabid anti-LGBT actions are becoming so increasingly unpopular, even many conservatives don't want to fund them.
In Maine, for instance, a Focus on the Family affiliate blamed marriage equality for rainy weather and a potato blight. In Florida, Focus on the Family activists are behind an effort to tax heterosexual marriage, as a means of making marriage unavailable to people with limited means. These activists have prepared a campaign that would allow couples to get a refund on their marriage tax, so long as they complete several sessions of premarital, Christian-infused classes. Focus on the Family activists even launched a Web site with a bassett hound mascot to promote their anti-LGBT agenda. The point of the Web site? To say that bassett hounds weren't born to moo like cattle, and people weren't born gay.
So while Focus has paid money to consultants to create anti-LGBT Web sites starring bassett hounds, or funneled money to state affiliates who support taxing heterosexual marriage and forcing couples to undergo premarital counseling, or sending money to statewide activists who blame gay marriage for a bad potato crop, it seems a whole lot of people have wised up and stopped donating to the organization.
Which may be the reason that this week Focus on the Family has just outsourced their anti-LGBT events, known as "Love Won Out," to the slightly more frightening Exodus International group in Florida. Here's what a staff member at Focus on the Family told the Denver Post about the decision to eighty-six the "Love Won Out" program:
Love Won Out is not an inexpensive event to stage, and rarely, in over 50 cities where it's been held, have we ever made back our investment.
Ah, I see. And in that regard, "Love Won Out" is kind of like Clear Pepsi. Certainly a lot of marketing behind it, but when it comes down to it, people just don't like it. And how interesting that Focus's decision to get rid of their ex-gay therapy programming comes the same week that the American Psychological Association announces that ex-gay therapy, like the story of Prometheus or the tale of that cereal kid from the 1970s who died eating Pop Rocks and soda, is simply just a myth. In other words, ex-gay therapy don't work.
The truth in all of this is likely somewhere between these two points: Focus on the Family didn't manage its budget well during the economic downturn, which has already forced the organization to lay off more than 20 percent of its workforce. Couple that with the fact that support nationally for the organization is at an all-time low, and it makes sense that they'd have to start out-sourcing programs.
Even the American Psychological Association Says that Ex-Gay Therapy Causes Harm
Published August 05, 2009 @ 02:07PM PT
Ex-gay therapy has been roundly condemned by rights-based organizations and activists for decades as nothing more than a sham psychological practice that can have indefinite and considerable consequences on those that are forced to go through it. Now the American Psychological Association (APA) is on the record with their agreement.
Meeting in Toronto this week, the APA released a report that said ex-gay therapy is harmful, and that there's no credible scientific evidence to suggest that people can change their sexual orientation, regardless of what organizations like Exodus International or Love Won Out think. Here's the skinny, hot off the Associated Press:
The American Psychological Association has declared that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients that they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.
Instead, the APA is urging therapists to consider multiple options — that could range from celibacy to switching churches — for helping clients whose sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.
In a resolution adopted by the APA's governing council and in a comprehensive report based on two years of research, the association puts itself firmly on record in opposition of so-called "reparative therapy" which seeks to change sexual orientation.
No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the report, and some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.
The APA should have the report up on their Web site within a few hours (UPDATE: It's here!). And not that we needed official confirmation from the APA that ex-gay therapy has devastating consequences. That's a fact that organizations like Truth Wins Out have been saying for years. And today they applauded the APA for taking ex-gay therapy promoters to task.
It was encouraging to see the APA question the ex-gay tactic of teaching vulnerable clients to live in a fantasy world. Groups like Exodus and the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), regularly encourage clients to say they have converted, even though they are still gay. The idea is that by proclaiming a false heterosexual identity in advance of any legitimate change, the desired transformation will eventually come.
This idea is equivalent to me wanting to play professional basketball, so I begin to identify as a member of the New York Knicks. Never mind that I am too short, too old and not good enough to make the roster. If I embrace this surreal existence long enough, I will one-day be dunking the ball under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
It is imperative that clients are honest about who they are and not prodded to make claims that are not true. Such a gap between fantasy and reality, according to the APA report, can create “cognitive dissonance” and does not resolve “identity conflicts.”
Woot woot for the APA.
Family Group Compares Homosexuality to Nazism
Published July 27, 2009 @ 03:07AM PT
Wow. That's pretty much all I can think of as a response to this. But it's true...a staff member at the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) has penned a screed that not only compares LGBT people to Nazis, but urges the Christian Church to fight homosexuality as if it were akin to nazism or slavery.
The article, written by Laurie Higgins, IFI's Division of School Advocacy Director, describes how since the Christian Church acted too late in combatting nazism, it shouldn't be haste in acting to defeat homosexuals. After reading that, and reading Laurie Higgins's bio (where you'll see she's a former school teacher), I can only be thankful that someone with this much hate in their system isn't in charge of teaching children anymore.
Here's an excerpt, and prepare to be horrified:
What is alarming about the account of the German Evangelical Church's reprehensible failure [to fight nazism] is its similarity to the ongoing disheartening story of the contemporary American church's failure to respond appropriately to the spread of radical, heretical, destructive views of homosexuality. Don't we today see church leaders self-censoring out of fear of losing their positions or their church members? Don't we see churches criticizing those who boldly confront the efforts of homosexual activists to propagandize children and undermine the church's teaching on homosexuality? Aren't the calls of the capitulating German Christians for "a more reasonable tone" and a commitment to "honor different views" exactly like the calls of today's church to be tolerant and honor "diversity"? Don't pastors justify their silence by claiming they fear losing their tax-exempt status (i.e. government assistance)? Don't they rationalize inaction by claiming that speaking out will prevent them from saving souls?
What is even more reprehensible in America, however, is that church leaders don't currently face loss of livelihood, imprisonment, exile, or death, as they did in Germany, and yet they remain silent.
Someone give this "religious" writer a history book, and maybe let her know that LGBT people were also victims of the Holocaust. But beyond the historical point, isn't this disturbing? It's literally a call to action to churchgoers to combat homosexuality as if it were akin to the threat of one of the worst, most violent movements ever to exist in the history of the planet.
I say this goes beyond even the Fred Phelps level of hatred and anger toward LGBT people. And the scarier part? The Illinios Family Institute is relatively mainstream within the conservative movement. Note that former GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be keynoting their fall 2009 conference in Chicago. Is it fair to say that Mike Huckabee thinks that homosexuality is as big a threat as Nazi Germany? I know Huckabee is conservative, but is he that crazy?
Here at change.org, we've started at action where folks can write the Crowne Plaza O'Hare - the venue where the Illinois Family Institute's Fall Conference with Mike Huckabee will take place - and urge them to refuse to host the IFI's conference. Political organizations will often stake out controversial positions on social issues. But does the Crowne Plaza O'Hare really want to endorse a conference by a group that actively compares homosexuality to nazism? Isn't that like hosting a conference by the Klu Klux Klan?
Please consider taking action, and sending the message that comparing homosexuality to nazism is not only disgusting, it's also dangerous. The IFI is entitled to hold whatever views it wants. But what Laurie Higgins does in her piece is fuel the fire for violence. And while she has the right to say it, we also have the right to let others (like the Crowne Plaza O'Hare) know just what we think of it.
The Really Scary Thing About Gay Exorcisms
Published June 26, 2009 @ 05:15AM PT
The Internet is hopping over a shocking video (covered in the news report above) out of Bridgeport, Connecticut that shows a group of elders at the Manifested Glory Ministries Church performing an exorcism on a teenage boy, to cast out homosexual spirits inside him. It's a disgusting scene, with church leaders pinning the teenager on the floor, pushing down on his stomach and chest, and screaming in his face, “Rip it from his throat! Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer! Come out of his belly...It's in the belly - push!”
During this process, the teenager even throws up...which, frankly, you really can't blame him for, given what his "spiritual leaders" are doing to him.
But here's the scary part: for those who think this scene is isolated, it's not. "Ex-gay therapies," like this gay exorcism, are quite common and spread throughout this country. And it's high time that people see these programs, which destroy the lives of children and youth each and every day, for their true selves.
Ex-gay ministries, like Exodus International (which has yet to take a position on the perverted "exorcism" above) and Love Won Out, regularly engage in crazy behavior to try and change people from homosexual to heterosexual. Tactics of the ex-gay movement have been documented by many, including Truth Wins Out. Among the more ludicrous tactics used by ex-gay movements, beyond exorcisms?
- Hypnosis.
- Encouraging people to gain weight so that they're less attractive to people of the same-sex.
- Putting rubber bands around their body and snapping them whenever they find themselves attracted to someone of the same-sex.
- Faith healing and prayer to cure homosexuality (not unlike, perhaps, the exorcism covered in the news story above).
In short, ex-gay ministries are damaging beyond belief, and as many suggest, straddle that fine line between psychotic and child abuse. The troubling video out of Connecticut ought to be a wake up call for folks that ex-gay ministries are doing things like this on a day-to-day basis. And that's ultimately the scariest part about this news story.
