Friday, February 11, 2011

Gay Couple Found Love at "Ex-Gay" Ministry

The lies and deliberately falsified information coming from the mouths of Christianists and professional Christians is nearly endless. As noted before, these people somehow believe that the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness does not apply to them. One of the most insidious lies (and lucrative as well for the snake oil merchants in the "ex-gay" industry) is the myth that gays can "change" and that by "accepting Jesus" one can magically become heterosexual. On a personal level, I tried to "change" for 37 years and guess what - it does NOT work. Something recognized by every legitimate medical and mental health association. Yet the Christianists persist in telling the lie and raking in lots of cash from desperate individuals and/or their parents. The Dallas Voice has a story on two former enrollees of "Love Won Out" - an utterly bullshit program until recently under the umbrella of hatemeister James Dobson's Focus on the Family - who fell in love and married (see photo above) after they met in a "Love Won Out" camp where they were supposed to be "cured" of their homosexuality. It's a story that has happened time and time again - including in the case of the founders of Exodus International. Here are some story very brief highlights (NOTE: the cost of the "cure" program was $10,000 per person):
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KC Jansson came out to his parents in ninth grade. His parents sent him to counseling. Then he came out to them again as a high school senior. “My dad’s a Southern Baptist pastor in Missouri, in a small southern town.” he said. “They said I was either going to be on the streets or do it their way. They were going to pay $10 grand for me to go to this camp. “I didn’t have a choice but to go there,” he said.
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Jansson described the camp as a sort of drug rehab center for being gay. He said he was raised to believe that if he was gay he was going to become an alcoholic and a drug addict and get AIDS and never go to college or love anyone.
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KC and Larry arrived at the facility at the same time. This was KC’s first time away from home and his first time to be around other gay people. . . . Although they weren’t supposed to look at each other, Larry and KC kept making eye contact. There were no doors on the rooms and each room had three beds. Larry and KC were assigned to share a room.
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KC said his “counselor” was in college but worked at this house unsupervised. Two others were former drug addicts who had gone through 12-step programs themselves. None was a licensed therapist.
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During the first three months of the program, KC and Larry developed what they both called a genuine friendship. . . . . Over the next five months their friendship developed, but without physical contact between them. “No kiss. No hug. No touch,” Larry said. . . . KC said he told Larry, “I love you. I want to be with you. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
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Then three months after moving to Dallas, Larry proposed. For KC’s birthday, the two drove to Galveston. After checking into their hotel, they went to the beach and walked out onto a rock pier. Larry got down on one knee, took out a ring and said, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
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In September 2009 they legally married in Connecticut and then held a ceremony for friends and family at Cathedral of Hope in December. They had 14 attendants and a lavish reception at the W Hotel. Family members came from all over the country and Larry and KC reveled in being the source of joy after so much sadness in the family.
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Now, life for the Janssons has settled into a normal routine. In addition to their jobs and school and a happy suburban life in Frisco, both have returned to activities taken away by Love In Action. Larry teaches dance classes. KC plays the piano. And once KC finishes school, they’ll begin seriously looking into adoption.
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Love Won Out and similar "ex-gay" ministries cause untold misery, perpetuate lies and bogus science and are nothing less that unethical rip offs that enrich the parasites that sponsor the programs. Fortunately Larry and KC had a happy ending. Not everyone does and I hope that someday a damaged victim of these programs will have the wherewith all to sue the "ministry" and its sponsors and wipe it out - causing a chain reaction against other bogus programs in the process.

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