Furthering the myth that one's sexual orientation is a "choice" and something that can be "changed" is a key component of the Christianists' agenda to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and to convince legislators and courts that LGBT citizens are undeserving of anti-discrimination protections. As the proposed "kill the gays" bill in Uganda demonstrates, the far right Christianists are busy exporting homophobia and bogus reparative therapy overseas. Besides Africa, another recipient of the exported poison has been the United Kingdom. Exposing this effort - and the bogus nature of "conversion therapy" - has been a number of stories in UK newspapers done by Patrick Strudwick who went under cover as a participant in ex-gay conversion programs. I applaud Strudwick's columns and the newspapers who have published them. The lies and dishonesty of opponents to LGBT equality need to be exposed wherever and whenever possible. For many years I tried to suppress my true orientation and was stricken with self-hate because no matter what I did the feeling did/would not go away. It is time to end needless misery induced by claims that are nothing but a cynical and calculated lie. Here are highlights from a column in the Guardian: *
My undercover investigation has led to a campaign against those who wreck lives by peddling conversion therapy
*
Last year, in Britain, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist tried to "cure" me of my homosexuality. What they didn't know was that I was working undercover investigating what happens during so-called conversion therapy. The results of my investigation, published last week in the Independent, have sparked a bushfire of anger and outrage.
*
It's hardly surprising. The psychotherapist told me I had been sexually abused by a member of my family (which I hadn't). The psychiatrist tried to induce arousal in me during a "therapy" session. He also claimed to have "resolved" his own sexuality while admitting that he still masturbates over gay pornography.
*
The response has been overwhelming. Countless former victims of conversion therapy have contacted me, describing the years of suffering they endured during and since treatment – some of whom were forced into it by their families. Therapists have written in impotent frustration about how they are left to mop up the psychological mess left by conversion therapists. Many readers were simply astounded that this goes on in the comparatively secular UK.
*
Beyond the western countries, the response has been more troubling. Gay men and women have contacted me begging for help. Others have conveyed the growing climate of fear in Uganda. In light of all this I've set up a Facebook group called the Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (Scott). Hundreds joined within the first 24 hours, determined to do something.
*
Our first target is a conference of conversion therapists taking place on 19 February in Northern Ireland. Mario Bergner is the guest of honour. He wrote Setting Love In Order, a book in which he claims to have become heterosexual through prayer. He also says that he was in hospital with "eleven symptoms of Aids" before being visited by "the Spirit of the Lord", who made him better overnight, and so later tested negative for the virus.
*
Last April, as part of my investigation, I went to a similar conference in London for therapists and clergy wanting to learn how to "cure" their clients. I witnessed Joseph Nicolosi, the most notorious American conversion therapist, whose techniques are the basis of many of the practices in this country, treating a nervous young man in front of a live audience. I felt like I was watching a blood sport.
*
The work of Scott will therefore not stop at disrupting conferences. We want professional bodies such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy to add into their code of conduct specific stipulations condemning attempts to alter orientation (currently they have more general ones about not letting personal feelings about sexuality affect treatment).
*
We will also continue to expose individual therapists and report them to their professional bodies. It won't be easy. Many operate using euphemisms that cloud what they're really doing. They also defend their techniques vehemently, claiming: "We offer choice! We only treat those who come looking for it!" It's like a Venus flytrap blaming the hungry insect that wanders into its gaping mouth. But we are determined to root them out however long it takes. This won't be a battle. It's war.
*
In the USA it is critical that the APA and licensing boards in the states shut down bogus "ex-gay" programs and sanction licensed therapists and counselors that continue to engage in the a politically and religiously motivated fraud that damages lives and helps to support bigotry.
My undercover investigation has led to a campaign against those who wreck lives by peddling conversion therapy
*
Last year, in Britain, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist tried to "cure" me of my homosexuality. What they didn't know was that I was working undercover investigating what happens during so-called conversion therapy. The results of my investigation, published last week in the Independent, have sparked a bushfire of anger and outrage.
*
It's hardly surprising. The psychotherapist told me I had been sexually abused by a member of my family (which I hadn't). The psychiatrist tried to induce arousal in me during a "therapy" session. He also claimed to have "resolved" his own sexuality while admitting that he still masturbates over gay pornography.
*
The response has been overwhelming. Countless former victims of conversion therapy have contacted me, describing the years of suffering they endured during and since treatment – some of whom were forced into it by their families. Therapists have written in impotent frustration about how they are left to mop up the psychological mess left by conversion therapists. Many readers were simply astounded that this goes on in the comparatively secular UK.
*
Beyond the western countries, the response has been more troubling. Gay men and women have contacted me begging for help. Others have conveyed the growing climate of fear in Uganda. In light of all this I've set up a Facebook group called the Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (Scott). Hundreds joined within the first 24 hours, determined to do something.
*
Our first target is a conference of conversion therapists taking place on 19 February in Northern Ireland. Mario Bergner is the guest of honour. He wrote Setting Love In Order, a book in which he claims to have become heterosexual through prayer. He also says that he was in hospital with "eleven symptoms of Aids" before being visited by "the Spirit of the Lord", who made him better overnight, and so later tested negative for the virus.
*
Last April, as part of my investigation, I went to a similar conference in London for therapists and clergy wanting to learn how to "cure" their clients. I witnessed Joseph Nicolosi, the most notorious American conversion therapist, whose techniques are the basis of many of the practices in this country, treating a nervous young man in front of a live audience. I felt like I was watching a blood sport.
*
The work of Scott will therefore not stop at disrupting conferences. We want professional bodies such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy to add into their code of conduct specific stipulations condemning attempts to alter orientation (currently they have more general ones about not letting personal feelings about sexuality affect treatment).
*
We will also continue to expose individual therapists and report them to their professional bodies. It won't be easy. Many operate using euphemisms that cloud what they're really doing. They also defend their techniques vehemently, claiming: "We offer choice! We only treat those who come looking for it!" It's like a Venus flytrap blaming the hungry insect that wanders into its gaping mouth. But we are determined to root them out however long it takes. This won't be a battle. It's war.
*
In the USA it is critical that the APA and licensing boards in the states shut down bogus "ex-gay" programs and sanction licensed therapists and counselors that continue to engage in the a politically and religiously motivated fraud that damages lives and helps to support bigotry.
1 comment:
Thanks for the info! I had never heard of that group before. Sounds like a great cause to help out!
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