Fraudulent "Ex-Gay" Programs Down Under

In addition to exporting extreme homophobia to Africa, American Christianists have also labored to export the fraudulent "ex-gay" myth across the globe. One such destination for peddling this snake oil has been Australia. As a Sydney Morning Herald story reports, these toxic and utterly fraudulent programs appear to be dwindling toward a much deserved death. Would that more Americans would open their eyes to the untruths being marketed by Christianist extremists for financial profit and political purposes such as blocking non-discrimination laws and blocking legal recognition of same sex relationships. In my view, nothing demonstrates to abject dishonesty of the Christianists than these programs which are rejected by all legitimate medical and mental health associations in America. Here are some highlights from the Morning Herald story (as is the norm, the purported "ex-gays" running these bogus programs always seem to have turned their supposed "cured" status into a money making venture) :

On the advice of his Anglican minister, and at the urging of his family, Shaun* enrolled on a course to ''cure'' himself of being gay.

The organisation that treated Shaun, Liberty Christian Ministries Incorporated, based in East Balmain, is one of the three main groups in Sydney that claim to ''heal'' homosexuals - the others are Living Waters at Ramsgate and Beyond Egypt at Carlingford. There are at least 15 such outfits across Australia. Modelled on America's ''ex-gay'' groups, all have fundamentalist Christian roots. Most view homosexuality as an illness that can be cured - an approach some describe as ''pray away the gay''. At the very least, they demand abstinence from gay sex.

Shaun grew up in an Anglican household, and after suppressing homosexual feelings through high school, at 21, he was willing to try anything to be the heterosexual his family, church and Christian youth group wanted him to be.

The three-month program cost $140, Shaun recalls, and was run by Keane, who had lived as an ''active homosexual'' for 15 years but was now happily, heterosexually married. After his successful conversion, Keane teamed up with his wife to run support groups for other Christians ''struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction''. Keane has since retired from Liberty Christian Ministries and written a book - Choices: One Person's Journey out of Homosexuality. Shaun remembers being unconvinced by Keane, who, while presenting himself as a ''former homosexual'', admitted to the group that he still had sexual thoughts about men.

At one stage during the course, Shaun was encouraged to ask a girl out on a date. . . . . On their second date, Shaun arrived to pick her up and she invited him into her house. They sat on the couch and talked a while. As much as he tried, Shaun felt nothing. Then her brother walked in. ''I was more attracted to him than her,'' Shaun says. ''I felt a little bit guilty about that.'' Shaun completed two of Keane's courses - each lasted three months - and says that rather than curing him of his homosexuality, the sessions helped confirm it.

Shaun is now 35 and in a relationship with a man. It has been 14 years since he quit the ''reparative'' programs and embraced his sexuality. He was helped by a support group for gay Christians called Freedom2b. The group was founded by Anthony Venn-Brown, a former leader in the Assemblies of God who for 22 years tried to change his homosexuality through psychiatric treatment, exorcisms, ''ex-gay'' programs and 40-day fasts. Married for 16 years with two daughters, Venn-Brown eventually conceded he could not change his sexuality. He has spent the past decade helping Christians who have gone through ''ex-gay'' programs and been told they were sick, dysfunctional and abnormal.

Venn-Brown believes ''ex-gay'' programs inflict deep psychological damage, and says he will not rest until every last one has been shut down. ''Where are their success stories?'' he says. ''You ask them.'' Of the three groups contacted by The Sun-Herald, only Haydn Sennitt, the pastoral worker at Liberty Christian Ministries, agreed to be interviewed. Sennitt says: ''We do not offer 'fixes' or 'cures' for homosexuality, but we do believe that it can be healed over time.''

Helen Kelly, producer of a new documentary about ''ex-gay'' therapy called The Cure, says her research uncovered many participants of so-called ''reparative'' programs struggling with depression, anxiety and self-harm. ''These groups never take responsibility for the fact that some people who've been through them commit suicide,'' she says. ''They're not registered and they have no duty of care.''

''I've worked with maximum- security prisoners in Pentridge, yet the people who've been through ex-gay programs are some of the most psychologically damaged people I've seen in my life,'' Martin says. ''I have a client who went through 35 years of these programs … One of the most crushing moments was when he said, in tears, 'I've just realised that I've never known what it's like to love or be loved.'''

Martin is especially critical of groups that point to the disproportionate rates of depression and anxiety among gay people. ''The irony is that they're actually creating the terrible emotional damage that leads to these statistics,'' he says.

It's the same old story: untrained and unlicensed far right Christians inflicting emotional damage on others and making a buck in the process. It's sick and it ought to be illegal. Kudos to Australians who are waking up to the evils of these snake oil programs.