Gay Teens Starved, Tortured, Killed at Camp to Make them "Straight"

Graphic Photo of Raymond Buys - Why Aren't His Parents Being Criminally Prosecuted?

I realize that I often comment on - some readers might say rant - the horrors of the Christofascists who promote the myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that gays can become "straight" if they but want to do so.  Having tried to "pray the gay away" my self literally for decades, I know that the "ex-gay"myth is a lie.  But worse yet, these "ministries" can drive gays to suicide or, as a story out of South Africa documents, literally kill gay youths.  It is sick, it is obscene, and it must be stopped.  As noted before, in my view, any parent who places their minor child in an "ex-gay" program needs to be charged with felony child abuse and prosecuted to the fullest extent allowable under the law.  In this day and age, it is mind numbing that parents still cling to the ignorant writings of bronze age nomadic herders - i.e., the Bible and the Koran - and subject their children to the horrors of "ex-gay" ministries.  As Gay Star News reports, three young gays died as a result of their parents' ignorance and the batshitery of "ex-gay" ministries.  Here are some story highlights:

Three ‘gay and effeminate’ teens have died after being starved, tortured and killed at a camp that promised to turn them into 'men'.

A picture of Raymond Buys, 15, taken in April 2011 showed a skeletal, emaciated figure fighting for his life.

Just 10 weeks before, the teen’s parents signed him up to the Echo Wild Game Rangers training course in South Africa in perfect health.

In hospital, Buys was severely malnourished, dehydrated, his arm was broken in two places and there were burns and wounds all over his body. He lay in intensive care for four weeks until he died.
And now, the course ‘general’ Alex De Koker, 49, and employee Michael Erasmus, 20, are on trial for charges of murder, child abuse and neglect, along with two cases of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm in relation to Buys' death.

The teen’s death is alleged to have been the third among the Afrikaans children who attended the R22,000 ($2,400, €1,900) courses, which have been advertized since 2006.

‘I sent my son on this course to make him a better man, to give him a better future,’ Buys’ mother told The Daily Telegraph. ‘I trusted Alex De Koker with his life.’

Last week, the Vereeniging District Court heard the testimony of a boy who had shared a tent with Buys, the Daily Maverick reports.

Gerhard Oostuizen, 19, claims Buys was chained to his bed every night, was refused permission to visit the toilet and on one occasion was forced to eat his own faeces.  He also said he would be beaten with planks, hosepipes and sticks when he failed to carry out manual labor tasks.

Gender activist Melanie Nathan has said the three young men were all perceived as ‘gay and clearly effeminate’.

In reference to ‘gay conversion camps’, Nathan writes: ‘With a little bit of digging [into the story], the gay reparative undertones start to emerge.’

Eric Calitz, 18, and Nicolaas Van Der Walt, 19, had both died after being enrolled at the Echo Wild Game Rangers camp four years earlier.

When Calitz requested to leave, De Koker reportedly told him he ‘wasn’t a moffie [gay] and he would make a man out of him’.

Calitz’s family was informed of his death via text message, saying he had died of a heart attack.
Afterwards, doctors said the cause of death was from a seizure, dehydration and found bleeding from the brain.

I'm sorry, but I have NO sympathy for the parents of these murdered boys.  They need to be prosecuted right along with those who physically murdered their sons.   As a parent myself, any parent who believes the lies preached weekly from pulpits and the lies promoted by "ex-gay" proponents over their own children are despicable.  They need to spend many years behind bars where they can contemplate the role they played in the murder of their own children.  As I have stated before, fundamentalist religion of all stripes is a toxic evil that needs to be eradicated from the face of the earth.  It contribute nothing positive to humanity and over the centuries has claimed many more lives than it has helped.