Fraudulent "Ex-Gay" Therapy Advocates Thrilled by Trump/GOP Agenda

Last night ABC's 20/20 did a special on so-called conversion therapy which allegedly turns those that are LGBT into heterosexuals.  The practice is condemned by EVERY legitimate medical and mental health association in America and amounts to nothing less than psychological - and sometimes physical - torture of those often placed in the fraudulent programs by parents desperate not to have a gay child due to religious brainwashing and self-absorption and embarrassment.  A few states have banned the practice on those under the age of 18, but a huge loop hole exists for "religious" organizations and churches.  Vice President Pence is a huge advocate of this form of torture, and Der Trumpenführer sold his soul to the Christofascists who support these programs because (i) they are cash cows for organizations that run them, and (ii) they maintain the myth in the minds of many that sexual orientation is a choice regardless of what true experts say.  To me, such programs are further proof that religion is one of the great evils in the world.  Here are highlights from ABC News on this foul practice and how Trump/Pence has excited its disgusting advocates (Peter Sprigg who is mentioned in the piece has ZERO credentials that qualify him to opine on the subject other than his extremist religious beliefs): 

Advocates of long-discredited gay conversion therapy programs say they are heartened by the election of Donald Trump and are counting on Vice President Mike Pence and congressional Republicans to help fight off efforts to make such programs illegal.

“I certainly hope that this administration will pull back from some of the aggressive activism that the Obama administration engaged in,” said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, a powerful conservative lobbying group in Washington that is active in supporting sexual reorientation efforts.

President Obama's Surgeon General Vivek Murthy publicly stated that “conversion therapy is not sound medical practice” and that such programs “are harmful and are not appropriate therapeutic practices.”

Conversion therapy has been outlawed for licensed mental health providers in California, Oregon, New Jersey, Vermont, Illinois and the District of Colombia, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group.

The Family Research Council and Sprigg have helped to fight legislative proposals in 20 other states that would make gay conversion therapy illegal.

“They certainly should not be outlawed. They certainly should not be prohibited by law,” Sprigg said in an interview to be broadcast this Friday on the ABC News program “20/20” in an investigation of gay conversion therapy programs. 

“As a Christian, I believe that the Bible teaches that to choose to engage in homosexual conduct is a sin,” he said, adding that he believes therapy can cause people to make different choices.

The “20/20” report includes revelations of two programs that conducted conversion therapy in Alabama, including one in which Christian pastors overseeing dozens of teens were convicted of child abuse amid stark allegations of beatings administered to teens who resisted efforts to change their sexual orientation.

The camps practicing conversion therapy uncovered by the “20/20” investigation were not operating as licensed mental health facilities and are therefore not covered by laws prohibiting the practice.

At the Republican National Convention last year, delegates voted for a party platform that appeared to tacitly endorse the right of parents to send their teens to conversion programs, supporting the “right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.”

Sprigg said that his groups does not believe that “same-sex attractions are a choice” but that he also does “not believe that experiencing same-sex attractions is a normal and natural variant of human sexuality.”

He added that he believes Pence will be helpful in any battle with what he called the “gay lobby.”

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic manual, the field’s definitive book of mental disorders.

In 1975 the American Psychological Association said, “Homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability or general social and vocational capabilities; further, the American Psychological Association urges all mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with homosexual orientations.”

And in 1993 the American Academy of Pediatrics denounced conversion therapy, saying, "Therapy directed at specifically changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.”

Despite these unequivocal positions from the foremost U.S. mental health organizations, the “20/20” investigation found a cottage industry of so-called conversion camps operating across the country.

To learn more, and hear the harrowing story of how two gay youths escaped such camps, tune in to “20/20” on Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern time. 

If you missed the show, please watch it on demand.  These camps and their advocates are dangerous and often push detainees to suicide or, at a minimum, leave lasting emotional and psychological harm (an ex-boyfriend had been in such a program and it truly damaged him).  I myself tried to "pray away the gay" for 37 years and it simply does not work.  Self-hatred and thoughts of suicide are the only results.