California Assembly Votes to Ban All Gay "Conversion Therapy"

Right wing Christians engage in all kinds of frauds in the furtherance of their theocratic political agenda.  Few as pernicious as so-called gay "conversion therapy" or "reparative therapy" which is universally condemned by every legitimate medical and mental health association in America (and most of the developed world).  Yet Christofascist charlatans continue to engage in the practice - Michelle Bachmann and her husband run such a clinic under the guise of "Christian counseling" - for basically two reasons: (i) to support the myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" thereby negating the need for laws protecting LGBT rights, and (ii) it is very lucrative and keeps the practitioners of  such "therapy" living the good life.  States are increasingly banning the use of such therapy on minors - such a bill was killed by Republicans in the recently passed session of the General Assembly. Now, California seeks to ban the practice entirely.  A bill as passed the California Assembly and now goes to the state senate where it will hopefully be passed.  Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

The California Assembly voted Thursday to add gay “conversion therapy” to the state’s list of deceptive business practices, following a debate that focused on the personal experiences of several lawmakers and hinted at potential lawsuits to come.

“It is harmful and it is unnecessary,” Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the bill’s author and one of the Legislature’s most vocal LGBTQ members, said of the practice.

Low, who told Assembly members that he explored conversion therapy as a Low, who told Assembly members that he explored conversion therapy as a teenager and suffered depression over his sexual orientation, insisted that the bill would be limited to efforts that involve the exchange of money.

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” he said in an emotional speech on the Assembly floor. “There’s nothing that needs to be changed.”

The bill, which now heads to the Senate, has become the focal point of intense debate on social media. Some religious groups have said that such a law would be a violation of their constitutional rights, while advocates insist the provisions are narrow and there’s no credible evidence that the services work.

One key part of the debate centers on whether Assembly Bill 2943 would stretch beyond businesses that charge for these programs and extend to printed documents, even Bibles. An analysis by the Assembly Judiciary Committee says the bill would apply only to services that purport to change a person’s sexual orientation and offered “on a commercial basis, as well as the advertising and offering of such services.”

“This is fraudulent, it should not be occurring,” said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton). “But you can still try to pray the gay away, if you like.”

California law already bans the use of conversion therapy by mental health professionals on those under age 18. Low’s bill would expand the state’s efforts beyond minors. It would join a list of commercial activities deemed “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” and therefore banned under state law.

NARTH Ex-Gay Torture Founder Joseph Nicolosi Dead

Nicolosi - the face of hate and evil

One of the biggest lies promoted by the Christofascists  - and even the Vatican - is the myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that through "conversion therapy" or "reparative therapy," gays could become heterosexual.  All gays needed to do was admit their sinful behavior and decide to "change."  One of the high priests of this dishonest campaign was Joseph Nicolosi, a co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), which peddled the "choice" myth for decades - and made a plush living "treating" desperate gays and getting paid for speaking engagements at Christofascist venues.  As The Daily Beast reports, Nicolosi died today at age 70, leaving behind him a wake of lives damaged - or ended through suicide -  by the foul lies and practices Nicolosi championed.  Here are highlights on the passing of this foul individual:

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and a prominent figure in the ex-gay movement, has passed away, the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, where he served as clinical director, confirmed over the phone to The Daily Beast. Nicolosi, 70, was a practitioner of conversion or reparative therapy, treatments intended to change a person’s sexual orientation that have been widely denounced by major medical associations—including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association—and banned by legislation in five states: Vermont, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois, and California.

As noted in numerous previous posts, Nicolosi and other practitioners of "conversion therapy"  not only enriched themselves at the expense of others, but also aided GOP allies by claiming that LGBT nondiscrimination protections  are unnecessary since homosexuality is a choice and a behavior, not an inherent characteristic. I may sound cruel, but the world is a better place now that Nicolosi has left it.  The damage he did will long out live him. 

Conversion Therapy Quacks and the Demonization of Gays

The Southern Poverty Law Center ("has released a new report on "ex-gay" conversion therapy and the frauds and quacks who advocate for and psychologically torture - and sometimes physically, as well - gays who more often than not are forced into the therapy by their parents, the majority of whom view themselves as "godly Christians."  For those unfamiliar with the SPLC, it was founded in 1971 by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. to work to ensure that the promise of the civil rights movement became a reality for all.  Originally focused on the civil rights of African Americans, SLPC later expanded its focus and now works to ensure civil rights of children, women, the disabled, immigrants and migrant workers, members of the LGBT community, and many others who faced discrimination, abuse or exploitation.  In the process it identifies and works to oppose hate groups of all stripes, including those who hide behind the cloak of religion.  A number of so-called "family values" Christian organization which are sadly provided a platform by a lazy mainstream media have been certified  as hate groups because of the deliberate lies and hatred they promote against the LGBT community and others.  

This past week, SPLC released a report of the fraudulent and potentially deadly "ex-gay" conversion therapy industry which is financed by hate groups and involves unscrupulous quacks and religious extremists.  The lengthy report, which looks at some of the leading quacks of the "industry," can be found here.  It is crucial to remember that behind the support for "ex-gay" conversion therapy, there is the anti-gay political agenda of those I call Christofascists and other right wing religious groups.  It is also important to keep in mind, that such therapy is very lucrative for the parasite like practitioners who promise to do the impossible.  For my part, I am proud that I helped expose Michael Johnston as a fraud and also first unearthed Arthur Goldberg's criminal record.  Here are some report highlights:

Will standing in a circle of naked men deep in the woods turn gay men straight? Is disrobing in front of a mirror alone with your therapist and then touching “your masculinity” a cure for homosexuality? Does beating a pillow representing your mother really help develop “healthy” relationships with other men?

The men and women who people this industry known as “conversion,” “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapists are like modern-day phrenologists, the “experts” beloved by the Nazis who thought they could identify inferior human beings by measuring their subjects’ skulls. They employ theories that have been thoroughly debunked by virtually all relevant medical associations. They cite bizarre studies that were shot down decades ago as key documents. They use techniques that were described in court by one expert as “worse than snake oil.” They are quacks.

[T]he promotion of conversion therapy has a cynical side. If being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender is merely a chosen behavior, one that can be “fixed” with the right mental health treatment, then criticizing LGBT people for their sexual choices is akin to simply criticizing bad behavior. Unlike attacking someone for their skin color, reparative therapists can condemn the gay “lifestyle” and still claim that they are not LGBT-hating bigots.

The real science is perfectly clear. A consensus of the vast majority of psychiatrists, psychologists and other counselors and their professional organizations agree that homosexuality is a normal variation of human sexuality. Likewise, they condemn reparative therapy and other attempts to change sexual orientation.

This report is built around revelations that emerged from a lawsuit that was tried in New Jersey last year. Represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and other attorneys, several gay plaintiffs sued Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, or JONAH (formerly Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality), under a state consumer fraud law.

The case did not go well for JONAH. The judge in the case barred almost all testimony from the six experts proffered by the defendants, saying that “the theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel but like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it instead is outdated and refuted.” In the end, the plaintiffs won a hands down victory and JONAH went out of business. But in depositions and the trial itself, the creepy world of reparative therapy was laid bare.

Based on this study, the SPLC recommends several steps:

·        At a minimum, states and localities should outlaw the provision of conversion therapy to minors. Already, four states and two cities have passed such laws. Many more are considering similar action.
·        Congress should pass the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) A companion bill was filed in the Senate this April by U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). The legislation would classify conversion therapy as a fraudulent practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act, making it illegal to advertise or sell.
·        Professional associations licensing psychiatrists, psychologists and other counselors should sanction members who engage in it.
·        Insurers, both private and public, should refuse to reimburse claims made by reparative therapists.

If these things are not done, if the quacks who make up the reparative therapy business are not stopped, lives will continue to be ruined.

James Phelan, Joseph Berger, Christopher Doyle and Joseph Nicolosi all key figures in the conversion therapy movement wrote lengthy reports to the judge outlining their purported expertise.  Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr. barred them all.

Conversion therapy, also known as “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapy, is on the ropes. Virtually all relevant U.S. medical associations plus, just this March, the world’s largest professional association of psychiatrists have condemned it. In the last four years, four states and two cities have outlawed its use with minors. One after another, both secular and religious ex-gay groups have been embarrassed by gay sex scandals involving their founders or top officers. And the civil suit against JONAH which produced hair raising testimony about nude counseling sessions, group cuddling exercises, bizarre re-enactments and other “therapy” exposed the creepy world of the conversion therapy industry and the quacks who run it.

But there was a more cynical reason as well. If being gay, lesbian or transgender was a “choice,” as most of the religious and secular right contended, then criticizing the LGBT community would be akin to simply criticizing bad behavior. It was, in other words, fundamentally different than skin color, over which people have no control. The tactic was seen as a firewall against being attacked as gay-hating bigots. While reparative therapists might condemn the gay “lifestyle,” they could still claim to be simply trying to help people clean up their unhealthy and unhappy lives.

At the same time, with the rise of many types of religious fundamentalism, growing numbers of young men and women felt painful conflicts between their own urges and the prohibitions of their faiths. As a result, there was an enormous market of Christians, Jews, Mormons and others who faced condemnation by their co-religionists if they acted on their attractions to members of their own sex.

In 1998, the drive to portray homosexuality as changeable culminated in a $600,000 newspaper ad campaign, entitled “Truth in Love,” that was funded by 15 religious-right groups “the Normandy landing of the culture war,” according to a Family Research Council official. The poster children of this campaign were John and Anne Paulk, who said they were formerly gay but now happily married. A photo of the couple ran on the cover of Newsweek under the headline “Gay for Life?”

After the religious right’s expensive 1998 ad campaign brought the reparative therapy movement to national attention, things went from bad to worse.

John Paulk, who had been the ex-gay poster boy for the 1998 ad campaign, was removed from his position as Exodus board chairman after LGBT activist Wayne Besen photographed him in a Washington, D.C., gay bar. Although Paulk initially dissembled about his reasons for being there, some 15 years later, in 2013, he would divorce his wife and say, “I do not believe that reparative therapy changes sexual orientation; in fact, it does great harm to many people.”

Paulk’s fellow ad campaign star, Michael Johnston, soon ran into trouble of his own. Johnston, who had been featured in 1998 TV ads touting reparative therapy and was the founder of “National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day,” was accused in 2003 of infecting men he met via the Internet with HIV. The American Family Association, which had partly funded the ad campaign, acknowledged that Johnston, who was featured in its “It’s Not Gay” video, had had a “moral fall.” Nevertheless, the group, after initially stopping, soon resumed distributing its video.

In 2010, NARTH officer and scientific advisory board member George Rekers was exposed for traveling abroad with a male prostitute. He denied sexual contact with the man, saying he was merely helping to carry luggage, but the man told a wholly different story. Rekers resigned from NARTH’s board a week later.

The reparative therapy movement was also seriously damaged as professional organization after professional organization followed the lead of the American Psychiatric Association in declassifying homosexuality as a disorder.

In November 2012, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against JONAH, founder Arthur Goldberg, affiliated counselor Alan Downing, and Alan Downing Life Coaching LLC. Although the suit would not go to trial until 2015, the 2014 depositions of JONAH’s would be experts already foreshadowed problems in the courtroom.

Some of what came out in those depositions was astonishing. One of the purported experts had cited a study by a “therapist” who turned out, unbeknownst to him, to be a massage therapist. Another’s articles had been published in a “journal” that charges authors $35 a page. Most cited studies that dated back to the 1960s and before and had long been discredited; one of them was a 1947 article on extrasensory perception. One man denied news reports that he had claimed success rates of 75-90%. Another described how clients needed to insist on taking female dates to the restaurant they chose to assert their masculine authority or risk finding themselves attracted to a waiter. The practice of a New Guinea tribe that encourages young boys to consume as much semen from older men as possible was cited with approval as an exercise in building heterosexuality.

And it came out that Goldberg, who had allowed himself to be addressed as “doctor” and “rabbi” although he was neither, was a convicted con man. In 1989, he was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in a $2 billion municipal bond scheme. The prosecutor said Goldberg, who was later disbarred, was a man who “habitually took advantage of people” and “did not hesitate to lie or cheat or cover up.”

On June 24, 2015, the jury in Judge Bariso’s courtroom unanimously found JONAH had committed consumer fraud and engaged in unconscionable commercial practices under New Jersey law by selling services that it claimed could change clients from gay to straight. In December, as part of a settlement, JONAH agreed to close its doors and its principals promised to cease all related commerce and to resign any leadership posts in ex-gay groups. The plaintiffs were awarded $72,400, and JONAH agreed to pay some of their legal fees.

New York State Bans "Gay Conversion Therapy"

New York State joins the list of states that have banned fraudulent, witch doctor-like "conversion therapy" or "reparative therapy" for those under age 18.  The bogus practice is peddled by the professional Christian crowd and charlatans as both a lucrative money making scheme and to keep the myth alive that gays can "change" their sexual orientation. A bill that would have made conversion therapy illegal in Virginia has been tabled by Republicans in the GOP controlled House of Delegates no doubt at the demands of The Family Foundation, Virginia's leading hate group.  Here are details from Huffington Post:

New York state will bar health insurance coverage of therapy aimed at changing the sexual or gender orientation of young people, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday, decrying the practice as "misguided" and "intolerant."

Top U.S. health officials have long discredited so-called "conversion therapy," saying attempts to change lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth are unethical and often harmful.

"Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice that is counter to everything this state stands for," Cuomo said in a statement. "We will not allow the misguided and the intolerant to punish LGBT young people for simply being who they are."

As of August 2015, four U.S. states and the District of Columbia have already banned therapies that seek to "convert" minors, according to a report released in October by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Another 21 states and the U.S. Congress have considered or are considering bans, the report said.

Under New York's new regulations, the state would bar private and public health insurers from paying for coverage for conversion therapy to a person under the age of 18.

Additionally, the state's Medicaid program, which provides health coverage to the poor, will not cover the practice, and the New York State Office of Mental Health will prohibit facilities under its jurisdiction from providing the treatment to minors.

Quacks like Michelle Bachmann's closeted husband make fortunes preying on religiously brainwashed gays and/or their parents.  Conversion therapy needs to be banned nationwide and authorities need to crack down on bogus "ministries" that peddle the dangerous lie that one can "pray away the gay."  I tried for 37 years and it is utter bullshit!

"Ex-Gay" Therapy is Often Child Abuse

Time and time again we sadly see articles about children dying because their parents denied them proper medical care due to "religious belief" that either disapproved of a needed type of treatment or because the parents believed they could pray away the illness.  To my view, such behavior is tantamount to murder.  It is also child abuse.  It is far past time that parents that use claims of religious belief to harm their children lose custody of their children.  It is also time that less overtly life threatening actions toward children based on professed religious belief be seen for what they are: child abuse.  A case in point?  "Ex-gay" therapy where ignorant, delusional parents (many of who are most worried about what fellow church members will think of them) submit their children children to this discredited and dangerous "therapy."  While now illegal in California and New Jersey, ex-gay programs for those under age 18 need to be illegal nationwide.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at the need for federal legislation to prevent this form of child abuse.  Here are highlights:

The voices of young people aren't often heard at the Capitol. And if you're a teenager sent to a boot camp, so-called "therapeutic" boarding school or behavior modification program, it's certain your voice won't be heard because you'll be cut off from all contact with your family and the outside world.

So we are here today for those youth whose voices have been silenced. We're here today for the parents who have been duped into believing these programs would really help their children. And we're here to demand action on behalf of the hundreds of young people who have actually died--as well as the thousands who suffer long-term trauma--because of the abuse they endured while in unregulated institutions that masquerade as legitimate treatment programs.

LGBT kids are particularly vulnerable. Even in states like California that have outlawed the dangerous and discredited practice of gay conversion therapy, there are residential programs that consider LGBT kids to be troubled--and in need of "fixing"--simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition to enduring the same horrible abuses as other youth, LGBT kids face additional levels of abuse that don't stop until staff believe they're no longer LGBT. No child can be "scared straight" and none should suffer damaging and sometimes fatal attempts to change who they are.

It's long past time for Congress to pass sensible legislation to regulate this rogue, multi-million dollar industry that's profiting from the abuse of young people.
I applaud the leadership of Representatives Schiff and Ros-Lehtinen for crossing the aisle to promote the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Treatment Programs for Teens Act--a law that would protect kids from unsafe programs. They understand that the health and well-being of young people is not a partisan issue. It isn't a partisan issue in California, where today our state Assembly is considering similar legislation that received nearly unanimous bipartisan support from our state senate. And it certainly shouldn't be a partisan issue in our nation's capitol. I urge the rest of the House to take action to pass the Act and stop this abuse before it's too late for any other youth.

SCOTUS Rejects Liberty Counsel's Appeal Challenging New Jersey "Ex-Gay" Therapy Ban

Mat Staver has to rank among the most hysterical homophobic bigots of the far right "godly Christian" fringe and his organization, Liberty Counsel, is in reality little more than a hate group despite its almost laughable efforts to depict itself as a "Christian law firm."   Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court seemingly recognizes that both Staver and Liberty Counsel live in an alternative universe crazy land where facts, expert medical and mental health care opinions, and so forth mean nothing, and everything is instead ruled by a sick selective reading of the Bible.  The result is that the Court rejected Liberty Counsels appeal challenging New Jersey's legislation barring the use of "ex-gay" or "reparative" therapy on those under age 18.   The rejection continued Liberty Counsel's track record of losing every case challenging "ex-gay therapy" bans.  Gay Star News has these highlights:

The US Supreme Court has upheld New Jersey's ban on gay conversion therapy for minors.  The court refused to hear a challenge to the law today, which means that a ruling made last September by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will remain in place.

The Court of Appeals said that the ban, which was signed into law in 2013, didn't violate the the free speech or religious rights of those who offer conversion therapy to minors in the state.

This is the second time the Supreme Court has refused to hear an argument on such a law, following the court's dimissal of a similar argument against Florida's ban in 2014.

Conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, is rejected by all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations.

Earlier this year, a New Jersey judge ruled misrepresenting homosexuality as a disorder in marketing conversion therapy services is consumer fraud.

The Christofascists relentlessly defend "ex-gay" conversion therapy because it is critical to their effort to maintain that sexual orientation is a choice and, therefore, not worthy of non-discrimination protections.   

Oregon House Votes to Ban "Ex-Gay" Conversion Therapy

One can already hear the shrieks and wailing among Christofascist circles as Oregon appears to be headed toward joining the list of states than ban the use of bogus, witch doctor like "ex-gay" conversion therapy on minors.  The myth that gays can "change" or be "repaired" - hence the term "reparative therapy" - has long been a keystone in the Christofascists' efforts to bar any advancement in LGBT rights.  The Columbian looks at the development that suggests that modern medical and mental health knowledge may be about to trump voodoo like religious batshitery.  Here are excerpts:

The Oregon House has voted to outlaw a therapy that purports to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of young people. 

The bill would make it illegal for social workers or licensed mental health professionals such as psychologists or psychiatrists to practice what's called conversion therapy on children younger than 18.

Laws banning the therapy have passed in New Jersey, California and Washington, D.C. Advocates say bills have been introduced in about two dozen more states.

Rep. Rob Nosse, a Portland Democrat, said the therapy has been widely discredited. He said the therapy can often lead to depression or anxiety in youths.  The vote Tuesday was 41-18.

In the state senate, Democrats hold an 18 to 12 majority.  As is typical, the Christofascists are claiming the law tramples of "religious free speech rights."  In their minds, the torturing children and youth is  perfectly fine if it helps abusive parents ignore modern reality and/or the fact that their "deeply held religious beliefs" are based on myths and the writings of ignorant goat herders.

Coming Out: When Parents Are the Enemy

I have several younger friends who has not come out to their parents.  Why?  Because of fear about how their parents - most of whom are described as "deeply religious" - will react.  Meanwhile, as more and more LGBT individuals come out and refuse to live in the closet, especially in their private lives, these individuals face an increasingly daunting prospect of finding enduring relationships because fewer and fewer of us are willing to be someone's "dirty secret."   The suicide death of Leelah Alcorn has focused a spot light on the deadly results of parents becoming the enemy of their child, usually as they cling to ignorance embracing religion or their own concerns over how people will perceive them for having an gay child.  To me, it's the height of parental selfishness.  An op-ed in The Advocate looks at the problem faced by those whose parents are their enemies and the failure of the justice system to protect LGBT youth.  Here are highlights:

A couple of weeks ago, Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender girl, walked in front of a tractor-trailer on an Ohio interstate in the middle of the night. She left behind a prescheduled-to-post suicide note on her Tumblr page (which has since been deleted, presumably by her family) that explained in explicit detail the abuse she had experienced at the hands of her parents. 

I don't think I will ever forget how it felt to be surrounded by adults who told 17-year-old me that I was "wrong" and that the most important thing was that I be "normal." These adults were the usual suspects — my mother, the adult friends I spent six months living with after I ran away from home — but most disturbingly, I was told I was wrong by the adults put in place by the system to protect me. My "victim's advocate" assigned to me by the court after my mother pled guilty to felony assault, explicitly blamed me for the violence in childhood home.

Even today, nearly 15 years later, queer youth are being told the same damaging messages about themselves that I heard, and those words are killing them.

For LGBTQ people, our parents are often the enemy. This is particularly true for LGBTQ youth, who are generally legally dependent upon their abusers for food, shelter, and other basic needs. Domestic violence survivors and advocates have done incredible work educating about how damaging and dangerous it is to encourage survivors to maintain relationships with or stay living with their abusers, it's past time for us to share the same messages about LGBTQ youth and abusive parents.  It has been refreshing amid the sadness of the last week, to hear queer activists and advocates publicly acknowledge that parents are the problem and not the answer, and that transgender youth should be removed from homes where they are unsafe due to unaccepting and abusive parents. But where will they go?

It is impossible for us to truly understand Leelah's suicide, the dangers of reparative therapy on the lives of LGBTQ youth, unless we understand the intersectionality of child/adolescent abuse, reparative therapy, dysfunctional foster care systems where LGBTQ youth aren't safe, and the epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness. It is one thing for us to demand that transgender youth be removed from unaccepting and abusive homes, it's another to provide the services they need not only to survive, but to thrive.

[W]e must remember that 40 percent of all homeless youth across the country identify as LGBTQ. LGBTQ youth homelessness is not just a problem in large urban environments. Although LGBTQ youth run away and are pushed out of homes in every region in this country, many cities and communities (like the county I'm from) don't have any youth shelter beds, let alone any that are culturally appropriate for LGBTQ youth. 

It is not enough to ban conversion therapy and to pay lip service by saying that transgender youth shouldn't live in homes where they are abused. We must open our hearts, our homes, and our wallets. We must work in partnership with youth to create LGBTQ youth centered programs that will care for them, and we ourselves must care about them too — while they are still alive.

We must make Leelah's final haunting words were a heartbreaking call to action.

There is much work to be done, including making adherents of conservative, anti-gay religious belief utterly unacceptable in society.  

TLC Show Lies and Promotes Discredited "Ex-Gay" Therapy

Thankfully, the blow back against TLC's propaganda like show "My Husband’s Not Gay," is getting media coverage.  Sadly, most media coverage leaves out one crucial element: the men featured as well as at least one of the wives, are "ex-gays" for pay and work for "ministries" that promote the medical/mental health falsehood that gays can "change."  In short, these individuals are little better than sleazy prostitutes who peddle a lie to make a buck.  Thus, TLC hasn't just happened upon some men who are honestly conflicted because of the religious brainwashing with which they were raised. It's akin to depicting  the Kouachi brothers who launched mayhem in Paris this past week as typical French Muslims.  The Salt Lake Tribune has coverage on the true nature of these dishonest individuals for whom TLC has provided a platform to disseminate false propaganda.  Here are excerpts:

It turns out that TLC has been downright dishonest about "My Husband’s Not Gay," the special that airs Sunday at 11 p.m. And it turns out that at least three of the Mormons on the show are not what they portray themselves to be.

"My Husband’s Not Gay" follows three Salt Lake-area, male-female married couples and one single man, and all the men say they have "same-sex attraction." At the same time, however, they claim they’re not gay.

Organizations like GLAAD have assailed the show, claiming that it promotes the discredited practice of conversion therapy – attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, often through coercive methods. And TLC has rejected that criticism.

[T]he network said in a statement. "The individuals featured in this one-hour special reveal the decisions they have made, and speak only for themselves."  But that’s not true. As reported by mediamatters.org, three of the Utahns profiled on the show are closely tied to those discredited therapies.

Preston "Pret" Dahlgren is the former chairman of Evergreen International, a Mormon-linked organization that promoted so-called "reparative therapy." After Evergreen shut down last year, Dahlgren joined North Star International – yet another such group – as a board member.

His wife, Megan, has worked with three "reparative therapy" groups — Evergreen, North Star, and People Can Change.

And Jeff Bennion, another of men profiled in "Not Gay," is a spokesman for North Star.

None of this is mentioned even in passing in the special. Which is a clear attempt to deceive the viewers.

Another column in the Salt Lake Tribune is equally brutal on both TLC and the frauds featured in the show.  Here are some highlights:

"My Husband’s Not Gay" just might be the least believable reality show in the history of television. It’s also sad, because if the participants are lying, they’re lying mostly to themselves.

The premise of the show, which airs Sunday at 11 p.m. on TLC, is that you can pray the gay away. It’s about a group of Utah Mormons who have "same-sex attraction" but have, nonetheless, married women.

Gay is not a lifestyle, it’s a life. And encouraging gay men to marry women and have families has led to a lot of heartache. On that level, "Not Gay" is dangerous and destructive.

As a TV show, "Not Gay" is contrived and unbelievable. What are supposed to be spontaneous moments are clearly set-ups.

And the message the show sends is not the one participants intended. It’s clear that Tom turned his same-sex attraction into homophobia, unable to see past stereotypes he perpetuates.

"I don’t feel like I fit the mold of guys that are attracted to other men," Tom says. "Other than my deep and abiding love for Broadway showtunes and the attraction to males."

Yeah, being attracted to males means you’re gay.

And while Tanya insists repeatedly that she trusts Jeff, her actions indicated otherwise. 

The participants are clearly unaware of this, but "My Husband’s Not Gay" puts them on display as if they’re in a carnival side show. They come across as an oddity.

If these couples are genuinely happy, good for them. But it would be interesting if TLC checks back in with them in a few years.  Not that we need any more of these people on TV. Ever.

Ouch!!  One would think these women are nuts marrying gays until one remembers that it's how their families make their living.  Like their husbands, they are little better than tawdry whores.  The last writer is correct and one has to wonder if these women will be singing a different tune in a few years when their husbands, like so many "ex-gays for pay," finally admit that it's all a lie.  Meanwhile, how many other women will fall for this crap and enter into marriages that are less than what they deserve.

Is It Child Abuse to Make a LGBT Child ‘Change’?

The suicide of Leelah Alcorn has set off a much needed debate on whether efforts to change LGBT children - especially those transgender - is a form of child abuse.  I've made it clear that my answer to that question is a resounding yes.   The New York Times has a debate going amongst writers that looks at the issue and so far, the opinions side with seeing such change attempts as abuse and seek to limit parental control over children.  Here are highlights from one of the opinions:

L.G.B.T. youth need support from their families -- not derision. If you tell a child or teenager they’re not good enough, that they’re worthless, that who they are is broken or wrong, that’s abuse. So-called conversion therapy -- ideologically based counseling that teaches L.G.B.T people they can be “fixed” to be straight or cisgender -- is no different. I don't know the details of Leelah Alcorn's therapy or what her home life was like beyond what her online notes describe -- but forcing L.G.B.T children to attend counseling that tells them that who they are is shameful or "sick" is child abuse.

This kind of counseling -- which has been derided by the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association -- is illegal in multiple states for a reason: it’s wrong, it’s harmful and it actively puts young lives at risk. 

Trans youth -- who suffer from high suicide and suicide attempt rates -- are even more likely to make attempts on their lives when they have unsupportive or abusive families. This is not a matter of rhetoric or legalese, it’s an urgent issue of life and death.

Leelah Alcorn did not have to die. There are support structures already in place for young L.G.B.T people -- like PFLAG and the Trevor Project -- to get help with their families or on their own. Now we need more legal options, including easier emancipation for minors, to ensure that young L.G.B.T people facing abuse at home have access to the help they want and need.

Another opinion notes the following which ought to make "Christian counseling" illegal:

Those who received counseling from a religious adviser were actually more likely to have a later suicide attempt than those who sought no help at all.

It is far past time that children cease being treated as chattel property of their parents and that fundamentalist parents who reject their children be charged with abuse and have their parental rights terminated.  No child should have their life ruined or feel driven to suicide merely because their parents are ignorance embracing religious fanatics.

Bill to Bar "Ex-Gay" Therapy Introduced in Virginia General Assembly

Legislation has been enacted in California, New Jersey and most recently, the District of Columbia which makes it illegal for licensed therapists to subject minors to "ex-gay" therapy - the voodoo/ witch doctor -like "therapy" lauded by Christofascists and charlatans - that claims the gays can become heterosexual.  As noted before on this blog, the "ex-gay" myth is a key component in the Christofascist agenda to deny LGBT citizens civil rights protections and serves as a talking point to support the lie that sexual orientation is a "choice" and, therefore, undeserving of legal protections.  The bill introduced by Delegate Hope would add a provision to Chapter 24 of Title54.1 of the Code of Virginia.  The proposed amendment reads as follows:

§ 54.1-2409.5. Sexual orientation change efforts prohibited.

No person licensed in accordance with the provisions of this subtitle shall engage in sexual orientation change efforts with any person under 18 years of age.  Any sexual orientation change efforts with a person under 18 years of age engaged in by a provider licensed in accordance with the  provisions of this subtitle shall constitute unprofessional conduct and shall constitute grounds for disciplinary action by the appropriate health regulatory board within the Department of Health  Professions.  For the purpose of this section, "sexual orientation change efforts" includes the provision of treatment,  interventions, counseling, or services intended to change a person's sexual orientation, gender  identity, or gender expressions.  "Sexual orientation change efforts" does not include treatment, interventions, counseling, or services provided to persons seeking to transition from one gender to another or that provide acceptance, social support, and identity exploration and development.

It goes without saying that Victoria Cobb and the hate merchants at The Family Foundation ("TFF") will oppose this bill with tooth and claw.  It also goes without saying that TFF will demand that its tawdry political whores in the Republican Party of Virginia vote against this bill.  The good news nonetheless is that the bill will help to generate media coverage as to the fraudulent nature of "ex-gay" therapy and its harmful effects.   it will also help expose Victoria Cobb and TFF for the foul liars that they are.