Trump's Latest Medical Quack Warns of Sex with Demons

Trump's Christofascist base of support - and sadly some otherwise decent Republicans I know - are always at the ready to believe whatever insane and far fetched story line that plays to their prejudices and/or ignorance embracing religious beliefs.  This is a reality that Trump has played like a violin as he has sought to grant Christofascists special rights and to exempt them from non-discrimination laws.  It is also why Trump seems to have a constant parade of whacked out "experts" who either support his endless lies or who will play well with the ignorant searching for "experts" to support their exist biases.  Now, Trump has found an unhinged physician who he is offering up as an expert to counter legitimate and sane medical experts.  The Washington Post looks at this loose canon who blames some medical conditions on having sex with demons (A piece in the Daily Beast also looks at her lunacy).  Why this individual still holds any medical license is baffling.  Here are article highlights:

        According to the Mayo Clinic, endometriosis is “an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of [the] uterus — the endometrium — grows outside [the] uterus.”

    Not so, says Stella Immanuel, a Houston pediatrician and spiritual leader of Fire Power Ministries, a pronouncedly non-orthodox church. Endometriosis and other potentially dangerous gynecological conditions are the residue of sexual intercourse with demons, Immanuel teaches.

        They visit humans in sexy dreams, which aren’t dreams after all but spirit spouses making a booty call. The demons are responsible not only for diseases of the female reproductive system but also for male impotence, most financial troubles, marital discord and spiritual malaise.

        This is not Immanuel’s only diversion from the medical mainstream. She also maintains that alien DNA is a component of some therapeutic drugs and that government scientists are developing a vaccine to prevent religious faith. You can find these and other teachings of hers on YouTube.

        Or you can find Immanuel on President Trump’s Twitter feed, where she testifies to the power of hydroxychloroquine (yep! we’re back to that one) to cure covid-19 and assures the public that masks are not important to fighting the pandemic. More than 10 million Americans heard her advice, thanks in part to the president’s amplifying effect, before Facebook took down her page. In response, Immanuel threatened to have Jesus unplug Facebook’s servers.

        I guess there is no point in expressing my strong view that the president of the United States should not, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, pass along medical advice that undermines public health officials without good reason to believe that it comes from a qualified authority. The president doesn’t care.

        And I suppose it’s pointless to say to my Christian brothers and sisters in Trump’s dwindling camp that a man who raises the profile of a heretical preacher is not a friend of the faith. Many so-called evangelicals who stick with Trump gave up on evangelism — that is, winning people over through selfless acts of love and charity — long ago.

        [L]et me speak to those Republicans cowering in closets and hiding under stairs in Washington and the state capitals, muttering prayers that Trump might somehow calm the flames that threaten to consume them.

        Run away. Close your eyes and duck your heads and sprint as fast as you can away from Trump. Claim amnesia. Say you’ve been hiking the Appalachian Trail. Blame your spirit spouse — whatever. A fury is building in Middle America that has nothing to do with Russia or impeachment or “Access Hollywood.” It’s rising among people who managed to look past all of that to find something they liked about the president. And now he’s repaying them with a stubby middle finger in their faces.

        They understand that covid-19 is not a joke. They have children whose teachers are afraid to be in school with them. They have teenagers reeling from the mental health impacts of isolation and anxiety. They’ve lost their jobs, their businesses, their sense of safety. They’re worried about losing their homes.

        And they see what the president thinks of them and their concerns. Here, you dupes and dopes, Trump says — here’s a video from a woman who believes in demon dream sex. Or here’s one from a washed-up game-show host who says covid-19 is an election ploy. Or how about this idea: Drink some bleach.

        They’re worried and suffering, and their president might as well be saying: I don’t care if you live or die. And it’s coming through loud and clear. The political center is slow to anger. It’s also slow to forget.

Virginia Board of Psychology Votes to Ban Gay Conversion Therapy

Expect shrieks and screams and even possible lawsuits as Christofascists and charlatans who support so-called gay conversion therapy for political propaganda and/or self-enrichment through fraud react to the Virginia Board of Psychiatry's vote to ban conversion therapy for minors.  The usual smoke screen of "religious freedom" will no doubt be used to defend this form of child abuse and in some cases what borders on torture. The Board vote does not immediately end this dangerous practice but does set in motion the process to achieve a ban.  A piece in WUSA 9 looks at the development.  Here are highlights (note the comparison of conversion therapy to snake oil and tainted food): 

The Virginia Board of Psychology voted Tuesday to begin the process of banning its licensees from providing gay conversion therapy to minors in the state.

The Board of Psychology is the first of five professional licensing boards to take up the issue following a joint workgroup in October that brought together members of the psychology, counseling, social work, nursing and medical professions. The workgroup was convened at the Board of Psychology’s request after multiple legislative attempts at banning conversion therapy failed in the Virginia General Assembly.

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), is a practice – viewed by most mental health organizations as not just ineffective, but potentially harmful – that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, or at least to diminish what supporters call “unwanted same-sex attraction.”

It is illegal to perform conversion therapy on minors in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Last week, New York voted to become the 15th state to ban the practice on minors. New York City banned conversion therapy for anyone of any age last year.

On Tuesday, the Board of Psychology voted to send a notice of regulatory action to the attorney general’s office – the first step in a roughly 18-month process to enact new regulation. The board also voted to issue a guidance document, which will go up for public comment next month, about possible penalties if a licensed practitioner is found to be providing conversion therapy to minors.

Dr. Herb Stewart, chairman of the Board of Psychology, said he believes a regulatory ban is necessary to protect Virginia youth.

“Some of these therapists are well-meaning. Some of them are driven much more by ideology,” Stewart said. “But the bottom line is, I think that it’s sufficiently harmful and clearly ineffective, and I think it’s the role of the state to come in and say it’s not OK. You can’t do that. Whether it’s peddling bad food or peddling snake oil or providing conversion therapy. I think it’s an important role for us to take, and I hope that we can move this forward.”

Jaime Hoyle, executive director of the Boards of Psychology, Counseling and Social Work, said she expects the rest of the boards in the workgroup to take up similar regulatory language during their next meetings. The Board of Counseling will meet next on Feb. 8, followed by the Board of Social Work on March 15. A joint meeting of the Boards of Nursing and Medicine is schedule for Feb. 13.

In addition to the support of the professional boards, regulation banning conversion therapy for minors would also have to receive approval from the governor, attorney general, secretary of health and human services and the Department of Planning & Budget before going into effect.

LGBT Supporters Turn the Tables on Anti-Gay Franklin Graham in Iceland

You have to laugh sometimes when you see an anti-gay bigot finding the tables turned on them by their own ground rules.  A case in point is Franklin Graham (at left in the image above) who but for his famous father would likely be a nobody.  But, in true Christofascist form, Franklin Graham saw plentiful numbers of ignorant and uninformed people that he could shake down and in the process live the good life.  He also bought in to gay bashing and  spreading the typical "godly Christian" lies about gays.  Graham has scheduled two appearance in Iceland where he would undoubtedly spew his usual anti-gay poison, but it appears his efforts have been foiled by his own effort to fill the audience.  LGBT activists and supporters have "sold out" the free tickets and Graham will potentially speak to an empty venue.  That's right, the pro-LGBT crowd has no intention of actually going to hear Graham and listening to his snake oil.  I love it!  Here are highlights from Gay Star News:

Pro-LGBT Icelanders have booked hundreds of tickets to see anti-gay US evangelist Franklin Graham – but few have any intention of actually going to see him.

Graham will be in Iceland for events on 28 and 29 September for the evangelical Christian Festival of Hope but many Icelanders have expressed concern about his homophobic views.

In May of 2012 Graham released a statement accusing US President Barack Obama of shaking ‘his fist at the same God who created and defined marriage.’

Opponents of the visit discovered they could book up to four tickets to both events for free online, while by contacting organizers they could book for groups of 20 or more, and decided to book out the event and then not go in protest of Graham’s message.

‘The seats will be left empty and I hope that more people were able to get tickets … so that [no] people attend this ridiculous meeting.’

According to the International Business Times, software developer Elvar Thormar posted on Facebook that he had been able to reserve as many as 500 tickets to the event despite having no intention of showing up.

Both events that Graham will speak at had sold out by Friday.

Iceland is one of the most LGBT friendly countries in the world and Icelandic voters elected Johanna Sigurdardottir – the world’s first openly gay or lesbian head of state - in 2009. She retired in April of this year.

Reykjavik mayor Jón Gnarr recently threatened to cut off political and cultural ties with Moscow over Russia’s treatment of LGBTs.

I'm sorry, but in my view, tawdry whores have more integrity and moral virtue than professional Christians like Franklin Graham who have hate and bigotry as their principle stock in trade.  In my opinion, he is little more than a con artist.

Pro-LGBT Icelanders have booked hundreds of tickets to see anti-gay US evangelist Franklin Graham – but few have any intention of actually going to see him.
Graham will be in Iceland for events on 28 and 29 September for the evangelical Christian Festival of Hope but many Icelanders have expressed concern about his homophobic views.
In May of 2012 Graham released a statement accusing US President Barack Obama of shaking ‘his fist at the same God who created and defined marriage.’
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/icelanders-book-out-event-anti-gay-us-evangelist-protest-his-views160813#sthash.VBnzNUBS.48mlxoU7.dpuf

Pro-LGBT Icelanders have booked hundreds of tickets to see anti-gay US evangelist Franklin Graham – but few have any intention of actually going to see him.
Graham will be in Iceland for events on 28 and 29 September for the evangelical Christian Festival of Hope but many Icelanders have expressed concern about his homophobic views.
In May of 2012 Graham released a statement accusing US President Barack Obama of shaking ‘his fist at the same God who created and defined marriage.’
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/icelanders-book-out-event-anti-gay-us-evangelist-protest-his-views160813#sthash.VBnzNUBS.48mlxoU7.dpuf

Leading Medical/Mental Health Organizations File Briefs About "Ex-Gay" Therapy Harms

While we have charlatan "ex-gays for pay like Matt Moore peddling the cynical myth that gays can become "straight" through therapy and "accepting Jesus," leading medical and mental health organizations have filed amicus briefs with the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit urging the Court to uphold California's ban on "ex-gay" reparative therapy for those under 18 years of age.  These medical and mental health experts call out such religious motivated "therapy" - if one can even dignify the practice with that term - for what it is: fraudulent and harmful.  The sooner "ex-gay" therapy is made illegal nationwide, the better off countless LGBT individuals will be.  As for the Christofascists, they will need to just get over the fact that the selectively cited passages in Leviticus written by ignorant, uneducated nomadic herders (and repeated by the former legalistic Pharisee St. Paul) are simply false.  Better yet, they ought to seek therapy for themselves to discover what motives their sick and selfish need to condemn others so that they can feel better about their own small self-centered lives.  Here are excerpts from an article detailing information of these briefs: 

(San Francisco, CA, February 8, 2013)—A diverse group of prominent mental health professional organizations and social services providers, scholars of constitutional and health care law, civil liberties and religious organizations, the City and County of San Francisco, and individuals and family members filed ten friend-of-the-court briefs this week urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a 2012 California law that prohibits licensed therapists from trying to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender expression. 

The law, which was signed by California Governor Jerry Brown on September 29, 2012, prohibits state-licensed therapists from attempting to change the sexual orientation or gender expression of a patient under 18 years old. Anti-LGBT legal groups challenged the law in October, 2012, primarily representing California therapists who engage in these practices. Those lawsuits are now before the Ninth Circuit, which will hear arguments on April 17. . . .

On Wednesday, the California Psychological Association, the California Division of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and the National Association of Social Workers urged the court to permit the law to take effect because the leading mental health professional organizations “agree that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and have advised against practices that attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation.”

Twelve regional and national organizations that work with LGBTQ youth .  .  .  .  .  also filed a brief supporting the law. The brief recounts the first-hand experiences of youth who have suffered severe mental and physical health problems as a result of attempts to change their sexual orientation or gender expression, including suicide attempts, cutting and other self-injurious behaviors, severe anxiety, and depression. For example, the brief describes a young woman who called the Trevor Project’s helpline who, after seeing a therapist who tried to change her sexual orientation, “has attempted suicide several times” and “prays that she will die in an accident.”

Another brief tells the stories of individuals who underwent efforts to change their sexual orientation and as a result were plagued for years by problems such as severe anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and drug abuse. The brief includes the story of Kirk Murphy, who as a child in the early 1970s was subjected to an experiment designed to prevent children from growing up to be gay by the University of California at Los Angeles. Murphy’s family was counseled to reward “masculine” behavior and punish “feminine” behavior. Murphy’s sister recalls that these techniques severely damaged her brother, making him withdrawn, isolated and self-conscious. Murphy, a gay man, ultimately died by suicide at the age of 38.

The City and County of San Francisco filed a brief describing how these practices contribute to high rates of homelessness and other serious health problems among LGBT youth, many of whom flock to San Francisco after being rejected by their families. Religious organizations and leaders, including California Faith for Equality and the California Council of Churches, Justice and Witness Ministries, United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California, among others, also submitted a brief asking the court to uphold the California law.

“The friend-of-the-court briefs filed in this case underscore the unified message of all leading medical, mental health, and child welfare advocates—efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation are cruel, damaging, and have no place in the provision of mental health care,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “These briefs make an overwhelming case for the necessity for this law, which is now being looked to as a model by a number of other states.”

Law firms and legal organizations representing groups filing friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the California law included: ACLU Foundation Of Northern California, Inc.; Arnold & Porter LLP; Covington & Burling LLP; Foley & Lardner LLP; Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney of San Francisco; Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP; Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP; Jon B. Eisenberg, Esq.; Eric Alan Isaacson, Esq.; Stacey M. Kaplan, Esq.; and Barry R. Levy, Esq.  

Its noteworthy that some of the law firms involved are among the most powerful and prestigious in the country.  It is telling that the only ones opposing the law are (i) cynical quacks enriching themselves at the expense of the well being of their patients and (ii) religious extremist organizations who fund bogus "research" to justify their persecution of LGBT individuals and efforts to deny us equal civil legal rights.

Christofascists Seek to Block California Reparative Therapy Ban

The folks at Liberty University and the equally toxic Liberty Counsel believe in freedom of religion - as long as it is defined as they and their followers being allowed to force others to adhere to the Christofascists' religious beliefs.  And this sick version of religious freedom includes parents being allowed to force their minor children into harmful and dangerous "ex-gay" a/k/a reparative therapy programs and "ministries."   Hence the hysteria in the Christian Taliban quarters over California's new law that bans therapists and snake oil merchants form subjecting anyone  under 18 to this bogus, witch doctor like therapy.   Leading the charge in the challenge to the law is Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel - the same man who may been part of a criminal conspiracy and have helped Lisa Miller kidnap her daughter and flee America - who realizes that if the ban in California spreads, it will be a major blow to the Christofascists propaganda that being gay is a "choice" and that gays can "change."   As one who tried to "change" for 37 years I know how damaging these attempts to change can be.  Forcing a minor into such programs is nothing less than a form of child abuse and, frankly, parents who do this to their children ought to be prosecuted for abuse in my opinion.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at the legal battle in California.  Here are some excerpts:

Jerry Spencer's counselor once placed bags of ice on his hands while showing him photos of men holding hands. Chaim Levin's "life coach" told him to slowly undress in front of a mirror while the coach stood several feet away and watched. James Guay's licensed therapist took a more conventional approach. He told Guay to try to fantasize about having sex with women.

All of these therapists and counselors practice something that goes by the name of "reparative therapy" or "conversion therapy." By any name, the idea behind it is the same: therapy can make gay people straight. It has been practiced in some form since the rise of therapy in the U.S. more than a half-century ago, but a series of high-profile attempts to curtail it have recently thrust it into the spotlight.

On Friday in California, a lawyer representing therapists and families who want to continue the practice went to court in the hope of blocking a new state law signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The law, which bans licensed therapists from engaging in the practice with minors, is the first of its kind in the U.S., and activists celebrated it as a milestone in the gay-rights movement. 

A ruling is expected next week. If the law survives these two legal challenges, it will go into effect at the start of 2013.

In a press release a day before the hearing, Liberty Counsel said it would argue that that law is an "astounding violation of the right to free speech and religious liberty."

Shannon Minter, legal director for The National Center for Lesbian Rights, or NCLR, which is defending a gay-rights group that has filed a motion to intervene to defend the law, said he was pleased with the hearing. "It went extremely well," he said. Minter said he has been fighting this practice for 20 years, but the battleground has changed in the last decade, as one by one the entire mainstream medical establishment, from the American Psychiatric Association to the American Psychological Association, renounced it. The World Health Organization, for example, has released a statement saying that such methods "lack medical justification and represent a serious threat to the health and well-being" of patients.

For both sides, the case represents another potential turning point for the practice nationwide. Since the California law entered the books, similar legislation has been proposed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of four former patients and two of their mothers against a conversion therapy group called Jews Offering New Alternatives For Healing, or JONAH, alleging that this organization, which does not employ licensed counselors, violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act by claiming that counseling services could cure clients of being gay. Also this week, Rep. Jackie Spier (D-Calif.), introduced the Stop Harming Our Kids Resolution in Congress, the first federal action aimed at ending conversation therapy.

However these lawsuits and legislative efforts turn out, gay-rights advocates say that by merely shining a light on conversion therapy, they're helping to end it. Christine Sun, the legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said, "Our campaign was not just focused on vindicating the rights of conversion therapy survivors, but to destroy the very concept that a person could change from gay to straight."

"When people hear about the absurd treatment that goes on," Sun added, "that does a lot to change people's minds."

One thing the defenders of reparative therapy don't mention is that these "therapists" make a lucrative living preying on tormented gays and/or their parents who in many cases are more worried about their own embarrassment at having a gay child than they are about their child's welfare.  In my view, the most tawdry whore has more integrity than Matt Staver and his fellow supporters of this quackery.

Consumer Fraud Lawsuit Filed Against "Ex-Gay" Therapy Group in New Jersey

I have long believed that the fastest way to kill off and close down fraudulent "ex-gay" ministries and unethical Christian therapists is through lawsuits.  Lawsuits that sue these quacks for fraud or seek to recover damages for harm done to victims of these programs who either entered them voluntarily or who were forced into them by family or churches.  Thankfully, such a lawsuit has been filed in New Jersey against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing ("JONAH"), Arthur Goldberg, the group's ex-felon founder (working with Wayne Besen I helped expose Goldberg's felony conviction for securities fraud and his disbarment), and a counselor for the group, Alan Downing.  The lawsuit alleges that the group violated New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act because it claims it can "cure" gays despite the contrary findings of the American Psychological Association and every other legitimate medical and mental health association.  Metro Weekly has details.  Here are excerpts:

The fight against "ex-gay" conversion therapy continued in New Jersey today, where former patients of a group that promised to convert people from gay to straight filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Four young men and two of their parents filed the lawsuit against the founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), Arthur Goldberg, and a counselor for the group, Alan Downing, alleging that the group violated New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act by claiming that they could "cure" gay people of their homosexuality.

Represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Lite DePalma Greenberg, the plaintiffs' lawsuit is the first to sue a practitioner of conversion therapy on the grounds of providing fraudulent services.

The complaint alleges that, among other things, the plaintiffs were lured into believing "reparative therapy" could make them straight, spending thousands of dollars in the process while enduring abusive practices at the hands of Goldberg and Downing. Such practices have long been discredited by therapists as amounting to abuse.

Specifically, the complaint says that the plaintiffs were instructed to remove their clothing during individual and group therapy sessions. They were also instructed to cuddle with other same-sex patients and counselors as well as go to gyms and bath houses in order to be nude around father figures. Subjected to verbal abuse that included being called names like "faggots" and "homos" during mock locker room scenarios, some were also told to beat effigies of their mothers with tennis rackets.

"JONAH profits off of shameful and dangerous attempts to fix something that isn’t broken," said Christine Sun, SPLC deputy legal director, in a statement. "Despite the consensus of mainstream professional organizations that conversion therapy doesn't work, this racket continues to scam vulnerable gay men and lesbians out of thousands of dollars and inflicts significant harm on them."

According to SPLC, JONAH was originally known as Jews Offering New Alternatives for Homosexuality. Its founder, Arthur Goldberg, is a former Wall Street executive and attorney and was disbarred after being convicted of three counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government. After being released from prison, he founded JONAH in 1999.

The New York Times reports that neither Goldberg nor Downing are subject to censure from medicial associations because they are not licensed therapists.

In October, SPLC also filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation against Paul McNulty, a state licensed clinical social worker who practices reparative therapy.

One can only hope that many more lawsuits of this type are filed and that the ultimately extend to church affiliated snake oil "ministries.

British Government Condemns Reparative Therapy and "Ex-Gay" Therapy

Expect lots of whining and caterwauling from the Christofascists and "ex-gays for pay" who have been striving to export their snake oil  to the United Kingdom.  The British Department of Health has condemned reparative therapy and gone on to state that there is no evidence of any benefit to those who undergo such treatment.  In short, the Department of Health sees reparative therapy and "ex-gay ministries" for what they are: frauds motivated by religious extremism and/or political machinations aimed at depriving LGBT individuals of their equal civil rights.  Here are highlights from Pink News:

Lib Dem Health Minister Norman Lamb said: “The Department of Health does not condone the concept of therapists offering ‘cures’ for homosexuality. There is no evidence that this sort of treatment is beneficial and indeed it may well cause significant harm, to some patients.

“It is incumbent on professionals working in the National Health Service to ensure that treatment and care, including therapy, is provided to every patient without any form of discrimination”.

Mr Lamb continued: “If someone is suffering a mental health problem, clinicians will try to help patients with whatever is causing them distress. This could involve helping someone come to terms with their sexuality, family arguments over their sexuality, or hostility from other people.

“We know from research that the incidence of depression, anxiety and suicide within the gay community is significantly higher than within the heterosexual community and this is why ‘No health without mental health’ identifies lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as a specific group for whom a tailored approach to their mental health is necessary.”

Last month, Lesley Pilkington, the Christian psychotherapist who was found to be providing gay conversion therapy, was finally struck off by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).  She was initially found guilty of malpractice by the BACP in July 2011, following an undercover investigation by the journalist Patrick Strudwick, but had subsequently appealed the decision.

Would that the U.S. government would formally condemn fraudulent "ex-gay" programs and reparative therapy. 

"Ex-Gay" Counsellor Arrested For Molestation Of Two Young Men

When it comes to liars and snake oil merchants few exceed the dishonesty and hypocrisy of the "ex-gay" industry which shakes down vulnerable victims and/or self-centered parents of gays just as smoothly as Karl Rove conned his millionaire and billionaire (former) friends.  Like Rove, these "ex-gay" frauds and their "ministries" deliver nothing.  Adding to the hypocrisy is that many of these "ex-gay" proponents are  themselves gay as a goose.  And some, like Rev. Ryan J. Muelhauser (pictured at right), senior pastor at Lakeside Christian Church, are anything but cured themselves.  Muelhauser has been charged with taking sexual liberties with those he was supposedly counseling to turn straight.  The sad truth is rather than engage in fraudulent "ex-gay" programs and bogus "ministries" gays and their families need to jettison the religious brainwashing and bullshit that makes them upset about homosexuality in the first place.  Every state needs to ban "ex-gay" therapy for minors as California recently did.  These "ministries," "clinics," and "counseling" are both fraudulent and harmful.  Huffington Post has coverage on Muelhauser's arrest. Here are story excerpts:

An ordained counsellor dedicated to 'freeing' people from homosexuality has been arrested on charges of molesting two young men over a period of two years. 

Rev. Ryan J. Muelhauser, senior pastor at Lakeside Christian Church, has been arrested for eight felony counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, the Isanti-Chisago County Star reports.

Muelhauser was connected with OutPost Ministry; an anti-gay ministry that proclaims on its website:

The Father's great desire for those struggling with same-sex attractions and other sexual and relational brokenness motivated Him to send His one and only Son Jesus to be the Way out of slavery to sin.

The pastor allegedly fondled two young men who were seeking to 'cure' themselves of homosexuality, as well as asking them to masturbate for him. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

One of the men told investigators that Muehlhauser "blessed" him by cupping his genitals outside of his clothing several times and that Muehlhauser asked the man to masturbate in front of him for "spiritual strength." Muelhauser would also fondle the man at times. Their encounters occurred over a period of nearly two years.

If convicted, the pastor could face up to 10 years in prison for each charge, and a fine of $20,000. 

New Jersey to Consider Ban on "Ex-Gay" Therapies; Christian Whack Job Sues California

Even as proponents of fraudulent ex-gay therapy move to sue the state of California for banning ex-gay therapy for those under the age of 18, their worst nightmare be starting to transpire: New Jersey may consider legislation that would implement a similar ban on such "therapy" which finds no scientific, medical or mental health support.  At least not outside of Christianist funded "ex-gays for pay,"  most of whom seem to be former alcoholics, drug users and prostitutes - i.e., the dredges of society who would do anything to find acceptance.  First these highlights from South Florida Gay News on developments in New Jersey followed by the issues of lawsuits in California.

Democratic Assemblyman Timothy Eustace, an openly gay father of two, is set to introduce a bill next week that would make it illegal for parents to subject their children to undergo “sexual conversion” therapy.  According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the bill will probably face resistance from anti-gay, conservative groups, and it’s unclear what would be the reaction of Republican Gov. Chris Christie to the legislation.

“I see it as a form of child abuse,’ Eustace told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Being gay is not an illness, so what are they fixing.”  Two Democratic state senators, Raymond Lesniak and Stephen Sweeney, plan to co-sponsor a similar bill in the New Jersey Senate House.

“Parents don't have the right to endanger their children by participating in a practice that has no basis in science whatsoever,” Sen. Sweeney said.  If the bill were to pass, New Jersey would become the second state in the U.S. to ban “ex-gay” therapies.

California became the first state to ban such therapy on Sept. 29.  The therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," California Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement.

But now back to developments in California where an, in my opinion,  obviously mentally disturbed college student who claims he once had same-sex attractions but became heterosexual after conversion therapy has filed a lawsuit against California.  Pardon me, but I'd love to know which of the anti-gay hate groups is secretly funding this litigation.  ABC News has coverage on this lawsuit which may well prove to be the death knell for the reparative therapy crowd who will not be able to find legitimate experts to support their bogus claims.  Here are highlights:

A college student who claims he once had same-sex attractions but became heterosexual after conversion therapy has filed a lawsuit against California, which has enacted a law that bans so-called "gay cures" for minors.

The lawsuit, also joined as plaintiffs by two therapists who have used the treatments with patients, alleges that the law banning the therapy intrudes on First Amendment protections of free speech, privacy and freedom of religion.

The student, Aaron Blitzer, who is studying to be a therapist in that field, said the law would prevent him from pursuing his career, according to court papers filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The lawsuit names as defendants California Gov. Jerry Brown, as well as 21other state officials, including members of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and the California Medical Board.

The other plaintiffs are Donald Welsch, a licensed family therapist and ordained minister who operates a Christian counseling center in San Diego; and Dr. Anthony Duk, a psychiatrist and practicing Roman Catholic.

Several members of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and the California Mental Board were named in the lawsuit.  "Our board voted to support that piece of legislation after working with the author's office to further define sexual orientation change efforts," said Kim Madsen, executive officer for the sciences board, which licenses and oversees therapists.

The American Psychiatric Association has outlawed conversion therapies for more than a decade, insisting they are harmful.

The reality is that there is no right to inflict dangerous and fraudulent beliefs and treatment A prime example is Christian extremists who want to rely on prayer alone to cure seriously ill children and try to withhold medical treatment.  The are numerous cases where such parents have been criminally prosecuted and convicted for child abuse and/or neglect.  Subjecting a minor to bogus and psychologically damaging "ex-gay" conversion therapy is no different. I truly hope the plaintiffs go down in flames and set legal precedent for just who dangerous and fraudulent these "ex-gay" therapies are in fact    

Televangelist (And Asshole) Joel Osteen Says Homosexuality is a Choice - Even though Heterosexuality is Not

The nastiness and dishonesty of the professional Christian set - who are in my view little better than con men who shake down the ignorant and gullible for money - continues to be stunning.  A case in point is Joel Osteen who lives VERY well by convincing the simple minded to send his "ministry" money.  In an interview on CNN Osteen was pressed to admit that he never chose to be straight - it was simply who he was.  Meanwhile, however, Osteen argues that being gay is a choice either out of intellectual laziness or fear that admitting that God made some of us gay might prove the Bible wrong and, in the process, cause his house of cards faith message to collapse.  It is individuals like Osteen that maintain the pressure on gays to marry and try to be straight with the result that straight spouses and children find themselves in ultimately doomed marriages.  Think Progress looks at Osteen's dishonest and disgusting comments on homosexuality.  Here are excerpts:

Joel Osteen, the televangelist who presides over the nation’s largest congregation at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, appeared on CNN’s morning show Starting Point this morning to discuss his latest book and ended up in a lengthy conversation about his views on the LGBT community.

Host Soledad O’Brien and panelist Richard Socarides pushed Osteen on his beliefs on homosexuality, and whether his message of lifting people up can coexist with his church’s view of homosexuality as a sin:

O’BRIEN: You make it clear that you think that homosexuality is a sin…
OSTEEN: When I read the scripture, that’s what I believe; that the scripture condemns it or says it’s a sin. But it also says that you know, lying is, and that being prideful is…
O’BRIEN: Right, so then you shouldn’t lie. But for people who are gay, you’re saying so then you shouldn’t be gay?
OSTEEN: Well, I think that’s the big debate. The scripture says you’ve got to work out your own salvation…
SOCARIDES: Do you think you can choose to be gay or not gay? You think you choose to be straight?
OSTEEN: I know I have not chosen to be straight, I feel like that’s who I am…
HOST: Well so how can I choose to be gay?

 Osteen is little better than a sleazy snake oil merchants.  And, in my opinion, he strikes me as pretty gay.  I hope that some day frauds and charlatans like Osteen find themselves out of business.

"Ex-Gay" Batshitery Stephen Bennett Style

Some years back I had a run in with "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett (pictured at left) who like most of the "ex-gay" crowd preys on the parents of gays who are embarrassed to have gay children and as a result will subject their children to "conversion therapy" horrors so that the parents can feel better about themselves.  At the time of my run in with Bennett, he was linking his website to utterly false and discredited work by Paul Cameron.  Naturally, when confronted, Bennett feigned ignorance.  As Joe Jervis notes, Bennett is still selling the same nasty snake oil to parents who lack the spine and moral fiber to place their children a head of religious brainwashing and anti-gay hate.  As Joe notes, like most of the "ex-gay for pay" crowd, Bennett is a former alcoholic and drug dealer - problems that Bennett would blame on his homosexuality.  Here a sampling of the bullshit from Bennett's website: 

Why don't you take the time to pray, gather your thoughts, and write your story about your loved one or situation in a private letter, and personally address it to Stephen Bennett. As a man who once struggled with the homosexual lifestyle for many years, and now has been completely set free through Jesus Christ, Stephen personally reads and responds to every letter he receives. With your letter, please feel free to include a photo of your loved one. Your photo and your letter will remain completely private and confidential here at SBM. SBM will commit to fervently pray. Prayer changes everything!

Candidly, in my opinion, a nasty prostitute has more integrity than Mr. Bennett and those like him who do incalculable harm to LGBT youth who are submitted to fraudulent conversion programs.  As for parents who place their children in such programs, in my view they need to be prosecuted for felony child abuse.

Liberty Counsel Threatens Lawsuit if California Bans "Ex-Gay" Therapy for Minors

I have noted several times the progress of legislation in California which would ban anyone under 18 years of age from being subjected to bogus "ex-gay" conversion therapy - a form of therapy condemned by the American Psychological Association.  "Ex-gay" conversion therapy, a/k/a reparative therapy is a big deal to the Christianists because claiming that gays can "change" is a key part of their effort to block LGBT civil rights.  They realize that once the general public understands that sexual orientation is immutable, not changeable,  and not merely a "behavior" as the Christianists claim, the Christianist efforts to bar gay rights and gay marriage will be seriously damaged.  Perhaps fatally so.  Hence all the money poured into the snake oil peddling "ex-gay ministries.  Here's a sampling of the flying spittle and batshitery via Liberty Counsel's website:

[T]he California legislature passed a bill that prohibits minors from receiving change therapy counseling regarding same-sex attractions. The bill, now headed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, bans any counseling or therapy that seeks to reduce or eliminate same-sex attraction or guide children away from gender confusion.

"If the bill is signed into law, Liberty Counsel will sue on behalf of counselors, parents, and minors who provide, refer, or who receive and have found change therapy to be beneficial," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

The bill defines "sexual orientation change efforts" as any practice that is designed to reduce or eliminate same-sex attraction. Such broad language will prohibit any counseling that does not affirm and encourage experimentation with or acceptance of same-sex attractions, regardless of whether those feelings and attractions are unwanted by the counselee. The bill not only prohibits this type of treatment, but it makes it an ethical violation for any counselor or therapist to engage in it.?

"If the governor signs this law, mental health professionals will find themselves in a catch-22," Staver said. Therapists have an ethical obligation to help clients deal with conflict. If a counselee is experiencing conflict between religious beliefs and same-sex attractions and wants to prioritize these beliefs over such attractions, the counselor is ethically obligated to directly help the client or refer for help. Under this bill, the counselor will be forced to disregard the client’s religious beliefs or change them. This bill will harm minors, undermine parental rights, and interfere with the rights of counselors. This bill and the ethical codes of all of the licensing boards in California are on an inevitable collision course," said Staver. "The licenses of countless mental health professionals hang in the balance."?

That's right, the law could result in charlatans who engage in "ex-gay" conversion to lose their licenses.  Frankly, I cannot think of a better result.  Ditto for calling misguided and harmful religious beliefs what they really are.  Any therapist who places ignorance and religious bigotry and superstition ahead of the welfare of his/her patients ought not to be a therapist.  It's hard to describe my abhorrence of Mr. Staver and his organization which I view as a pestilence on the state of Virginia and most certainly on the city of Lynchburg.  Mr. Staver and his followers continue to cling to the anything but inerrant Bible as their justification for marketing hate and intolerance and pushing a fraudulent form of therapy that does nothing except support their anti-gay political agenda.   

California Bans "Repartive Therapy" For Minors

Over the screams and shouts of the Christianist snake oil merchants who make a living preying on the parents of LGBT youth who are willing to pay big bucks to "cure" their gay child, the California legislature has enacted a ban therapist using the debunked "reparative therapy" on those under the age of 18 years.  Frankly, the ban should have banned the use of the fraudulent and down right dangerous practice for everyone, but at least this action is a start in the right direction.  No doubt the Christofascists will now be terrified that other states may summon the nerve to likewise protect minors from charlatans. Should that happen, PFOX and NARTH might go out of business. The Chicago Tribune has details. Here are excerpts:

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's state Assembly approved a bill on Tuesday to prohibit children and teenagers from undergoing a controversial therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality, moving the state closer to becoming the first to impose such a ban.

The 51-21 vote in the Democratic-controlled Assembly marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say the so-called conversion therapy has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder.

Opponents of the practice say such attempts to change sexual orientation can cause depression and lead to substance abuse and suicide.

Several openly gay legislators championed the bill in emotional speeches during the floor debate, citing their own childhood experiences.

If [Governor Jerry] Brown signs the bill into law, California would become the first state in the nation to outlaw such therapy for minors.

Republican opponents of the measure said politicians should not step in and regulate what they consider to be a matter for medical boards to decide. They also said the bill encroaches on the rights of parents to make choices for their children.

"That's why parents have children -- to hand down their legacies, their belief systems, the way they want their children raised," Assembly member Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield, said during the floor debate.

Using Grove's theory, I guess it's also fine for parents to teach their children to be racists and anti-Semites too.  Having a child does not give one the right to submit that child to harmful beliefs and/or treatments

Pat Robertson to Gays: ‘Bring Forth a Baby’ or ‘Shut Your Mouth’

Years ago at a Republican function I met Pat Robertson and let's just say that I was not impressed.  He came across as an individual having a tempestuous love affair with himself and as someone who thought that he had an entitlement to the tons of money he shakes down daily from his simpleton followers.  Stated more succinctly, he came across as an egotistical and arrogant ass.  If he's a man of God, then I'm Queen Victoria, Empress of India.  His latest statement on the 700 Club further underscore that he's a nasty bigot as well.  True, this is not anything new, but to basically challenge gays to either deliver babies out of their ass or shut up about Marriage equality is pretty crude.  Not to mention that in Roberstson's mind same sex love doesn't exist.  Our relationships according to this snake oil merchant asshole are only about anal sex.   Right Wing Watch has details on Robertson's foul batshitery:

[O]n the 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that activists who don’t want Chick-fil-A on their college campus due to the company’s anti-gay advocacy should keep quiet: “I defy these homosexuals to bring forth a baby from that part of the anatomy which they concentrate on, when that happens I will change everything I’m saying; until that happens, I wish those demonstrators would shut their mouth.” Robertson warned that legal abortion and homosexuality are violations of God’s law and are “the reasons why land will vomit out its inhabitants.”

Robertson:  .  .  .  .    I was reading today in Leviticus, which is the law of the Old Testament, but it lays out the reasons why land will vomit out its inhabitants and it goes through a category of stuff we are calling Constitutional rights: killing babies, offering them to Moloch, and it says it is an abomination for a man to lie with a man as with a woman. It’s what it says. That is the moral law that God set forth and now we’ve got people at a university petitioning because somebody said I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I defy these homosexuals to bring forth a baby from that part of the anatomy which they concentrate on, when that happens I will change everything I’m saying; until that happens, I wish those demonstrators would shut their mouth. 

I'm sorry, but it is individuals like Robertson who ought to make the land want to vomit.  All things considered, over the course of history, religion has brought more horrors and suffering to mankind than any of the positives in the form of charitable works that it has fostered.  I suspect the death toll thanks to religion totals in the many millions.  And for what?  Self-gratifying and self-promoting beliefs that allow bigots and the ignorant to feel good about themselves at the expense and lives of others.  

Pat Robertson Blames Sikh Temple Shooting on Atheists

There are times that it is truly an embarrassment to live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia - especially when Virginia Beach based loon and snake oil shakedown artist Pat Robertson opens his mouth and and utters a stream of deranged batshitery.  While moral people are shocked and mourning the needless deaths at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin and the far right wingnuts are scurrying like roaches trying to disassociate themselves from the shooter and his white supremacist mindset (I received an anonymous comment from a Stormfront member claiming that the group doesn't support the actions of the shooter even though comments on the site indicate otherwise), Pat Robertson blames the entire heinous event on atheists.  In an earlier post today I noted that a Stormfront.com poll found that amongst its neo-Nazi white nationalist followers homosexuality was consider the most unacceptable behavior.   If one checks out the survey in full, abortion ranked as the fourth on the list of top unacceptable behaviors.  Indeed, on many issues, the Stormfront survey respondents seemed to be in lock step with much of the hate and bigotry Robertson spouts almost daily to his Kool-Aid drinking 700 Club viewers.  Perhaps Robertson needs to look in the mirror if he wants to see the face of some of those truly responsible for these types of heinous acts.  Here are highlights from Right Wing Watch:

Today on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that “Satanic” atheists were to blame for the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Robertson claimed that “people who are atheists, they hate God, they hate the expression of God,” and are responsible for the massacre, which was committed by a white supremacist. “They’re angry with the world, angry with themselves, angry with society and they take it out on innocent people who are worshiping God,” Robertson continued. He recommended that people “talk about the love of God and hope it has some impact” to stop violence.

Of course, another major flaw in Robertson's statement is that he doesn't even see non-Christians as "saved" and going to Heaven.    Thus, one has to wonder why Robertson even pretends to to deem the Sikh worshipers as having been worshiping God.

Pat Robertson Once Again Denigrates Gays and Democrats

Local loon and snake oil huckster Pat Robertson has once again shot off his bigoted and hate-filled mouth.  This time he's denigrating gays and accusing the Democratic Party of having a "death wish" following a Party committee vote to add marriage equality to the party platform.  Robertson is a long time advocate of special rights and privileges for Christianists and never misses an opportunity to stir up anti-gay animus.  Meanwhile, he's laughed all the way to the bank as he continues to shake down the ignorant and simple minded for money.  Right Wing Watch looks at the latest verbal diarrhea eruption form Robertson. Here are excerpts:

[T]he Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a poll finding that more Americans favor than oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, confirming other polls which show rising support for marriage equality, and the Democratic Party is likely to endorse marriage equality in its party platform. But Pat Robertson today on the 700 Club derided the Democratic Party for having a “death wish” if they decide to back same-sex marriage since they will be “further alienating themselves from the mainstream of America.”

Robertson: About 2% of the population are homosexual, 1% of the population is lesbian. That’s a tiny group and every time this initiative has been brought to the ballot where the people have a chance to vote they vote overwhelmingly in favor of traditional marriage. For the Democrats to go out on that limb, it just seems like to me that they are further alienating themselves from the mainstream of America. If that’s what they want to do, fine, but it will mean the death knell of their party, it seems like to me, and of course that’s what they’re doing but maybe they have a death wish. 

Robertson not surprisingly is an advocate of the "ex-gay" myth and and has been known to repeat the false claim that gays die early because of their "unhealthy lifestyle."   In my book, Robertson has a reserved seat in Hell if such a place exists