With the sudden closing of Exodus International, the controversial Orlando-based ministry that claimed to offer a “cure” for homosexuality, gay-to-straight conversion therapy is finally positioned to become as obsolete as phrenology, leeching, the four humors, hysteria and other pseudosciences and treatments.
Working under the slogan “Change Is Possible,” Exodus International ministered since 1976 to so-called “ex-gay” Christians. In a January interview with Pink News, Exodus president Alan Chambers has expressed doubt in the effectiveness of his organization’s “reparative therapy”. He claimed that?99.9 percent of gay people who seek treatment?never fully convert to heterosexuality. Speaking at a Gay Christian Network conference in January 2012, he admitted that Exodus’ actions have caused shame and pain among gay people, some of whom turned to substance abuse and suicide.
In an open apology to those in the LGBT community hurt by the Church, Chambers admits:
There were several years that I conveniently omitted my ongoing same-sex attractions. I was afraid to share them as readily and easily as I do today. They brought me tremendous shame and I hid them in the hopes they would go away. Looking back, it seems so odd that I thought I could do something to make them stop. Today, however, I accept these feelings as parts of my life that will likely always be there. The days of feeling shame over being human in that way are long over, and I feel free simply accepting myself as my wife and family does. As my friends do. As God does.
Now that Exodus International, the largest and most well-known “ex-gay” organization, has closed shop, it raises the question whether this is the end for other similar conversion therapy centers throughout the United States.
A Dangerous Method
Like phrenology and leeching, conversion therapy has come under attack by modern science. Since 1975,?the American Psychological Association (APA) has condemned this treatment and others like it, stating that both
heterosexual behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human sexuality. Both have been documented in many different cultures and historical eras.
Trying to convert gay people to be straight, therefore, is as absurd and against human nature as trying to convert straight people to be gay.
The APA continues:
[I]t seems likely that the promotion of change therapies reinforces stereotypes and contributes to a negative climate for lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons. This appears to be especially likely for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals who grow up in more conservative religious settings.
Just as Chambers admits, conversion counseling does more harm than good.
Banning Conversion Therapy
Many countries and states are considering putting an end to or at least halting this condescending and damaging treatment. Last year in the Netherlands, for instance, health insurance companies were forced to drop conversion therapy?from their policies. The Dutch Health Minister, Edith Schipps, explained that people
who suffer psychologically because of their sexual orientation should be offered pastoral guidance rather than medical treatment, since homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder.
In January 2013, the United Nations for the first time gave critical attention to the efficacy and purpose of conversion therapy, hosting a panel of mental health experts, former “patients” and human rights advocates.
As of this writing, California is the only U.S. state to?ban conversion therapy for minors.?However, the law, enacted last May, has incited opponents of the law to question its constitutionality?in federal appeals court.?Despite the lack of research that proves such counseling effective, they contend that conversion therapy is a necessary and useful treatment for parents of gay children, and that banning it is an assault on religious freedom.
There was a time when children in Jesuit and Catholic schools were?humiliated and whipped for writing with their left hands, behavior they never chose. Sinister, in fact, means left-handed in Latin. Most people now agree that you can’t train naturally-born left-handed children to become right-handed, and so the practice of doling out swats for something so innocent has (hopefully) ceased. Likewise, conversion therapy needs to run its course and be filed under pseudoscience.
Edited and published by WP.
