Showing posts with label reparative therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reparative therapy. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2008

Straight Closets

According to some ex-gays, who are supposedly “cured”, they must hide from us gays.

Quite frankly, in my opinion, they are more worried about being caught backsliding. [link]

Not only are they worried; the "reparative therapy" industry is also.

So after they are “cured” instead of being happy and proud, they go back into the closet!

After all, if the world knew who these people were then there could be problems for the “reparative therapy” phenomena when their “patients” fail.

Some ministries who participated in “reparative therapy” now publicly condemn it. [link]

Leaders in the “reparative therapy” phenomena have been caught lying and cheating in attempt to help their cause. [link]

Other leaders have been found guilty of crimes directly related to their involvement with “reparative therapy”. [link] [link]

Some are now speaking out about the dangers of “reparative therapy”. [link]

Richard Cohen, one of the main reparative therapists, is permanently excluded from the American Counseling Association (ACA).

With so many doubts regarding this unproven therapy you’d think children would be spared. Not so fast! [link]

As if all of this wasn’t enough, 477,000 medical professionals are against “reparative therapy”. [link]

Here’s a little history on “reparative therapy” (source: Truth Wins Out);

Love In Action was the first contemporary ex-gay ministry and was founded
in 1973 in San Raphael, CA, by three men: John Evans, Rev. Kent Philpott, and
Frank Worthen.
Evans ultimately denounced Love In Action after his best
friend Jack McIntyre committed suicide in despair over not being able to
“change.” Today, Evans assists people in healing from the psychological damage
incurred by the ex-gay industry. Frank Worthen still remains with the ex-gay
ministries.

Philpott, who is straight, wrote “The Third Sex? ” which featured six
people who supposedly converted to heterosexuality through prayer.

Eventually, it was revealed no one in his book actually had changed, but
the people reading it had no idea about the unsuccessful outcomes. As far as
they knew, there was a magical place in California that had figured out the
secret for making gays into straights.

As a result of Philpott’s book, within three years more than a dozen
“ex-gay” ministries spontaneously sprung up across America. Two leading “ex-gay”
counselors at Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim, California - Gary Cooper
and Michael Bussee - decided to organize a conference where members of the
budding ex-gay movement could meet each other and network.

In September 1976, Cooper and Bussee’s vision came to fruition as sixty-two
“ex-gays” journeyed to Melodyland for the world’s first “ex-gay” conference. The
outcome of the retreat was the formation of Exodus International, an umbrella
organization for “ex-gay” groups worldwide.

The group was rocked to its core a few years later when Bussee and Cooper
acknowledged that they had not changed and were in love with each other. They
soon divorced their wives, moved in together and held a commitment ceremony. In
June 2007, Bussee issued an apology at an Ex-Gay Survivors Conference to all of
the people he helped get involved in ex-gay ministries.


Saturday, May 3, 2008

Survivor Recalls Leading Ex-Gay Therapist’s HIV/AIDS Superstitions and Research Fraud

by Michael Airhart
Truth Wins Out


Ex-gay survivor Daniel Gonzales remembers being forced to sit with his father as a leading ex-gay therapist tried to make them falsely believe that Gonzales had been abused as a child. The same therapist later urged Gonzales to help him rig the results of a flawed 2001 study by Dr. Robert Spitzer.

Former ex-gay Peterson Toscano was horrified to discover that the same therapist — the longtime president of a supposedly secular organization that promotes ex-gay therapy — has been using his phony claim to be secular to spread blatant religion-based bigotry having nothing to do with science or mental health.

Now, from 2006 Yale University graduate Gabriel Arana, comes word that the therapist — Joseph Nicolosi of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality — mis-counseled him for three years, teaching him superstitions instead of truth.

full article

Monday, March 24, 2008

Peterson Toscano going on tour


For awhile now my keyword hits keep sending me over to Peterson Toscano's blog. I've even crossposted some of his articles.


One mere website would not be sufficient for Peterson, so here's his homepage.


On his blog he describes himself as "a theatrical, performance, artist, a very queer and quirky Quaker, and an ex-gay survivor. I've lived on four continents in my life and currently live in North America in Connecticut. Que mas? Just read the blog baby and all will be revealed."


Conversion therapy/Reparative therapy is a dangerous thing.


Peterson has experienced it and shares those experiences with us.


Now Peterson Toscano is going on tour. Here is the tour schedule.