Ex-Gays: A Dumb Idea

I'm afraid we tend to joke about "ex-gays' here on this web site. Well, c'mon, you straight people, try to imagine it in reverse -- what would it take to make you gay?

You see?

But "some people" have determined that being gay is a terrible horrible thing, and some poor people who actually are gay believe them. And then they hear about these places that'll change them, and they go there, and ... well, let's just say it usually doesn't work.

We shouldn't joke about it, but, people, it's just such a Dumb Idea.

The fact is, this is very very serious to some people. I can't really imagine it, but some people live in a world where the very worst thing that could ever happen is that you would be gay. My thought would be, it's time for people to get over it, but sometimes your group is incapable of that, they're not going to get over it, you're the one that's going to have to change. And that would mean, basically, you have to pretend you're something you're not, you have to look for love in all the wrong places, and, eventually, you'll have to pretend you found it.

The Conservative Christian organizations that are increasingly targeting teenagers and young people with "ex-gay" conferences and therapy are deceiving parents, teens and the public about the effectiveness of their efforts, according to a report released Thursday by a gay rights organization.

The report, "Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism," claims that organizations working to help people overcome same-sex attraction could be sued because they cause harm instead of accomplishing what they promise.

"There's no evidence that conversion therapy actually works, but there's a growing body of evidence that it can be extremely harmful and unethical," said Jason Cianciotto, a study author and director of research for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in New York, the organization releasing the report.

No such lawsuits have been filed.

The report highlights a 2002 study of several hundred people who underwent conversion therapy. Twenty-six of the 202 interviewed said the therapy was successful, although only eight of those said they didn't experience any "slips" or have to employ coping mechanisms to counter same-sex attraction. And all but one of those eight worked in ex-gay counseling.

Almost 90 percent of the other interviewees reported long-term harm: depression to the point of attempted suicide or strained relationships with family and parents. Report: 'Ex-gay' therapy claims deceptive

Now, I'm reading this, and thinking of being around in the sixteen hundreds or whatever, and seeing headlines that say, "Report: Earth Not Center of Universe." And not, like, the week Copernicus figured this out, but many years later. It's like seeing a Post headline tomorrow that says, "Saddam Not Linked to Al Qaeda."

It's not news.

The idea that you can change your sexual orientation is a sad hoax. Turn it around, put yourself in the situation ... did you choose at one point?

But the president of the largest ex-gay organization in the world said the report presented "opinion and certainly not fact."

"I really think the core of their problem with us is a fear-based mentality," said Alan Chambers, an ex-gay who is president of Exodus International, in Orlando, which acts as an umbrella to about 250 ex-gay groups worldwide.

"If people like me exist," Chambers said, "then they weren't born like this (gay). Change is possible or could be possible."

Chambers claims there are "hundreds of thousands" of ex-gays, his evidence being the nearly 400,000 phone calls the organization receives each year from people seeking their help. Exodus plans to release its own research on conversion therapy later this summer.

You know. You read those lines and thought the same thing I thought. Either 1.this guy was not gay to begin with, or 2.he's pretending. He is a monkey-monk at a big organization, that's a pretty good gig, gets lots of TV time, he's not like Joe Blow ... woops, sorry ... on the street who just likes guys and wishes his church would understand. It turns out that just about everybody who ever says they "used to be gay" has a paid position at one of these organizations. They give speeches, they go on TV, they put their faces on billboards ... and then somebody takes their picture kissing a "colleague" in a gay bar somewhere.

... The American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics oppose this kind of reparative therapy.

An attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said organizations like Exodus International could be liable for damages caused by the therapy if they are using methods outside accepted bounds. Depending on local laws, the groups could also be liable if they don't do what they promise or if they advertise falsely, said Hayley Gorenberg, Lambda's deputy legal director.

Really, ok? It's not funny.

But it's just such a Dumb Idea.

You might be gay, you might not be. Either way, whatever, you have a choice. You can go for guys, you can go for girls. What do I care? You're a guy, you go for guys, maybe that's how you are, maybe it's just a goof. What do I care? If that's how you are, you can listen to what everybody else thinks you should do, or you can follow your heart. What do I care?

Some people make such a big deal out of it -- I shouldn't joke about it, but it's just so dumb.