Darkside Rainbow

You don’t have to be a genius - or even moderately clever - to guess how I feel about ex-gay “therapy”. I find it disturbing, a chilling violation of the self, and don’t think there’s anything particularly therapeutic about it at all.

True, I can’t be wholly critical of people who make the choice to deny their homosexuality under their own influence. I think it’s sad and I feel sorry for them, but they’re doing what they think is in their own best interests. I may not agree, but I can’t deny them the right to try to live as comfortably as they can. One’s sexuality isn’t an easy thing to come to grips with, and for some people it’s just safer and less painful to run away.

The people that bother me the most are those who advocate ex-gay therapy…and even more, those who administer it. The fundamental psychology of someone who takes it upon themselves to assist in changing another’s sexuality would probably make an interesting study, and I’m sure someone more well-versed in psychology than I could write one hell of a paper. I just can’t help but wonder what kind of mind it takes to say, “Your sexuality is wrong - but not only will I tell you why, but I’ll aid you in changing it…through force, if necessary.” Ex-gay therapy often involves dangerous practices of electroshock therapy, deprivation, imprisonment, psychological manipulation…and in one case right here in Texas, sexual molestation.

Ex-Gay to Pay - Miami New Times

The Fort Lauderdale based group [Worthy Creations] operates under the spiritual umbrella of the “ex-gay” movement, which uses reparative therapy to purportedly rid homosexuals of same-sex attraction. [...] This past week the ex-gay movement made headlines again after one of its “ex-gay” counselors in Texas — who employed “touch therapy” with clients to cure them of their homosexuality — was convicted of sexual assault.

According to court documents, Christopher Austin counseled ex-gays at Church of Christ South MacArthur in Irving. He was first arrested in 2002 after a patient claimed his techniques included nude sessions and physical intimacy, including oral sex. News coverage of the case led to other victims coming forward who alleged the ex-gay leader “unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly caused penetration.”

One of the comments on the Miami New Times blog wonders if the victims were male or female. I can’t help but wonder that, as well. I don’t know which would be more reprehensible - that Austin was sodomizing gay males as part of his “touch therapy”, all the while claiming what they were doing was wrong and punishable…or that he was forcing himself on lesbians as if physical intimacy with a male would somehow make them start to desire men. I can feel my gorge rising just thinking about either.

Behavior like this is the sign of a deeply disturbed individual with control issues. Considering that he’s not the only one to apply the sort of techniques mentioned above, how often has this kind of behavior taken place while the victims remained silent, the actions of their self-appointed “therapists” possibly even condoned?

I don’t really think that these ex-gay therapists are doing this for their misled patients. I think they’re doing it for themselves, and that they derive some sort of pleasure from manipulating people this way. Granted, tomorrow I may cool down and be willing to revise my opinion and speak more fairly, as I’m sure that some really do think they’re trying to help and are just grossly misinformed. Right now, though, I’m speaking from the revulsion welling deep within my gut, and the horror shaping words on the tip of my tongue…and I couldn’t be more disgusted. I’d rather be gay and reviled by the rest of society for a healthy expression of love between two men than be someone disturbed enough to cause that kind of harm to other people for the sake of “conversion”.

Ex-gay therapy helps people, huh? About the only thing Austin helped anyone realize was that they didn’t need to be anywhere near his sort of “therapy”.

At least, in that, there’s a mixed blessing.

chris austin, fort lauderdale, ex-gay therapy, conversion therapy, worthy creations, sexual assault