It seems that the number of therapists offering to "cure" homosexuals and turn them into decent, upstanding heterosexuals is increasing.So gay man Patrick Strudwick discovered when he investigated some of these therapists and found they even had their own professional associations dedicated to sexual "conversion".
Many of the therapists, not surprisingly, are religious believers and hold that converting gays is a kind of spiritual cleansing and rejection of sin.
One therapist claims that a third of gays treated are completely changed while another third change significantly, but he doesn't produce any recognised research to back this up.
It's been the consensus for many years that homosexuality is a deep-rooted preference that can't be "cured", unless the person was really straight all along. But religious zealots can't accept this.
One therapist told Patrick that a part of him had not developed properly, had "stayed stuck". It was a bit like being retarded, she said. He had turned to homosexuality because he had been "wounded" by inadequate parenting, and had become "confused" about his sexuality.
It's difficult to imagine any intelligent person being taken in by this vacuous mumbo-jumbo. All it's likely to do is undermine their self-confidence.
But if you're gay and not entirely secure about your preference, and maybe having to deal with anti-gay abuse and attacks, then you might succumb to the siren voices of these charlatans and their miracle cure - you too can be a normal heterosexual after all!
Why don't these fanatics just stick to prayer and proselytising instead of trying to meddle with people's minds?
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Today (Saturday February 6) is the United Nations International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation. Some 90,000 women in the UK have either been subjected to it or are likely to be. Not one person has ever been prosecuted for what is a designated criminal offence. Two organisations, Forward and Plan, are campaigning to wipe out the practice.
please, please dont think all Christians are like that
ReplyDeleteKylie - I'm sure they're not, some of my best friends are Christians etc. No, I'm only referring to the more extreme types who're intent on interfering in other people's lives.
ReplyDeleteIt's awful--and not so long ago, the DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual for psychological disorders, used by all psychiatrists and psychologists) had Homosexuality as a psych disorder. That was only edited out in 1974, and then only under extreme protest...
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think The Church has a lot to answer for.
ReplyDeleteLeah - I know, they "normalised" it a long time back, but try telling that to those with very fixed ideas about sexuality.
ReplyDeleteSuburbia - You can say that again! And now the Pope's planning to come to the UK and tell us how we should be (mis)treating women and gays.
Though really it wasn't that long ago--there are still older psychologists running around who were trained in the days when gayness was thought to be a disorder! Chilling really...
ReplyDeleteLive and let live.
ReplyDeleteSx
I agree. Even if someone is capable of 'converting', unless a gay person approaches him and wants to get converted, just stop interfering.
ReplyDeleteLeah - I'm sure some of the old guard are sticking to their entrenched beliefs. One can only ask them yet again what harm gays are doing to them - or anyone else.
ReplyDeleteScarlet - Precisely. If only every religious believer thought the same.
Ramana - Unfortunately some gays do approach the therapists themselves because they're uncomfortable with what they are, or because someone else has made them feel guilty or "deviant".
Why don't these fanatics stick to prayer? Because they're too busy straightening gays and pinching Haitian children . . but it's all for their own good so that's alright then.
ReplyDeleteBaino - Now where have I heard that one before - it's for your own good, you'll thank me for it later etc. Just another excuse for telling someone else what to do.
ReplyDeleteThe obsession by these morons on the when, where and who placement of the naughty bits is mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteAs if we don't have serious problems like Haiti, Darfur, et al.
And now Il Papa in a red dress with matching velvet slippers queens it over......
You catch my drift.
It is sickening.
XO
WWW
www - Indeed, is sexual preference really more important than people who are dying or at risk of dying? Some people's value systems defeat me.
ReplyDeleteHmmm - well I KNOW that none of my gay friends would want to be converted.
ReplyDeleteThey should concentrate on people who need and want help!!
Kate - I'm sure they wouldn't. As you say, what about people who need real help, like the millions of children living in poverty?
ReplyDeletethe mind boggles - why are so many people in the world hung up on sexuality? It's really funny in India - people go to the toilet just about anywhere - no.1 and no. 2 on the side of the road in full view - no shame in it it would appear, yet kissing in public for a boy and girl or even holding hands is totally unacceptable. Totally bonkers!
ReplyDeleteConor - Really? That's an amazing reversal of our attitudes here. How can even holding hands be seen as unacceptable? What on earth could it imply?
ReplyDelete