So Called Ex-Gay Conversions
It's not possible to change someone's sexual orientation, but it is possible to make them miserable over it.
Fundamentalists play on the spiritually and emotionally wounded. Using the tenets of born-again fundamentalism, they try to convince dissatisfied homosexuals - usually young gay men just coming out who are stressed out by family pressure and society's intolerance -that they can change by suppressing their orientation.
The Fundamentalists prey on people who are unhappy. what they can't see or won't admit is that they themselves are the sources of this very unhappiness they claim to be treating.
Countless people have been misled by ex-gay ministries into believing that sexual orientation can be changed, only to find, even years later, that they had found only temporary happiness in the delusion that they had changed. These "ex-gays" no longer call themselves gay but continue to have same-sex feelings, dreams and arousal. Add to that the pain of many spouses of these individuals who thought they had married a heterosexual.
Anyone can suppress one's feelings and live a lie, for a time, but it doesn't work in the long run. Besides, living a lies doesn't seem like much of a Christian ethic. I've known dozens of gay men who at one time or another were pressured or lured into the fundamentalist-run ex-gay movement and all it caused them was more pain. No one I know ever changed. Not only that, no gay person I've ever met has known anyone who changed.
When you look at someone trying to be an "ex-gay" what you find are rather sad, desperate people playing mind games and semantics, no "cures" or lasting changes. The whole motivation behind the movement to change gays is political - fundamentalist and conservative politics dressed up in a lab coat.
The American Psychological Association (750 1st Street NE, Washington DC 20002-4242, Telephone 202-336-5700) has published a free booklet "Answers To Your Questions About Sexual Orientation And Homosexuality" I recommend it highly to anyone who wants unbiased information on this.
The above from: THE DAILY DISPATCH, Moline, Ill. August 3,1995, Guest column by William Stosine
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Why are homosexuals often in great pain?
Who is responsible for many gays being frustrated, angry, alienated and depressed by their situation? Gays would have no problem living their lives in peace and prosperity (they often have highest average income levels), if the majority who are straight would recognize the legitimacy of the sexual orientation most were born with. But straights and the Church especially based on lies and false biblical teachings, discriminate, demean and persecute them - not to mention the extra burden of feelings of guilt, inferiority and despair the church hangs around their necks until they choke and collapse under the load.
Lets but responsibility where it belongs for the pain of gays and lesbians - at the door of the homophobic church and society. Homosexuals are six times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexuals and more are alcoholics. These facts say as much about the heterosexual as they do the homosexuals. Sick people in the "straight" community have long been bent on guaranteeing that the life for homosexuals is a living hell. The real tragedy is so many sincere Christians don't even know the lies they have been taught regarding the difference between the homosexuality that was condemned in the Bible vs the homosexuality of today. They Bible says absolute nothing that would not embrace and support with love today's loving homosexual couples.
