'Praying the gay away': Trauma survivors crusade to ban conversion therapy

[Surya Gayatri]

White House’s call to ban ‘reparative’ therapy for minors a welcome change as activists work to stop practice – but industry won’t go down without a fight.

When his father’s attempts to beat the gay feelings out of him failed, 11-year-old Sam Brinton was sent for conversion therapy.


Research indicates that as many as a third of LGBT people have undergone some form of conversion therapy – from religious counselling to showing males gay porn and giving them electric shocks. Photograph: Alamy

“I was told I was the only gay left in the world, that the government had killed all the gay children, that I had Aids, that God hated me – a horrifying battery of lies which I had no reason not to believe because these were the people that were supposed to be helping me,” Brinton said.

Then came the physical torture: forcing his hands into ice while showing him pictures of men touching men, wrapping his hands in coils that heated up painfully when he saw images of men hugging, showing him gay porn and giving him electric shocks.

Several suicide attempts later, Brinton, the son of Southern Baptist missionaries, realised he had only one viable option if he wanted to carry on living.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/11/survivors-crusade-conversion-therapy-ban-pray-gay-away

[shenmue]

1. Alan Turing. Tyler Clementi.

Dammit, NO.

[nightscanner59]

2. Gets my PTSD going

I don't like to discuss it much, I just lost my parents this last year but there was no grief process, partially because
I was subjected mostly to neglect after my inadvertant "outing", but my mother made an attempt to take me to one of these quacks.
Turns out the therapy would have involved pants-down sessions with the therapist.
I walked out of his office, told mom to take me home and never even think about doing this again.
Some of you may have read about the extraordinary bullying I endured as a pre-teen after my outing I've posted here elsewhere.
This doesn't even come close to the worst of it. Between redneck kids and an obstreperous encounter with the late master of hate
himself, Fred Phelps, who instigated my teenage homelessness and startout from way behind in adult life...
I wish I could sue all of them for pain and suffering damages.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. I'm so sorry, nightscanner. I couldn't have known...

Your story sounds utterly horrific. Thank god you had the strength and 'walked out of his office, told mom to take (you) home and never even think about doing this again.'

But, the damage is done.

Peace and blessings to you.

[nightscanner59]

22. No apologies necessary. Glad you are enlightening people about this quackery.

[BlueJazz]

7. If it's any small consulation, we care and love you. Nobody should have had to go though...

...that bullshit.

[Initech]

3. It's a form of torture.

[hrmjustin]

4. Needs to be banned asap.

[hifiguy]

5. Quackery is quackery

and if this transparent bullshit isn't quackery, nothing is. Effin fundy assholes. Everything they touch turns to shit.

[Initech]

8. Seriously, they are the worst group of human beings on the planet.

Doesn't matter what religion they represent either l really worry what they'll do in June when SCOTUS makes gay marriage the law of the land.

[RKP5637]

10. They are very dangerous mentally deranged individuals often using religion as a free pass so

they can sadistically torture children. That, is what it's all about!

[Initech]

13. Conversion therapy is most definitely a form of torture.

I'm surprised that the UN hasn't stepped in on this issue yet.

[Aerows]

15. It's horrific

You are told from the moment you are born that you are an aberration. There is no religion for you, nothing sacred because you are just a queer. I wonder why *anyone* would think you would CHOOSE to be gay?

It isn't a choice - it isn't a lifestyle, it's your life. I've had more blessings than most, but I must say that if I wasn't a lesbian my life would have been much easier. So be it. You can choose to be bitter, you can choose to enjoy life, and you can choose to love with all of your heart.

I choose the latter!

[RKP5637]

9. Those that practice ‘reparative’ therapy are a sick bunch that get their kicks off by

sadistically torturing kids in the name of religion or whatever. They should not be tolerated and should be forced into rehabilitation. They should also not be near any juveniles, they are not to be trusted.

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Gay Conversion Therapists Claim Most Patients Fully Straight

y The Time They Commit Suicide

theonion.

MINFORD, OH—Boasting that they have cured hundreds of teens and young adults over the years, gay conversion therapists from the Redeeming Path Treatment Center told reporters Thursday that most of their patients are completely straight by the time they commit suicide. “We’ve found that a combination of group interventions, narrative therapy, and cognitive-behavioral approaches fully eliminates homosexual urges before the individual takes his or her own life,” said program director Christian Weber, adding that many of their biggest success stories are even in stable, heterosexual relationships when they’re found lifeless in their own home or dredged from a nearby body of water.

“Of course, some of our patients do relapse back into the gay lifestyle, but even then our committed therapists are typically able to guide them back toward healthy, straight behavior before they end it all in their childhood bedroom or dorm. By the time they’ve swallowed an entire bottle of prescription painkillers, they’ve typically completed a remarkable transformation.” Weber, who said that he stands behind his practice not just as a doctor, but also as a parent, confirmed that his own son displayed no homosexual tendencies in the hours preceding the discovery of his body.


http://www.theonion.com/articles/gay-conversion-therapists-claim-most-patients-full,38406/

[Surya Gayatri]

12. You had me until 'until they commit suicide'...

Black, black humour! Funny/Tragic.

[Ichingcarpenter]

24. 'You're actually a dog''

[Aerows]

14. Every single gay person

I know has been subjected to this crap. I was dragged in front of a Priest, a psychologist and a doctor.

I wasn't "cured". There was nothing to cure. I like women, and that's the beginning and the end of it. Why we have to shame people has always escaped me.

[Surya Gayatri]

16. I weep for the damage done, the torture endured.

What survival strategies did you adopt? You are a survivor, no doubt.

[Aerows]

17. I am indeed a survivor

I learned a lesson on life. It is wiser to keep your mouth closed and thought a fool, rather than open it and remove all doubt.

[Surya Gayatri]

20. Well, Aerows, that's a lesson we should all take to heart.

[Aerows]

27. It is

and tell a person that is trying to "help" you "pray the gay" "medicate the gay" or whatever new shit they come up with.

Tell all of them that they are full of a crock of shit, move on, and be nice to people

It's horrific some of the things teens go through that damage them simply because they are not being who they ARE.

[yardwork]

18. Thank you for posting this.

People do incredibly cruel things in the name of religion.

[Surya Gayatri]

19. My honor...(don't want to say 'pleasure', as the topic is so disturbing)

[SummerSnow]

21. the church needs to pray their hate away. Furthermore,

they need to pray the pedophilia away in their priestly ranks as well

[m-lekktor]

23. another good thing from this whitehouse.

reparative therapy is pure evil. it is religious mental torture.

[Major Nikon]

25. Why does there even have to be a national discussion about this?

The only debate we should be having is whether these "conversion therapy" shitstains should be bound to chairs and beaten with hammers.

[Trillo]

26. So that's where Cotton and Cruz got their, "they kill you over there" argument

that the government had killed all the gay children, that I had Aids,

[Aerows]

28. It's very damaging

but you have to get through it - if you can. Many cannot and take their own lives. Everyone wants a person that they love, wake up with and adore. It's a shame that some people are so bigoted that they want to deny it to their family members.

When I finally realized and my father confronted it with me because mom walked into us while I was - worshiping the light so to speak, his exact words were "I'd rather you come home saying you are pregnant by an N-word than be a queer."