What the religious right calls "therapy" for gay kids is, very simply, child abuse

[ruggerson]

and we should be prosecuting both the "psychologists" who practice it and the parents who subject their children to this agony.

We need to start protecting gay children from these monsters.

[laconicsax]

1. K&R

[bluestateguy]

2. These ex-gay camps are more for the parents than anybody else

I don't think the quacks who work there actually honestly believe that their "therapy" is working.

But these camps do give homophobic parents a false peace of mind that their son is being "cured".

[Newest Reality]

3. I agree!

And, we might also want to start to question, collectively, what we tend to take for granted about our entire culture, how it functions, and how it inculcates into us these dilemmas and all the confusing, divisive dichotomies that lead us to these odd dichotomies and certifiably insane struggles that are of no collective benefit whatsoever.

It occurs to me that there are so many versions of this particular problem, (conforming children to someone else's model/map of reality and justifying the act by judging the child's nature as wrong) that we are coming very close to a place where we can see inherit cracks in the wall of the entire system in which we now find ourselves enmeshed and reactive to.

That system relies on the reactivity to what it has already forcibly inculcated into us. We find ourselves doing so, over and over, and yet, we see little over-all results or rectification of what is starting to reveal itself as a repetitive struggle, played-out again and again, across a wide spectrum of social issues.

Can we find the insight and meddle to get to the core of that and focus on the source of the problems? That might be both an external and societal issue that relates to the creation that we are by the culture that is around us from birth. We can grab for straws, follow carrots on strings and grasp for brass rings, but when we get to the heart of the matter and, perhaps, finally understand what drives culture and society, as well as how ti functions, then maybe something will actually happen for a true change.

[AndyTiedye]

4. K/R

:kick:

[LiberalAndProud]

5. You mean like this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1252438&mesg_id=1252438

or this? (Maybe gay part doesn't apply here, but it's still abuse.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1251312&mesg_id=1251312



I agree ruggerson. I agree. What we do to our children for the sake of conformity is alarming, to say the least.

[EFerrari]

6. Agreed.