Ex-Gay is Not Okay: A Letter to Linda Wall

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuals (NARTH) believes that “Ex-Gay is Ok” according to one testimonial, written by Linda Wall of Virginia. Well, I’m gay, and I would just like to officially announce my counter-campaign: Ex-Gay is Not Okay.

The purpose of Ex-Gay is Not Okay is to directly address the criteria and criticism of “former homosexuals.” First order of business for my new campaign is to lay down the law: There’s no such thing as a former homosexual. Let’s be plain, we homosexuals aren’t presuming or insulting the heterosexual world by putting on airs and calling ourselves “Ex-Straights.” We know how silly and dead wrong that would be, how unfair and how deeply cutting it would be. Plus, we know that, thanks to the University of Illinois and biology, there are factors contributing to our sexual preference besides demons and temptation. Sorry!

In order to be Ex-Gay, a person would actually have to be homosexual in the first place. Ms. Wall, for example, is a good model for this case study. She was, according to her own testimony, “raised in a Southern Baptist family with a deacon dad, Sunday school-teaching mom and preacher brother. So when (she) was at the end of my rope, (she) knew it was the Lord that (she) needed.” Many of the so-called Ex-Gays have a similar upbringing. And I’ve arrived at a very important conclusion: These people undergo the same curious/questioning period that every other human goes through. But instead of owning their curiosity, they hide behind their faith. Ex-Gays are oftentimes products of “restorative measures by the church.”

Well, that’s fine and dandy for the church, but what about the individual? Well if you believe the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Association of School Administrators, the American School Health Association, the National Education Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the American Federation of Teachers who formed the "Just the Facts Coalition,” the individual is a liar.

According to the primer prepared and distributed by “Just the Facts:” "The most important fact about 'reparative therapy,' also sometimes known as 'conversion' therapy, is that it is based on an understanding of homosexuality that has been rejected by all the major health and mental health professions…”and “…together representing more than 477,000 health and mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus there is no need for a 'cure.'”

Call it my inner Secular-Progressive, but if every organization of merit believes homosexuality cannot be cured, prayed away, bullied out of you, or repressed through therapy: Ex-Gays are lying. NARTH is the only mental health organization that advocates this kind of “treatment.” Every other group, to little surprise, is religious in nature, including Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out” ministry.

So all in all, I call this whole “Ex-Gay is Ok” campaign a sham based on false testimony, specifically aimed to demonstrate how homosexuals are wicked creatures with poor impulse control and a lack of communication with a loving God.

Well while writing that sentence, I forgot about the Gay Christian Network, More Light Presbyterians, the New Ways Ministry, DignityUSA, Soulforce, the Reconciling Ministries Network, the IntegrityUSA group, the Lutherans Concerned, Emergence International, the Al-Fatiha Foundation and thousands of individual churches, Bible study groups and millions of individuals who believe in leading a normal homosexual life in accordance with “God’s laws.” So, whose Bible is feeding them wrong information? I highly doubt it's those preaching acceptance, for some reason.

Ms. Wall, did your the writings outlining punishment for homosexuality come from the Old Testament, which Jesus overrode by saying “love thy neighbor?” It’s true. Also, did you know that the New Testament literature concerning homosexuality was never uttered by Jesus, but was instead codified by Paul? And if you knew this, why have you chosen to live in accordance with these New Testament laws instead of some other good ones, like:

Virgins should remain virgins because one man says so (1 Cor. 7:25-26). Slaves must accept benevolent or harsh treatment in any circumstance (1 Peter 2:18). Men must raise their hands when praying (1 Timothy 2:8). Women who prophesies or worships must wear a head covering (1 Cor. 11:5). And for men, you have to have long hair… forever (1 Cor. 11:14).

So, context, Ms. Wall, context. When quoting the will of the divine, perhaps it would be best to remember that in almost every case, Paul is talking to individual cultures about individual circumstances and not making universal platitudes concerning homosexuality. If two men lying together is such an abomination, why didn't God strike down David and Jonathan? I refer you to 1 Sam. 18:1-3 for more on that gay relationship.

But I understand, Ms. Wall, I really do: You simply follow the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 when you pick-and-choose your beliefs: “Test all things and hold fast to that which is good.” But then, you would have us believe that the entire Bible is accurate, and that the Old Testament verses, the six or seven of over a million in the Bible’s totality, are accurate. Well, how’s your headscarf coming, Ms. Wall? Having it both ways seems… unfair.

With that understanding, using the Bible as a shield to make guilty those simply living their lives is going against Jesus’s command to, you guessed it, “love thy neighbor.” Reparative therapy kind of singles people out, it’s not too loving. And for another matter, it doesn’t really work:

Robert Spitzer, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, searched for over a year and a half to find the “thousands of happily heterosexual ex-gays and lesbians” groups like NARTH and Exodus International report “helping.” He found 247 people who qualified for his study, but picked 200. Of the 200 people, 11% of the men were “fully” heterosexual as a result of the therapy. Since NARTH only referred 46 clients total to the project, it begs a massive question: If every one of the 1,000 mental health experts of their organization treats 50 clients per year, that’s 50,000 possible “ex-gays” in one year they could have referred to Dr. Spitzer’s study. And yet they came up with 46, a majority of whom “still struggled” with their “tendencies."

And the best part of the study, when considering that 11% of 200 people were “entirely” heterosexual as a result of reparative therapy, the failure rate is 99.98%. That’s oddly high for a therapy that has “cured” thousands of homosexuals. Information from this study can be found on Google, but I advise caution; always consider the spin of the website from which you read the information. A lot of groups would have you believe Spitzer is a homophobe who feels homosexuality can be reversed. This is not so, as he was instrumental in removing homosexuality as a mental condition in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." So, this leads to the conclusion that ex-gay really isn't that okay.

Ex-gay is even less okay when you take into consideration the testimonies of family members left behind when victims of the therapy commit suicide. The gay agenda is about fighting for equality and tolerance. The so-called ex-gays and their puppet masters are veiled behind their beliefs. Ex-gay is a product, a marketing label and a brand and society isn’t buying. The health experts of merit have spoken and the textbooks have been written. Ex-gay, is in fact, not okay.


Be good,


Will