Commentary: Shut down ex-gay therapy

[pgodbold]

If so-called "ex-gay" therapists had a slogan, it would be "Getting paid and getting laid."

This is a sick, exploitative industry run by diabolical and dysfunctional quacks that systematically sucker or seduce vulnerable clients.





http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wayne-besen/ex-gay-therapy-is-scandal_b_656255.html

[customerserviceguy]

1. Outside of ultra christian groups

Is anybody still doing this?

[Taverner]

2. I'm sure ultra Muslim folks and ultra Jewish folks do this

Albeit, with their own therapists

[customerserviceguy]

4. I'm not aware of any Jewish organizations in the US

that do this, and as for Muslims, they have their own ways of taking care of those who don't toe the official line...

[Taverner]

10. The Hassidic Jews think being gay is a crime punishable by death

And yes, Ultra Muslims feel the same way

[customerserviceguy]

12. Well, it's a good thing

that Hassids don't make up more than a small minority of the Jewish population. I never really met or saw any of them before I moved to this part of the country, they have a number of peculiarities that make them vastly different from the rest of us, it doesn't surprise me that this is an additional one.

[Taverner]

13. Like Fringe Wahabbists and Fundy Christians - I am glad they make a small percentage as well

[pgodbold]

3. Yes. Gay teens are forced into this type of "reparative therapy" on an almost a daily basis (link)

by fundy families http://gaylife.about.com/od/religion/i/ex_gay.htm

[customerserviceguy]

6. Informative article, but...

Every organization mentioned in it seemed to have some powerful fundie religious element to it. Are there any truly secular organizations still practicing this modern-day form of 'exorcism'?

[pgodbold]

7. Not that I know of. The thing is that few if any fundie teens are given over to the care of

secular organizations or even education for that matter (home schooling).

[customerserviceguy]

8. Yep, teens in fundie families are quite screwn

My ex-stepdaughter knew a gay teen from her high school who came from a Mormon family, the kid was pretty messed up.

Still, I tried to make a point to her, this was in a small town, yet gay kids felt comfortable coming out to their most trusted friends. Some thirty years earlier, in my suburban high school in a relatively progressive city in a progressive age, gay students didn't feel that way, we didn't find out about their orientation until class reunions.

I also remember the consternation that surrounded the American Psychological Association's de-listing of homosexuality as a pathological mental condition. Other than people who still want to live in the Dark Ages, we seem to be moving forward, although it sometimes feels like it's at a snail's pace, with notable steps backwards.

[LostinVA]

5. I think it should be illegal

Especially for minors forced into it, and into "Ex Gay" camps.

[Orsino]

9. Is someone licensing these "therapists"? n/t

[AnArmyVeteran]

11. Yeah, at the same PO Box where Rand Paul is certified.