Ex-gay
Encyclopedia
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship. "Ex-gay" is a term used to describe persons who once considered themselves to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, but who no longer assert that identity. When the term was introduced to professional literature in 1980, E. Mansell Pattison defined it as describing a person who had "experienced a basic change in sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
".
A large body of research and mainstream scientific consensus
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, the major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against trying to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful. During the DOMA
Doma
- Places :* Domah, a mandal in Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India* Doma, Nigeria, a local government are in Nasarawa State, Nigeria* Duma , a Palestinian town in the West Bank- Other uses :...
Hearings, on February 23, 2011, the Attorney General of the United States wrote to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives indicating it is a growing scientific consensus that sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic.
Definition of change
Various ex-gay organizations have working definitions of change. Exodus InternationalExodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
describes change as, "attaining abstinence from homosexual behaviors, lessening of homosexual temptations, strengthening their sense of masculine or feminine identity, correcting distorted styles of relating with members of the same and opposite gender." People Can Change
People Can Change
People Can Change is an American nonprofit organization supporting men wishing to reduce or eliminate their same-sex desires. The organization hosts weekend retreats for these men...
defines change as, "any degree of change toward greater peace, satisfaction and fulfillment, and less shame, depression and darkness", and emphasizes that for most people, heterosexuality is not the ultimate goal. Some ex-gays advocate entering (or remaining) in a heterosexual marriage as part of the process. Some in mixed-orientation marriage
Mixed-orientation marriage
A mixed-orientation marriage is a marriage in which one of the partners is heterosexual and the other is bisexual or homosexual.- Motivations:Some cite spiritual reasons for getting married...
s acknowledge that their sexual attractions remain primarily homosexual, but seek to make their marriages work anyway. The president of Exodus International
Exodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
said that he agrees that people cannot necessarily change their sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
, but he said that they can, "live in accord with their beliefs and faith".
Motivation of participants
The American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
reported that some ex-gay groups may help counteract and buffer minority stress, marginalization, and isolation in ways similar to other support groups, such as offering social support, fellowship, role models, and new ways to view a problem through unique philosophies or ideologies. Additionally, the same researchers also found that people joined ex-gay groups due to: a lack of other sources of social support; a desire for active coping, including both cognitive and emotional coping; and access to methods of sexual orientation identity exploration and reconstruction. The same report found that some have described the ex-gay groups as, "a refuge for those who were excluded both from conservative churches and from their families, because of their same-sex sexual attractions, and from gay organizations and social networks, because of their conservative religious beliefs.". According to the APA report, "Ex-gay groups appear to relieve the distress caused by conflicts between religious values and sexual orientation and help participants change their sexual orientation identity, but not their sexual orientation". The APA goes on to report that some believed that by, "taking on 'ex-gay' cultural norms and language and finding a community that enabled and reinforced their primary religious beliefs, values, and concerns", that they could resolve identity conflicts by, "(a) adopting a new discourse or worldview, (b) engaging in a biographical reconstruction, (c) embracing a new explanatory model, and (d) forming strong interpersonal ties.". One of the APA's sources for the report found that, "ex-gay groups recast homosexuality as an ordinary sin, and thus salvation was still achievable.". Another one of their sources is summarized as having observed that, "such groups built hope, recovery, and relapse into an ex-gay identity, thus expecting same-sex sexual behaviors and conceiving them as opportunities for repentance and forgiveness." The APA report warns however that, "some [ex-gay] groups may reinforce prejudice and stigma by providing inaccurate or stereotyped information about homosexuality".
Ex-gay organizations
The first ex-gay ministry, Love in ActionLove In Action
Love In Action is an ex-gay, Christian ministry founded in 1973 by Frank Worthen, John Evans, and Kent Philpott. The program was originally founded in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco.-History:...
, was formed in 1973. Three years later, with other ex-gay organizations, it formed Exodus International
Exodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
, the largest ex-gay organization and the largest organization under the Exodus Global Alliance. Other ex-gay organizations cater to a specific religious groups, such as Courage International
Courage International
Courage International is an apostolate and Christian ministry of the Roman Catholic Church, which "ministers to those with same-sex attractions,"...
for Catholics, Evergreen International for Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
(LDS), and JONAH for Jews.
Some groups follow a specific technique, such as Homosexuals Anonymous
Homosexuals Anonymous
Homosexuals Anonymous is an ex-gay group which practices conversion therapy to change the sexual orientation of homosexual clients. Its mission statement describes it as "a fellowship of men and women, who through their common emotional experience, have chosen to help each other live in freedom...
, modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous' twelve-step program. Other ex-gay organizations include Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays is a non-profit organization providing outreach, education, and public awareness in support of the "ex-gay" community. PFOX maintains that homosexuality is not a product of biological determination, in contradiction to the consensus of major mental health...
.
People associated with the ex-gay movement
- Joe DallasJoe DallasJoe Dallas is a prominent figure in the ministry for sexual addiction recovery and reparative therapy.-Biography:Joe Dallas is founder of Genesis Counseling which specializes in "sexual addiction recovery and homosexuality.." Dallas is the keynote speaker at one of the monthly weekend retreats on...
is the program director of Genesis Counseling. He has written six books on human sexuality. - Donnie McClurkinDonnie McClurkinDonald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work....
wrote about his experience with homosexuality in his book, Eternal Victim, Eternal Victor. He describes himself as going through a process by which he became "saved and sanctified." McClurkin has been criticized for stating homosexuality is a curse. He speaks openly about sexual issues since becoming the biological father of a child with a woman to whom he was not married. He uses these experiences in his concerts and speaking engagements. In 2004, he sang at the Republican National ConventionRepublican National ConventionThe Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
. The appearance generated criticism for the event organizers and McClurkin for his statements on homosexuality. - John PaulkJohn PaulkJohn Paulk is an American ex-gay and conversion therapy advocate and author. He is the former leader of Focus on the Family's Love Won Out conference and was chairman of the board of Exodus International North America from 1995 to 2000. His 2000 autobiography Not Afraid to Change addresses his...
, then leader of Focus on the FamilyFocus on the FamilyFocus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
's Love Won OutLove Won OutLove Won Out is an ex-gay ministry launched by Focus on the Family in 1998. It was founded by John Paulk. Its stated purpose is "to exhort and equip Christian churches to respond in a Christ-like way to the issue of homosexuality." Love Won Out was sold to a former affiliate Exodus International as...
conference and chairman of the board for Exodus InternationalExodus InternationalExodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
North America, was spotted visiting a Washington, D.C. gay barGay barA gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
in September 2000. He was photographed outside of the bar from behind by Wayne BesenWayne BesenWayne Besen is an American gay rights advocate. He is a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign and the founder of Truth Wins Out.Besen says he has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays," and is an outspoken critic of organisations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.- Photos of...
, and later stepped down from the two organizations. - Jeffrey SatinoverJeffrey SatinoverJeffrey Burke Satinover is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and physicist. He is well-known for books on a number of controversial topics in physics and neuroscience, and on religion, but especially for his writing and public-policy efforts relating to homosexuality, same-sex marriage and...
is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and physicist. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of NARTH. - Charles SocaridesCharles SocaridesCharles W. Socarides was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, physician, educator, and author. Socarides was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Socarides focused much of his career on the study of homosexuality, which he believed can be altered...
was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, physician, educator, and author. He helped found NARTH in 1992.
People who no longer support the ex-gay movement
- Günter BaumGünter BaumGünter Baum is an openly gay man, who founded two Christian ministries in Germany.The first organization which Baum founded was Wüstenstrom, which is part of the ex-gay movement. The organization's program was originally based on the U.S. program Desert Stream Ministries, though the group has...
originally founded an ex-gay ministry in Germany. Later he formed Zwischenraum, which helps gay Christians to accept their sexuality and to reconcile it with their beliefs. - Anthony Venn-BrownAnthony Venn-BrownAnthony Venn-Brown is a former Australian evangelist in the Assemblies of God and an author whose book describes his experience in Australia’s first ex-gay program....
is a former Australian evangelist in the Assemblies of GodAssemblies of GodThe Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
and an author whose book describes his experience in Australia’s first ex-gay program. Venn-Brown co-founded "Freedom 2 b[e]" which offers support to GLBT people from church backgrounds and who have been displaced from the ex gay movement. In 2007 he co-ordinated the release of a statement from five Australian ex-gay leaders who publicly apologized for their past actions. - John SmidJohn SmidJohn J. Smid is the former director of the Memphis, Tennessee ex-gay ministry Love In Action, a position in which he was a leading spokesman for converting homosexuals into heterosexuals...
was the leader of Love In Action in Memphis. He resigned that position in 2008, and in 2010 apologized for any harm that he'd caused, noting that his teen program "further wounded teens that were already in a very delicate place in life". He has announced that he is still homosexual and admitted never seeing a man successfully converting to heterosexuality in his group. - Warren ThrockmortonWarren ThrockmortonE. Warren Throckmorton is an associate professor of Psychology at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He is a former advocate of sexual orientation change efforts and the creator of the documentary I Do Exist, about people who say they have changed their sexual orientation.Throckmorton...
is a past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He wrote and produced the documentary I Do Exist about ex-gay people, but subsequently came to "believe that categorical change in sexual attractions, especially for men, is rare" and repudiated some of the claims he made in the film. - Peterson ToscanoPeterson ToscanoPeterson Toscano is a playwright, an actor, a blogger, a stand-up comedian, and a gay activist. Before accepting his gay orientation, he spent nearly two decades submitting to ex-gay treatment and conversion therapy designed to alter his gay orientation and gender differences...
is an actor who was involved in the ex-gay movement for 17 years. He performs a related one-man satire titled Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House, and with Christine BakkeChristine BakkeChristine Bakke spent four years in the ex-gay movement attempting to alter her sexual orientation through conversion therapy...
co-runs Beyond Ex-GayBeyond Ex-GayBeyond Ex-Gay, or bXg, is a website devoted to people who at one time participated in the ex-gay movement in an attempt to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, but who then later went on to acknowledge their sexual orientation as falling under the LGBT umbrella. These people are also...
, a support website for people coming out of ex-gay experiences.
Controversy
There have been many scandals and controversies regarding the ex-gay movement, with claim and counter-claim by gay and ex-gay activists, psychiatrists and clinicians.Sexual orientation change efforts
Some ex-gay organizations, such as Exodus InternationalExodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
recommend to their members that they undertake sexual orientation change efforts
Sexual orientation change efforts
Sexual orientation change efforts are methods that aim to eliminate a same-sex sexual orientation. They may include behavioral techniques, cognitive behavioral techniques , psychoanalytic techniques, medical approaches, religious and spiritual approaches.The longstanding consensus of the...
such as conversion therapy. Exodus warns against going to counselors that tells the patient that they "can definitely eliminate all attractions to your same gender, or that you can definitely acquire heteroerotic attractions". Evergreen International does not advocate any particular form of therapy, and warns that "therapy will likely not be a cure in the sense of erasing all homosexual feelings".
SOCE are controversial and the American Psychological Association reported that, "the available evidence, from both early and recent studies, suggests that although sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
is unlikely to change, some individuals modified their sexual orientation identity
Sexual orientation identity
Sexual orientation identity describes how persons identify their own sexuality. In addition, they may choose not to identify their sexual orientation, or dis-identify with a sexual orientation.This may or may not relate to their actual sexual orientation...
(i.e., individual or group membership and affiliation, self-labeling) and other aspects of sexuality (i.e. values and behavior)." Virtually all major mental health organizations have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public against treatments that purport to change sexual orientation. The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, an ex-gay organization, argues that mainstream health and mental health organizations have, in many cases, taken public positions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage that are based on their own social and political views rather than the available science.
Controversy over teenagers
A controversial aspect of the ex-gay movement has been the focus of some ex-gay organizations on teenagers, including occasions where teenagers have been forced to attend ex-gay camps by their parents. A 2006 report by the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce outlined evidence that ex-gay and conversion therapy groups were at the time increasingly focusing on children. Several legal researchers have responded to these events by arguing that parents who force their children into aggressive conversion therapy programs are committing child abuseChild abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
under various state statutes.
One case of emancipation involved Lyn Duff
Lyn Duff
Lyn Duff is an American journalist with the Pacific News Service and KPFA radio's "Flashpoints", an evening drive-time public affairs show heard daily on Pacifica Radio.- Early years :...
. After 168 days in Rivendell, Duff escaped. In 1992, she initiated legal action against the facility and her mother.
The ex-gay organization Love in Action
Love In Action
Love In Action is an ex-gay, Christian ministry founded in 1973 by Frank Worthen, John Evans, and Kent Philpott. The program was originally founded in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco.-History:...
was involved in a controversy surrounding a teenager. In July 2005, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
ran a feature story about 16-year-old Zachary Stark, whose parents forced him to attend an ex-gay camp run by the group. In July 2005, Stark was released from the camp. An investigation of the camp by the Tennessee Department of Children's Services did not uncover signs of child abuse. In September 2005, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
authorities discovered that unlicensed staff had been administering prescription drugs. A settlement was reached shortly thereafer. LIA closed the camp in 2007.
See also
- Environment and sexual orientationEnvironment and sexual orientationEnvironment and sexual orientation is research into possible environmental influences on the development of human sexual orientation. Some researchers distinguish environmental influences from hormonal influences while others include biological influences such as prenatal hormones as part of...
- Mixed-orientation marriageMixed-orientation marriageA mixed-orientation marriage is a marriage in which one of the partners is heterosexual and the other is bisexual or homosexual.- Motivations:Some cite spiritual reasons for getting married...
- American Family Association v. City and County of San FranciscoAmerican Family Association v. City and County of San FranciscoAmerican Family Association v. City and County of San Francisco is a case in which the American Family Association challenged the City and County of San Francisco's actions opposing an AFA sponsored advertisement campaign as a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.In...
External links
- Ex-GayTruth.com, presents issues related to the ex-gay movement from a conservative Christian perspective
- Beyond Ex-Gay Support website co-run by Peterson ToscanoPeterson ToscanoPeterson Toscano is a playwright, an actor, a blogger, a stand-up comedian, and a gay activist. Before accepting his gay orientation, he spent nearly two decades submitting to ex-gay treatment and conversion therapy designed to alter his gay orientation and gender differences...
and Christine Bakke, for people coming out of ex-gay experiences - Cure for Love, a National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
documentary