I should be able to make a couple of assumption here …
- LGBTQ is a normal natural aspect of human sexuality.
Unfortunately I can’t. That because of the thing that really is abnormal – the superstitious religious belief that anybody who does not conform to their very narrow definitions of “normal” is somehow broken and needs to be fixed.
I’m also deeply tired of the lie that it is a choice or a worldview. If you sincerely believe that, then you really do need to hit pause and ask yourself why you are adopting a whacky stance that is opposed by not only the entire evidence-based medical community, but also the entire evidence-based scientific community.
If that really is your stance, then here briefly are a few rather inconvenient truths for you to ponder over …
- It is not something you catch or learn: The vast majority of lesbian and gay adults were raised by heterosexual parents and the vast majority of children raised by lesbian and gay parents eventually grow up to be heterosexual
- It is not due to bad parenting: There is no scientific evidence that abnormal parenting, sexual abuse, or other adverse life events influence sexual orientation.
- It is not distinctly human: It happens right across the entire animal kingdom.
So why am I bringing all this up now?
Basically because something very positive and encouraging has happened.
On Sep 18, 2024 Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took a bold step. He issued an executive order that bans “conversion therapy” for minors. The inevitable response from Republicans is very very predictable. they have claimed that this violates parental rights.
He was aware they would spew this BS, and in that full knowledge he did it anyway because its the right thing to do.
Here is his order. It is very precise on what the term “Conversion Therapy” is and is not …
“Conversion therapy” means any practice, treatment, or intervention that seeks or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.
This now means that Kentucky has joined the 23 other states that have also banned it.
What exactly is Conversion Therapy and does it work?
It is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation, and yes, it really does not work … ever … period. Anybody claiming that they have been converted back to being straight is lying to both you and perhaps also those around them, and themselves.
What drives it is the deeply flawed religious belief that gay people are broken and need to be fixed.
This is bullshit, anybody telling you this is being deeply immoral.
The position of current evidence-based medicine and clinical guidance is that homosexuality, bisexuality and gender variance are natural and healthy aspects of human sexuality
One additional point that I should also make very clear is that the prevailing scientific consensus is that conversion therapy not only is ineffective, but also that it frequently causes significant long-term psychological harm.
The rising awareness of the real harm it causes has resulted in many jurisdictions, not just in the US, but around the globe banning it.
Sometimes people really do see the light on the road to Damascus
One of the most prominent and largest organisations that promoted conversion therapy was Exodus International. Founded in 1976, this predominately evangelical group reached its summit in 2006 with over over 250 local ministries in North America (US and Canada), and another 150 in various other nations.
Today it no longer exists, what happened?
In 2012 the president of the organisation, Alan Chambers, rather famously rejected the entire concept of Conversion Therapy as a complete sham, explaining that it did not actually work at all and only harmed people. A year later he closed the entire organisation and also made the following public apology …
I am sorry for the pain and hurt many of you have experienced. I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt when your attractions didn’t change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents. I am sorry that there were times I didn’t stand up to people publicly “on my side” who called you names like sodomite—or worse. I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know. I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.
More than anything, I am sorry that so many have interpreted this religious rejection by Christians as God’s rejection. I am profoundly sorry that many have walked away from their faith and that some have chosen to end their lives.
As you might anticipate, it was a defining moment for the decline of Conversion Therapy, yet some of the individual ministries carried on, and so it all rumbles away in the background within various evangelical circles.
As for some of the others involved in leadership there, they also knew it to be a complete sham. An article within The Atlantic in 2015 explains …
Cofounder Michael Bussee left the group in 1979 and entered a relationship with another Exodus leader, Gary Cooper. Bussee would later admit, “I never saw one of our members or other Exodus leaders or other Exodus members become heterosexual, so deep down I knew that it wasn’t true.” Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, many former Exodus members became vocal critics of the ministry, claiming it had caused them psychological distress. And in September 2000, Exodus’s chairman John Paulk was photographed cruising for men at a gay bar in Washington, D.C. He was ousted from his position and later confessed, “I do not believe that reparative therapy changes sexual orientation; in fact, it does great harm to many people.”
That perhaps is the best insight. Those who devoted their life to the ex-gay ministry, and passionately and sincerely believed in it, discovered that it was all a sham.
Some activists ended up rejecting their religion, while others retained their beliefs by making peace with the reality of their actual sexual orientation and went forward with their lives as Christians who are also openly gay.
There rests the future.
Those that today still deeply embrace the intolerance and bigotry will eventually pass away just as those who once embraced the concept of slavery as “biblical”. Step by step the world is becoming a better place.