Sexual (re)orientation: what would Jesus do?

It might be hard to believe, but there are organisations out there who "cure" young men and women of homosexuality. That's right your attraction to the same sex just requires a little TLC with God. Well, that's and $1000 a month. TLC and cold, hard cash.

There's an organisation in the US called Love in Action (LIA) which will help you free yourself from "life-consuming behaviors" through "the power of Jesus Christ." Casey Sanchez, from The Intelligence Report details on Alternet that LIA can teach you throw a football, change the oil in your car and cross your legs "like a man." Sounds like Sam Martin's The Lost Art of Being a Man: How to Mow the Lawn, without the irony.

For the ex-gay ministries, homosexuality doesn't exist. "...[T]here is no such creation as a "gay" or "homosexual" person. There is only homosexual attraction and behavior..." the LIA website proclaims, "...[and] accordingly, there can be no change from a sexual identity that never existed in the first place." Therefore it is a socially-developed "condition," usually considered to result from sexual abuse as a child or parents who failed to instill masculinity in their sons. The idea is that, if you provide the right environment, you can unpack these things and (re)condition the person with a heterosexual identity.

But how many rungs do the ex-gay ministries have on the board? There is certainly evidence that refutes their claims of success. If the technique is about making them see that their desires are the result of sin, and not of biological urges, social conditioning or (worse yet!) personal preference, then why do so many of them 'revert back' to their sinful identities post-treatment?

Take for example Mike Johnson, the US poster child for your miraculous transformation. Johnson, who is associated with Pure Life Ministries, had been the face of a national advertising campaign for the ex-gay ministry movement. Turns out Mr Straightened Right Out had lost the straight and right and just kept the out. It's reported that he'd been cruising around having unprotected sex without disclosing his HIV+ status.

There's also the example of James Stabile, the reformed gay from Dallas who 'found his way' after a purity seige outside a gay bar. Not long after his reformation, Stabile has disappeared from Pure Life. But Dallas Voice writer John Wright tracked him down to discover that Stabile had been kicked out for being a compulsive liar, nor had he denounced his sexuality.

A more recent (and more tragic) example is Matthew Murray, the 'Colorado church shooter.' The affair was a terrible tragedy, but the motivations behind Murray's actions seem less reported on. The media is branding him a Christian hater but few are looking at why. Murray has been denied video games and was home schooled which rules those out as stimuli. What does that leave? Well Murray was allegedly a failed ex-gay who was kicked out of his church for being queer. And what resulted was not only the unnecessary death of four innocent people, but the equally unnecessary death of a 24 year-old-man. As Rothstein says (sarcastically of course):

"At least in Iran, the executions of gay men are swift. In the United States we prefer to slowly drive our gay children insane so that they grow up to be monsters."

This blog entry is more than a caution against hyper-conservative religion, it is also a warning against pushing identity agenda in areas that you don't fully understand. I think that is a risky game to start messing heavily with sexuality. Whether born and bread or socialised, to try to acutely and drastically intervene and push a new agenda naturally has repercussions. Thankfully in Australia we don't have as evangelical, politically charged (and Right-wing funded) ex-gay advocates. Organisations here have recognised that the attitudes of their US counterparts has to potential to be damaging and conceded that the ultimate ends is not necessarily to proclaim heterosexuality and believe it. I think this is the better approach (if an approach is truly needed)


Image: Priests Go Wild! by Alex Guerrero