#gay reparative therapy

[noticedandannoyed]

What Are They Trying to Hide

So I don't think I ever want someone to go through what I went through regarding the gay conversion/reparative therapy I went through in the 1990s. It's not successful... for many reasons. But I've noticed a new movement in recent years and it's from a new batch of people that did not (to my knowledge) have any ties to the other group (Exodus International).

These individuals had been gay and lived the gay lifestyle for quite some time before surrendering their life to Jesus Christ. Then, (those that are publicly pronouncing their conversion) they have said that it was Christ that led them out of the sin of same-sex attractions. It may seem similar to the movement from the 1990s, but it's not. This movement is quite different and has been fighting to help the contemporary church realize that modern beliefs (often called Side-B Christianity) have no place in a religion that is based on the Bible and the biblical truths that are found within It's pages.

However, I am annoyed that while they have solid beliefs and scripture to affirm their beliefs, they are not addressing the arguments that the modern gay Christians are promoting. Or maybe they are (correct me if I am wrong by messaging me)?

I hope that I can see a good honest debate of the scriptures from these two sides. I am not sure which I completely believe at this point. I might actually have to study/learn ancient Hebrew and Greek in order to fully understand what might be actually written in the scripture. So I guess I will just have to wait until I get to heaven when "all will be revealed."

[nerdygaymormon]

why do you think these handbook changes were made?

The church hasn't given an explanation, so none of us really know.

As the health of President Nelson has been failing, and President Eyring's health also seems poor, it leaves President Oaks with more say in acting for the First Presidency, which may explain the timing. His antagonism towards acceptance of queer people is well known.

I suspect the recent changes were informed by the church's experience with gay members. When it taught that homosexuality doesn't really exist, that it's a choice and can be changed, they were wrong wrong but it was consistent with the theology. This caused the church to be strictly against anything gay, even disciplining people who believed they are gay.

If homosexuality isn't normal, if it isn't God-approved, then why did so many people have these attractions? Many church leaders developed theories, which eventually were proven false, which caused people to say if the theories were wrong then the church should do away with the "treatments" based on those theories and adjust the theology to include gay people. The church gave up any explanation for why people have gay attractions and also no longer engages in reparative therapies. The church’s evolution isn’t done because it still hasn’t resolved the contradiction between reality and it’s theology.

When the Church acknowledged that people don't choose these attractions and can't change them, it set up a problem. How can a kind and just God create people as gay and then not account for them in His Plan? Why would God deny any acceptable way for them to use their attractions? The church still is grappling with this and the past few decades it has reluctantly given ground over and over as members got to know and love gay members and want them to be fully included and embraced.

Over the last few years a similar softening was taking place among local leaders and congregations as the 2020 Handbook acknowledged the existence of trans people and encouraged an empathetic approach even as the Handbook expanded its disapproval of all forms of transitioning because it doesn't fit with the current theology.

The combination of local leaders trying to give as permissive an interpretation to the rules and the logical challenges of acknowledging trans people while denying they are in God's plan is bringing the same challenges as the church faces with gay members. I think this explains the retrenchment seen in the 2024 Handbook. It now talks about people who “identify” as transgender (in other words, this isn't how they are, it's how they think they are), and emphasizes gender is key to every aspect of the church which leads to a massive increase in restrictions.

I think it's easy to foresee these changes mean few trans people will remain within the church, and that may be the ultimate goal. As the church gave ground to gay people and more of them were willing to stick around, it meant average church members got to know them and their stories, which brought greater acceptance and a desire for gay members to be fully included. The 2015 Policy of Exclusion showed that many church members were unwilling to go backwards, instead they want theological teachings expanded to include the gay people they know and love. I think church leaders are afraid a similar change may be beginning for trans people, and if they act now they may be able to stop this from spreading.

But what do I know?

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:

Putting children through the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy has officially been outlawed in Kentucky after Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order Wednesday. Beshear signed the order after similar legislation repeatedly failed in the Republican-dominated state legislature earlier this year. The measure prohibits minors from being subjected to the "therapy," and prevents state or federal funds from being used to bankroll the so-called care for youth.

“Let’s be clear: conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science, and it has been shown to increase rates of suicide and depression,” Beshear said in a statement. "This is about doing what is right and protecting our children. Hate is not who we are as Kentuckians.” "Conversion therapy," also known as “reparative therapy,” is a debunked practice that attempts to forcefully change the gender identity or sexual orientation of the patient, which has often been compared to "torture" by its recipients and health care providers alike. Every major medical organization has denounced the practice, yet it has only been outlawed in 23 other states, according to the Movement Advancement Project. One state, Indiana, explicitly bans local ordinances outlawing the practice, and three others currently prevent the enforcement of bans.

[...] Kentucky Republicans could still overturn the executive order with their supermajorities in both the state House of Representatives and Senate. Lawmakers banned gender-affirming care for minors as well as public school instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity at all grade levels in 2023 after overriding Beshear's veto on what's been called one of the worst anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the United States.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signs an executive order to ban the medically discredited practice of ex-gay conversion therapy and anti-trans gender exploratory therapy.

[itsawritblr]

"Kemi Badenoch: I have evidence gay young people are being told they are transgender."

Via the Telegraph:

Daniel Martin, Deputy Political Editor 6 February 2024 • 8:14pm

Minister quotes clinicians who believe helping a homosexual child change gender is in effect 'making them straight’

Mrs Badenoch prepared the evidence for the Commons women and equalities select committee Credit: WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ/ANADOLU

Kemi Badenoch has told MPs she has strong evidence that gay young people are being convinced they are transgender instead.

The equalities minister quoted experts who said children likely to grow up to be same-sex attracted “might be subjected to conversion practices which persuade them to change gender."

In a letter to the Commons women and equalities select committee, she revealed a former clinician at the NHS Tavistock child gender identity clinic had said that in agreeing to requests to help children change gender, they were in fact “making them straight."

Another said that agreeing to help a homosexual child change gender was in effect “conversion therapy for gay kids."

Mrs Badenoch agreed to write to the committee to provide the evidence following an appearance before them last month.

Her letter shows that the number of children in England going to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) has soared from 250 in 2011-12 to more than 5,000 in 2021-22.

She wrote: “I committed to providing further details on the evidence that children likely to grow up to be gay (same-sex attracted) might be subjected to conversion practices on the basis of gender identity rather than their sexual orientation.

“Both prospective and retrospective studies have found a link between gender non-conformity in childhood and someone later coming out as gay.

“A young person and their family may notice that they are gender non-conforming earlier than they are aware of their developing sexual orientation. If gender non-conformity is misinterpreted as evidence of being transgender and a child is medically affirmed, the child may not have had a chance to identify, come to terms with or explore a same-sex orientation."

She cited the Dutch founders of a medical gender transition service from 1999, who stated: “Not all children with GID (gender identity disorder) turn out to be transsexuals after puberty…

“Prospective studies of GID boys show that this phenomenon is more strongly related to later homosexuality than to later transsexualism."

One of the same authors said in 2012: “Follow-up studies have demonstrated that only a small proportion of gender dysphoric children become transsexual at a later age, that a much larger proportion have a homosexual sexual orientation without any gender dysphoria."

‘Reparative therapy against gay people’

Mrs Badenoch also pointed to English data from GIDS, showing that older patients expressing a sexual orientation were overwhelmingly lesbian, gay or bisexual.

For example, 68 per cent of adolescent female patients were recorded as being attracted to other females only, 21 per cent were bisexual and just 9 per cent were heterosexual.

Among adolescent male patients, 42 per cent were attracted only to other males, 38 per cent were bisexual and 19 per cent were only attracted to females.

She said she was aware of “troubling accounts" that some clinicians are hesitant to work in gender identity services because they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach.

She quoted Dr Natasha Prescott, a former GIDS clinician, who said in her exit interview from the Tavistock that “there is increasing concern that gender affirmative therapy, if applied unthinkingly, is reparative therapy against gay individuals, i.e. by making them straight."

Dr Matt Bristow, a former GIDS clinician, said he had come to feel that GIDS was performing “conversion therapy for gay kids." 

Tavistock was closed two years ago.

‘Discover sexuality on own timescale’

The minister also quoted a survey of 100 “detransitioners" – people who have changed gender but then regretted it – which found the experience of homophobia or difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual was expressed by 23 per cent of respondents as a reason for transition and subsequent detransition.

She quoted one German gender clinic as stating: “It must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient’s development as a homosexual.

“This may not be in the interest of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity."

Bev Jackson, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, said: “LGB Alliance is delighted that the minister for equalities has recognised the concerns that we have been raising for a long time.

“The evidence is clear. The vast majority of young people being put onto irreversible medical pathways are attracted to their own sex.

“We are literally ‘transing the gay away’ when we should be helping them to understand and accept their sexuality and grow up to live happy, healthy lives as lesbians, gay men or bisexuals."

Helen Joyce, from the women’s rights group Sex Matters, said: “It has been well-established for decades that children destined to grow up gay are far more likely than other children to be highly gender non-conforming in early youth.

“Such children need to be allowed to grow up in a safe, supportive environment, and to be allowed to discover their sexuality on their own timescale.

“Instead, trans ideology interprets gender non-conformity as a potential sign of a trans identity. This tragically misguided framing is today’s version of the historic atrocities of gay conversion therapy."

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Daniel Martin

Published: Feb 6, 2024

Kemi Badenoch has told MPs she has strong evidence that gay young people are being convinced they are transgender instead.

The equalities minister quoted experts who said children likely to grow up to be same-sex attracted “might be subjected to conversion practices” which persuade them to change gender.

In a letter to the Commons women and equalities select committee, she revealed a former clinician at the NHS Tavistock child gender identity clinic had said that in agreeing to requests to help children change gender, they were in fact “making them straight”.

Another said that agreeing to help a homosexual child change gender was in effect “conversion therapy for gay kids”.

Mrs Badenoch agreed to write to the committee to provide the evidence following an appearance before them last month.

Her letter shows that the number of children in England going to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) has soared from 250 in 2011-12 to more than 5,000 in 2021-22.

She wrote: “I committed to providing further details on the evidence that children likely to grow up to be gay (same-sex attracted) might be subjected to conversion practices on the basis of gender identity rather than their sexual orientation.

“Both prospective and retrospective studies have found a link between gender non-conformity in childhood and someone later coming out as gay.

“A young person and their family may notice that they are gender non-conforming earlier than they are aware of their developing sexual orientation. If gender non-conformity is misinterpreted as evidence of being transgender and a child is medically affirmed, the child may not have had a chance to identify, come to terms with or explore a same-sex orientation.”

She cited the Dutch founders of a medical gender transition service from 1999, who stated: “Not all children with GID (gender identity disorder) turn out to be transsexuals after puberty…

“Prospective studies of GID boys show that this phenomenon is more strongly related to later homosexuality than to later transsexualism.”

One of the same authors said in 2012: “Follow-up studies have demonstrated that only a small proportion of gender dysphoric children become transsexual at a later age, that a much larger proportion have a homosexual sexual orientation without any gender dysphoria.”

‘Reparative therapy against gay people’

Mrs Badenoch also pointed to English data from GIDS, showing that older patients expressing a sexual orientation were overwhelmingly lesbian, gay or bisexual.

For example, 68 per cent of adolescent female patients were recorded as being attracted to other females only, 21 per cent were bisexual and just 9 per cent were heterosexual.

Among adolescent male patients, 42 per cent were attracted only to other males, 38 per cent were bisexual and 19 per cent were only attracted to females.

She said she was aware of “troubling accounts” that some clinicians are hesitant to work in gender identity services because they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach.

She quoted Dr Natasha Prescott, a former GIDS clinician, who said in her exit interview from the Tavistock that “there is increasing concern that gender affirmative therapy, if applied unthinkingly, is reparative therapy against gay individuals, i.e. by making them straight”.

Dr Matt Bristow, a former GIDS clinician, said he had come to feel that GIDS was performing “conversion therapy for gay kids”. 

Tavistock was closed two years ago.

‘Discover sexuality on own timescale’

The minister also quoted a survey of 100 “detransitioners” – people who have changed gender but then regretted it – which found the experience of homophobia or difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual was expressed by 23 per cent of respondents as a reason for transition and subsequent detransition.

She quoted one German gender clinic as stating: “It must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient’s development as a homosexual.

“This may not be in the interest of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity.”

Bev Jackson, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, said: “LGB Alliance is delighted that the minister for equalities has recognised the concerns that we have been raising for a long time.

“The evidence is clear. The vast majority of young people being put onto irreversible medical pathways are attracted to their own sex.

“We are literally ‘transing the gay away’ when we should be helping them to understand and accept their sexuality and grow up to live happy, healthy lives as lesbians, gay men or bisexuals.”

Helen Joyce, from the women’s rights group Sex Matters, said: “It has been well-established for decades that children destined to grow up gay are far more likely than other children to be highly gender non-conforming in early youth.

“Such children need to be allowed to grow up in a safe, supportive environment, and to be allowed to discover their sexuality on their own timescale.

“Instead, trans ideology interprets gender non-conformity as a potential sign of a trans identity. This tragically misguided framing is today’s version of the historic atrocities of gay conversion therapy.”

[ Via: https://archive.today/bG6GF ]

[recreationaldivorce]

this file ("Deutsch emails") contains the complete source of email threads for the 2023-03-08 Mother Jones story “Inside the Secret Working Group That Helped Push Anti-Trans Laws Across the Country”. the emails are comprised of communications spanning 2019-2021 principally regarding an attempt to pass a trans youth transition treatment ban in south dakota in 2019, spearheaded by republican rep. fred deutsch and sen. lee schoenbeck.

there are extensive discussions between deutsch and notorious anti-gay and anti-trans “experts” associated with known hate groups targeting transgender healthcare in the united states, including dr. quentin l. van meter and dr. michelle cretella of the catholic medical association, dr. andre van mol of the christian medical & dental associations and american college of pediatricians, dr. michael k. laidlaw of the kelsey coalition, dr. william j. malone of the society for evidence-based gender medicine, dr. paul w. hruz of the national catholic bioethics center, laura haynes of narth, and deacon dr. patrick w. lappert of catholic reparative therapy group courage international. participants discuss crafting their language to avoid acknowledging that transgender people exist, constructing new ways to define doctors as criminals for providing gender-affirming care, and targeting a federal agency publication that correctly points out the dangers of anti-gay conversion therapy. their emails frequently digress into personal vendettas and ambitions of destroying established professional groups such as the endocrine society, and they typically celebrate their anti-trans legal and political achievements as a victory of the christian god.

the emails describe a wider national effort against transition treatment for minors, which included discussions with idaho rep. julianne young and sen. steve vick, georgia rep. ginny earhart, and florida rep. anthony sabatini. several anti-lgbt conservative legal groups are intimately involved in the discussion, including alliance defending freedom, adf-affiliated detransitioners hacsi horvath and walt heyer, eunie smith of eagle forum, adf-linked attorney vernadette r. broyles of the child & parental rights campaign, jane robbins of the american principles project, kara dansky and natasha chart of women’s liberation front, richard mast of liberty counsel, and emily zinos of minnesota family council and hands across the aisle. more recently, the transphobia-captured state of alabama harassed the endocrine society and wpath with subpoenas for their internal communications regarding hate groups and individuals participating in the deutsch emails, including segm, the american college of pediatricians, michael laidlaw, william malone, andre van mol, michelle cretella, and quentin van meter. the release of the deutsch emails is in the public interest and brings an equivalent level of transparency to the internal work of these major anti-trans advocacy and lobbying groups.

[babushkacat]

Here follows research and moral arguments for why being gay is okay. I know that it's not necessary to "prove" gay people deserve rights, because they are human and all humans deserve rights. This is for all of the homophobic people out there and ofcourse for me too, because I tend to have homophobic thoughts (eventhough I'm not even straight lol - so that's fun).

1. People should have the right to live their lives in the way that is most fulfilling to them.

2. We're all apes on a rock in space, why should it matter who you're attracted to and choose to live your life with (or not attracted to for that matter - aroace people we see you)

3. This one is for the argument of "it's not *natural*". Well in the first place, what does that even mean, phones aren't *natural*. And then again many animals have gay sex or are gay for that matter.

https://www.dw.com/en/10-animal-species-that-show-how-being-gay-is-natural/g-39934832

4. People don't *choose* to be gay. Just because people come out that doesn't mean that one day they weren't gay and the next day they were. It just means that they discovered or accepted a part of themselves.

5. How can being gay be wrong if it does no harm. Let's say you ignore everything in this post, then I ask you, why is being gay wrong if it does no harm? On the contrary, it only brings fulfillment, joy and pleasure.

6.Now to get into the studies. There's this common misconception that childhood abuse leads to being gay. This study found that "non heterosexuality may increase the risk of childhood sexual abuse" not the other way around.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1079063215618378

7. You can't change someone's sexuality through any form of conversion therapy and attempting to do so can be very harmful or even fatal.

https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy

8. There are certain genetical variants that are tied to same sex behaviour (back to the "is it natural?" thing). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/4482/

[noticedandannoyed]

Old Friends

Ran into an old friend the other night at a concert. He was performing at the concert so I caught up with him afterward. I have to admit, I noticed he was still the same guy I knew 30 years ago. I haven't seen him in over 10 years and honestly, he hasn't changed. He looks like he did when he was 20 (he's 50 now). He still laughs the same. He still talks the same. And he's still single. He is exactly the same person I knew. Which is wonderful... but it makes me pause.

This is a friend that went through a gay reparative therapy program with me. If he's not changed, HAS he changed? Is he still struggling the same as he did when we went through the program? Is he still attracted to men? Is he still a closeted gay man as I am? Is he?

I'm so annoyed that we didn't chat more. Will I see him again? Will he want to see me again? I'm not sure. I'm just not sure. Luckily I'm not sexually attracted to him (although I am sure a lot of guys would be). Only time will tell if our paths cross again. I'll just have to wait and see.

[riverdamien]

The Bright Light!

The Bright Light!

"Candlemas!"

Luke 2

    Today is one of the most ancient of holy

Days: Candlemas-The Feast of the Presentation

of Jesus, commemorating Luke 2 when Joseph and

Mary brought their newborn son to the Temple in

Jerusalem. The purpose was Mary’s purification, a

cleansing ritual forty days after the birth of a son.

    Upon arriving at the temple they encountered Simeon

the Blind prophet, awaiting the Messiah. He took the child from them and proclaimed:

"My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel."

  The final movement in the arc of light is

Candlemas, when the entire world is set

ablaze with God’s manifestation of love.

    Today opens up a hope in the midst of all our contemporary news about death, deceit, and political rivalry. Today opens up hope in our own lives. 

     While we may not see the world "ablaze with God" entirely, it is ablaze as we each trust in that hope, as we each move out in love and hope in own woundedness.

    Sr. Thea Bowman once shared of her glimpses of the love for all in the Black journey out of slavery, and  continued journey into freedom.

    The Bible as always was used as a tool by the slave owners, quoting scripture to justify slavery, and yet the Holy Spirit lead those in slavery to see the Bible as a tool of liberation.

    In the same way the Holy Spirit is leading us to see God at work in the liberation of L/G/B/T/Q's and all people, regardless of spirituality, creed, ethnic background--God is love for all!

    In my own life, my experience as been that of the liberating God.

    When one looks back at their childhood, and infancy, one finds that it colors all of one's life, until one looks at it and put it into context and find healing. When that begins to happen one becomes the 'wounded' healer.

    I grew up in a small southern town, one that was segregated, homophobic, and deadly to anyone outside of their box of fundamentalism, whiteness, and sexuality.

    My childhood, adolescence was boxed in, I could never ever be myself Within me it created  immaturity, low-self-esteem, and fear; the one slowly dawning "light" in my life was feeling "my heart strangely warmed" at twelve and having as a pastor David Richardson and his wife Ruth, who were liberal. And from their love and teaching I navigated through the fundamentalism and homophobia the best I could. All churches were homophobic, there were no gay therapists or out gays.

    Overwhelmed by  my vocation I entered the ministry, seminary and ordination, tied in painful knots, and only until I decided to seek therapy too look at myself, and found myself in "reparative" therapy, and when that was not working to force me into a state hospital until "you see homosexuality as a sin," did the light begin, slowly, every so slowly enter my life and I ran away, to Hollywood, prostitution, a lawsuit against my denomination, another Master's, ever so slowly as the light dawned back into ministry and to San Francisco!

    Through the years from being crushed by homophobia,being homeless, and the struggles here on the street, having my son murdered, and constant judgment threats and criticism,I am a wounded healer. 

    I see every person as a child of God, and only God has the right to judge! I see my life has a piece of an old cypress tree, each wound, each hurt is chiseled into a beautiful scar.!

    The Jesus know, the Cosmic Jesus, the One who embraces all. The Jesus I know is the One who leads us into the a revelation of an a blazing God of Oneness, healing, and love!"

"I know that I have life

only insofar as I have love.

I have no love

except it come from thee!

Help me please to carry this candle against the wind.

-Wendell Berry

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

-------------------------------------------------

Fr. C. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

snap/chat: riodamien2

Mission in Life! (Revised January 1, 2024):

The best summary for my mission in life is found in the statement that:

"Obedience to Christ does not consist in

engaging in propaganda, nor in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such away that's one's life would not make sense if God did not exist."

Being a 'living mystery' means to love 'to the point of folly, and in the words of Kawaga:

"I am a free lance tramp, a vagabond for Christ. I must go until Christ's work is done. I go like the wind."

========================

[nerdygaymormon]

On the latest episode of Richard Ostler's podcast was a gay man who had electroshock therapy done to him. I was wondering if you experienced that?

I never experienced electroshock therapy, for that I am truly thankful.

My dad has told me one of his great regrets is not putting me into conversion therapy, which likely would've been through LDS Social Services, which could've meant that electroshock therapy would be involved.

Unfortunately, in 2019 I went to a camp run by an LDS man who claims to be an "expert" at turning gay men straight. It was a rough experience. I didn't know it at the time, but the "expert" has no formal psychological education nor any professional qualification as a psychologist. In fact, he's been found guilty of fraud in a court of law for claiming to change gay men to being straight, but unable to produce any clients who successfully made this change.

————————————————————

For those who aren't familiar, the idea of electroshock therapy is that a person can change their sexual orientation by looking at erotic photos of their same gender while receiving an electrical shock. It's a form of aversion therapy. BYU also used vomiting aversion therapy.

This aversion therapy is supposed to create a connection in their mind between homosexual thoughts, feelings, & images, with pain, which would cause them to reject those feelings. Usually this therapy was paired with attempts to link pleasure with heterosexuality by having them masturbate while looking at pornographic images & videos of the opposite gender.

Another important fact to remember is that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from the DSM in 1973. Meaning that therapists in the United States who continued to treat homosexuality as if it were a pathology or disorder were outside of the accepted standards of their profession.

It’s unclear how many BYU students underwent electroshock or vomiting aversion therapies. The records for each individual were destroyed when they left the university. For many years BYU denied it happened, but in 2011 admitted that aversion therapy programs happened on campus, and not just limited to BYU students, but also gay members referred by bishops & stake presidents in the area.

While aversion therapies at BYU or by LDS Social Services (now called Family Services) stopped in the mid-1990s, conversion or reparative therapy to change a person's sexual orientation continued until probably 2018.

————————————————————

Here is a history of conversion therapy in the LDS church:

The word 'homosexual' was coined in 1868 to replace the pejorative terms sodomy and pederast. This is important because it acknowledged that this is how a person experiences sexual attraction, it is an innate part of who they are.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, viewed homosexuality as a form of arrested development. Later psychiatric models continued to identify homosexuality as a problem that could be treated.

The 1952 first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM) classified homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disorder. The DSM is used in the United States to diagnose and treat mental disorders and is considered one of the principal guides of psychiatry.

In 1959, LDS Church president David O. McKay appointed the apostles Spencer W. Kimball and Mark E. Peterson to focus on 'curing' gay members. It doesn't seem a coincidence that later that year, BYU began its on-campus electroshock aversion therapy program, and this lasted into the mid-1990s.

In 1973, the APA removed homosexuality from the DSM. This didn't change the LDS Church position on homosexuality, in fact, it seems to have caused it to double down as it realized it could no longer count on the world to sustain church teachings and values on the matter.

In 1976, the Values Institute was founded at BYU with the idea that truth comes from the scriptures and prophets, not secular data. The Institute was to do academic and scientific research to support the church's homophobic teachings. The Values Institute closed in 1985, having been unable to achieve any of its objectives.

Allen Bergin was director of the Values Institute, and after it was closed he continued to oppose LGBT rights and saying that LGBT people could change their sexual orientation. His opinion carried a lot of weight inside the LDS Church and he even served in the Sunday School General Presidency. However, in 2020 he issued a public apology for “being part of a professional, religious, and public culture that marginalized, pathologized, and excluded LGBT persons.” What caused him to change his opinion? Getting to personally know and love gay people. Bergin wrote that as a father of two gay sons and grandfather to a gay grandson, “I’ve been given a personal education that has been painful and enlightening.”

Since the early 1990s, researchers have found that homosexuality has a genetic component, that there are differences in the brain structures of adult straight and gay people, and there exists a large array of homosexual behavior in animals. The academic and scientific consensus was a challenge to the long-held LDS positions.

In 1995, the First Presidency letter in the Ensign magazine affirmed that a homosexual orientation is not inborn as that would frustrate God's plan and top leaders continued to put forth ideas on what causes a person "confusion" over their gender identity or gender roles into the 2000s (they didn't distinguish between gender identity and sexual orientation).

In 2007, the APA did a thorough review of existing research of conversion therapy and found that it does not work and there is evidence that such therapy is harmful to LGBTQ+ people. Further research links conversion therapy to depression, suicidality, anxiety, social isolation and decreased capacity for intimacy, surely those aren't the results anyone wants for their loved ones.

In 2016, the church website MormonAndGay declared that conversion therapy or sexual orientation change efforts are unethical.

In 2019, LDS Family Services announced they do not provide 'reparative therapy' or 'sexual orientation change efforts' any more

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

Yesterday, news broke that transgender woman and computer pioneer Lynn Conway passed away at the age of 86. Her story is nothing short of remarkable. Conway helped pioneer early supercomputers at IBM but was fired after she transitioned. She went “stealth” and had to rebuild her career from the ground up, starting as a contract programmer at Xerox with “no experience.” Then, she did it all over again, pioneering VLSI—a groundbreaking technology that allowed for microchips to be made small enough to fit in your pocket, paving the way for smartphones and personal computers. In 1999, she broke stealth, becoming an outspoken advocate for transgender people.

Conway first attempted to transition at MIT in 1957 at the age of 19 years old. At the time, the environment was not accepting enough for transgender people to do so. She would have faced enormous barriers to medical transition, as few doctors were knowledgeable enough to prescribe hormone therapy a the time. Like many transgender people seeing enormous barriers to care, she spent the following years closeted. Eventually, she was hired by IBM where she helped develop the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time on the Advanced Computing System (ACS) project. The computer would become the first to use a “superscalar” design, which made it capable of performing several tasks at once, dramatically improving its performance and making it much faster than previous computers. Despite her pivotal role in the project, she was fired when she informed her employer that she wanted to transition.

What she did next is nothing short of remarkable. Realizing that as an openly transgender woman in 1968, few companies would hire her, she went “stealth” and pretended she had no significant prior experience in computers. She quickly advanced through the ranks and was hired by Xerox, where she famously developed VLSI, or Very Large Scale Integration. This groundbreaking technology allowed for thousands of transistors to be packed onto a single chip, revolutionizing electronics by making cell phones and modern computers possible through miniaturization and increased processing power. Conway didn’t stop there. After gaining fame for her computer innovations, she came out in 1999 to advocate for transgender people. She was among the early critics of Dr. Kenneth Zucker, an anti-trans researcher still cited today by those working to ban gender-affirming care. Conway slammed Zucker for practicing “reparative therapy,” a euphemism for conversion therapy. Notably, Zucker’s research continues to make false claims that “80% of transgender kids desist from being trans,” numbers based on his clinic's practices, which closely mirrored gay conversion therapy. That clinic has since been shut down over those practices.

RIP to Lynn Conway. She was a tireless fighter for trans rights in a time that publicly supporting LGBTQ+ causes (let alone trans causes) wasn't popular, and that led to her firing from IBM in 1968.

Conway helped develop the supercomputer while at IBM, and later on at Xerox, helped developed microchip technology found in cell phones. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

[eaglesnick]

“Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.” ― Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In 2018 the Tory Party promised to ban gay conversion therapy.

“According to the British Psychological Society (BPS), conversion therapy - sometimes called "reparative therapy" or "gay cure therapy" - tries to change someone's sexual orientation …It can include talking therapies and prayer, but more extreme forms can include exorcism, physical violence and food deprivation." (BBC News: 20/01/23)

Behind the practice of gay conversion therapy is the belief that "gayness”  (in all its forms) is both unnatural and ungodly. In one of a series of articles published in Conservative Woman (a self-confessed “culture wars”, right-wing media platform) it is clearly stated that teaching children to be "non-judgemental” about different sexual orientations is not only wrong but morally reprehensible.

“Switching off children’s antennae for normality dangerously suppresses the very feelings that alert them to confusion, fear or disgust.”  (Belinda Brown, Grooming our children, Part 3: ‘No such thing as normal’, (Conservative Woman: 06/11/23) 

For the right of the Conservative Party, homosexuality is both “disgusting” and “fearful", disgusting because it is unnatural and fearful because it undermines heterosexual family values. Belinda Brown, a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, writes:

“Do we want to encourage our young people to find gratification and safety with a same-sex friend? Or do we think it better that they discover the rewards, fascinations and challenges of having meaningful and stable relationships with the opposite sex? Shouldn’t our love and intimacy ideally be submitted to marriage as a transcendent framework supporting the family through time?”  (Brown: Don’t’ let the LGBT lobby decide our children’s sex education”; The Conservative Woman)

Another article In Conservative Woman by Niall McCrae, argues that public measures recognising and, horror upon horror, celebrating the LGBT community are tantamount to:

“…trolling, and the target is anyone who remains ensconced in the traditional bonds of faith, flag and family.”  (Niall; Believe in faith flag and family? The trolls are coming for you, Conservative Woman: 19/06/230

  What is frightening about this and other anti-homosexual articles, is its similarity to the anti-gay propaganda of Nazi Germany.

Dr Barnara Warnock has written:

“The Nazis promoted traditional family values, with distinct gender roles for men and women, and encouraged women to have many children: gay people were regarded as a threat to these ideals.”  (The Weiner Holocaust Library: Persecution of gay people in Nazi Germany”)

Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, wrote:

‘All things which take place in the sexual sphere are not the private affair of the individual, but signify the life and death of the nation… A people of good race which has too few children has a one-way ticket to the grave.’(1937)

Although I am not accusing the authors of the above quoted articles of being Nazi’s I am saying their belief that things that “ takes place in the sexual sphere are not the private affair of the individual” is very close to their own propaganda regarding the LGTB community.

For the far-right fundamentalist Christians like Belinda Brown, homosexuality, and especially gay marriage, totally destroys “the most basic relationships of our society”, and “the idea that marriage was associated with procreation.”  (Coalition for Marriage:07/01/23)

Fundamentalist ideology, whether religious or political, left or right, is dangerous. Fundamentalist have zero tolerance for any views, believes or behaviour that do conform to their own narrow outlook on life. Theirs is a world in which diversity and difference are not things to be welcomed and celebrated but aberrations to be feared and prosecuted.

The fact that gay conversion therapy is both inhumane and, in practice, largely ineffectual, led the British Medical Association to say:

“The BMA agrees the Government should intervene. The BMA believes so-called conversion therapy to be harmful and unethical and supports banning the practice. Arguments about cultural sensitivity are superseded by the inherently damaging and unethical nature of conversion therapy; the scientific evidence points overwhelmingly to its ineffectiveness and potential for causing harm.”

In mid-October of this year, Sunak was still promising the banning of Gay conversion therapy.

 “Sunak to push ahead with delayed ban on gay and trans conversion practices.” (Guardian: 19/10/23)

But since the promise of the Conservative government in 2018 to ban conversion therapy, the right wing of the Tory party has gained ascendancy, and Rishi Sunak, is now either too weak to resist their demands or is complicit in the culture war they are waging.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want ANY fundamentalist group to dictate how others or I should live. We are still, on the whole, a tolerant nation. It is up to all of us to keep it that way.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Bernard Lane

Published: Feb 8, 2024

At a December 2023 hearing of the Women and Equalities Committee of the UK House of Commons, Women and Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch agreed to write to the committee with evidence “that children likely to grow up to be gay (same-sex attracted) might be subjected to conversion practices on the basis of gender identity rather than their sexual orientation.” What follows is the relevant section of her letter—GCN

Kemi Badenoch

Both prospective and retrospective studies have found a link between gender non-conformity in childhood and someone later coming out as gay.

A young person and their family may notice that they are gender non-conforming earlier than they are aware of their developing sexual orientation. If gender non-conformity is misinterpreted as evidence of being transgender and a child is medically affirmed, the child may not have had a chance to identify, come to terms with or explore a same-sex orientation.

The strong link between same-sex attraction and a transgender identity has been discussed in the relevant academic literature for many years. The Dutch founders of medical gender transition for adolescents wrote in 1999 that (the language is their own)—

“Not all children with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) turn out to be transsexuals after puberty… Prospective studies of GID boys show that this phenomenon is more strongly related to later homosexuality than to later transsexualism. These findings are in accordance with retrospective studies that have shown that male and female homosexuals recall more cross-gendered behaviour in childhood than male and female heterosexuals.”

In 2012, one of the same authors also found a clear pattern emerging—

“Follow-up studies have demonstrated that only a small proportion of gender dysphoric children become transsexual at a later age, that a much larger proportion have a homosexual sexual orientation without any gender dysphoria.”

The most recent reported data from GIDS [the Tavistock youth gender clinic] in England demonstrates that older [adolescent] patients expressing a sexual orientation were overwhelmingly not heterosexual. [And] 67.7 per cent of adolescent female patients were recorded as being attracted to other females only, 21.1 per cent were bisexual, and only 8.5 per cent were listed as heterosexual. Among adolescent male patients, 42.3 per cent were attracted only to other males, 38 per cent were bisexual, and only 19.2 per cent said they were attracted only to females.

As I mentioned at the committee hearing, I am aware of troubling accounts that some clinicians are hesitant to work in gender identity services. I take this extremely seriously. As detailed in the interim report of the Cass Review, primary and secondary care staff have stated that they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach, which is at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake.

Dr Natasha Prescott, a former GIDS clinician reported in her exit interview from the Tavistock that “there is increasing concern that gender-affirmative therapy, if applied unthinkingly, is reparative therapy against gay individuals, i.e. by making them straight” and Dr Matt Bristow, a former GIDS clinician, reported to [journalist] Hannah Barnes that he came to feel that GIDS was performing “conversion therapy for gay kids.”

In a survey of 100 detransitioners, the experience of homophobia or difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual was expressed by 23 per cent of respondents as a reason for transition and subsequent detransition. As German gender clinicians have noted: “it must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient’s development as a homosexual. This may not be in the interest of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity.”

Video: “We are seeing almost an epidemic of young gay children being told that they are trans and being put on a medical pathway”—Kemi Badenoch, December 2023

“The evidence is clear. The vast majority of young people being put onto irreversible medical pathways are attracted to their own sex. This is modern gay conversion therapy.”—LGB Alliance, 8 February 2024

--

Documents and commentary

Ms Badenoch’s complete letter. The Daily Telegraph’s news report. Writer Ben Appel on the “new homophobia”. Philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith on “transing the gay away”. Endocrinologist Roy Eappen on gender-affirming care and gay kids. Author Allan Stratton on “automatic trans affirmation” and children confused about same-sex attraction. Psychiatrist Alexander Korte on puberty blockers and sexual identity development.

--

The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP Minister for Women & Equalities Secretary of State for Business & Trade President of the Board of Trade

Data on gender identity services

The Committee asked about data on the significant rise in referrals of young people to gender identity clinics. NHS England report that in 2021/22 there were over 5,000 referrals into the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. This compares to just under 250 referrals in 2011/12. The Cass Review reported there were approximately 50 referrals per annum in 2009 meaning that referrals have risen since then by 10,000%.1 The Cass Review also noted that in 2020 referrals stood at 2,500 per annum, meaning that the rise to 5,000 in the most recent year represents a doubling in a single year. As I said in my evidence session, this trend represents an explosion in numbers of referrals.

I committed to providing further details on the evidence that children likely to grow up to be gay (same sex attracted) might be subjected to conversion practices on the basis of gender identity rather than their sexual orientation. Both prospective and retrospective studies have found a link between gender non conformity in childhood and someone later coming out as gay.2 A young person and their family may notice that they are gender nonconforming earlier than they are aware of their developing sexual orientation. If gender non-conformity is misinterpreted as evidence of being transgender and a child is medically affirmed the child may not have had a chance to identify, come to terms with or explore a same-sex orientation.

The strong link between same sex attraction and a transgender identity has been discussed in the relevant academic literature for many years. The Dutch founders of medical gender transition for adolescents wrote in 1999 that (the language is their own):

“Not all children with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) turn out to be transsexuals after puberty… Prospective studies of GID boys show that this phenomenon is more strongly related to later homosexuality than to later transsexualism. These findings are in accordance with retrospective studies that have shown that male and female homosexuals recall more cross-gendered behaviour in childhood than male and female heterosexuals.”3

In 2012, one of the same authors also found a clear pattern emerging: “Follow-up studies have demonstrated that only a small proportion of gender dysphoric children become transsexual at a later age, that a much larger proportion have a homosexual sexual orientation without any gender dysphoria.”4

The most recent reported data from GIDS in England demonstrates that older patients expressing a sexual orientation were overwhelmingly not heterosexual. 67.7% of adolescent female patients were recorded as being attracted to other females only, 21.1% were bisexual, and only 8.5% were listed as heterosexual. Among adolescent male patients, 42.3% were attracted only to other males, 38% were bisexual, and only 19.2% said they were attracted only to females.5

As I mentioned at the Committee hearing, I am aware of troubling accounts that some clinicians are hesitant to work in gender identity services. I take this extremely seriously. As detailed in the interim report of the Cass Review, primary and secondary care staff have stated that they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach, which is at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake.

Dr Natasha Prescott, a former GIDS clinician reported in her exit interview from the Tavistock that ‘there is increasing concern that gender affirmative therapy, if applied unthinkingly, is reparative therapy against gay individuals, i.e. by making them straight’ and Dr Matt Bristow, a former GIDS clinician, reported to Hannah Barnes that he came to feel that GIDS was performing ‘conversion therapy for gay kids.’6 In a survey of 100 detransitioners, the experience of homophobia or difficulty accepting themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual was expressed by 23% of respondents as a reason for transition and subsequent detransition.7 As German gender clinicians have noted:

"it must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient's development as a homosexual. This may not be in the interest of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity." 8

During our evidence session you also asked me if there is a pattern being established specifically around girls with autism and transition. In its June 2023 statement, NHS England noted the rise in autistic young people seeking gender transition:

"Marked changes in the types of patients being referred which are not well understood. There has been a dramatic change in the case mix of referrals from predominantly birthregistered males to predominantly birth-registered females presenting with gender incongruence in early teen years. Additionally, a significant number of children are also presenting with neurodiversity and other mental health needs and risky behaviours which requires careful consideration and needs to be better understood.”

Many studies have reported that autistic people are over-represented in gender clinic populations, including a recent study noting "evidence of an increased rate of autism in adults and young people accessing gender clinics internationally, ranging from 5% to 26%".9 Authors have cautioned that this represents a challenge to the affirmative model:

The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders published a 2018 study which found ‘autistic traits appear to be more prevalent in transgender people assigned female at birth’.10

9.4% of adolescent Dutch gender patients were autistic. Autistic patients were reported to be on a range of gender-affirming pathways, including on puberty blockers, gender-affirming hormones, and having undergone sex reassignment surgery.11

The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in 2012 published a study which found that nearly 30% of transgender men (natal females) were autistic compared with only 2% of non-transgender females.12

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health in 2015 published a study which found that 26 % of adolescent sex reassignment applicants were diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum which far exceeded the prevalence of 6/1000 for the general population. The authors concluded ‘autism spectrum needs to be taken seriously in considering treatment guidelines for child and adolescent gender dysphoria’.13

There is also significant evidence young people with gender dysphoria are more likely:

to have associated difficulties including non-suicidal self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, attention deficit hyper- activity disorder (ADHD), symptoms of anxiety, psychosis, eating difficulties, bullying and to have experienced abuse (i.e. physical, psychological/emotional, sexual abuse and neglect). These findings were from a cross-sectional study of 218 children and adolescents with features of gender dysphoria referred to the GIDS in London during 2012. In 2014, the three most common associated difficulties in GIDS’ patients were: bullying, low mood or depression and self-harming – found in 47, 42 and 39% of the cases respectively.14

To be looked after. A study of 185 young people referred to GIDS over a 2-year period (1 April 2009 to 1 April 2011) found looked after young people represented 4.9% of referrals, which is significantly higher than within the English general population (0.58 %).’15

To have experienced difficult life events. A study of children presenting to a multidisciplinary gender service in Australia found a prevalence of adverse childhood experiences including family conflict (65.8%), parental mental illness (63.3%), loss of important figures via separation (59.5%). The study also identified high rates of comorbid mental health disorders: anxiety (63.3 %), depression (62.0%), behavioural disorders (35.4%), and autism (13.9%).16

Following the interim report, NHS England is setting up a new clinical model for children and young people experiencing gender incongruence and gender dysphoria. We are expecting the final Cass Review to be published shortly, which will include further recommendations in this area.

[ Full letter, including unrelated business and referenced sources: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/43255/documents/215243/default/ ]

[seekerofpatterns]

Meet the New Speaker of the House: Mike Johnson

So the House Republicans finally elected a new speaker of the house. There has been some grumbling from liberals about refusing to vote in the next presidential election, so here's a rundown of some of the things the new speaker believes: * Gay marriage should be overturned * Gay "reparative therapy" is a good thing and should be encouraged (wants to make Amazon sell books about it) * The 2020 election was stolen * Voted against the Violence Against Women Act * Against abortion rights * Wants to pass a federal Don't Say Gay law * and many other awful positions. Look him up, if you have the stomach for it. These are the people who will gain even more power if liberals don't vote in federal, state, and local elections. Do NOT give up your power. Do not create even more evil in the world. Do not underestimate the harm that will come to you, your friends, people on this site, etc., if more people like him come to power. VOTE.

[bew8]

Throughout time, one method of curing this non-disease was something known as conversion therapy. According to “Ending Conversion Therapy: Supporting and Affirming LGBTQ Youth,” “conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms—it is a practice not supported by evidence” (SAMHSA, 2015). Different methods were used over time such as counseling, shock therapy, nausea-inducing drugs with visualization, and even lobotomies. A man hired to denounce the disease in the DSM known as Robert Spitzer wrote in a 2003 paper that reparative therapy did in fact cure homosexuality (when it was no longer listed as a disease) (Greenberg, 2013). In 2012 however, he recanted the paper and actually apologized to the gay community for unproven claims (Greenberg, 2013). Now, it is common knowledge among the gay community that reparative quote unquote therapy is not only not effective, but in fact extremely harmful. In many Christian spheres however this rhetoric is continuously forced onto people, especially young people.