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The ex-gay or exodus movement is a controversial movement which says that individuals can, and should, change their sexual orientation from homosexuality or bisexuality to heterosexuality. Ex-gay groups offer reparative therapy, counseling, prayer and other techniques to help gays try to achieve this. Most ex-gay organizations also minister to people who identify as transgender, on the presumption that such feelings or behaviour are related to homosexuality.

Introduction

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The movement is primarily based in the United States (though it exists in other countries such as Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom), and is largely led by Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians (see also Homosexuality and Christianity).

The modern ex-gay movement's claims have been condemned by most major psychological, psychiatric, and medical associations. Today, these secular associations point to scientific evidence suggesting that homosexuals cannot change their orientation and have no reason to do so aside from societal pressure. They say repressing those feelings may cause future psychological damage, which is broadly denied by those in the ex-gay movement.

Because of the differences of opinion between modern medicine and fundamentalist Christianity's views on what homosexuality actually is, establishing a dialogue between the two groups can be difficult. The ex-gay movement advocates viewing homosexuality as a behavior that can be changed, while much of the scientific community tends towards identifying it as a trait, akin to left-handedness.

The ex-gay movement accepts that gay feelings can exist, but believes they mask deeper underlying issues that needs to be searched out. Some leaders in the ex-gay movement say their gay feelings were primarily rooted in abuse or neglect in early development -- even 'sinful' experimentation. They speak of a redemptive process which they say led them to having natural affections for the opposite sex and allowed them to marry and have kids. However, there have been cases of some leaders getting caught in gay "relapses" and cases of some leaders later rejecting the ex-gay movement.

Ex-gay groups

Love In Action

Love in Action, or LIA, was founded in 1973 by John Evans and the Rev. Kent Philpott. It was the first group to publicize cases of homosexuals who had allegedly been converted or learned to abstain from homosexuality or homosexual feelings. After Evans' friend Jack McIntyre committed suicide out of despair concerning his inability to change, Evans left the project and denounced it as dangerous. He was quoted by the Wall Street Journal (April 21, 1993) as saying: "They're destroying people's lives. If you don't do their thing, you're not of God, you'll go to hell. They're living in a fantasy world."

Shortly after founding the group, Philpott wrote The Third Sex?, which claimed that his patients had successfully changed their sexual orientation through prayer. Some of his patients challenged these assertions; however, Philpott stated it was God's will that the book be written. Four members of the group, including Evans, filed suit for misrepresentation. Shortly after, Philpott had the book removed from the market.

In July 2005 Evans wrote a letter to current LIA director John Smid regarding the controversial activies of LIA.

On September 12, 2005 the Tennessee-based Love in Action facility was determined by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health to have been operating two "unlicensed mental health supportive living facilities." LIA was given until September 30 to apply for a license as a mental health facility.

Exodus International

Main article: Exodus International

Exodus International is the "largest Christian referral and information ministry" in the ex-gay movement, according to its web site. Exodus doesn't believe individuals are born gay, but thinks gay desires mask an underlying issue, like abuse and neglect from early development. With reparative therapy, prayer, and other techniques, they claim homosexuals can be changed through "the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ." The group has monthly newsletters, annual conferences, speaking engagements and web services.

Exodus International had its biggest scandal in 1979 when co-founder Michael Bussee left the group with Gary Cooper, a co-organizer of 1976 conference that led to Exodus' inception. Bussee and Cooper had both worked at the local Exodus ministry, and later held a life commitment ceremony. Their story is one of the focuses of the documentary One Nation Under God (1993), directed by Teodoro Maniaci and Francine Rzeznik.

Homosexuals Anonymous, Quest Learning Center

Seventh Day Adventist Colin Cook founded the groups Quest Learning Center and Homosexuals Anonymous in 1979 and 1980 respectively. In 1985 he wrote Homosexuality, and Homosexuality: An Open Door. In 1986, he was discovered to be engaging in sexual acts with his Quest patients. He claimed that the nude massages of other men should desensitize them against homosexual desires.

In 1987, he was expelled from Homosexuals Anonymous for sexual activity, and in 1995 a similar scandal happened with his newly founded group FaithQuest Colorado. According to the Denver Post, Cook had engaged in phone sex, practiced long and grinding hugs, and asked patients to bring homosexual pornography to sessions so that he could help desensitize them against it. The Seventh Day Adventist church eventually severed all ties with Cook. Homosexuals Anonymous survived without Cook.

Courage and Courage Trust

Courage is a group founded in the United States (Courage is known as EnCourage in the UK) by Catholic priest Fr John Harvey to help homosexuals live chastely in according with the moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. In Catholic teaching, there is a distinction between 'chastity' and 'celibacy', two terms sometimes used as synonyms. Celibacy is the state of being unmarried. Chastity is the right use of sexuality in accordance with one's state of life, that is whether one is married or unmarried. All Catholics are called to lead chaste lives. For married Catholics, this includes sexual relations with one's spouse. For unmarried Catholics, both heterosexual and homosexual, it means complete abstention from sexual activity, whether alone or with others. Courage does not seek to reverse the sexual orientation of Catholic homosexuals but does try to help them to avoid the physical expression of this orientation through masturbation or genital relations with members of the same sex. Courage accepts the distinction that is made in current Catholic moral theology between homosexual orientation, which, although 'intrinsically disordered', is not in itself sinful and homosexual behaviour, which is always objectively sinful. The Catholic Church teaches that all genital sexual activity outside of hetersexual marriage is sinful and its teaching on homosexual behaviour is therefore not different from its teaching on heterosexual behaviour.

The Roman Catholic group Courage is not to be confused with Courage Trust, a Protestant evangelical group formed in 1990 with a stated aim "to heal homosexuals". It ceased to exist in that form in 2001 when the group's founder, Jeremy Marks, wrote in the journal Lesbian and Gay Christians, "I have come to the conclusion that we have been quite wrong to dismiss all same sex love (other than platonic) as sinful." At that time the group was holding weekly meetings in London for about 150 men.

Courage Trust is not defunct but following the realisation of Jeremy Marks that none of the people his group had counselled seemed to have changed orientation, it has undergone a serious change of direction in recent years. Mission statements by Marks on the Courage website () clarify this change of course:

A Change of Heart is the Priority
While recognising the social pressure to become 'normal' (i.e. heterosexual), fifteen years experience has revealed that God's primary concern is not to change the sexual orientation of his gay and lesbian disciples, but to help them find wholeness in Christ - becoming secure, assured of his love and acceptance, set apart to follow Jesus faithfully and responsible in building relationships with one another.

Courage Trust is unusual in that the group appears to have changed its outlook on both the efficacy of counselling and on the relationship between Christianity and homosexuality.

True Freedom Trust (United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland)

True Freedom Trust was a founding member of Exodus International Europe.This Liverpool-based group was formed in 1977 by Canon L. Roy Barker and Martin Hallett, a Church of England cleric and a layman who renounced homosexual sex on scriptural grounds. On the effective collapse of Courage Trust in 2001, it was the remaining ex-gay group operating within the Church of England. The body claims to have 1200 supporters and 13 support groups for gay men and lesbians and their families in Britain and Ireland.

Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH)

On July 8, 2003 a group of 11 non-profit organizations created a coalition called PATH, including secular, therapeutic and research organizations in the U.S. and Germany as well as African-American, Catholic, Jewish, Latter-day Saint and Protestant ministries. This group sponsored controversial ads on billboards and in major newspapers showing people who have claimed to have changed from homosexual or bi-sexual to heterosexual. This group also sponsored joint meetings of these organizations to plan a strategy on how to talk about ex-gay issues and counter the efforts of gay rights organizations.

Controversies

1998 campaign & the Paulk affair

The largest ex-gay campaign to date happened in America in 1998, when several ministries funded commercials and advertisements to inform people that they could walk away from homosexuality. Prominent ex-gays, such as John Paulk, were featured in the 1998 advertisements and on the cover of Newsweek with his ex-lesbian wife Anne. Michael Johnston, another ex-gay, was also featured.

In September 2000, John Paulk was working in Washington D.C., and late at night he stopped into Mr. P's, a well known local gay bar. While there, he struck up a conversation with another man named Daryl Herrschaft who, unbeknownst to Paulk, was a member of the Human Rights Campaign and recognized him immediately. Herrschaft called a Human Rights Campaign colleague, Wayne Besen, and told him that Paulk was there. While waiting for Besen to arrive, Herrschaft began talking with Paulk to keep him from leaving. Asked if he was gay, Paulk replied yes, but gave the pseudonym "John Clint" rather than his real name. Paulk bought Herrschaft a drink and proceeded to flirt with him, which kept him inside for the better part of an hour.

Finally, Wayne Besen arrived with his camera. He confronted Paulk, who immediately ran for cover, concealing his face to prevent a photograph from being taken. The other customers in the bar, not realizing who Paulk was, blocked Besen's view. Paulk was almost able to steal Besen's camera but Besen managed to keep it out of his reach. The bouncer then kicked Besen out the main exit. Paulk asked if there were another exit he could take to avoid Besen but there was not; he had to leave through the main exit. When he did, Besen seized the opportunity and snapped a photo. Paulk was skillful enough to conceal his face and turn his body before the flash went off, so that the photo only showed him from behind. This was an initial problem for Besen, since a photograph from behind could not be positively identified as Paulk. To confirm that it was him, Besen called up the Colorado Springs office of Focus on the Family, Paulk's employer, and received confirmation that Paulk was in Washington that night. He left a message for Paulk himself, who called him back, admitting to having been in the bar. Thus the photo was validated.

Paulk claimed that he had only gone inside to use the bathroom and that because there were both men and women present, he did not know it was a gay bar. However, witnesses place him there for nearly an hour, flirting with the other patrons; he never used the bathroom, and more importantly, there were no women there. The people he claimed were women were actually men dressed in drag, which he should have easily recognized as he once worked as a drag queen. The bar in question at the time displayed a large rainbow flag in its window, a prominent symbol of the gay community.

Upon hearing about the incident, the press picked up on the story and published it widely. Good Morning America wanted to run the story as well but couldn't get Paulk for an interview because Focus on the Family had sent him on vacation. Paulk now claimed that he was only stressed and overworked and decided to visit the establishment for a drink and that despite recognizing it soon afterward as a gay bar, he decided to stay out of sheer curiosity. This public statement, meant to prevent the public from drawing the most logical conclusion, stood as even more admission that Paulk was in fact in a gay bar.

Focus on the Family obviously knew that his bathroom story lacked credibility as well. James Dobson removed him from the Board Chair position of Exodus International. He remained on the board under probationary status only and was not allowed to attend meetings or vote. An Exodus press release soon after was openly critical of him:

"John's actions represent a serious lapse in sound judgment. His decision to enter a gay establishment for any reason opens him up to all kinds of speculation by both other Exodus leaders and also the gay community."

Initial public statements released by Exodus and repeated by director Bob Davies to the media were based on John's false claim that he had unknowingly entered Mr. P's. "That statement was widely doubted by both other Exodus leaders and by the gay community," Davies said. "John's unwillingness to tell the truth from the beginning was most unfortunate, as it has further undermined his public credibility (...) We believe that John's actions to spend time socializing in a gay bar and then to mislead both the public and Exodus leaders--merit some form of disciplinary action."

Deciding that firing him completely was going too far, as it would only further undermine their credibility, Dobson decided to continue allowing Paulk to represent them, spinning the story publicly by claiming to have been stressed out and depressed from work, which left him vulnerable for what he calls "Satan's trap": the door to Mr. P's, a gay bar, the very place that made him so depressed during his drag queen days, which he went into now to re-experience the "easy camaraderie."

John's wife Anne continues to be involved in the movement. She claims being a former lesbian and in a 1998 New York Times ad said "... Even though I had a lot of male friends, I just wasn't attracted to men sexually." But in the book she wrote with John, Love Won Out, she admitted that she had a very sexual relationship with a man during her college years. She claims that Jesus made her heterosexual within six months of coming out as a lesbian, while John claims that overcoming homosexuality takes years.

John Paulk left Exodus International in 2003.

Love In Action and the Zach Scandal

In June 2005, a 16-year-old Tennessee male, Zach (last name omitted for privacy reasons), posted a blog entry on his myspace site, part of which includes:

Somewhat recently, as many of you know, I told my parents I was gay... Well today, my mother, father, and I had a very long "talk" in my room where they let me know I am to apply for a fundamentalist christian program for gays. They tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me, and they "raised me wrong." I'm a big screw up to them, who isn't on the path God wants me to be on. So I'm sitting here in tears, joing (sic) the rest of those kids who complain about their parents on blogs - and I can't help it.

The program Zach noted is a Love In Action-run camp known as Refuge. The subsequent protests drew both extensive local media attention and international interest, with individuals from Europe, America and elsewhere getting involved. Particular attention was given to a quote attributed to the man running the program, John Smid:

I would rather you commit suicide than have you leave Love In Action wanting to return to the gay lifestyle. In a physical death you could still have a spiritual resurrection; whereas, returning to homosexuality you are yielding yourself to a spiritual death from which there is no recovery.

Attention has also focused on the rules of Love In Action which like most Christian camps includes dress codes, bans on several forms of communication with the outside world, and a ban on television. In a May 30 entry on Zach's blog he posted the rules of the Refuge Program. Under a heading called Hygiene, it says, "1. All clients must maintain appropriate hygiene, including daily showering, use of deodorant, and brushing teeth twice daily."

In addition to the nature of the rules themselves, opposition to the course focused on Zach being sent to the camp against his wishes and against a background of existing concerns over ex-gay ministries such as Love In Action.

Zach's original two-week stay in the Love in Action program was extended to eight weeks. On August 1, Zach deleted his old material and began a new blog, which began with the following paragraph:

This isn't going to become my life. I won't let it. There's more to me than this. I've erased the original blogs. I know they're still out there somewhere, but the originals aren't. I haven't been able to see all of the news, newspaper, magazine, etc. articles and such, so I don't know exactly what to say. Currently I feel annoyed towards a lot of things. Love In Action has been misrepresented and what I have posted in my blogs has been taken out of perspective and context. I don't take back the things I've said, nor am I going to pretend like it never happened. It did. I refuse to deal with people who are only focused on their one-sided (biased) agendas. It isn't fair to anyone. I'm very frustrated with the things going on in my life now, but everyone has their issues. Homosexuality is still a factor in my life--- it's not who I am, it never has been. Those of you who really know me, know that homosexuality was always there but it didn't run my life, and it will not now.

On August 14, Zach updated his blog, stating that LIA had not pressured him into doing anything and he got along well with most of the clients there. He said his parents no longer let him hang out with girls as friends because it was unhealthy, and that his father had asked him to stop blogging.

Allegations and investigation

A Tennessee investigation against the camp began shortly after Zach's story appeared online. As of June 28, 2005, the investigation has been dropped, with Tennessee officials citing a lack of evidence of child abuse at the facilities. "Department of Children's Services dispatched its special investigations unit to the facility, and after conducting a full investigation, determined that the child abuse allegations were unfounded," Rob Johnson, an agency spokesman, told the Associated Press. "Free Zach" campaigners, who aim to have LIA/R close down, have made allegations of corruption. Another investigation by the Tennessee Department of Health resulted in their telling the unlicensed group they may have been operating illegally. LIA stopped accepting the mentally-ill and dispensing medications, and in February of 2006, the state of Tennessee ceased legal action.

Failures of Ex-gay Ministries

In the past 18 years, 8 of the Exodus International ministries have dissolved because the director returned to active homosexuality. (This represents a 5% failure rate.)

Dissenting views

Many gay rights groups and scientists sharply dispute the movement's claims, and see sexual orientation as genetic and sexual attitudes as being largely formed before adulthood. Many medical groups have stated that there are no scientifically rigorous studies to evaluate whether ex-gay treatments are beneficial and that no studies substantiate their claims of sexual orientation change. Some of these groups have also stated that attempts to change one's sexuality are potentially harmful, yet no studies exist here either.

The American Psychological Association's position is that human beings cannot choose to be either gay or straight, and that sexual orientation is not a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed. In fact, the Association goes even further, stating that:

Even though most homosexuals live successful, happy lives, some homosexual or bisexual people may seek to change their sexual orientation through therapy, sometimes pressured by the influence of family members or religious groups to try and do so. The reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. It does not require treatment and is not changeable.

The American Psychiatric Association has stated that:

Clinical experience suggests that any person who seeks conversion therapy may be doing so because of social bias that has resulted in internalized homophobia, and that gay men and lesbians who have accepted their sexual orientation positively are better adjusted than those who have not done so.

However, Dr Robert Spitzer, responsible for persuading the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality as a disorder, more recently said:

(S)ome people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that:

Confusion about sexual orientation is not unusual during adolescence. Counseling may be helpful for young people who are uncertain about their sexual orientation or for those who are uncertain about how to express their sexuality and might profit from an attempt at clarification through a counseling or psychotherapeutic initiative. Therapy directed specifically at changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.

Other organisations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association developed and endorsed a joint statement in 1999 reading:

The most important fact about "reparative therapy," also sometimes known as "conversion" therapy, is that it is based on an understanding of homosexuality that has been rejected by all the major health and mental health professions. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers, together representing more than 477,000 health and mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus there is no need for a "cure."

...health and mental health professional organizations do not support efforts to change young people's sexual orientation through "reparative therapy" and have raised serious concerns about its potential to do harm.

Some proponents of the ex-gay movement believe that sexuality is changeable in later life but that homosexuality is not sinful. Some opponents feel the same (see Religion and homosexuality) but condemn the ex-gay movement on the grounds that it is unnecessary and counterproductive, or both.

Because of several well-publicized failures and the political nature of the subject, the ex-gay movement has been extensively ridiculed by gay rights activists, who charge that the suppression of homosexuality only leads to inappropriate outbursts thereof and contributes to fear and suffering. Author and former Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Wayne R. Besen has extensively covered the ex-gay movement and describes it in his book Anything But Straight: Unmasking The Scandals and Lies Behind the "Ex-Gay" Myth, which also deals with so-called reparative therapy of homosexuality. It was Besen who photographed John Paulk leaving a gay bar and who investigated witnesses in the case of Michael Johnston (see above).

A recent survey by two gay psychologists, Michael Schroeder and Ariel Shidlo (2002), of those who have undergone various conversion therapies indicates that while there are indeed some who claim to have maintained a change in behaviour and a very small number who report a change in orientation, these are far fewer than ex-gay organisations such as Exodus and Narth regularly claim and are outnumbered by those left with worsened problems of depression, anxiety and alcohol/drug addiction. The two Schroder/Shidlo papers suggest that part of the problem is that many conversion therapists fail to conform to professional guidelines, for example, by pressuring patients into undergoing one line of treatment and by failing to provide any support or recommend alternative help for those who fail to sustain any change. The discrepancy between the Exodus/Narth estimates of success of conversion therapies and those of other bodies appears to be explained by the fact that many former ex-gays report having falsely reported success to their therapists for a prolonged time. It is worth noting that 7 out of the 8 respondents who reported a change in sexual preferences to Schroeder and Shidlo were employed as counsellors by various Ex-gay groups (something which also applies to the more widely-publicised study by Spitzer, which only focused on a group of successes picked by the ex-gay groups and had a more cursory interview technique based on telephone conversation only). In the light of Wayne Besen's comments outlined above and the experiences of groups such as Courage Trust in the UK, there is scope for scepticism even about these few reported successes.

Despite the opposition of most mental health professionals and the very limited evidence of any lasting impact on sexual preferences or behaviour, the various movements for "former homosexuals" have played an important role in the political debate in recent years. In part, this may represent a tactical shift away from shock tactics (such as the campaign in the 1990s, based upon statistics about homosexuality which were soon discredited) towards cultivating a more caring public face, while still opposing toleration of homosexuality. A critical assessment of this is outlined in Surina Khan's article Calculated Compassion.

See also

References

  1. Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder. "Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumers' Report." Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 33 (3), 249-259 (2002).
  2. American Psychological Association. "Answers to Your Questions About Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality." Retrieved February 9, 2004.

External links

Ex-gay websites

Critics of ex-gay ministries/therapy

Films, television, and other media

  • "Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House", first-person satirical play about an ex-gay residential program
  • "Finally Free", Personal Stories: How Love and Self-Acceptance Saved Us from "Ex-gay" Ministries
  • "Fish Can't Fly", a documentary about the lives and religous faith of people who have left the ex-gay movement
  • "I Do Exist", documentary about five ex-gay activists, with interviews with reparative therapists
  • "It's Not Gay ", documentary about ex-gays
  • "One Nation Under God", historical and political documentary on the proliferation of reparative therapies
  • Saved!, a major motion picture comedy featuring one high school student trying to "straighten out" another
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