Friday 18 January 2008

Healing Homosexuality?

My wife brought a website to my attention a while ago of a church called Exodus International. An international church who apparently specialise in healing homosexuals, or as they put it "For 30 years, Exodus has served men and women who are affected by homosexuality".

Now call me ignorant, but I did not genuinely consider that places or people like this existed. But apparently they do and it is a terrifying thought.

Funnily, on their board of directors are no less than two "ex-gays" and mental health practitioner! Really, someone qualified to guide people's mental health? They describe themselves as a non-judgmental church who lead sufferers out of the homosexual lifestyle into God-approved hetero-ness. They oppose the Gay-Gene Myth, gay marriage and gay parenting and are not shy to publish their "real life stories" of success and to obtain funding, donations and apparently prayers while they are at it.

At first we laughed. This is funny, right? They are ridiculous, right? Until we realised the size of them and the obvious influence they seem to have. It is funny until you realise how many people are living lies, with husbands, wives and children because they are trying so desperately hard to believe that the devil made them gay and that God could turn them straight.

It is funny until we realise how many people out there must be living estranged from their families, parents or siblings because God-fearing people like these have convinced them that is a choice to be gay, punishable by hell and fixable. Worst of all, that it is heal-able or fixable, like it is a disease.

I am proud to be gay, I am proud of my wife and I am proud of my family who have embraced us without question. God save us from all the people out there who believe they are doing God's work.

It just again brings home to me that we should not allow ourselves to be cast out, to be pushed around, to be judged and treated like we have a disease. We must simply not allow places and people like this to get a hold, because they might not realise the damage they are doing to people, but damage is definitely being done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi..I really wanted to say that I enjoy reading your blog. There are indeed rather few articles on lesbian issues and especially lesbian sexuality, most of which are sometimes quite brief, with half the rest parroting the other.

I appreciate that you take the time out to write these insightful, further descriptive articles.A good number of them are pretty helpful, especially for a new lesbian like myself.

Thanks again and I'l be back to read more of what you've written.

Anonymous said...

hi there.. how's life in sa for a gay couple?

live in uk and couldnt imagine how it was there.

lyra

lycraclad13@yahoo.com