Recently, the Albany franchise of the Baptist church hosted an event named “‘Real Lives’- Where some Christians who experienced same sex attraction and gender dysphoria will share their life stories in the context of the church community” This event was part of a roadshow by True Identity International, “We offer peer support thru Education, Recovery & Advocacy around child sexual abuse, porn addiction, human sexuality, gender dysphoria, male/female identity. Strong support leads to stronger people. Simple!” True Identity International engages and endorses gay conversion therapy. Of course they deny this, even as they post proof of it on their FB page.
Of course this doesn’t mean the event was a gay conversion event, or specifically set up to promote it, but it’s certainly rather distasteful to anyone who thinks being queer is a valid form of expression and love.
Albany Pride, a group I am loosely affiliated with, protested on the grounds of the church on the night of the event. I was planning to join the protest, until events at work left me feeling frustrated and angry, and it was better for myself and Albany Pride for myself to stay away.
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Comments on posts from both the Albany Advertiser and the ABC Great Southern’s FB pages proved to be quite the battleground. Supporters of the church declared that the event had nothing to do with gay conversion therapy, while also claiming that any effort to curtail gay conversion therapy is a removal of religious freedom and parental rights, both nefarious concepts at the best of times. I also can’t help but notice many of the people defending the event are also antivaxxers and racists, based on comments by them on other threads.
People accused Albany Pride of using the event to push their own agenda, because apparently not wanting people to be psychologically tortured is apparently an agenda. Also people claim that what happens at church or church events has nothing to do with secular society, like it’s all behind one confessional seal. Also people claim that it’s freedom of speech to hold gay conversion therapy, or events promoting it, which is all kinds of bullshit.
Gay conversion therapy is an umbrella term for a range of unscientific practices to attempt to change and individual’s sexuality, from something other than straight to straight. It is often forced on children by their parents. There is no peer reviewed, mainstream studies that back up any claim that the therapy can change an individual’s sexuality. In fact many mainstream medical groups, for example the American Psychiatric Association, condemn the practice. In the past, gay conversion therapy included lobotomies, castration and aversion treatments. Now it mostly includes counseling, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy and spiritual intervention (pray the gay away) and peer pressure.
The whole reason for gay conversion therapy is the notion that being gay is wrong, and something that needs to be cured. This entirely ignores the fact that homosexuality has existed in our species for as long as our species has existed, and there is no proof that sexuality can change by external forces.
Something that probably passes straight over the head of True Identity and the Baptist church is that sexuality (as far as hetero, homo and bi is concerned) is a spectrum, with gay on one end, straight on the other and bi in the middle. Labels like those are very useful in social and political settings, but are gross simplifications. The most gay conversion therapy will do is to teach its victims that its better to act straight socially and to suppress their sexuality by being celibate. For every apparent success story dragged out by proponents of conversion therapy, there is dozens of people who used to claim to be converted, and are now out and proud. Added to this is the incredibly high rates of depression and suicide among survivors of gay conversion therapy, it’s safe to say it should be banned.
Because I don’t quite feel I have beaten this dead horse enough, the biblical evidence for the gay is bad mantra, is sketchy at best. Homosexuality didn’t even make the ten commandments, while not lusting after the hottie next door and not working on a particular day of the week does. So you have to cherry pick particular verses while ignoring others- like the ones about not eating pork- to reach the conclusion that you can’t be a gay christian. It’s worth noting that many of the more progressive churches manage to look past a handful of anti-gay biblical verses and welcome our queer brothers and sisters.
This makes me think that the whole thing is just an excuse for homophobia, as well as a need by many conservative christian groups to be as homogeneous as possible, which certainly backs up my belief that Baptists, Seven Day Adventists and JWs strive to be as boring as possible.
As for me, apart from basic respect for human dignity, it’s in my nature to support minorities and the marginalised, even if that support is minor, and sometimes nothing more than letting the marginalised know that I understand.
Adrian's Got The Moose 