The Texas GOP has added so-called “reparative therapy” to its new platform. How out-to-lunch, out of touch, or else plain-out hateful do you have to be to think this is a good idea? How selfish, obtuse, blind and cruel does one have to be?
- This country is not a giant family where “father knows best,” and can impose whatever standard he wants for his children, and hope they don’t take off in the middle of the night.
- This country is not a giant church where the “people in charge” are going to make Christians out of you, whether you like it or not.
- This country is not a place to trample over anybody in your way to make your name in politics.
Or is it?
Frankly, I cast a wary eye at the whole political process. But wrong is wrong, and no matter where we stand, we have a responsibility to call out wrong when we see it.
And stirring up fear of gays has been part of right-wing conservative politics for decades, causing untold damage. And now, this. Again.
So-called “reparative” or “conversion therapy” is wrong. Period.
If you are unfamiliar with it, I’ll tell you just a little about it. This “therapy” is a desperate attempt to “stamp out” homosexuality, and it will use whatever techniques it can come up with.
One of the original and largest leaders of this nightmare, Exodus International, has shut down, and its founder Alan Chambers, has apologized for the decades of horrible damage and harm this “therapy” caused to thousands.
Real people, that I have talked to, in person, have told me horror stories…
- Using opposite gender pornography to “stimulate heterosexual attraction.”
- Bringing in prostitutes to “stimulate heterosexual attraction.”
- Electric shock to the genitals to “stop same-sex attraction.”
Okay, let’s stop right there.
Absolute insanity.
What kind of Kool-Aid does someone have to drink to pretend this is okay? Or to go even further and promote it??
The blinding part is this does NOT change orientation! It never has. It never will. It has and always will be a fraud.
As we know, many people will do anything for power and profit and victory. And not just in Texas. There are stories of anti-LGBTQ policies and programs for political gain throughout the country And we are now exporting these toxic LGBTQ policies to unsuspecting countries. [Also here and here.]
The fraud of ex-gay “reparative/conversion therapy” has had immeasurable, damaging, devastating impact on the lives of countless LGBTQ people.
And now it’s back?? It’s part of the new Texas GOP platform?? It’s being promoted to other countries??
This is a human disaster waiting to happen.
Please. No more.
[To read more from Susan Cottrell, visit www.FreedHearts.org]
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SUSAN COTTRELL is a national speaker, teacher, and counselor with years of Biblical study and discipleship experience. Her books include: Mom, I’m Gay – Loving Your LGBTQ Child Without Sacrificing Your Faith
She is the Vice-President of PFLAG Austin, and her “Mom, I’m Gay” book has been endorsed by The Human Rights Campaign and others. Sharon Groves, PhD, HRC’s Religion & Faith Program Director says, “I often get asked by parents for resources that can address the struggles of raising LGBT sons and daughters without having to leave faith behind. Susan Cottrell’s book, Mom, I’m Gay, does just that. This is the kind of book that parents will love.”
She and her husband have been married more than 25 years and have five children – one of whom is in the LGBTQ community. She lives in Austin, Texas, and blogs at FreedHearts.org and here in IMPACT Magazine’s FreedHearts and Jesus Blog columns.
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