Ex-Gay Movement: What is it?

Imagine this scenario: Some seventeen year old boys are handcuffed by their own parents and dragged to a camp where they are promised to be cured from their “mental disease;” their homosexual orientation. The “curative techniques” consist of being electrocuted, drugged, and having the “gay beaten out of them.” After a month of this “reparative therapy”, the once homosexual boys are thought to be ex-gays; meaning, they are no longer homosexual but have once again become heterosexual. This, in a nutshell, is the basic premise of the ex-gay movement.

Homosexuality and Psychology

In the early 1950s the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was published. The DSM is the manual that is used by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists to help diagnose patients with mental disorders. The DSM I (1952) and the DSM II (1968) both included homosexuality as a mental disorder. However, by the time the DSM III was published in 1980, homosexuality was no longer viewed as one. For a phenomenon to be considered a mental disorder, it should be (1) Deviant from what is socially accepted, (2) Distressing to the individual; causing impairment in social/vocational/personal functioning, and (3) Dangerous to the individual and others (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2007).

During this time, psychological research on homosexuality revealed that being attracted to an individual from the same-sex neither caused distress to the individual nor any danger to anyone, and with the development of organizations such as the US based Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in 1985, homosexuality became more mainstream; i.e., being gay was no longer “socially” deviant – it was considered to be a lifestyle and part of the norm.

However, the most significant change that occurred during the 1980s, with the publication of the DSM III, was that the American Psychological Association (APA) considered it unethical and wrong to implement treatments to “convert homosexuals”. Additionally, the APA stated that it would be unethical to deny treatment to any client on the basis of his/her sexual orientation.

The Ex-Gay Movement: Facts

The ex-gay movement began in the United States with Evangelical Christians, also known as Fundamentalist Christians; devout Christians who believe in being “born again”, and that the Bible is the “ultimate and only truth”. “Love in Action” was the first ex-gay ministry that was formed in 1973, headed by Alan Chambers. With the use of propaganda and word of mouth of the “efficacy” in their treatment to cure homosexuals, countless other ex-gay ministries sprouted all over America. By 1976, “Love in Action” and other similar organizations merged to form “Exodus International”, the largest ex-gay organization consisting of 120 ministries in the USA and Canada. With time, “Exodus International” spread outside of the US and started catering to other religious and racial groups in foreign countries, forming the “Exodus Global Alliance”.

Although the main targets for the ex-gay organizations were normally individuals between the ages of thirteen and twenty who were just beginning to question and explore their sexual orientation, they even went even as far as to target children under the age of ten. This was under the claim that the earlier the “disease” was found, the more efficient the treatment process. Despite GLAAD, gay individuals in various communities, and the APA being against Exodus’ actions; the ex-gay “conglomerate” claimed that every individual has the following rights: The right to decide to change his/her sexual orientation, the right to know about alternatives to living a homosexual life, the self-determination and will to change his/her choice of sexual orientation, and the right to live his/her life without the need to feel ridiculed, marginalized, or targeted by hate because of his/her homosexuality. If an individual has the right to “choose freely” to change, why were countless teenage boys and girls handcuffed and dragged to these ex-gay camps? When such criticism was raised by the gay community and the APA, Exodus released a statement claiming that it was criticism such as that which promoted sexually deviant behaviors and relationships in adolescents.

Ex-Gay Treatments… Or So They Say…

Exodus released the “results” of their “therapy” to the public in hopes of showing how progressive and truly corrective and curative their treatment plans were. However, what they failed to mention in their studies was the unethical way they treated their so-called “free willing patients”. Many of the treatment procedures were based on anecdotal experiences from gay teenagers who had managed to escape from the camps.

Electric-Shock and Aversion therapies were the main therapy procedures used. The “patients” would be shown a picture of a female and a male. When asked whether the picture of the same-sex model caused any physical arousal and the answer was ‘Yes’, the patients would be shocked for a duration of ten to thirty seconds. This method supposedly “conditioned” the individual to develop an aversive response whenever he/she was aroused by a member of the same sex.

Hypnosis was another method used in attempt to change the patient’s unconscious desire to form a relationship with another man in hopes of creating the relationship he never had with his absent or inattentive and unloving father; the basic premise behind hypnosis therapy was very Freudian and Psychodynamic. Most of the methods used on homosexuals were based on anecdotal recounts from gay men, so little information is present about the assertion of using hypnosis with lesbians. However, the concept of hypnosis with lesbians is based on the principle of Freud’s Electra complex, where, due to “penis envy” (meaning desire to have a penis), the daughter feels an aversion towards her mother for her having been born “castrated”. The daughter thus starts identifying with her father, taking over the gender roles displayed by him. Therefore, the goal of hypnosis would be to reconcile the lesbian daughter unconsciously with her mother. This will lead to her letting go of her desire to have a penis and play the role of the “oppressor” over other females (the role she believes her father was playing over her mother because of his having a penis).

Covert Conditioning is a behavioral treatment in which the “patient” is ridiculed by others because of his/her homosexuality. The individual is encircled by other “patients” and Exodus staff members and called names such as “faggot”, “sissy,” “carpet muncher” (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2007).

Orgasmic Conditioning is another behavioral intervention in which the individual is asked to masturbate to a picture of an individual of the same sex; however, once at the point of orgasm, the individual is asked to ejaculate to the picture of an individual from the opposite sex (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2007).

When these “mild treatments” were considered ineffective in changing the individual’s sexual orientation; more severe forms of therapy were then implemented. These included: hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), castration (removal of the testis), vasectomy, and lobotomy (cutting and slicing the brain’s prefrontal cortex). Now, these “advanced treatments”, in my opinion, seem inconsistent with the goal of the ex-gay movement: if the goal is to convert gay men and women into heterosexuals, then why damage their reproductive organs? What would be the purpose of removing a woman’s uterus and castrating a man if the goal is to convert them to heterosexuals? Are they trying to pass a message along the lines of “if you don’t comply with us, you’ll lose the thing that gives you pleasure?”

When the techniques of “Conversion Therapy” mentioned above did not lead to any success, “Reparative Therapy” was implemented. Reparative Therapy consists of having the homosexual male or female learn to mimic the behaviors and thoughts of heterosexuals, replacing homosexual activities and interests with heterosexual ones, attending church regularly, dating individuals from the opposite sex, marrying and having intercourse with the opposite sex in the hopes of having children (although how that is possible if they’ve been castrated or hysterectomized is beyond my understanding).

When the results of the Exodus study were released, the APA was quick to denounce the results as ineffective, unreliable, and invalid; saying that there is no scientific evidence of how accurate the data is – also claiming that the treatment methods are both unethical and inhumane. Exodus retaliated by releasing an inaccurate statement saying that the APA was mostly supported by the gay community.

Ex-Gay Movement and the Arab World

There is no denying that the ex-gay movement has truly spread all over the world like a plague; dispersing false hopes in the form of unethical and inhumane treatments towards homosexuals. The ex-gay movement comes in many various forms; it doesn’t have to be as apparent as the ones mentioned above. The media, especially television, is the most powerful tool that is in the hands of those wanting to extend the propaganda of the ex-gay movement. Most of the television shows are backed and supported by rich Gulf countries that have a big say concerning what certain shows will focus on; take the case of the recent episode of “Ahmar Bil Khat el Arid” aired on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) in January 2009. The show’s theme was supposedly to be on whether homosexuality is the result of heredity or environment. Somehow, the show went off-track and centered on “treatment”. There is no cure for homosexuality, which is a clear statement from the APA; however, the show promoted some of the conversion therapies mentioned above – specifically the behavioral techniques.

Covert conditioning was clearly used by the show’s host. He made highly sarcastic comments regarding the guests’ sexual orientation making them feel so ashamed that they suddenly denounced their homosexuality.

A Kuwaiti sociologist even claimed that having young boys and girls get married before the age of eighteen will decrease the chances of homosexual experiences from occurring, which is the basic premise of reparative therapy.

In addition, pictures of Gay Pride, the Rainbow Flag, and other gay pictures were displayed with ominous music – a clear example of trying to condition the viewers to associate homosexual images with dark, gloomy, and almost threatening ideas.

After watching such shows, one has to wonder the following: Who is backing such episodes and other forms of gay-bashing? Who is publicly promoting homophobia and the right to discriminate and judge others because of their sexual preference?

In a time when the world is undergoing unnecessary wars, when its economy is in a crisis, and with other more important pressing issues at hand; it is a shame that people are still concerned about whether their sons or daughters are straight or gay. If an individual can be converted from homosexual to heterosexual, does that mean that the opposite holds true? Could the same conversion and reparative therapies be applied on heterosexuals?

If those in power – those who fund such movements – would devote as much energy and money on other worldly causes, there will be less famine, war, and strife in the world. I believe these forms of propaganda are the result of the following: (1) Either they are denying their own latent homosexuality or (2) They simply want to distract the world from what is really going on, to keep them occupied with something trivial so that the real problems don’t seem so monumental.

Gary Lian