On my previous post on this subject, This Man Wants To Cure Your Homosexuality, we met Richard Cohen, a nutjob who played with fire by being on the Jimmy Kimmel Show and the Daily Show and got burnt to a crisp. Of course, it doesn’t help that he also embarassed himself on CNN demonstrating his “bio-energetic” tennis racket swing on pillows and how he did snuggle therapy with a (presumably) cute guy who couldn’t show his face on camera. Poor pillows. They take up the brunt of his rage against his daddy, and he offers the love he never had from father to his patients.
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, leader of NARTH (which sounds as ominous as DARTH Vader), has for years tried to put a secular face on ex-gay therapy. A push uphill, since neither the American Pyschological Association nor American Psychiatric Association have recognized homosexuality as a mental illness since the early 1970′s. Since he has no legitimacy among his peers, he has taken his message to folks (read funny mentalists) such as Focus on the Family, who like to use him to show the ex-gay movement is not strictly religious. It’s still snake oil. It’s strange that someone could publicly put forth rhetoric on this subject, yet his ideas can’t stand the scrutiny of objective journalistic questioning. He can’t even handle himself gracefully, and his petulant refusal to answer questions bites him on the arse.
He’s lucky this isn’t Penn and Teller’s Bull$h1T! They would have let him talk and then skewer him on their show.
Why do ridiculous men like him do this? Where there’s misery, there’s an opportunity to make money. There’s always someone who does not like themselves, and they’ll shell out tons of money to change. Plastic surgeons have operated on this principle, so some charlatans feel compelled to give gays a makeover to straighten them out.
Here, James Spader out-shatners William Shater. His speech in Boston Legal demonstrates the aims of people in the ex-gay industry. Watch and enjoy.
Real Life Brokeback Mountain Parallel
Here’s the story of Gary, a former Baptist minister and a good friend of mine, who had a “David and Jonathan” type of relationship as a young preacher. Doomed from the start, the relationship had a devastating impact on his ministry and family, and he went down the painful road of trying to get rid of his homosexuality. In recent years, he has gone through the process of reclaiming his Christian beliefs along with coming out as an openly gay man. He’s also been a wonderful mentor to others reconciling their faith with being gay. Check out his essay.
Tags: Brokeback Mountain, ex-gay, gay rights
