Comments in BF in the article make my grievances clear BR -----------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Gay Convention Draws Protesters in Penn. Fri, Nov. 05, 2010 Posted: 06:35 PM EDT ____________________________________ The National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality opened its Pennsylvania convention on Friday, kicking off three days of talks on “ The Scientific & Ethical Treatment of Unwanted Homosexuality.” The convention, unsurprisingly, has drawn protests from gay rights groups who say the organization is spreading a message that is false and hurtful to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. A coalition of gay rights groups such as Truth Wins Out and Equality Pennsylvania, are staging the “Lift Your Luggage” protest at NARTH’s conference to dispute the psychology of homosexual healing. “We don’t deny the right for them to gather or to have their point of view, ” said Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania. However, he and others in the GLBT community challenge the Christian philosophy of trying to treat or cure homosexuality. The coalition asserts that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are fine the way they are. NARTH, an organization with faith-based views on homosexuality, acknowledges on its website that there are those who are comfortable with their homosexual identity. It values an individual’s right to choose. But it also upholds the rights of individuals with unwanted homosexual attraction to receive effective psychological care and the right of professionals to offer that care. [ Misleading : Many and probably most NARTH professionals regard it as their responsibility to encourage homosexuals to seek treatment intended to cure their pathology BR comment ] Those experiencing unwanted homosexual desires and who are conflicted by their values deserve treatment and spiritual counsel, NARTH maintains. Several faith-based groups have created treatment to help those who do not want to embrace the homosexual lifestyle. Warren Throckmorton and Mark Yarhous, both psychology experts, have crafted a framework, Sexual Identity Therapy: Proactive Framework for Managing Sexual Identity Conflicts, focused on conflicting religious values. While NARTH encourages therapy, it maintains that it is a professional organization that only promotes practices have been proven scientifically effective. NARTH urges against claims that there is "scientific knowledge" that settles the issue of homosexuality. Instead, it encourages a broad view based upon diverse understandings of the family, of core human identity, and the meaning and purpose of human sexuality. [ more misleading misinformation apparently written by someone who is unfamiliar with research findings both by NARTH and by a good number of other psychology professionals which make it crystal clear that homosexuality is not only pathological but treatable BR comment ] Still, Martin argues that such therapies are based on “junk science.” The gay rights coalition asserts that groups like NARTH can’t “pray away the gay.” [ As if the only program of NARTH is prayer. On the contrary,. NARTH is a --mostly-- psychoanalytic organization. NO-ONE at all urges prayer as basic therapy; all that can be said is that Christian therapists who are members may do so in the context of faith based programs they oversee, independently of NARTH It is depressing to read such basically uninformed garbage in a Christian publication, conceding fallacious points to homosexuals BR Comment ] But NARTH maintains that its stance that homosexuality is the product of biological, psychological and social factors that begin at a young age is the same stance held by the American Psychological Association. However, it places emphasis on the psychological influences over that of biology. It also maintains that is has research findings from those have previously struggled with same-sex attraction. Martin asserts that homosexuality is something that is inborn. To suggest otherwise is harmful, he argues, and can lead to more gay suicides. [ The view that homosexuality is inborn is totally false and is a claim for which there is no reliable scientific evidence whatsoever. Yet this "Christian" reporter writes as if the claim of homosexuals has as much or even more value than that of NARTH. BR comment ] In the wake of a number of widely reported suicides by gay teens, some Christian groups have taken initiative to tread more carefully on the controversial issue and show more compassion while still holding that homosexuality is a sin. Ex-Gay ministry Exodus International distanced itself from the Day of Truth campaign this year, saying that the day-long event opposing the GLBT community's Day of Silence carried an “adversarial” tone. [ So what if it does ? The spineless approach to homosexuality is appalling. Sometimes it is crucial to stand up against unmitigated evil. And if anything is evil --if the Biblical viewpoint is meaningful-- it is homosexuality BR comment ] Also, Throckmorton recently created a youth curriculum teaching Christian teens, grades 6 to 12, to take the lead against school bullying. “I hope to see the elimination of anti-gay name-calling,” he said. [ It should end about the same time as ceaseless slanders against critics of homosexuality come to a halt. More garbage, in other words, taking the view that the only argument that matters is the argument being made by homosexuals, that all "guilt" is due to Christian critics and people like NARTH members, rather than where is really belongs, with the "perverts," to re-use Freud's terminology BR comment ] Martin welcomed the honest conversations in the faith community, but he is not convinced. Christians cannot claim to be tolerant when they are advocating against gay marriage and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he contends. [ This is outrageous, as if the only position worth taking is to approve of same-sex so-called "marriage" BR Comment ] “To say ‘we are tolerant of you’ without saying ‘we accept you’ is not [progress],” he said. NARTH stresses [ like hell it does ] that it is tolerant of those who embrace their homosexual identity. The organization denounces homophobia – the irrational fear of homosexuality. [ False, there is no such thing as homophobia, what there actually is, is clinical heterophobia, viz the condition known as homosexuality, pathological aversion to the opposite sex BR comment ] At the same time, it maintains that those who disagree with homosexual behavior on moral, psychological or mental grounds are not homophobic. The Nov. 5-7 convention is taking place at the Renaissance Philadelphia Hotel. Protesters plan to sport luggage along with signs to bring attention to NARTH’s former official George Rekers, who was recently caught with a male escort he says was helping lift his luggage. Rekers resigned from the board this year. [As he should have been. Official NARTH communications about Rekers were highly critical about what he had done and led people to believe that strong action would be taken, as it has BR comment ] NARTH officials were unreachable on the eve of Friday. The theme of the conference is “Preserving Personal Freedom: The Scientific and Ethical treatment of Unwanted Homosexuality.” An aide who asked to remain anonymous said NARTH is aware of the coalition’s plans and respects their right to protest. Stephanie Samuel Christian Post Correspondent ____________________________________ Copyright © 2010 Christianpost.com. All rights reserved. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
