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Gay teen sent to reeducation camp

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Looks like the average LJ whinefest to me.
 
Shows how stupid religion is, but I'm still not against the parents actions.

Hell, if there was an agnostic version of this I might send my kids there if they turned out queer.
 
And we'd be denouncing the bigotry inherent in your actions all the same :p
 
Except that an agnostic version doesn't exist, because for the most part it's religious people who are bigots.
 
Religious people should all be sent into atheist re-education camps and be force-fed logic, rationality, science, respect, humbleness, and the Skeptic's Annotated Bible. :D

It would actually be nice if you (Mozz) can actually show that such camps work, and do not psychologically screw up kids. Have you even read the rules of this camp?! It's nothing short of abusing and depriving people for being homos. And if I'm not mistaken, one of the founders even stated that he would rather have gays commit suicide than continue living as gays.

While I understand why parents would be disappointed in having gay kids for non-religious reasons (because they'll never get to pass on their genes further), in this case it is obvious only religious brainwashing would could convince parents to send their own children to places like this.
 
Yep! Sinning is such a bad sin that if you can't stop being gay, breaking one of the ten commandments ("Thou Shall not Kill") is the best thing we can get you to do!

Cretins like these make all Christians looks bad by association.

:-D
 
I don't know if it works. I wish it did, though.
 
Is it wrong that this place makes me laugh? In one of those "this can't be real...can it?" ways. Y'know...that whole..."I can't deal with the utter stupidity of this in any way other than to laugh."

And I'm looking over this site...and it strikes me as being one big hoax/cult. They quote a number of people, and they're all 17. Or their female relatives of a 17 year old girl. And the one female on the staff married someone that went through the program.

“My sister has completely changed through the Refuge program. I am also learning how the rest of my family is unhealthy
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Seriously...last time I heard that phrase was when relating to a cult.

People who engage in homosexuality, who make up only one to two percent of the population, account for three or four percent of all gonorrhea cases, 60 percent of all syphilis cases, and 17 percent of all hospital admissions (outside of STD's) in the United States.
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WTF? So if you're gay, you're more likely to break your leg?

"What is the cost?"

A: The cost for the two-week commitment is $1,500 and the cost for the six-week commitment is $4,000.
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...Seriously...there are a MILLION other alternatives that are FAR cheaper. I offer my own. It's a swift kick in the ass. It's $5.

Now...if I've offended anyone...then you should hear the UNedited comments I made.

EDIT: I was surfing around related sites and found pure gold:

"One thing I especially appreciated was hearing from former homosexuals. Anyone can give facts and figures, but honestly, if I want to learn how to build a house, I go see a carpenter."
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Why? If everybody turned straight, there would be much more competition for girls. Especially up here at Brown.

Just a question though. Suppose reeducation worked, and turned homosexuals into perfectly straight people. How many gays would actually want it, with or without outside pressure and discrimination?
 
(Points out that overpopulation is a serious problem facing the human race.)
 
Ok coming from a christian, I can easily say those parents are horrible because 1) forcing their child into this is more like to push the teen away from the parent than "Fix the problem." 2) If your kid has some sort of "Problem" one of the best things the parent can do is, accept it and help the child through it (Instead of being bigots,and if they claim to be christians they are also hypocrites); not dump the kid of with a bunch of strange religious nuts.
 
Youth's blog stirs uproar over 'ex-gay' camp
Larry Buhl, PlanetOut Network

http://www.gay.com/news/election/article.html?2005/06/16/1

Sixteen-year-old "Zach" is apparently enduring a rite of passage still too common for gay youth: His parents say he must change. When they enrolled him last month in a Christian camp-like program to turn him straight, he documented his fears in his online diary, or blog.

The PlanetOut Network could not confirm Zach's identity or his story, but the blog has sparked a firestorm of protest against the program, known as Refuge, and renewed scrutiny of similar "ministries."

A residential program run by Memphis, Ala.-based Love in Action (LIA), Refuge "ministers to adolescents struggling with broken and addictive behaviors, such as promiscuity, alcohol and drug addiction and homosexuality," according to its Web site.

An estimated total of 150 people -- including parents, children, psychiatrists and other concerned Memphis residents carrying signs that have slogans such as "This is Child Abuse" -- have gathered over eight consecutive days outside LIA headquarters. On Thursday LIA held a press conference in response to the protests.

For LIA, homosexuality is not an orientation but a set of behaviors that lies at the root of all dysfunction. And homosexual desires can supposedly be reprogrammed, through Refuge, at a cost of $2,000 for two weeks, or $4,000 for six weeks.

Patterned after teen drug and alcohol programs, Refuge minimizes contact with familiar things that it claims encourage homosexual behavior: no secular music, no more than 15 minutes per day behind a closed bathroom door, no contact with any practicing homosexuals, no masturbation, no secular music, and -- for reasons not explained -- no Calvin Klein underwear.

The rules above were posted on Zach's blog, which has been inactive since June 3. The policies were confirmed by Alex Polotsky, a spokesman for Queer Action Coalition, a Memphis group formed to provide alternative information for struggling youth.

"Nobody can be straight enough in the program," said Polotsky, whose group staged the protests outside LIA. "We're outraged at the treatment youths receive [in Refuge]."

Exodus International, an umbrella organization for nearly all regional "ex-gay" ministries, provides funding and marketing support for groups such as LIA, Lifeguard Ministries, New Hope Ministries and others. Although "reparative therapy" for homosexuality has been denounced by the mainstream psychological community as tantamount to abuse, "ex-gay" ministries offer hope to conflicted parents (usually devoutly religious and conservative) who are unwilling or unable to accept their kids' sexuality or seek traditional counseling.

Youth (and adults) who enter "ex-gay" programs may suffer from genuine self-destructive behaviors that go far beyond their struggle with same-sex attraction, said Wayne Besen, who wrote the book "Anything But Straight" about the "ex-gay" movement.

"To get help they have to swallow the lie that it's because they are gay that they're having these problems. It works by confusing people. It doesn't matter to them that they don't get results. They get a lot of money from people who really believe this stuff."

"Love in Action seems to be the worst of these reckless religious activities," said Craig Bowman, executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition. "These programs are dangerous because they systematically work on a young person's psyche using junk science as a foundation."

Jack Drescher, M.D., a New York-based psychiatrist and chair of the American Psychiatric Association Committee on LGBT Issues, told the PlanetOut Network that such programs do far more harm than good for impressionable teens. "They may delay the child's coming out for many years, but by the time they are ready to come out, there's been a lot of psychological damage."

Shawn O'Donnell spent eight years in and out of therapy to change his sexual orientation. As a depressed and suicidal 18-year-old, O'Donnell was referred by his pastor to a three-year residential program, New Hope Ministry, located 10 miles from San Francisco. O'Donnell said it only made his issues worse.

"It was hell, very controlling. We couldn't be alone. We were always told to pray harder, and it made us feel ashamed that we weren't using the program correctly," he recalled.

Peterson Toscano spent 17 years and $30,000 to get straight as an adult, but nothing worked. Now a "performance activist" in Connecticut, Toscano has toured the United States and Europe with a satirical theater piece about his two years in LIA.

"'Ex-gay' programs use the term 'gay lifestyle,' which to them includes unsafe sex [and] emotionally dependent relationships," Toscano said. "They know they can't really turn anyone straight, but they can make them not live the 'gay lifestyle.' They are purposely deceiving people."

Though relatively few people participate in 'ex-gay' programs, Drescher believes their influence goes far beyond changing individuals. "They are a pawn in the culture war," he said. "They support the idea that homosexuality can be changed, therefore it is a lifestyle and not worthy of civil rights legislation."

Drescher pointed to an 'ex-gay' convention called Love Won Out, organized by the anti-gay Focus on the Family and held in Texas to coincide with the state legislature's biennial sessions.

"The timing is not a coincidence," he said. "Their purpose is to shape public policy."
 
I'm guessing no one (or not many of you anyway) has seen the movie But I'm A Cheerleader. It's probably one of the better known gay teen movies out there and it's based on these ex-gay camps. It's really funny and quite interesting.

Personally these camps just make me think of brainwashing. I don't believe that if a person was actually gay that they could be transformed, or whatever, to straight. They probably just say they have been because they've pretty much been forced into it! Believe it or not there are a good few gay people out there that would choose, if they could, to be straight and I find that really sad... These camps are just a waste of time and if anything they're cruel. Some parents really are unpleasant apparently...
 
Next thing you know they'll be offering "Gay-gene-fixes" in these places.

Evidence that homosexuality is genetic [in flies at least]: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050606/od_nm/science_flies_dc


Stories like this make me sad. I've gone through the process of outing myself to my parents... I'm so glad they didn't go to this exteme. Though I have a feeling there are so many kids out there that feel they belong in one of these programs...

*sighs*
 
To be honest, I hope it is genetic,because that means it'll be much easier to fix it in the future. I'd rather alter genes while they're in the womb then send them to re-education camp.
 
Mozz said:
To be honest, I hope it is genetic,because that means it'll be much easier to fix it in the future. I'd rather alter genes while they're in the womb then send them to re-education camp.
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WTF are you talking about?
There is no need to fix it, because there is nothing wrong with it.
 
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