Ex-gay Therapy Doesn't Work. Duh.

The whole "ex-gay" movement strikes most actual gay people as ridiculous. Mostly because the terminology they use, and the examples they cite seem so foreign to most gay people. Or in some cases, painfully familiar. In my experience, most people who seek to leave the "gay lifestyle"--a misnomer if ever there was one--are the people who swung out of the closet on a rope, and dove head-first into partying, whoring around and drinking and/or drugs. This, while not unheard of, is not the typical experience.

In my personal opinion--and that's all I can offer--most of the people who are pulled into the "ex-gay" movement are a) raised very religious, b) party-boys who took it too far, c) those who had a heartbreaking breakup, d) "perfect" kids of parents who expect certain things of their children, or e) bisexuals who are capable of isolating their sexuality into "straight." Only e) is capable of a successful "transition." Everyone else in the movement is just fooling themselves.

Most gay people go through a sort of delayed adolescence. We didn't get to date who we wanted to in high school, didn't get to express who we were while growing up, or maybe didn't recognize or fully acknowledge it until we were much older than the typical heterosexual's sexual awakening. Consequently, we do the whole dating scene much later than our peers. And, given that guys (and I'm sorry, ladies, I can't relate the lesbian experience with any authority) will say "yes" with almost no reservations, sex is easy and plentiful to gay males if they want it.

This leads to guilt in some people. Maybe shame. Most of us learn from that, and temper our sex drives, whittling down what we want until we end up with the person we want to be with. But some overdo it, and then they freak out. Thus--again, in my opinion--they seek out "reparative therapy." Which is a bad idea, because it doesn't work.

This is, as I've said, all in my opinion. I've only known one person who claimed to be "ex-gay," and that person went through it twice. He was ex-ex-ex-gay! And guess what? He turned out just plain gay.

[Excerpt]

APA: Ex-Gay Therapy Doesn't Work

Citing 83 studies performed since 1960, yesterday the American Psychological Association declared that "reparative therapy" for homosexuals does not work and should not be attempted. But you knew that. . .

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