The Adventures of Jessica Sideways

There is a threat in this world that threatens the very people that support it. Ex-gay camps, or as they really are, gay concentration camps, make money off of the gullible people that are willing to send their kids on one of these retreats. These people scoop the personality and critical thinking skills (or what is left of them) out of a person’s head and collect your money. This is not a tin foil hat conspiracy theory, it is actually happening right here and right now! Sometimes, people are able to break free from the programming that goes on at these camps (thus creating ex-ex-gays, who speak out against the institution). However, given this very real threat, we should all be aware of it and do everything we can to stop it.

Ex-gay quackery is a threat and an insult to the well-being of our fellow humans. It works to indoctrinate ‘religious morality’ into the minds of victims. And many times, it turns out people who are essentially robbed of everything about who they are. This, to me, is quite sick and disgusting. It advocates for the one thing that Christianity detests most about sexuality, infidelity. By supporting and affirming who people truly are, instead of teaching a system of denial, they can encourage all people in their congregation to form truly loving and monogamous relationships. Instead, many congregations encourage denial of who one truly is if they are truly homosexual.

Fundamentalist theories about homosexuality that are taught as truth do harm to those that are subjected to such a message. Either someone shakes these teachings and learns how to either (1) come out of the faith or (2) find their Christian identity in the queer community. These teachings have begun many years ago and are continuing to do harm to people today. And, I do have one high profile example, one that all fundamentalist Christians of today can remember and analyze. I would like to talk about the case of former New Life Church senior pastor, Ted Haggard. Mr. Haggard denied his same-sex attraction and fought against same-sex marriage so hard because he could not confront his own homosexuality.

Before we continue, I would like to add my personal opinion that Ted Haggard is a very talented man. He is a very well-meaning person (from what I can tell) and I believe, with the right therapy and prompting, he can realize what fundamentalist religion has cost him in his life. It has caused him to start a relationship with a woman he is not genuinely attracted to and it inevitably invited covert acts of infidelity towards her. I believe that he is still unable to confront who he is and until he can, he is in limbo. He is trained for ministry and he must use his skills now for good instead of evil.

Once Ted Haggard shakes off the horrible virus of fundamentalist religion, I honestly believe that he will be able to preach once again - but for the side of liberal Christianity. I believe that once Ted finally comes to terms with who he truly is, he can allow his wife to live her life and maybe even find a partner who genuinely loves her. And all the while, Ted can work to find a partner in his life who truly loves and cares for him. He will no longer have to wear the mask of shame and disgrace for being who he truly is. He can have a honest relationship and his relationship with his children can begin to mend. Plus, a man with the stature of Ted Haggard would be able to help fellow fundamentalists who are struggling to realize the truth abou their sexuality confront their issues. He could be a very good ‘warrior for christ’ in the Metropolitan Community Church.

And what’s more, the American Psychiatric Association agrees with me about gay concentration camps. They believe that you cannot be brainwashed out of being a homosexual. Homosexuality is not in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, version 4, a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that classifies mental disorders and the like. Also, you will notice that these ex-gay camps are primarily run by religious groups. This means that there is not enough scientific nor medical merit to their claims to actually get people in the scientific and medical communities to side with these people.

Christians owe homosexuals and transsexuals big. And I do mean Christians who have worked to discriminate against us, to deny us the same benefits that other Americans have. We pay taxes using the same system as straight people - so we should have equal rights. If we have the same obligations as other members of society, we should have the same rights as well. They work to deny us the most basest rights, such as the ability to use the same restroom as everyone who shares our gender identity. They work to integrate homophobia into government by distributing petitions to deny gay people the same rights as other citizens. In summary, these people owe us big. They need to stop working against the rights of any and all citizens.

If you would like to know more information about ex-gay camps and how they work to ruin peoples’ lives, you can find out more by watching the movie “But I’m a Cheerleader”. This is a fiction movie about a Christian cheerleader that discovers her lesbianism through the intervention of her friends, family and the staff/other victims at True Directions (the ex-gay camp featured in the movie). While this is a fiction movie, it does show a reality of a best-case gay reparation camp. I have heard of worse cases by organizations like Exodus International. However, I find that one thing is off about the ex-gay camp that is shown in this movie, they don’t make much of an issue about the jewish kid. Most of the reparation camps are faith-based because they practice their pseudoscience under the banner of religious therapy.