Lez Keep It Real

There are so many people who talk about the gay agenda, how GLBT organizations are constantly shoving their rights, view and opinions down the throats of every day people in hopes to influence them and make a lasting impact on society. I don’t consider myself part of the so-called gay agenda because I don’t have an agenda. I’m gay and I believe that I am entitled to the same rights as everyone else, sexuality aside. It’s as simple as that. When you think about it, the word “agenda” has a sort of sly connotation to it, as if someone is trying to pull a fast one on you. I personally don’t think that the gay community is trying to pull the wool over anyone eyes. But, there are some organizations in this country that do have an agenda of sorts. They claim to be acting in the name of religion, when they actually have another plan in mind – converting homosexuals to heterosexuals, otherwise known as ex-gay therapy.

Ex-gay therapy has been around since the 1960s, especially since being gay was once considered a psychological disorder. Could you imagine getting sent to a psychiatric hospital simply for being gay? Thankfully, in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association announced that homosexuality would no longer be considered an illness. In fact, the APA began warning against the use of reparative therapy for homosexuals because of the dangers it posed to their mental health and well-being. Eventually the use of such tactics subsided but has made a somewhat recent comeback in religious communities because of the growing tolerance and acceptance of gays in America. The religious right panicked and began offering group sessions, sermons, speeches, and the like to professed homosexuals within and outside of the church. They formed organizations that dealt specifically with combating homosexuality as if it were an addiction like crack or alcohol.

The most well known ex-gay programs are offered by Love in Action (funded through a national organization known as Exodus International). They are rigorous programs run by individuals who profess homosexuality can be “cured.” Apparently it was used to “cure” Reverend Ted Haggard, a well-known evangelist out of Colorado Springs, who was found romping around with a gay male prostitute. There was also the famous ex-gay couple John and Anne Paulk who appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1998 proclaiming that they were a happy, healthy heterosexual couple. Fast forward a couple of years and Paulk was spotted out at a gay club mixing it up with other “sinners.”

There are others who have gone through these same ex-gay programs only to realize that after months of wasted time, money and energy they are still gay. They start to think … “well, maybe God did make me this way after all.” With not-for-profit organizations like Beyond Ex-Gay sprouting up all over the place, gays who struggle with their identity because of their strong religious convictions finally have other places to turn.

To those poor souls who have embarked on the ex-gay journey, I say this: you can shed your outer skin, you can toss your rainbow flag into the garage, you can marry the opposite sex legally and even have children, but you will never be able to change your sexual orientation. Sure, you can hide from it. You can even curb it. But it will never go away. It is a part of you and by denouncing something that makes you who you are, you are merely denouncing yourself.

The ex-gay agenda is basically based on fear. The religious right is so dumbfounded with the direction of acceptance in this country that they don’t know what to do with themselves. They feel backed in to a corner so to speak and are grasping at straws. Maybe they think, “If we can just get a few to come back to our side …” that they’ll have more of an influence. But those who truly believe in a higher power and that we (homosexuals) were created from the soil on up just as Adam and Eve, also know that we are loved unconditionally by the very hand that created us. To try and change something that is as innate as walking upright is as illogical as it is absurd.

All you have to do is read Christine Bakke’s story to feel the full impact of what it means to be an ex-ex-gay. She has risen up whole, accepted her faith and her sexuality. And she is a better person for it.

You see…the ex-gay agenda isn’t really so much of an agenda … it’s really more of a myth.

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