Since 1973, many Americans have felt lost, isolated and scorned as they looked for some kind of direction to deal with their unwanted same sex attractions. In late 1973, the board of trustees of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) voted to drop homosexuality, per se, as a mental disorder. Ten board members, who voted 6-4, decided to simply obliterate its century old psychological definition by a consensus agreement. This has left those with unwanted same-sex attraction to aimlessly look for direction to find their true selves. The APA’s tragic decision has left many with unwanted SSA alone in the desert for 40 years.

To make matters worse, for decades, many heterosexuals have scorned, humiliated, and shunned homosexuals. Instead of helping them out of the desert, they built up walls to keep them there. Not finding love, affirmation, and acceptance from heterosexuals, many with unwanted SSA decided to stop their isolated suffering. These men and women only wanted what everyone else wanted: to belong, to be accepted, and to be loved. The Gay Movement was born out of these simple, psychological, and emotional needs. The gay movement defended, fought for, and won over the hearts of many homosexuals, their parents, and their friends.

Is it any wonder then that homosexuals have built up walls to keep any non-gay affirming information away? Today’s homosexuals do not even want to hear about 21^st century strides in understanding the causes and the resolution for same sex attraction (all of which, by the way, deal with issues that a specialized, trained, licensed clinical therapist could facilitate had the APA’s 6-4 ruling been allowed to be scientifically challenged, disproven and overruled.)

Most gays I’ve talked to are unaware of the latest discoveries about gender identity development, the healing of memories, the healing of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the remarkable ability of the brain to reorder pathways. They are unaware of twin studies which literally disprove any “Born Gay” theory. They are also unaware that they were not affirmed in their gender identity, perhaps since they were 18 months old. They are completely unaware of the thousands of authentic success stories of reoriented men and women.  

What we need is a loving voice to reach those is the desert, to welcome them back, and to offer them wholeness. We need a new Moses.

Gisele Roy is a parent of a son in his twenties who has battled SSA for 13 years. She has struggled with the emotional pain of seeing her son experience rejection from his peers, loneliness, and deep depression. It is Gisele’s hope that she, her husband and her son will continue to work on healing the deep-seated pain and emotional causes of his SSA and that her son will be able to find a wife who will complement him in every way.

In September 2013 the British Psychodrama Association Appeal Panel rejected the appeal against suspension and removal from their training register by registrant Dr. Michael Davidson, a Christian counsellor. Consequently, he was removed from the training register.

Dr. Michael Davidson was found guilty of helping people with unwanted same-sex attraction transition out of homosexuality, which is according to them, a breaching of ethical codes 1.1 and 1.3 of the British Psychodrama Association and codes 2.1 (1.1; 1.8), 2.3 of the UK Council for Psychotherapy’s Ethical principles and Codes of professional Conduct: Guidance on the Practice of Psychological Therapies that Pathologies and/or Seek to Eliminate or Reduce Same Sex attraction.

In a subsequent response on October 21, 2013 to Davidson’s removal, Dr. Christopher Rossik, president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) raised his concerns about how the UK Council’s Ethical code betrays serious misrepresentations of the science upon which it purports to be based, making Dr. Davidson’s expulsion a clear travesty of justice.

Not only is Davidson’s expulsion based on flawed science, but the Code of Ethics is also a gross breaching of medical and mental health professionals’ as well as the client’s human rights in the light of International Human Rights Law, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act of 1998. It demonstrates the highest form of disrespect for a client’s medical and mental health professional’s dignity, and does not advance equality, autonomy, self-determination, diversity, or tolerance.

Both people with unwanted same-sex attraction and the medical and mental health professionals assisting said individuals have the right of self-determination. As such, they are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Everyone is entitled to the enjoyment of all human rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

But not all people are afforded equal treatment, and over the years international human rights law has had to elaborate to demonstrate that All means All: that All means people of All races, that All means children, that All means women, that All means people of All religions, and so on. The development of international law since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly says that: All means people of all diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, which includes a person with unwanted same-sex attraction that does not self identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

Let Peter Tatchell, a human rights campaigner, and a member of the gay rights group OutRage! also speak for persons with unwanted same-sex attraction: “Surely we merit human rights because we are human beings? The cause of our homosexuality is irrelevant to our quest for justice. We are entitled to dignity and respect, regardless of whether we are born queer or made queer, and irrespective of whether our homosexuality is something beyond our control or something freely chosen.”

A peson with unwanted same-sex attraction has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including medical care and necessary social services, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to freedom of opinion and expression which includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media.

In order that persons with unwanted same-sex attraction who seek assistance may be well informed and competently served, and because all persons, including medical and mental health professionals, also have the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and to the protection of the law against arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence and attacks upon his honour and reputation, there should be no discrimination of any sort against any of them.

A democratic country like the United Kingdom should be concerned that her democracy is brought into disrepute by organisations that are infiltrated by shameless political ideologist who have no regard for human rights, but instead, are seeking to take away rights to advance their political agenda.

André Bekker is an Advisory Board Member of Voice of the Voiceless and a Theological Counselor with New Living Way Ministry in South Africa, ministering to people with Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction, their families, and loved ones.