Voice of the Voiceless Demands Apology for Ex-Gay Defamation

Washington, DC – On April 1, 2013 Dr. Phil aired a show titled: “Shocking Mom Revelations.” As a part of this episode, Dr. Phil interviewed a mother whose daughter identified as a lesbian. During the episode, the mother shared about her disapproval of her daughter’s “lifestyle choice” and expressed a desire for her daughter to get help. While we do not condone this mother’s belief that homosexuality is simply a “choice” per se, science has recognized, through 100 years of peer-reviewed research, that homosexuality is in fact fluid for some individuals.

There is an abundance of scientific peer-reviewed research that shows homosexuality is not an enduring and immutable characteristic, thus proving the very statement that Dr. Phil said at the end of the episode: “I don’t believe there is any such thing as an ‘ex-gay’” as categorically false, unscientific, and defamatory to the thousands of former homosexuals, persons with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families.

After weeks of attempting to speak with the show’s producers, legal representatives, and media relations spokesperson, all we received was the following statement: “Thank you for sharing your opinions with us. Dr. Phil and his producers stand by the statements he made on this show.”

This “response” is a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of former homosexuals, persons with unwanted same-sex attraction, and their families. Further, Dr. Phil’s complete lack of respect for this mother’s Christian values is defamatory towards the entire faith-based community who hold to traditional Biblical beliefs regarding homosexual behavior.

Join us in signing this online petition to demand that Dr. Phil apologize to the ex-gay community, set the record straight on the etiology of homosexuality, and invite former homosexuals, persons with unwanted SSA, and their families, on his show so that America can learn just how marginalized our community is!

To see more and sign the petition, visit: http://www.comingoutloved.com/drphilpetition

Christopher Doyle, M.A. is the Co-Founder and Acting Director of Voice of the Voiceless. For more information, visit www.Voiceofthevoiceless.info

Anyone close to my generation knows the 1999 hit song “Californication” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In the very last chorus, the lyrics are as follows: “Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging. Sicker than the rest there is no test but this is what you’re craving . . . Dream of Californication. Dream of Californication.”

On April 17, 2013 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard oral arguments to determine the fate of California’s law to ban sexual orientation change effort (SOCE) therapy for minors. Among the three-judge panel are two democratically appointed judges from President’s Clinton and Obama, and one libertarian-leaning justice appointed by late President Reagan.

While most of the mainstream media failed to wait until the actual hearing to publish stories, sticking to their usual talking points that SOCE is “harmful” and “discredited” and that every “major mental health association is against it,” the Los Angeles Times piece actually shed some light on the tone of the hearing.

While the Libertarian-learning Chief Judge Alex Kozinski asked the question: “Why can’t the Legislature say, ‘We looked into it, we think it is harmful, we think it causes harm to minors … and we the Legislature are going to protect them,” he also observed that even a small limitation on free speech was impermissible – “It doesn’t have to be breathtaking — and would have to be justified by compelling reasons.”

But Judge Graber, the Clinton appointee, noted that compelling justification of the ban would only be required if the court determined it infringed on free speech. “Talk therapy is entitled to some constitutional protection but is not immune from regulation.”

Still not satisfied, Kozinsky went onto say: “We don’t have any compelling evidence” that SOCE therapy should be banned. “Point me to the one piece of evidence we can call compelling saying that this causes harm.”

The truth is, there is no scientific evidence that SOCE causes harm or is ineffective for minors. While major mental health organizations have made this claim, they have no data to back it up. Instead, some have cited research that shows homosexual youth are more likely to experience poorer outcomes when rejected by their families.

For example, a 2009 study in Pediatrics found that minors who experience family rejection based on their sexual orientation face especially serious health risks and that such youth were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, and 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection.

However, this study did not examine outcomes of minors in SOCE. But LGBT-activist committees within major medical and mental health associations are using it to advance their agenda. It is also being peddled in several state bills, as well as in California Rep. Jackie Speier’s Resolution in the United States House of Representatives titled “Stop Harming Our Kids Act.”

I spoke with the legislative aide in Speier’s office who was in charge of writing the language, and she admitted that SOCE was not mentioned in the aforementioned study, but told me that family rejection towards LGBT children can be compounded to make that conclusion of SOCE. To this I replied: “Well, that may be a good enough argument to make politically, but this will not hold up in a court of law.”

As the conversation progressed, the legislative aide became more agitated with my challenges, and eventually, hung up on me. Attempts to land a meeting with Rep. Speier have been turned down due to “multiple scheduling conflicts.” However, according to her office, the congresswoman plans to reintroduce this Resolution again this year (it died in committee last session).

I expressed my concern that the congresswoman should at least meet with those persons she seeks to marginalize in this Resolution – that is, former homosexuals and persons with unwanted same-sex attractions. But according to her office, the congresswoman does not recognize persons who experience SSA but do not identify as gay. Apparently, her office was also unaware that former homosexuals are now a protected class in Washington, DC.

Speier’s refusal to meet with and recognize former homosexuals is now treading into a case of sexual orientation discrimination. In fact, just a few years ago a group of ex-gays, myself included, met with Joseph Wheeler, Attorney for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, who agreed with the 2009 Washington D.C. Superior Court ruling that ex-gays are a legally protected class (PFOX v. Government of the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights).

While Rep. Speier and a handful of state legislatures continue to promote falsehoods about SOCE, Pedophiles such as convicted former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky will continue to molest boys, some of whom will develop homosexual inclinations as a result. In fact, a 2012 study in the peer-reviewed, scientific journal Child Abuse and Neglect found that “gay/lesbian respondents had higher odds of exposure to child abuse.”

But you’ll never hear of that research, nor will you see any of the hundreds of other studies over the last one-hundred years that demonstrate some men and women can and do change from homosexual to heterosexual. So we wait for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to decide if California will apply the same standard to youth who want to change their sexual orientation as they do for transgender youth who seek counsel to change their gender.

While transgender youth might not be paying their surgeon to “break the spell of aging,” California could prove to be “sicker than the rest” and give gay activists exactly what they’re craving: no choice, no freedom, and no way out of unwanted same-sex attractions. For a group that has fought so many years for tolerance and equality, this tyrannical direction by the LGBT lobby may backfire on them. As Nietzche once said: “Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.” (Note: this article was published in The Christian Post on April 22, 2013).

Christopher Doyle, M.A. is the Co-Founder and Acting Director of Voice of the Voiceless. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info

Where is tolerance? Where is diversity? Where is equality?

If you live in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, or Massachusetts and have a child who experiences unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA), soon you may not find tolerance, diversity, or equality there. That’s because those who demand it the most, afford it the least.

As you read this, activists in these states are carefully working with sympathetic members of their state legislatures to take away your parental rights and your child’s ability to receive treatment for unwanted homosexual feelings.That’s right, even if your child was sexually abused by a pedophile such as Jerry Sandusky and develops homosexual inclinations as a consequence, he/she may not be able to receive Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) therapy from a highly educated and skilled professional counselor, social worker, or psychologist.

Why, you ask? According to the office of Massachusetts State Representative Carl Sciortino (D), because SOCE is an “archaic vestige of homophobia” and should be banned. Sciortino, who authored the bill titled: “An Act Relative to Abusive Practices to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity in Minors” in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, is one of five states across the country proposing such legislation, all of which contain very similar language. The Massachusetts bill is “careful to not interfere with therapy efforts which seek to provide help and support for sexual orientation or gender identity acceptance.”

In case you have a hard time understanding that language, it’s politician-speak for: counselors are only allowed to affirm a client’s homosexual orientation-that is, if a minor comes into a therapist’s office and is confused about her or his sexual orientation, the therapist is obligated to help him or her accept their homosexuality. Period. There is no mention of the possibility of changing from a homosexual to a heterosexual orientation. This is forbidden, even if the client and/or his family’s values conflict with homosexual practice.

The counselor is also allowed to affirm a transgendered minor who seeks to change their biological sex or live as the opposite gender. But to help a young person who is distressed by unwanted homosexual feelings live according to his or her family values, religious beliefs, or cultural heritage, that would be diagnosed as “internalized homophobia” and harmful! Additionally, the client is told that “SOCE is ineffective and dangerous for adolescents, so don’t even try to change, because it won’t work.”

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s examine the evidence behind this proposed legislation. Allow me to cite peer-reviewed scientific research that shows SOCE therapies are harmful and ineffective for adolescents. Oh, you couldn’t find any studies either?

Apparently neither could Washington State Representative Marko Liias (D), who recently authored a bill with the other four openly-gay Washington state representatives that proposes to set up a “panel to determine whether so-called ‘gay conversion therapy’ works, whether it is harmful, and whether its use with minors should be regulated.” Well at least that legislation calls for one advocate of SOCE to be a part of a 15-member panel, which will undoubtedly vote 14-1 to ban SOCE should it be given a chance. Fortunately, this bill is yet to get out of committee and receive a full vote in the legislature, but parents in Washington State must act quickly to insure their children have the right to seek counseling should they desire help.

When I asked Rep. Sciortino’s office if he was at all concerned that the State of Massachusetts might be sued for millions of dollars by disenfranchised clients who are seeking to change their sexual orientation and practitioners who want to help them, and that his bill is proposing an unconstitutional ban on a therapeutic practice for adolescents that has not even been researched, his office was surprisingly silent!

The truth is, the blueprint for such legislation was pushed through a partisan legislature in 2012 in the state of California, and then duly signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. Almost immediately, there was a federal injunction placed on the law until the courts could decide if it is constitutional. We await the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in late April, when oral arguments will be heard.

The original bill in California proposed to outlaw all SOCE, not just for minors, but for adults as well. The activists were cautioned that such an aggressive move might not have enough support, and suggested they start with banning this therapy just for minors. Once it is banned for minors across the country, their plan is to outlaw SOCE all together! That means no therapist would be allowed to assist any client who experiences unwanted homosexual feelings for any reason! No one. Where is the tolerance? Where is the diversity? Where is the equality?

The problem with this conspiracy is this: There is NOT ONE scientific study that contains any hard data on the outcomes of SOCE for adolescents. Not one!

So when I contacted the offices proposing a ban on SOCE therapies and asked them to cite studies that show “harmful” outcomes for adolescents, they could only point me to position statements from liberal trade organizations, which are known for their one-hand clapping viewpoint, strictly pro-gay and anti-ex-gay. If these organizations were made up of objective scientists that looked at all the evidence, such legislation would not be allowed anywhere.

We must defend the right of self-determination for all Americans-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
For more information, visit www.ComingOutLoved.com (note: a version of this article originally appeared in The Christian Post on March 19, 2013).

Christopher Doyle, M.A. is the Director of the International Healing Foundation and Founder of Voice of the Voiceless, for more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info