Tag Archives: Sexual Orientation Change Effort therapy

Early Day Motion to Exclude SOCE Therapy Introduced in UK Parliament

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Image: Catherine Bebbington/Parliamentary Copyright

In June 2013 a number of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom (UK) signed an Early Day Motion calling for therapy to help those with unwanted homosexual feelings to overcome them to be excluded from therapies offered from the National Health Service (NHS) (an Early Day Motion is a request for Parliament to discuss an issue if they finish the day’s business early). The basis of this motion is an article from the UK’s Independent newsletter where a gay rights activist, and founder of the Facebook group Stop Conversion Therapies (SCOT), deliberately entrapped a counselor claiming that he wanted to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings and then misquoted the therapist in his article, an article that won him a number of media awards despite him calling for violence against those who offer this type of therapy.

This motion is supported by one of the UK’s largest professional bodies for psychological therapists, the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) who have the rule that to offer a client sexual orientation change effort (SOCE) therapy is an act of gross misconduct even if the client requests that therapy. The UKCP also state that if a client expresses that they have a conflict between their beliefs and their homosexual feelings the therapist must tell the client that they can not help them and refer them to someone who will attempt to take them through therapy to accept their sexual orientation if they are not qualified to do so themselves, thereby violating the basic principle underpinning all psychological therapy of the client’s right to self-determination.

Yet, when looking into the issue of SOCE, the American Psychological Association (APA) defended the right of the client to undergo this type of therapy despite the APA refusing to accept any research supporting SOCE as helpful and successful. The UKCP and the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy (BACP), who also consider offering a client a SOCE as an act of gross misconduct, use the APA report to support the position but ignore the defense of client’s rights.

Over the last five years there has been a gradual eroding of the client’s right to self-determination when it comes to unwanted homosexual feelings across Europe, and particularly within the UK, with the British Medical Association (BMA) agreeing to a motion condemning therapy to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings. This motion was proposed by a junior (trainee) doctor who was a student at the same university where the founder of the Gay and Lesbian Special Interest Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK is head of psychiatric medicine, and who was on the Labour Party’s think tank concerning the NHS.

Thankfully a large number of doctors and mental health professionals disagreed with the BMA motion and, if we can convince them to speak out, will oppose the Early Day Motion in Parliament. Knowing all this, I have written to the MP’s asking to meet with them to discuss the Early Day Motion and to present the facts in the hope that they will remove their support.

 

Phelim McIntyre, N.L.P.M.P. is a professional counselor and life coach specializing in issues concerning masculinity, including sexual orientation, based in the South of England. He is an ex-homosexual, having come out at the age of 13 and now overcoming SSA. He has now been straight for over 10 years.

Will Lisa Ling Misrepresent Sexual Orientation Change Effort Therapy Again?

Host of Our America to Revisit Exodus International’s New Stance, Fails to Interview Therapists

Lisa Ling, host of Our America is at it once again with an upcoming show featuring Christian ex-gays. It’s an interesting topic, one that I have a great deal of interest in, since I am myself an ex-gay and a Christian. According to the show’s teaser, which can be viewed by clicking here, Ling plans to revisit Exodus International’s new branding with President Alan Chambers and a group of so-called “ex-gay survivors” who have purportedly been hurt by Exodus and similar ministries over the last forty years.

Although the sneak peak was rather short, it appears that Exodus Founder Michael Bussee, who is seemingly the poster boy for ex-ex-gays (ex-gays who no longer consider themselves former homosexuals, and have returned to the gay life), plays a prominent role in the show. In the sneak peak, Bussee angrily says to Chambers:

The organization needs to shut down. Don’t tweak it, don’t try to improve it. Shut it down!

The show appears to center around Alan Chambers apologizing to these so-called “ex-gay survivors” for the role that Exodus has played in hurting gays and lesbians with the “Change Is Possible” message over the last forty years. Sadly, Ling combines the work of Exodus and similar religious ministries that focus on prayer, deliverance, and religious devotion with Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) therapy, or what she calls “Gay-Reparative Therapy.”

Let me be clear when I say this. I like Lisa Ling. I like Our America. I also like Alan Chambers personally, although I do not agree with the direction he is taking Exodus International. But what is most troubling to me is that Ling refuses to interview actual psychotherapists who practice SOCE and/or clients who have gone through SOCE, either via individual therapy or through group therapy programs such as Journey Into Manhood. These programs differ dramatically than the Exodus programs, but the average person would not know that unless a reporter makes this distinction.

I have personally reached out to Lisa Ling’s Facebook page and offered to be interviewed. I also contacted Alan Chambers and to see if Ling interviewed SOCE therapists for the “God and Gays” program, and he told me he believes she did not. Sadly, many will watch this program and get the perception that psychotherapists who practice SOCE are really just helping clients “pray away the gay” and harming gays and lesbians in the process.

Only time will tell if Ling decides to give a complete portrayal of ex-gays and the actual therapists who help them experience real change.

Christopher Doyle, M.A. is the Co-Founder and Acting Director of Voice of the Voiceless, the only anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info