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Thursday, March 30, 2006

Unhappy to Be Ex-Gay or Ex-Happy to be Un-Gay? 


When idiots who flagrantly attempt to violate the First Amendment rights of others are attorneys, I feel a special sort of disdain for them. The latest display of idiocy goes to Mathew D. Staver, Esq. of the ironically titled Liberty Counsel.

A cease and desist letter was sent to a Santa Rosa, California blogger, Justin Watt of the blog Justinsomnia after he parodied a billboard advertising Exodus International, the notorious ex-gay organization that believes it's possible to change one's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. The original billboard read “Gay?, Unhappy? www.exodus.to.” Watt modified the image to read “Straight? Unhappy? www.gay.com.”

Frowned upon by most rational psychiatrists and psychologists, and the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the World Health Organization, and most other professional medical associations, the ex-Gay movement has been plagued by scandals that are ridiculously predictable. The most well-known of which occurred in 1979, when two conference organizers, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, left the ministry to be with each other, becoming possibly the first open ex-gay-former-heterosexual-gays.

Having confronted a couple of ex-gays in my time, the most striking thing about ex-gays is how unconvincing they appear to be as heterosexual. And, you would think, those who are truly happy, would be more inclined to enjoy their happiness rather than feigning it by recruiting others to participate in what is, in fact, their misery.

Since the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the national ACLU Foundation’s Lesbian & Gay Rights Project has agreed to defend Mr. Watts, Exodus International stands more chance of turning Richard Simmons straight than prevailing in this legal battle.

Still, I can’t help but think that electro-therapy might be just the remedy to sleazy lawyers filing frivolous cease-and-desist letters rather than using it to abuse children exploring their sexual identities.


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