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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 5th, 2012
In all of the debates over ex-gay therapy, there is one voice that is too often ignored, and that is the voice of the ex-gay survivor. A perfect example of what I’m talking about took place on HLN’s “Dr. Drew” last night. Once again, we have a not very well informed talking head — despite the “Dr.” in the name — providing a platform for someone who has a personal, financial, and political motivation to get her point of view across in offering the false hope that gay people can (and, implicitly, should) change their sexual orientation.
Pinsky’s guest last night was Janet Boynes, who runs an ex-gay ministry that is is closely associated with Marcus Bachman’s clinic. She appeared in her role as a “former lesbian” among the “thousands of former homosexuals” in the country. She also compared those who try to change their sexual orientation but fail (and evidence shows that this is very nearly everyone) to addicts who don’t want to change:
Boynes: There are thousands of people out there that are living the heterosexual live that are no longer homosexuals. And if you don’t want to change, as you well know Dr. Drew, you work with people that are on drugs, alcohol, pornography, and you know and you’ve said this before and I’ve heard you kn many of your shows, if you don’t want to change, you’re not going to change. If your heart is not right to change, you’re going to stay the same way.
Dr. Jallen Rix, an exgay survivor and author of Ex-Gay No Way: Survival and Recovery from Religious Abuse
Rix: As an ex-gay survivor myself, and now as a sexologist, who has studied the damaging effects of reparative therapy and ex-gay ministries, I can tell you that I have been inside these ministries and they are hotbeds of religious abuse. I have really never seen anyone truly change their orientation and what I’ve experienced there has been great shame, great depression, and others feeling hopelessness, having suicidal tendencies, heightened fear, all these things not because they’re trying to work the process but because the process did not work for them.
And as a result, they felt like a failure. You know, you’re talking about pain. I think we need to look very carefully at the messages that reparative therapies and ex-gay ministries put out. Because essentially they are saying that homosexuality does not really belong in their society. If there was a real perfect society, everyone would be heterosexual. How close is that message to what the bully says, when he says, “Well, you know what? I don’t think you, as a homosexual, belong around, and I’m going to do something about it.” …
Rix got about a minute and a half before Pinsky cut in to say that he was running out of time. But Pinsky still had another minute to give Boynes the last word. And I can think of no better example of Boynes’s lack of self-awareness than the fact that she took up much of that time complaining that Dr. Drew and others never put ex-gay advocates on their programs so they could further promote their “change is possible” mantra — after having had an entire segment to herself on Dr. Drew’s program. Meanwhile, ex-gay survivors remain invisible.
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customartist
June 5th, 2012
Let’s share some insights with Dr. Drew:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=drdrewshow&hdln=2
Don
June 5th, 2012
I tried to send a comment to Dr. Drew’s program but it requires Facebook with my photo (no way!) I left the following comment in the Comment box. No one will probably read it… So I am sending it to you.
“For many years I have been listening to television personalities like Dr. Drew who address the topic of homosexuality from the standpoint of a person who claims to have changed from gay to straight as if being gay is unacceptable because the Bible says it is a sin according to Leviticus 18:22. That verse reads:”Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (in the King James Version).
“No one I have heard has ever discussed Lev. 18:22, explained the meaning of
abomination, or how that translates into “sin” and what sin actually means.
“The late historian-linguist John Boswell (in his book “Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality”) examined the original Hebrew text of the Book of Leviticus, wherein he found the word “toevah” used in verse Lev. 18:22 to describe same-sex physical association. The word “abomination” is a mistranslation of the Hebrew text; the Hebrew word “toevah”means “something
unclean or impure” [for Jews only, in their personal relationship with God]; it does not mean “sin,” i.e. transgression of God’s law, rather it is more like a social taboo.
“I wish the next TV personality who takes on this subject would take time first to read Boswell’s monumental work and be better informed on the Bible’s original Hebrew text.”
Steve
June 5th, 2012
Boynes is bisexual. She basically says so in her own book. She was also addicted to drugs back when she converted to being “straight”, which complicated her life and her relationship with her family.
Lightning Baltimore
June 5th, 2012
I used to listen occasionally to Dr. Drew’s late-night radio show years ago. One night, when I was listening in the car, a gay male teenager called with a question. He had bottomed with his boyfriend with no trouble, and now they wanted to switch things up. He was concerned, however, because his penis was much larger than his boyfriend’s. He wanted advice on what they could do to prepare.
The response from Dr. Drew and his co-host Adam Corolla was two-fold:
1. Gay men are tops or bottoms and that’s it; they don’t do both.
2. Nice try, but you don’t sound gay. You’re not fooling us.
Unfortunately, this was long before I owned a cell phone, so I wasn’t able to call and rip them some new holes.
iDavid
June 5th, 2012
The only “success stories” if they exist, would be for bisexuals deciding to focus on their het side rather than their homo side, hence no “gay to straight” stories exist. This is why the exgay ministry cannot tote out “success stories” to the media.
Janet Bounds looks sad with high miles in this interview. She didn’t change from gay to straight, she just focused on another aspect of her gay/straight sexuality, and is a bold face liar.
It’s unfortunate that cash is the only bottom line to these charlatans’ wish list. If the Bible be properly interpreted, they would all be out of business. But the basis of Christianity is about the smoke and mirrors and keeping people off balance, so in that vein Bounds is right in step.
Timothy Kincaid
June 5th, 2012
I think that perhaps the appropriate response to this might for gay people to inform Dr. Drew that we are not idiots, pawns, or toys. We will not be brought onto his show for two seconds of “balance” so as to give credence to nutcases.
In other words, I think that gay leaders, activists, and others should agree not to go on his show for a period of one year. No counterbalance, no “other side”, nothing. If he wants to promote nutty anti-gay crap, he can do so without our participation.
These shows can’t exist with just the one side. They thrive on “controversy” and if we don’t play along, it’s boring. So he (and others) would get the message that if you want us there, you have to treat us fair.
Perhaps that could be a project for GLAAD.
walterpc
June 5th, 2012
Typicl Right-Winger. She victimizes others who don’t fit into her category of “worthy” people; then whenever she gets any pushback, she plays the victim card. Boo hoo.
AlexH
June 5th, 2012
This is the same woman who was on Lisa Ling’s “Our America” and Ling asked her is she still attracted to women.
And Boynes responded that with prayer and Christ’s help she doesn’t give into those temptations (or something along those lines) and she lives with them everyday.
Being a gay man myself, I have never been, nor do I, continue to fight with temptation and attraction to females on a day-to-day basis. I’m guessing that heterosexuals are the same, so clearly if you still have the temptation NOTHING has changed.
And I don’t care how many makeovers you get!
rachelrachel
June 5th, 2012
Dr. Drew also supports that “12-step” nonsense as effective against addiction.
Paul O'Nolan
June 5th, 2012
Am I the only one who heard when he said, “I have seen people try to change and get hurt by it”? Dr. Drew is more than a “talking head”. His credentials are:
BA Amherst College
MD University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Residency Internal Medicine, Huntington Memorial Hospital
Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Addiction Medicine
Certified member of American Society of Addiction Medicine since 1990
Member of American College of Physicians
Licensed Physician and Surgeon in the State of California since 1985
I was a regular listener of the Loveline radio show for around 6 years, and heard him speak out against these types of clinics on many occasions. It seems like he is simply being diplomatic and trying to create a dialogue. Let’s put the pitchforks down for a second.
Here’s Dr. Drew denouncing anti-gay therapy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnvChLu7oPg
To Lightning Baltimore: If you were a regular listener to Loveline, you would know that the callers often times tried to prank Drew and Adam by fabricating a story, and going online the next day to proclaim their victory. Drew and Adam became very adept at recognizing these phonies. That is what you heard, they made a joke at the caller’s expense after determining that the caller made a bogus phone call.
Perhaps Dr. Drew did let the guest go on for too long, but we can’t blame that all on him. When I watch this video, it seems to me that Dr. Drew wants to debate the subject a bit, but is trying to work with a time constraint. Perhaps this was the fault of one of the HLN executives. I don’t think that Dr. Drew is the demon here guys.
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