wfn.org | Mainline minister criticizes 'ex-gay' ads

["Barb Powell"<powellb@ucc.org>]

July 16, 1998
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Hans Holznagel, press contact
216-736-2214
holznagh@ucc.org
On the Web: <http://www.ucc.org>

Mainline minister criticizes 'ex-gay' ads

     CLEVELAND -- "Ex-gay ministries," promoted in national
newspaper ads placed this week by the Christian Coalition and other
religious-right groups, offer "false hope," says an expert in lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender ministries with the United Church of Christ.
     In a statement released July 16, the Rev. Dr. William R.
Johnson of Cleveland, a UCC minister with the United Church Board
for Homeland Ministries, criticized full-page ads that appeared in the
New York Times on July 13, the Washington Post on July 14 and
USA Today on July 15.
     "Tens of thousands of lesbians and gay men, and hundreds of
former victims of such 'therapies' who learned the hard way, know that
sexual orientation cannot be changed," Johnson said.  "Indeed the more
truthful 'ex-gay' counselors privately tell their clients what they rarely
acknowledge in public -- that they cannot change a gay or lesbian
person's same-gender attractions."
     He said the ads seemed timed to coincide with a political effort
to overturn President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination
based on sexual orientation in federal agencies and to oppose the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
     "Such organizations cannot afford for the fact of the innate
nature of sexual orientation -- be it heterosexual, bisexual or
homosexual -- to be widely accepted," Johnson said.  He noted that
the American Psychological Association and the American Medical
Association have repudiated the claims of "ex-gay ministries."
     Johnson, whose title is Minister for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Concerns, has been an ordained minister in the United
Church of Christ since 1972.  He was the first openly gay person
ordained to the Christian ministry in modern times.
     The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland,
has some 1.4 million members and 6,000 local churches in the United
States and Puerto Rico.  In the UCC's decentralized form of
governance, local churches are free to form their own opinions on
social and theological matters and may disagree with statements of
national bodies and officials.
#     #     #

[EDITORS: The full text of Dr. Johnson's statement follows.]

#     #     #

Statement by the Rev. Bill Johnson, Ed.D.
United Church of Christ Minister and Certified Sexologist

"As a Christian minister for 26 years and a certified sexologist who has
been openly gay since 1970, I am saddened that the old chestnut of
'reparative therapy' for homosexuals has again reared its ugly head.   

"The claims of so-called 'ex-gay ministries' have been repudiated for
some years now by the American Psychological Association and the
American Medical Association.  In addition, tens of thousands of
lesbians and gay men, and hundreds of former victims of such
'therapies' who learned the hard way,  know that sexual orientation
cannot be changed.  Indeed, the more truthful 'ex-gay' counselors
privately tell their clients what they rarely acknowledge in public --
that they cannot change a gay or lesbian person's same-gender
attractioncs.

"So-called 'ex-gay ministries' knowingly prey upon highly vulnerable
individuals --  and their families -- by offering false hope for a
change that cannot be attained.  It is telling that, despite
their claims of 'thousands' of successful conversions,
'ex-gay' organizations refuse to allow any independent peer
review of their records or psychological or scientific
analysis of their clients.

"'Ex-gay ministries' rely heavily upon teaching homosexual youth and
adults to hate themselves.  Those victims, in turn, are preyed upon by
programs that offer the unattainable 'change' paid for at a high
emotional, psychological and financial price.  'Reparative therapy' in
this instance is nothing more than social prejudice garbed in
psychological accoutrements and religious demands for conformity.  It
is damaging to a person's psychic and emotional health.  I have
counseled individuals who managed to live through the nightmare of
'ex-gay' attempts at repressive re-socialization.  Each left the abusive
"ex-gay" program more fragile, more guilt-ridden and more confused
than when she or he entered the program.  And, each was blamed for
their failure to attain 'the change.'  It was never deemed the fault of the
program.

"We must not lose sight of the fact that perpetuation of the myth that
individuals 'choose to be homosexual or bisexual' is a cornerstone of
the religious right's ongoing campaign opposing an end to wide-spread
discrimination based on sexual orientation.  Such organizations cannot
afford for the fact of the innate nature of sexual orientation -- be
it heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual -- to be widely
accepted.  So long as the myth can be sustained that
heterosexuals evolve into their sexuality while homosexuals
and bisexuals 'choose' theirs, the quackery of 'reparative
therapy' for homosexuals will sell.

"Currently, the religious right is trying to overturn President Clinton's
Executive Order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in
federal government agencies.  They are opposing  passage of the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which has wide-spread
popular and Congressional support.  The timing of the religious right's
re-assertion that sexual orientation is chosen -- and can be changed
by religiously-based 'reparative therapy' -- is clearly linked to
these political battles.  Tragically, this new initiative
will also lure new victims into 'ex-gay ministry' programs.

"I know from the Biblical witness, and from my own experience, that
gay men and lesbians, no less than heterosexual and bisexual persons,
stand within the circle of God's love, forgiveness  and grace.  I
celebrate my identity as a gay man, created in God's image, and the
strength of my Christian faith, which has enabled me to endure half a
century of life in this homophobic culture.   I rejoice that I learned many
years ago that nothing in all creation -- not even the lies and
malicious exploitations of the religious right -- can separate me from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, my Liberator."