Readers Write: Christian Ex-Gays Try to 'Cure' Homosexuality

The bruising battles between right-wing Christians and gay rights groups have moved from the ballot box where 11 states banned same-sex marriage to the living room and the Church itself. Casey Sanchez's article "Christian Ex-Gays Brainwash Thousands" documents the burgeoning "sexual reorientation therapy" movement. There are three treatment centers, but over 200 churches, religious colleges and religious counseling centers have "ex-gay" programs. Major right-wing Christian organizations like Focus on the Family now have a traveling ex-gay ministry called "Love Won Out."

Despite well-funded megachurches and fundamentalist Christians dominating religious discourse, the question many of our readers asked about ex-gay conversion programs was: Is this what Jesus would do? What followed was a familiar discussion of nature versus nurture, whether human sexuality is a choice and whether or not queer identity can ever be compatible with Christianity.

One poster, slydad, weighed in on a number of these questions with a position that might best be characterized as compassionate conservative:

"There's no doubt that some people have a strong physical attraction to others of the same gender. That part of it may not be a choice. If one endeavors to live as a Christian though, we should have genuine love for everyone ... the choice is there as to whether one takes a mate that is of the same sex or the opposite sex. If one puts God first, nature will work like it's supposed to and God will steer you toward the right person. I know that sort of sounds like I'm advocating that if you're a homo that you stay in the proverbial "closet." I'm not saying that at all. I think that one can have homosexual urges and still love someone of the opposite sex. If a relationship is built on a Christian foundation, it will work. In an open and honest relationship, there are work arounds for deviances like that.

"I think that folks that choose the homosexual lifestyle are putting sex first and God second. That doesn't mean that they're lost either. It just isn't the way it ought to be."

But other readers critiqued the supposedly obvious "naturalness" of compulsory heterosexuality. Lilykins argued: "Homosexuality exists in almost every animal species on the planet. It would be UNnatural if it didn't exist in humans." Reader jvaljon1 agreed, "It's a well known FACT ... that homosexuality is an innate variation on sexuality, in all species that utilize bi-sexual reproduction ... This is a fact--read about wolves and geese, to name just two disparate species in which the same 11% are homosexual."

MindyB quotes the president of Exodus saying, "Everyday I wake up and deny what comes naturally to me." She responds, "Duh!! One cannot be 'cured' of a 'disease' if one still struggles with 'homosexual sexuality' ... Also, if his homosexuality 'comes naturally,' isn't that the same as being born with 'it,' or more specifically this is how God created you, gay (or homosexual if you rather use that term), and therefore, you must accept yourself the way God created you -- gay!"

Reader jmmartin explained the motives of sexual reorientation centers as "motivated not by some altruistic desire to 'help' anyone but to add numbers to their agenda. By convincing the world that 'gay' is something you do rather than something you are, stigmatization of gays might appear understandable and even proper."

Other readers weighed in on whether homosexuality could be consistent with a religious institution. UnEasyOne described "Cafeteria Christians" who "simply ignore the parts of the Bible they find inconvenient ... My feeling is that in order to be happy, homosexuals are gonna have to realize that this tradition has nothing to do with modern times -- and if they still feel a need for a god in their lives, recognize that YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah) ain't their guy."