"Gay cure" group targets youth groups

damien

http://uk.gay.com/headlines/8506

A Christian charity that claims to cure lesbian and gay people is targeting youth groups across the country according to press reports. The Living Waters group, a far-right religious group that also claims to offer help for those "addicted" to pornography, says it is hoping that access to youth organisations will help it reach those who are not religious.

The claims are likely to anger gay rights groups, who have campaigned bitterly against such organisations and their claims of "salvation". The group's leader told the Observer that it would reach out to new targets in the coming months.

"We'd love to take our stuff out to non-Christians, so we're going to develop some materials which could do that," Lisa Guinness told the newspaper. "We're trying to get in to speak at youth conferences," she added. "We need to present what the consequence of this sort of behaviour is - infertility, sexually transmitted diseases, the breakdown of family life, fatherlessness for the next generation ..."

Groups claiming to offer a cure for non-heterosexuality have been condemned by gay campaigners, who say that scientific evidence proves they are charlatans. They say vulnerable lesbian and gay people are often targeted by the groups, which approach them offering help through counselling and religious faith.

Protests have been held across the globe, with gay groups calling for such organisations to be shut down. In Brazil last year, both LGBT advocates and mainstream community groups demonstrated a state government decision to fund conversion therapy programmes.

"This is not just an offence to gays but to all citizens who will not tolerate discrimination," the president of the gay rights group Arco-Iris (Rainbow) said Claudio Nascimento said at the time. "Today it's us, but tomorrow who knows?" In 2003, a study apparently suggested orientation could be changed, although it was quickly slammed by leaders in the field of sexual behaviour.

They said the results, which suggested as many as 70% of gay men could "turn straight", were based on ex-patients of a US conversion therapy and were "not your average gay man". In the UK last year, a church in North London diverted cash it would usually donate to central funds towards The True Freedom Trust, a charity that claims to "cure" lesbian and gay people, in protest at the appointment of Jeffrey John as Dean of St Albans.

Richard Kirker of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said the rise of faith-based cure groups was a result of in built homophobia within religions. "The True Freedom Trust is a deplorable organisation that only helps compound the sense of guilt and lack of self-worth that many gay people find themselves experiencing because of all the negative attitudes that churches of this persuasion inculcate them with," he said.

Speaking about the new attempts to reach young gay people, campaigner Peter Tatchell said it was be "irresponsible and dangerous" for youth groups to open their doors to such charities. 'They are preying on emotionally vulnerable young gays and lesbians," he told the Observer.

rsynnott

Eek, in the UK? Wouldn't suprise me in the US, but that's a bit close for comfort.

Boston

How's sligo for closeness.

LegacyUser

There is somewhere in sligo that offers such a "service"?

Or did I misinterpet your statement louville....

damien

Image posting now works. Thanks Cloud !

rsynnott

' wrote:

Kharn[=']There is somewhere in sligo that offers such a "service"?

Or did I misinterpet your statement louville....

Some crazies paid Sligo IT a visit, but that was a one-off manifestation and doesn't seem to have been repeated.

Annasopra

Some crazies paid Sligo IT a visit, but that was a one-off manifestation and doesn't seem to have been repeated.

Doesn't mean it won't be.

In my opinion we are starting to see the rise of the religious far-right in Ireland

As Damien pointed out Focus on The Family have set up in Ireland. This is a group which is very vociferously anti-gay in the US

This is something that gay-rights groups here need to be vigilant

r@t

cure gays - like its a choice or a disease (lol) they should concerntrate on trying to cure their own prejudices and deep seeded ignorance and stupidity.

OfflerCrocGod

damien.m wrote:

Image posting now works. Thanks Cloud !

Simply fantastic! Thanks for that I needed a good laugh. By the way Johnnymcg you may want to look up the meaning of "normal" in the dictionary because your .sig is not exactly correct. Strictly speaking anyway.

astec123

How irritating this kind of thing is, I see no point to these things, considering they claim to believe in god and all this (incase you wonder I dont beleive there is a god) but doesnt there happen to be some rule in the bible to love one another, this is surely not the case, if an organisation wants to claim it is just and righteous then surely it must follow all the rules set down by its founding fathers. Dont get me wrong, I agree that everyone deserves to believe in what the believe in, but to claim one thing and act in the totally opposite way is completely wrong. Just my 2 cents.

rsynnott

Judge not lest you be judged? Nah, your average "religious" zealot takes the bits of the bible that they feel like. They use Leviticus's prohibition of homosexuality while ignoring the fact that everything he writes is frothing-at-the-mouth insane; he's the one who bans wearing mixed fabrics and grafting trees and such.

Annasopra

By the way Johnnymcg you may want to look up the meaning of "normal" in the dictionary because your .sig is not exactly correct. Strictly speaking anyway.

It's irony because you will often see people saying that's not "normal" about anything to do with homosexuality