On his way to the de-gaying tent.
In case you were wondering what Christopher Doyle of Voice of the Voiceless did on all the days of “ex-gay awareness” month that appeared to have no scheduled events (twenty-nine of the thirty days of September, to be exact), we now have an answer! Christopher Doyle went around to a bunch of colleges and universities in Virginia pretending to be a graduate student begging, just begging for somebody to de-gay him. This press release is a couple of weeks old, but it’s just now being mocked in several media outlets. Let’s have a look at the release:
As a part of September’s Ex-Gay Awareness Month, Voice of the Voiceless (VoV) went undercover into seven of Virginia’s fifteen state universities to document a variety of misconduct among publicly-funded employees, including medically-inaccurate advice, view point discrimination, and biased counseling for students who experience unwanted homosexual feelings. The investigation, which occurred over a 2½ week period in September, involved two former homosexuals posing as graduate students seeking anonymous counseling for unwanted homosexual feelings at university resource centers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) students.
The LGBTQ Resource Centers in violation include the University of Virginia, James Madison University, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, and the College of William and Mary. Today, Liberty Counsel, an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family, sent letters to all seven university presidents regarding their LGBTQ Resource Centers, urging them to include all viewpoints on this issue, and informing them that presenting only one viewpoint is not only wrong, but can cause harm to students.
“State-funded universities are required to provide value-neutral, medically-accurate information to all students in need of guidance. What we uncovered was a deliberate withholding of potentially life-saving information for students who may desire counseling to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings,” commented Christopher Doyle, President and Co-Founder of VoV. “A counselor at George Mason University told me that if I sought therapy to change, I would likely become psychologically-damaged, depressed, and even commit suicide. Instead of referring me to a licensed mental health practitioner or faith-based counselor that aligned with my spiritual values, I was told to attend the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church and read a book called ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, and He Knows I’m Gay’.
Poor thing. Why won’t the institutions of higher learning kowtow to Christopher Doyle’s incorrect beliefs about everything? The Washington Post answers Christopher’s whining with a simple explanation:
There isn’t much dispute in the scientific community that sexual orientation cannot be “treated” by psychotherapy or prayer (or drugs or snake-handling or anything else), and Germanos notes that the American Academy of Pediatrics, theAmerican Counseling Association and the American Psychiatric Association all advise against reparative therapy. (I would add to that list the American Medical Association, theAmerican Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers and the World Health Organization.)
The vice president of university life at GMU, Rose Pascarell, also told Germanos that such therapy, being rejected by mainstream medical thought, “is not a healthy response to the individuals and their questions and concerns about their sexual orientation.” Pascarell and Chollar also told Germanos that Doyle’s press release was misleading, that he did not immediately ask for “undoing homosexuality literature,” and that Chollar asked Doyle if he were from an ex-gay group.
Darn those grown-ups with their scientifically correct information! Christopher Doyle misses the old days when you could get de-gayed just about anywhere.
The WaPo also explains that at George Mason University, Doyle was begging for literature about “ex-gay awareness,” but that the only thing available was smooshed up at the bottom of a drawer, where it belongs.
So now, Christopher Doyle is having a hissy fit, because that’s what he does when he’s awake.
Wonkette reacts appropriately:
Shudder gasp! It is A Outrage!!!!! that a pretend student who is pretending to want to be ex-gayed like that’s a thing cannot even get a pamphlet filled with bigoted anti-science about how to pray the gay away. Also, something about the First Amendment because why not? Everyone knows Christopher Columbus wrote the Bill of Rights to protect the right of bigots to tell gays to stop gaying themselves like that. Like, duh, right?
Duh, right.
So I guess that is how Christopher Doyle and his “ex-gay” compadres are going to fail this month. We were wondering how they would outdo September.
