Tag Archives: Gay-therapy

Lesbian Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Help Her Become Straight (No Seriously)

A woman named Chelsie René is soliciting donations online to help her transition from gay to straight.

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According to her GoFundMe page (titled “Journey: She loved her, chose Him”), she discusses how she was something of a butch lesbian until she found Jesus, at which point she decided to become a high-femme hetero.

In the page – clearly inspired by OITNB Boo’s plot line – she writes:

This was a choice of my own, not pressured by anyone else. I’m learning to walk in this new lifestyle day by day. I have to say, I’m falling in love with myself more every step I take.”

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Over a photo of her enviable sneaker collection, she states:

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It’s been one week, therefore I do still have a closet full of everything I have accumulated over many years to hide who I was… as far as my boy clothing, shoes, cologne, hats, etc. I aspire to donate every single piece to young individuals in need more then me.”

She goes on to discuss the reasons for looking for funding – it costs to be straight – no seriously

But, let me assure you, this straight journey is nowhere near cheap. Right now I am humbly asking for any help at all to contribute towards the necessities of embracing this feminine side of me. If able, I aspire to travel across country and share my testimony. Anything helps, prayer is beyond appreciated if nothing else. Thank you so much in advance for all of your positive support. God bless!!”

Surprisingly enough, some commenters are skeptical of her desire to shop her way to straightness. Here are a few:

Yard selling and eBay should of been a first thought to getting money. If you could afford all of those sneakers, you could definitely afford some heels or flats or whatever. I’m all for supporting people and their journey but this….. Hope you find peace in whatever journey you venture on.”

Another post reads

You were never gay in the first place. I’m a lesbian and I’m very girly. I’ve never worn cargos or plaid in my life or any other ‘gay clothes’ if you want to label it that way. Money and clothes will not make you straight. Nothing can make a gay person straight just like nothing can make a straight person gay.”

Also:

You’re a disgrace to the lgbtq community. I’m all for loving who you love, but you are just trying to get money from religious people thinking they are converting you. You are making it seem like this is a choice. You are bisexual, that is fine. But the message you are sending is not. For many it is not a choice.”

Words of sanity…

What??? Why don’t you sell all those sneaker and clothes to get money instead of asking for handouts to “stay straight”. Which is bullshit. Money is going to make you stay straight? What the fuck is this! You gotta be kidding me. Hate go fund me because of stuff like this. And you shopping at MAC with your free money. COME ON PEOPLE PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE BEFORE GIVING YOUR MONEY YOU WORKED HARD FOR TO SOMEONE LOOKING TO NOT WORK AT ALL!!!

She has amassed $400 in donations over the past four days.

Former Ex-Gay Leaders Join Movement To Ban Gay Conversion Therapy | #BornPerfect

[tweet_dis]Nine former ex-gay leaders, from organisations like Exodus International and Love in Action, have signed onto a letter in partnership with the National Centre for Lesbian Rights[/tweet_dis] calling for a ban on gay conversion therapy and saying that LGBT people should be celebrated and embraced for who they are.

The former ex-gay leaders now say they ‘know better now’, and many involved in gay conversion therapy have shuttered or rebranded, like Exodus International, which very publicly announced it would shut down last summer.

Many of the signatories on the letter have previously spoken out against or apologised for supporting and advocating for gay conversion therapy. However, for some it’s the most public statement they’ve made since renouncing the practice.

“We all got together and said it’s time to produce a statement that is not a statement of apology, but a statement on our beliefs on how conversion therapy harms people. We felt like we needed to make that statement.”

John Smid, Exodus International

Smid said he experienced the harms of gay conversion or reparative therapy firsthand. Leading medical and psychological associations, such as the American Psychological Association, have discredited and criticised gay conversion therapy.

“In my own life, that message kept me trapped in a cycle of believing that I was emotionally ill and incapable of having a healthy life until those things are fixed. For over two decades, I lived in that mind-set. That’s why reparative therapy is so damaging. That was the message that I received and that I taught in my involvement with Exodus and Love in Action.”

John Smid, Exodus International

Advocates and other critics of gay conversion therapy, hope to expand the debate over the practice coast to coast. The letter from the former leaders comes as part of NCLR ramping up its #BornPerfect campaign, which it launched last month.

“We are committed to protecting LGBT children and their families from the severe harms caused by these dangerous practices. These practices have been thoroughly discredited by every major mental health organisation, and yet, every day, young lives are wrecked. We intend to stop the practices once and for all.”

Kate Kendell, NCLR Executive Director

Read the full letter:

Former Ex-Gay Leaders Unite in Opposition to Conversion Therapy

Conversion therapy, also known as “reparative therapy”, “ex-gay therapy,” or “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE), professes to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to change or overcome their sexual orientation or gender identity. The majority of those who practice this “therapy” often do so with little or no formal psychological training, operating instead from a strict religious perspective, believing homosexuality to be a “sin.”

At one time, we were not only deeply involved in these “ex-gay” programs, we were the founders, the leaders, and the promoters. Together we represent more than half a century of experience, so few people are more knowledgeable about the ineffectiveness and harm of conversion therapy. We know first-hand the terrible emotional and spiritual damage it can cause, especially for LGBT youth.

We once believed that there was something morally wrong and psychologically “broken” about being LGBT. We know better now. We once believed that sexual orientation or gender identity were somehow chosen or could be changed. We know better now. We once thought it was impossible to embrace our sexual orientation or sexual identity as an intrinsic, healthy part of who we are and who we were created to be. We know better now.

Looking back, we were just believing (and sometimes teaching) what we had been taught— that our identity needed mending. We grew up being told that being LGBT was disordered, sick, mentally ill, sinful, and displeasing to God. We grew up being told that loving, same-sex relationships were shallow, lust-driven, deceived, disordered, and impossible.

We grew up with the repetitive message that LGBT people were not enough — not straight enough, not Christian enough, not manly or womanly enough, not faithful enough, not praying enough. Never, ever enough. “Toxic” probably sums it up best. That message is poison to the soul. Especially a child’s soul.

It can take a lifetime to get rid of that old programming and replace it with healthy, non-toxic views of yourself. Recovery from conversion therapy is difficult at best. Some remain forever scarred, emotionally and spiritually. Conversion therapy reinforces internalized homophobia, anxiety, guilt and depression. It leads to self-loathing and emotional and psychological harm when change doesn’t happen. Regrettably, too many will choose suicide as a result of their sense of failure.

In light of this, we now stand united in our conviction that conversion therapy is not “therapy,” but is instead both ineffective and harmful. We align ourselves with every major mainstream professional medical and mental health organization in denouncing attempts to change sexual orientation or gender identity. We admonish parents to love and accept your LGBT children as they are. We beseech the church to accept, embrace, and affirm LGBT persons with full equality and inclusion.

As former “ex-gay” leaders, having witnessed the incredible harm done to those who attempted to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, we join together in calling for a ban on conversion therapy. It is our firm belief that it is much more productive to support, counsel, and mentor LGBT individuals to embrace who they are in order to live happy, well- adjusted lives. We fully support the aim of #BornPerfect to bring an end to conversion therapy.

Gay-therapy…. huh?!

Gay-therapy, also-known-as: “Gay-affirmative”, or “gay friendly” therapy, it corrects and tries to heal all of the previous attempts to change ones sexual orientation.

With all of the wide ranged attempts to change, or alter someone’s sexual orientation it is nothing but a misguided perception that being gay is a choice, or a decision that one makes for their own life. Therapy ‘solutions’ such as reparative therapy, or Sexual Orientation Change Efforts have been looked down upon and discredited by most if not all mental health professions, AMA, and religious concerns have been beginning to being taken care of by gays with their own religious traditions.

When dealing with the pressure of others’ beliefs, or comments, it is helpful to remember that it is “okay to be gay”. People who have recently come out, or are preparing to may also be dealing with anxiety, depression, or a number of other mental disorders, branching off from the anti-gay attitude the general society gives off.

Therapy already traditionally helps individuals who deal with anxiety, depression, etc. Adding therapy to dealing with realizing your gay, or coming out, or dealing with triggering acts of bullying, is able to be dealt with in an open and welcoming manner.

Sometimes the therapist may question if some of the idealizations you had as a child about being gay still make sense to you as an adult, if this is causing a block in your life. Thinking of the block as some inside force against you, or an enemy is not the route to take, however to look at it as something you used to keep you safe, i.e. a security blanket.

Some can describe the feeling of being blocked like falling in love repeatedly with someone who is not emotionally available at the moment. Then the pattern is monitored to see where it is coming from. Understanding these things doesn’t mean you won’t continue the pattern, but however will make you more conscious about perusing that certain person or not.

Overcoming addictions is a wonderful motivation tactic to help you to seek gay therapy. When you are not addicted to something, your emotional side of your personality is much more reachable and attainable.  Gay ‘positive’ therapists can help you deal with negative messages you may obtain and keep buried deep inside, and then replace them with more powerful, positive, of your true self. Therapy can help those who want a better hold onto their lives without the thought in the back of their mind that they are being judged.