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Kevin Naff is managing editor of the Washington
Blade and can be reached at knaff@washblade.com.
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HOME > VIEWPOINT > EDITORIAL
By: KEVIN NAFF COMMENTS
 
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news conference.
“This program is operated on the will of the guardian or parent. We will
work with the minor children as long as they are not overtly distracting to
their own program or the program of others,” said John Smid, the “ex-gay”
executive director of Love in Action. “If it is shown that the client
is overtly treatment resistant, we will work with the parent towards alternative
options for their care and overall relational health.”
What “alternative options” does Smid have in mind? Electro-shock
therapy? Solitary confinement?
THE DAMAGE CAUSED to young gays by the views of “ex-gays” should
not be underestimated. The two greatest weapons that opponents of gay rights
wield against us are charges that gay men are pedophiles and that homosexuality
is a choice. Overcoming those two obstacles would mean instant victory for the
movement.
And the “ex-gays” are doing their best to reinforce the refuted
canard that being gay is a choice; that I could just as easily choose a different
pair of shoes as I could choose a different sexual orientation.
Right-handed people can’t choose to be lefties, those with brown skin
can’t choose white and gays can’t choose to be straight. Yes, it
really is that simple.
Someday, science will discover the biological or genetic root of homosexuality
and finally put to rest the absurd notion that sexual orientation is a choice.
Until then, we must counter the damaging rhetoric of the “ex-gays”
and ensure that young gays like Zach understand that they are perfectly normal
as they are.
It’s the “ex-gays” that belong in a reparative camp.
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