 |
 |
| Justin Flippen, whose parents are divorced, said a counselor in an ‘ex-gay’ ministry told him his homosexuality was caused by a failure to bond with his biological father. Flippen said the therapy made him depressed to the point of contemplating suicide. |
|
|
| | |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: PHIL LAPADULA COMMENTS
 
Justin Flippen first became aware he was different in the sixth grade.
By the time he was finishing high school, Flippen, who grew up in a Southern Baptist family in Coconut Creek, Fla., realized that his attraction to other boys was not a passing phase.
As a spiritual young man active in his church choir, he decided to bring his "gay problem" to his parents’ attention.
With their support, Flippen decided to begin one-on-one and group counseling with Worthy Creations, an "ex-gay" ministry affiliated with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. A counselor there told Flippen, whose parents were divorced, that he was gay because he didn’t bond properly with his biological father as a small child, Flippen recalled.
"The counselor said that because I lacked an everyday presence of my biological father in my life that I didn’t bond with him and, therefore, developed a same-sex attraction," Flippen said.
Flippen, who was 17 at the time, said he was "puzzled that not all boys who came from divorced families struggled with homosexuality." He said he was also confused because he thought he had a good relationship with both his stepfather and his biological father.
His biological father frequently took him on trips including once to the Grand Canyon, he said.
After a year and a half of "reparative therapy," Flippen said, he began to feel deeply depressed and "abandoned by God" because "there was no progress and I still felt the same."
"At one point, I even contemplated suicide," Flippen said.
Flippen’s story is typical of what many gay youth experience when they become involved with ex-gay ministries and attempt to change their sexual orientation, according to a just-released study by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute.
The study, "Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism," examines the ex-gay movement’s new focus on targeting gay youth.
"Over the past few years, the ex-gay movement has adopted a new approach-—-targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth with both ‘preventive’ measures and conversion," the study states.
As evidence of the ex-gay programs’ increasing focus on youth, the study cites a teen program launched in 2002 by Exodus International, one of the largest ex-gay organizations. It also mentions Groundswell, a traveling ex-gay conference for youth that Exodus launched in 2005.
The study includes a detailed account of the case of 16-year-old Zachary Stark, who said on an internet blog site that his parents forced him in the summer of 2005 to attend Refuge, an ex-gay program in Tennessee.
The study also describes the ordeal of another teen, 17-year-old D.J. Butler, who said at a news conference that his father drove him to the Refuge facility in handcuffs.
Media attention on the Stark case led to a state investigation of Love In Action, the Memphis facility that treated him, for allegations of child abuse and providing mental health services without a proper license.
In the summer of 2005, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities visited the Love in Action facility where Stark stayed and determined that because it was providing room, board and personal care services to two or more mentally ill people, it qualified as a "mental health supportive living environment" under state law and was subject to state licensing.
Love in Action claimed in response that it is a ministry and should not be subject to regulation by the state. A federal judge in Memphis denied a motion that would have allowed the facility to continue to treat mentally ill people without a license. The facility continues to operate live-in programs as a ministry for gays seeking to become straight.
The study also describes the work of Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuals, who published "A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality" in 2002. The guide describes Nicolosi’s experience providing "conversion therapy" to a 5-year-old "prehomosexual" boy named "Stevie."
In an interview, Jason Ciancotto, one of the study’s authors, contended that such therapy can be very harmful to children and teens who are "still trying to figure themselves out."
"These programs can be very damaging to a young person whose sexual identity has not formed or is in the process of forming," Ciancotto said.
According to the study, ex-gay ministries harm both teens and adults by causing depression and damaging relationships with family members ...
| 
