Pope to Attend Major Catholic Gathering Featuring Supporters of Ex-Gay Therapy
It鈥檚 difficult these days to find supporters of so-called 鈥渞eparative鈥� or 鈥渃onversion鈥� therapy, a practice that is claimed to change gay people to straight. After all, the practice has been widely discredited and is opposed by all leading professional and in the country.
In addition, and in June, a that the reparative therapy group JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing) based in New Jersey violated the state鈥檚 Consumer Fraud Act. The jury found that JONAH, its co-founder Arthur Goldberg and counselor Alan Downing made misrepresentations and engaged in 鈥渦nconscionable business practices鈥� in a lawsuit brought by young men who had undergone the therapy.
In light of this, one would think that a major religious gathering would steer clear of reparative therapy, especially since one group has already been successfully sued for consumer fraud based on its claims and practices, and also in the wake of legalized marriage equality across the United States.
Such is not the case.
Next month, the (WMOF) takes place in Philadelphia, the first time this major event has been held in the U.S. The event, which is expected to draw upwards of two million people, was originally conceived by Pope John Paul II in 1992. The first took place in Rome in 1994. Since then, the international event is held every three years at various cities around the world. Its primary focus is discussions about the 鈥淐hristian family鈥檚 role in the church and society, led by many distinguished speakers.鈥�
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is in charge of the WMOF, and it鈥檚 already for denying exhibition space to Fortunate Families, a group that supports the Catholic parents of LGBT people. However, another Catholic organization, Courage, was granted exhibitor status. Courage is an ex-gay ministry that promotes reparative therapy and insists that LGBT people remain celibate.
In addition, that WMOF has several speakers on its roster who have connections to ex-gay ministries or organizations that promote and practice reparative therapy. These include:
- , who is and has a in which she discusses how homosexuality is an offense to chastity. The accompanying PowerPoint presentation refers to homosexuality as a 鈥渃ondition鈥� and promotes an anti-LGBT book by the Family Research Council (an 澳彩开奖 designated anti-LGBT hate group), the work of psychiatrist Robert Spitzer (who has about conversion therapy), and 鈥渞esearch鈥� by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), one of the primary purveyors of pseudoscience about homosexuality and reparative therapy (NARTH has since the NARTH Institute). Smith鈥檚 PowerPoint promotes a number of damaging falsehoods about LGBT people, including linking homosexuality to childhood sexual abuse, claiming gay people are overly promiscuous, and that gay people don鈥檛 live as long as straight people (a claim originally disseminated by the thoroughly discredited psychologist Paul Cameron).
- Matthew Pinto, founder and president of聽, which publishes materials for 鈥淐atholic parishes, schools, organizations, and individuals.鈥� Ascension Press also published Courage founder Fr. John Harvey鈥檚 book, , which promotes reparative therapy. In Pinto鈥檚 own 2003 , Pinto responds to a question about whether God will accept someone for being gay by citing the success notorious reparative therapist Joseph Nicolosi has had 鈥渋n helping the homosexual person rediscover his or her heterosexuality.鈥� Ascension is also the main publisher for the work of Christopher West, who sits on the board of reference of the , an ex-gay ministry that formed after the collapse of Exodus. Christopher West is also a speaker at this year鈥檚 WMOF.
- , who was a guest speaker at the and a at a Legatus/Denver gathering. Legatus is an anti-LGBT group for Catholic business leaders that has published articles in support of reparative therapy in its magazine. Over the past couple of years, some speakers鈥攊ncluding actors Gary Sinise and Bob Newhart, as well as the Molson Coors chairman鈥攈ave backed out of the Legatus annual conference because of its anti-LGBT views. 础濒惫补谤茅 same-sex marriage 鈥渁 horrid natural experiment in our country鈥� and 鈥渆very time same-sex marriage proponents tell people that marriage is utterly unrelated to children but strictly about a feeling,鈥� they are 鈥渄estroying the poor, the uneducated, and the formation of their family lives.鈥� In 2012, she released a book, , that included a chapter by NARTH board member and current president of the anti-LGBT hate group American College of Pediatricians Michelle Cretella.
- , president and professor of moral theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Lateran University in Rome. Melina will be slated to emerge from the 2015 Courage conference. Melina about the 鈥渋ntrinsically disordered鈥� state of homosexuality. He has that the 鈥渉omosexual personality鈥� includes 鈥減athological narcissism,鈥� which leads to 鈥済reat instability and promiscuity in the most widespread model of homosexual life.鈥� In that article, Melina claimed that therapeutic programs demonstrate the possibility 鈥渋n many cases of recovering a basic heterosexual identity.鈥�
Perhaps we shouldn鈥檛 be too surprised about these participants, since the Archbishop of the Philadelphia Archdiocese is Charles Chaput, who for the 2014 Courage conference. Chaput also sits on the for the Society of Catholic Social Sciences, which gave Joseph Nicolosi an award in 2010 for Catholic social action.
Chaput was Archbishop in Denver in 2010, where he of two young girls from Scared Heart of Jesus parish school in Boulder. The reason? Their parents . In 2011, Chaput , 鈥渨e鈥檙e not against gay people,鈥� but any sexual relationship outside marriage is 鈥渃ontrary to the Gospel, and so a relationship between two people of the same sex is not in line with the teachings of the church and the teachings of the Gospel, and is therefore wrong.鈥� Just last month, Chaput in Pennsylvania for firing a teacher in June because she is a lesbian. The teacher had informed the school in 2007 of her marriage to another woman and had worked there ever since.
Still, Chaput tries to come across as conciliatory. He of the WMOF that 鈥渃ertainly people who have experienced same-sex attraction are鈥elcome like anyone else,鈥� but, 鈥渨e don鈥檛 want to provide a platform at the meeting for people to lobby for positions contrary to the life of our church, so we鈥檙e not providing that kind of lobbying opportunity.鈥�
But lobbying opportunities for a discredited, pseudoscientific practice that at least in one instance has been found to be consumer fraud is a-okay at the WMOF.
