Ex-Gay Watch

I like Wendy Gritter, and I like New Direction. She’s a sweet and Christ-focused woman and I think New Direction is one of the most Christ-centered ministries for people that deal with same-sex attraction. I was upset when I read her recent blog post about a colleague that has been claiming New Direction “doesn’t offer hope anymore.”

Now, I’m not going to refute that statement here. Ms. Gritter has already done extremely well with that in the linked post, and I highly suggest you read it. I will offer my own personal story, though. I’ve never been involved with New Direction (sadly, I’m not Canadian), and the only contact I’ve had with Ms. Gritter is through comments on her blog. However, I think out of all these types of ministries, New Direction’s philosopy most closely resembles my own, and even I have been accused, in a round-about way, of not having enough hope.

Usually when someone makes that kind of snarky remark about hope, what they mean to say is that I’m not falling over myself in an effort to be straight. I’m comfortable and happy as I am. I’m not comfortable with my sins or my temptations, mind you, but at the same time I’m not stressed about how I dress, or how I talk, or how I express my emotions, or whether or not a pretty young woman turns my head. The way some of the ex-gay ministries talk, you’d think that a “normal” heterosexual existence with a dog, yard, and three kids was a Biblical mandate.

Quite simply, it’s not. Ms. Gritter mentioned how her critics said they saw heterosexuality as part of God’s redemption plan. “Everyone is on a journey towards heterosexuality,” they said, “but some people only go a little way down that road.” That’s their excuse for the same-sex attracted men and women who don’t experience change in their attractions (which I would say is most likely the majority of SSA folks). Oh sure, according to them we’re not sinning by being content celibates, but we’re not whole either. We haven’t completed our “journey towards heterosexuality.” Read more…

A gay teenager has died, just one week after he was brutally beaten in a homophobic attack.

Eighteen-year-old Michael Causer of Whiston, near Liverpool, England, died in hospital on Saturday August 2 at 12.30pm. He had been attacked by other youths while walking with friends in nearby Huyton, some time before 11am on Friday July 25. It was a busy road and it was broad daylight.

Emergency brain surgery the following day could not save him.

Michael lived just a couple streets away from me. He had many friends and family around here. Many of them are now part of a Facebook group dedicated to his memory. Please drop by and read some of the beautiful messages of support. Join the group and offer your own support if you can.

Citizenlink quotes Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, in its report on the Massachusetts legislature’s repeal of the 1913 law that was used to prevent out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying there:

With the protective barrier removed, out-of-state, same-sex couples who ‘marry’ here will sue to seek recognition in their home states … further eroding the people’s right to define marriage.

Wait a minute – “the people’s right to define marriage”? What happened to marriage being an age-old institution established by God himself? So if, say, the people of France decided that the benefits of marriage should be extended same-sex couples, the MFI would respect the “people’s right to define marriage”? Doesn’t seem likely.

It may be, as Emily K suggested to me, that Mineau really means “the people’s right to define marriage God’s way,” which in practical terms means “the people’s right to vote as long as they do so the way we tell them to.”  If that’s the case, it’s understandable that groups like the MFI would leave that part of the sentence unspoken.

And hey, this is politics; a little thing like the Ninth Commandment can hardly be allowed to get in the way of God’s own political agenda.