Ex-Gay Watch

“It Gets Better” is a realistic message for gay and lesbian people living in the western world, where society is increasingly accepting of sexual diversity. But in some non-western parts of the globe, survival as an LGBT person is all but impossible.

Wendy Gritter of New Direction, Canada, has filmed a message for those gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people for whom the message of the It Gets Better campaign isn’t realistic or helpful. That’s not to denigrate the campaign, which Wendy has supported. It is to say this:

We want to say to those who are coming to [freetobeme.com] from areas which are not gay-positive — in fact, that are in very anti-gay contexts, where this is not a conversation, where there is much discrimination and prejudice, and perhaps violence, and perhaps danger — what we want to say to you is: Be wise, be careful, but know inside your own self who you really are, and that you are cherished, you are valuable and you are loved. And know that your voice matters. There are LGBT advocates all through the world, who are working very hard for the human rights of all people, including those who are sexual minorities. Maybe someday you can add your voice to that community saying, “If we diminish anyone’s rights, we are all diminished.”

Watch the video below:

The message comes via New Direction’s Free to Be Me website, which Wendy says has experienced increased traffic from non-western countries.

A right-wing Christian group in Hong Kong has published a 52-page booklet condemning homosexuals and promoting reparative therapy to change sexual orientation.

The Society for Truth and Light has drawn heavily from the anti-gay National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality to produce Acceptance–Caring for Homosexuality.

To support the notion that gays can be turned straight through therapy, the booklet cites the usual flawed studies with their neglible results, including Spitzer (2001), Jones and Yarhouse (2007), and the infamous non-study by James Phelan, Neil Whitehead and Philip Sutton (2009)–a literature review falsely touted by NARTH as a groundbreaking new study.

One of STL’s political goals is to block LGBT equality legislation; the booklet contains two appendixes opposing same-sex marriage and laws to prevent sexual orientation discrimination. This is a reminder that the flawed and often-malicious information disseminated by ex-gay and anti-gay groups such as NARTH not only blocks justice in the West. As we have seen with Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the myths are now being exported to hinder justice in other parts of the world, too.

Read a translation of the full document here (pdf).