China has been in the news in recent years for the illegal electro-shock therapy being conducted in hospitals around the country aimed at “curing” homosexuality. Here in the west, we were horrified to read that parents were sending their children to hospitals to be treated for the “disease” of homosexuality, where they were shocked in the head or genitals, given nausea-inducing drugs or told that their “condition” was curable, and should in fact be cured. The irony is that while American news lambasted the Chinese for their backward views on homosexuality, on the home front there is a gay conversion camp or treatment centre in almost every state. These places exist to reinforce the myth that homosexuality is a choice and that homosexuality is a deviant human behaviour. They claim to cater to those who are unhappy with their homosexual thoughts and feelings, and not those who enjoy the homosexual lifestyle. But the implication is that those who feel like outsiders in a heterosexual world are the ones who need help – not the society which demonizes human behaviour that has been scientifically proven to be normal in species the world over. VICE did a three-part special on the gay conversion therapies available throughout the United States, and it’s pretty shocking and horrifying. And confusing – some of the reasoning and methods used in the “Ex-Gay” movement are absolutely mind-boggling. The fact that many of the men and women who attend these camps feel so unhappy with themselves is blamed on their homosexuality, and not on the industry that has grown up around reinforcing those negative, self-hating feelings. They prey on them, tell them they are right to feel that way, and then offer the solution: brainwashing them into heterosexual behaviour. Personally, I would much prefer someone (man or woman) to feel like their attraction to me is natural, gut instinct, not something they were conditioned or forced to feel. Check out the three-part VICE series God Vs. Gays below.
