• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Conversion Therapy in the UK

Altfish

Veteran Member
I think it is very, very rare but some evangelicals are trying to 'pray the gay away'. Very sad. Good of the BBC to highlight the issue, hopefully it'll help nip it in the bud.
I think I'm right in saying it is illegal (But I'm not sure?)
 

Sapiens

Polymathematician
Sexuality is a continuum. Many religionists demand that continuous variables be modeled by binary approximation. That's one of the things I like least about religion. I'd dislike being crammed into a binary pigeon hole regardless of where on the continuum I fell.
 

Notanumber

A Free Man
It just demonstrates what a powerful force indoctrination can be.

Just imagine what effect it would have if implemented from birth as happens in some religions.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
By the way, shouldn't the thread title be - Conversion Therapy in the USA - after all, Moretz is American and talked about her experiences growing up in America. I don't get the impression that this practice occurs very often in the UK. And the film is set in America.
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
My take on homosexuality is that I'm not called to be God's little judge and punisher. Not being Lesbian myself, I see no reason to further torment someone who is struggling with it. I was surprised to see this on BBC.
'My brothers tried to pray the gay away'

To listen:hearnoevil: seems hard for religious people. Jesus said:speaknoevil:"Do not Judge". What will they say when they see:seenoevil: Jesus, trying to explain why they failed the exam "Judge Not"
 
Last edited:

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
My take on homosexuality is that I'm not called to be God's little judge and punisher. Not being Lesbian myself, I see no reason to further torment someone who is struggling with it. I was surprised to see this on BBC.
'My brothers tried to pray the gay away'

I am not surprised at all. A few years back a Christian woman tried to "pray Sai Baba away" + "pray Hinduism away". She did manage to "pray me away":D; no prayer needed for that:)
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
My take on homosexuality is that I'm not called to be God's little judge and punisher. Not being Lesbian myself, I see no reason to further torment someone who is struggling with it.
'My brothers tried to pray the gay away'

Better prayer would be "Please God take my Christian arrogant judgments away". This would kill two birds, judgment(Christian) and guilt(Gay), with one stone.
 
Last edited:

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
Currently conversion therapy is classed as an ethical offence by all the professional bodies in British medicine: any doctor or psychiatrist who did it would be disbarred. The government is also looking at how to make it illegal.
'Gay conversion therapy' to be banned

Symptomatic treatment only. That is what Christian based dogmatic government is good at. They should cure the cause which is "false/cruel accusations in the Bible" IMHO.
Theresa May: 'Let us take pride in our Christian heritage'
 

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Do we actually know for sure either way?

Homosexual behavior in animals - Wikipedia

Sexuality in humans is part social stratification and part impulse... Who you have the opportunity to mate with isn't up to you. That's why I don't believe in identity politics. Most of us will learn who is a mating option and favor that over others because we have learned how to woo that particular sex. There is no such thing as biologically gay, it's just nonsense. Most gay people don't pick to be as such they are rejected by women and learn to succeed with men. Once you receive progress along one path of sexuality you will continue along but it doesn't mean it's fixed. I've got "gay" (self-identified) friends who dated women and men, but were wanting the lifestyle of being gay over being straight.

We are humans and need love, sexual stimulation, and communication and we will seek that via whatever avenues we are successful at. If our only option for this positive feedback is the same sex we will seek it, if we can seek it with both we will, and if we are more successful with the opposite sex we'll go there too. This is largely why I think discriminating on sexual orientation is garbage, because our apparent orientation can change at will if we ignore the social ramifications of our peers and their expectations. The rules and the strata are basically worthless garbage for people to self-identify and discriminate between each other with. We will seek our love with whomever we resonate with regardless of these particulars.
 

Ellen Brown

Well-Known Member
Sexuality in humans is part social stratification and part impulse... Who you have the opportunity to mate with isn't up to you. That's why I don't believe in identity politics. Most of us will learn who is a mating option and favor that over others because we have learned how to woo that particular sex. There is no such thing as biologically gay, it's just nonsense. Most gay people don't pick to be as such they are rejected by women and learn to succeed with men. Once you receive progress along one path of sexuality you will continue along but it doesn't mean it's fixed. I've got "gay" (self-identified) friends who dated women and men, but were wanting the lifestyle of being gay over being straight.

We are humans and need love, sexual stimulation, and communication and we will seek that via whatever avenues we are successful at. If our only option for this positive feedback is the same sex we will seek it, if we can seek it with both we will, and if we are more successful with the opposite sex we'll go there too. This is largely why I think discriminating on sexual orientation is garbage, because our apparent orientation can change at will if we ignore the social ramifications of our peers and their expectations. The rules and the strata are basically worthless garbage for people to self-identify and discriminate between each other with. We will seek our love with whomever we resonate with regardless of these particulars.


This issue has been a dire, painful struggle over the years. Neither being gay or lesbian, I was just uncomfortable trying to be who people said I was, so it seemed clear that I was somewhere along some sort of spectrum, And, people, not knowing what to do simply said I was gay or lesbian, though I had never exhibited any sort of "out of classification" conduct at all. There were hoops, dozens of them to go through to try to dispel the ignorant assessments of the willfully ignorant.

Many, most, or all of us have faced pressure to be this, or not be that, be more masculine, or why don't you wear a dress? Why do we pick at each other like the chickens in the yard attacking one of their own who is different?

Then it was discovered that being Intersex, meant being a bit of both was normal. Of course, stupid asses, STILL wanted conformation to one norm or the other. The worst were the religious. How can they torment someone for something that is not their fault? So, having only God, the only option is to cling to him.

I have to stop. ANGER OFF.
 

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Then it was discovered that being Intersex, meant being a bit of both was normal. Of course, stupid asses, STILL wanted conformation to one norm or the other. The worst were the religious. How can they torment someone for something that is not their fault? So, having only God, the only option is to cling to him.

I have to stop. ANGER OFF.

Intersex has no easy solution, you're likely to be discriminated against by the apparent same and opposite sex. The discrimination is unjustified, as always... Though I view that as a biological difference rather than an identity. My point was that there is a lot of self-deception promoted via herd conformity and it's nonsense. Half of all straight people have had same sex partners at some point, proclaiming straightness is a biological thing is garbage as much as saying the same of gayness is garbage. We all move in the direction of our successes to capitalize on what we've learned. Most 'gay' people have had partners of the opposite sex as well and probably would partner with the right one regardless of the fact that they are perfectly happy in same sex relations. The error is then presuming our sexuality is finite and absolute and not conditional. Our mating signals are highly modifiable based on where we find affection and who we love.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
Intersex has no easy solution, you're likely to be discriminated against by the apparent same and opposite sex. The discrimination is unjustified, as always... Though I view that as a biological difference rather than an identity. My point was that there is a lot of self-deception promoted via herd conformity and it's nonsense. Half of all straight people have had same sex partners at some point, proclaiming straightness is a biological thing is garbage as much as saying the same of gayness is garbage. We all move in the direction of our successes to capitalize on what we've learned. Most 'gay' people have had partners of the opposite sex as well and probably would partner with the right one regardless of the fact that they are perfectly happy in same sex relations. The error is then presuming our sexuality is finite and absolute and not conditional. Our mating signals are highly modifiable based on where we find affection and who we love.
Hmm I find your take on it rather interesting. Though it does seem to inevitably conclude an inherent bisexuality in the human species. Which I actually think makes a lot of sense.

I mean yeah many gay people tried opposite sex partners, but this too seemed more herd pressure than mating instinct. Though I'm sure it worked out for some.
I have known many gay people who are actually repulsed by the opposite gender, romantically speaking and have been that way since we were but wee school children attending class together. (And no I don't mean in the sense of, "ew she/he has cooties.") So I do question this idea that gay people can be happy with a proper opposite sex mate. Some can, some can't. Some tried to conform to societal and even familial expectations regarding their love life and failed. But of the ones who failed, it wasn't all about mating compatibility. I've seen seemingly perfect matches implode because sexual satisfaction simply wasn't a two way street, even while one was, shall we say, quite happy.
So I dunno, I think there is something to being 100% gay or straight, it's just a lot more rare than people want to admit.
 

Ellen Brown

Well-Known Member
Hmm I find your take on it rather interesting. Though it does seem to inevitably conclude an inherent bisexuality in the human species. Which I actually think makes a lot of sense.

I mean yeah many gay people tried opposite sex partners, but this too seemed more herd pressure than mating instinct. Though I'm sure it worked out for some.
I have known many gay people who are actually repulsed by the opposite gender, romantically speaking and have been that way since we were but wee school children attending class together. (And no I don't mean in the sense of, "ew she/he has cooties.") So I do question this idea that gay people can be happy with a proper opposite sex mate. Some can, some can't. Some tried to conform to societal and even familial expectations regarding their love life and failed. But of the ones who failed, it wasn't all about mating compatibility. I've seen seemingly perfect matches implode because sexual satisfaction simply wasn't a two way street, even while one was, shall we say, quite happy.
So I dunno, I think there is something to being 100% gay or straight, it's just a lot more rare than people want to admit.


I do not know the percentage. Many/some parents are not allowing the Doctor to make a gender determination at birth XXY folk could easily be left alone for a while. When I was born, the Doctor just took the infant in another room and did the surgery, and usually made a boy, right or wrong.
 
Top