First: This morning I attended the 2010 Commencement Ceremony for the MHGS graduates. This cohort consists of many of my friends, many faces I have come to know and love, and many living and breathing beings who embody the transformative, redemptive, and justice-oriented Gospel. I have been honored to walk beside these people (Joshua, Naomi, Kj, Catherine, Andrew, Jeremy, and many others)…and more grateful for the way in which relating with them has transformed me. As the ceremony progressed, I was simply amazed by the integrity of our institution. It seems that of all the graduations I’ve attended, this was the first time in which the faculty and students were able to speak their words so true and free. Most graduations are steeped in tradition or obligated motions…today’s was a beautiful celebration of ending and beginning, grief and hope. Here’s a little snipit from the graduates/faculty liturgy that was read in community today:
Graduates: We commit ourselves to ongoing transformation in you (God) and through our relationships with our families, friends, and neighbors. May we practice forgiveness rather than frustration, reconciliation rather than resentment, and vulnerability rather than violence.
Faculty: Almighty God, we are humbled by our call as teachers and hold sacredly our commitment to teach and train our students. We stand amazed by their gifts and their talents and are confident that, with your guidance, they will be persons who stand as your word in this world. Grant them quickness of mind and warmness of heart.
(La Danse by Henri Matisse is “sort of” our school mascot)
Just a few things about the ceremony that reflect my school well:
- The graduating student speaker for the MACP program, Paula, shared her strong and kind feminist voice through the perspective of peace. In her stories, the faculty acknowledged her strength and voice and hoped for her that she’d fight when she’s called to fight, and to be a conduit of peace at all times. I love my school, my faculty, and my peers as we all struggle toward being peaceful agents in the midst of fighting for justice.
- PLAY. The faculty member who gave the charge to the graduating class, Dr. Steve Call, urged the graduates to always play. He quoted one of his academic supervisors, “You have to get old, but you choose to grow up” (or something along those lines). I was drawn to my own thoughts of play, believing that it is in play that life and death, grief and joy, loss and gain, ending and beginning meet. It is in play that life is processed and synthesized and loved. This graduating class plays well…and I hope that I will be able to say the same for myself.
- Which brings me to my last bullet point…I will be hooded in one year. That is all.
Second: Tomorrow is the Seattle Pride Parade. I am so happy to have friends (mostly non-gay) join me for this adventure. But, as I’ve been on this journey to establish and live into the pride I have for my own lesbianess, I am more and more aware of the gap in awareness (my own and others’). One thing that has come to my attention both through writing this blog and conversations stemming from my posts as well as discussions in my Therapy 1 class at MHGS is that most people are not familiar with reparative therapy (a.k.a. “sexual orientation change efforts”, SOCE, conversion therapy, reorientation therapy). This has been a major part of my story, and I hope to soon finish a blog post specifically about my experiences with and understandings of reparative therapeutic techniques. Just putting that out there. If you have specific questions about this that you would like for me to address in my post please leave your thoughts as a comment.
In the meantime, I raise my glass to celebration and pride!
(a photo I shot at last year’s parade!)
Anya, I’m SUPER interested in your experience with reparative therapy… looking forward to that post. I’ve been curious about the very basics of what techniques are usually used and what “success” looks like. Basically, anything you write about
I’m SUPER interested in your experience with reparative therapy… looking forward to that post. I’ve been curious about the very basics of what techniques are usually used and what “success” looks like. Basically, anything you write about
Have fun tomorrow!
Christine,
Thank you for your support and interest! The parade was, indeed, fun and quite a joyous experience. I’ll be sure to post some pictures from that as well as my perspective of reparative therapy. Hope you’re enjoying the “almost” freedom that this summer will bring!
Dear Boo,
My name is Bill Meyer, I am a clinical social worker,a lecturer and I teach psychotherapy. Most recently I have been presenting – mostly to departments of psychiatry around the US – a talk entitled, “On the diagnosis and ‘treatment’ of homosexuality: when prejudice masquerades as science.” I recently published an essay that I thought might interest you.
You sound like a terrific person and I just wanted to tell you that I wish you well in all your endeavors.
Warm regards,
Bill
Conversion therapy: When the ‘cure’ becomes a curse
3 months ago | 676 views | 0 | 8 | | BY WILLIAM S. MEYER
Guest columnist
Prejudice and violence. We recognize it at its extremes.
We recoiled when we recently learned that the Ugandan parliament had proposed a bill that could put people to death for being homosexual. Many are unaware that the death penalty for homosexual acts already exists in seven other countries. Several years ago we were reminded of this fact by an AP photo of two slender young men, not much more than boys, really, as ropes were being placed over their heads in Iran. Fortunately, there were blindfolds over their faces, so we didn’t have to look them in the eyes.
Today, homosexuality remains a crime in 93 countries. In 2003, United States courts declared that private consensual behavior between adults was not a crime. In England, anti-sodomy laws were repealed in 1967.
Prior to this, one Brit who was found guilty in 1952 was code-breaker Allan Turing, a man some consider to be the father of computer science. Turing, like Oscar Wilde many years prior, was convicted of gross indecency.
Unlike Wilde, Turing was given a choice about his punishment and he chose chemical castration over imprisonment. Turing became so despondent about the outcome of these treatments that he took his life at the tender age of 42. Several months ago, Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized.
“It is no exaggeration to say that, without [Turing's] outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could have been very different,” he said. “…I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly.”
While homosexuality is no longer a crime, it was for many years considered a mental illness.
In the late 1960s and early ’70s, the scientific community joined forces with gay-rights activists to compel the American Psychiatric Association to examine how their nomenclature was hurting people.
When the APA classified homosexuality as mental illness, they were allowing their professional organization to sanction what was little more than social prejudice.
In 1973, homosexuality as a category of mental illness was officially deleted from the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, the American bible of psychiatry.
This year, I have been giving lectures to departments of psychiatry about how mental health providers have historically treated homosexuals who came for help. Most in attendance have been shocked and then saddened when they learn that in America and Great Britain, up through the early 1970s, psychiatrists and psychologists sometimes used electric shocks and nausea-inducing substances in an ill-fated effort to convert gay men and women into becoming straight.
In addition, many patients spent years and enormous sums of money in psychoanalysis and intensive psychotherapy with the hope that such sacrifices would “cure” them of same-sex attraction. Well-known practitioners of these treatments proclaimed cures by the hundreds and even thousands. Virtually every such report — including a now wholly discredited book by the venerated William Masters and Virginia Johnson — was found to be unsubstantiated, non-replicable and fraudulent.
Today in America, we have advanced to the next rung of civilization. Now that gays and lesbians are no longer criminals and no longer officially sick, large segments of our society still regard them as sinners in need of healing and redemption. A number of organizations encourage people with same-sex orientation to seek treatment through what has variously been called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy.”
Every major professional health and mental health organization denounces such therapies and clearly states that therapeutic attempts to change an individual’s sexual orientation are not only ineffective, but carry significant potential for harm. Yet, this has not stopped many religious leaders and their parishioners from foisting such treatments on vulnerable individuals who feel guilt-ridden or confused about their feelings.
While they are often sincere in their attempt to help, I doubt they would continue such efforts if they really knew the costs.
Imagine the emotional and psychological effect on teenagers who are told that if they act on their feelings then they have committed “an abomination” — therefore they must deny who they are, condemn themselves for what they feel and live with the shame of what they cannot change. Is it any wonder that suicide and suicide attempts remain at such high levels for gay youths?
It matters not, if punishment or condemnation is inflicted by the state, the doctors or representatives of the church. The consequences of such actions rest on all who inflict such harm and all should be called upon to atone for its damaging effects and the lives that are taken — even among those who believe they are delivering a message of holiness.
William S. Meyer, MSW, is an associate clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Ob/Gyn at the Duke University Medical Center.
Read more: The Herald-Sun – Conversion therapy When the cure becomes a curse
Bill,
Thank you so very much for your insightful and thought-provoking words. I appreciate your support! I have not had time to read through your article thoroughly, but I look forward to learning from your research and experience. Thank you for being a voice for/with those of us who have marginalized voices. I am so curious about your your current talk…and I often wonder about, especially within the context of Christianity, how prejudice masquerades as love. Anyhow, I look forward to further dialogue with you and I am grateful for the resources you have shared. Would it be okay with you if I include the article you posted in a course reader for an upcoming class I’ve designed (Introduction to Lesbian and Gay Studies)? I hope you have a wonderful week and I will definitely respond to your words more fully at a later time. In the meantime, peace to you!
Hello, again. It would be an honor to have my essay included in your course, Boo. There is no question that there is a long history of prejudice masquerading as love in all of organized religion. Feel free to write anytime. I am at william.meyer@duke.edu
Warm regards,
Bill