I thought these days had been consigned to history: when psychotherapists attempt to convert gay men (but not lesbians, curiously) to a life of heterosexuality.
But a feature carried in The Independent shows that there are professionals in the UK who still believe that homosexuality is a form of mental illness and will attempt to "cure" gay clients.
Moreover, sessions can by funded by the NHS and the practitioners are accredited by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists.
It almost goes without saying that god is never very far away.
The Independent writer, Patrick Strudwick, found that the sessions were peppered with references to what I assumed was the Abrahamic god (I couldn't imagine Thor putting up with this nonsense).
There were prayers and a gentle brainwashing: Strudwick's homosexuality was due to his isolation, a space "where god needs to be".
And so this frightening guilt trip went on.
Strudwick was just acting the part. But what if some people feel pressure to attempt to change their sexual orientation? Where can that end? Only tragically, as the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing found 56 years ago.
In 1952, when sexual relationships between men were still illegal, Turing was found guilty of gross indecency. The court gave him a choice: a prison sentence or a series of female hormone injections to control his urges.
He chose the latter: in 1954, aged 41, he took his own life.
The Independent article coincided with Pope Benedict 16th's criticism of the UK's Equality Bill, particularly in relation to the rights of gay men and lesbians. He described it as violating "natural law".
Wow, I haven't heard that one for a while. And to think we are letting this man visit the UK this year at a cost of £20m to the taxpayer (presumably the Catholic Church is a bit boracic in these tough times).
His welcome could be lively.
unbelievable
and I hope anyone who quotes 'natural law' as an excuse for homophobia is shivering in a cave with a diet of seeds and raw meat
Homosexuality is not morally wrong but it is an mental affliction.
Homosexuality in men is the suppression of a man's selfhood. Defensive detachment from other males in pre-sexual childhood (brought on by oppression/ridicule by other males) causes the boy to suppress his natural sexual power and become embarassed by it. Suppression of natural power (assertion, authority, independence, sense of worth) results in either a feeling of inferiority and fear of other males (submissive) or an arrogant, proud - yet detached - feeling of superiority over them (dominant). Often a mixture of the two occurs but a gay man never feels that fraternity he craves because he feels unequal to his fellow men.
The sumissive gay wishes to be brought into the world of men by being sodomised by a more virile man and the dominant gay wishes to destroy a younger man's virility through sodomising him. Either action is ultimately unsatisfying because at the end, the gay man is still that little boy who 'got left behind' when all his friends started liking girls and he didn't.
Homosexuality is a suppression of the true self and gay men will know this when they look deep inside, to the places they have suppressed with their sassy "I don't care" attitude.
I welcome the comments of any homosexual man for whom this passage means absolutely nothing. I bet there are none.