Homosexuals Anonymous
Encyclopedia
Homosexuals Anonymous is an ex-gay
group which practices conversion therapy to change the sexual orientation of homosexual
clients. Its mission statement describes it as "a fellowship of men and women, who through their common emotional experience, have chosen to help each other live in freedom from homosexuality." In common with other Christian fundamentalist
groups, HA regards heterosexuality as "the universal creation-norm". HA regards homosexual orientation as "sexual brokeness" that may be "healed" through faith in Jesus Christ. This approach is characterized by stressing that a person must renounce homosexuality to be a Christian
. It has been criticized because it is inconsistent with the mainstream view that there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.
While the HA program is inspired by the twelve-step program
developed by Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA), HA uses a "14 Step" program developed by Colin Cook based on his own experiences of struggling with same-sex attraction. Cook and Douglas McIntyre, who has worked through his own struggle with same-sex attractions, founded HA in 1980 with financial support from the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Cook resigned from HA in 1986 following a scandal involving him allegedly having sex with his clients.
as therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation, whilst the American Psychiatric Association
defines it as a type of psychiatric treatment "based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation." The scientific consensus expressed by these two associations is that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Conversion therapy techniques include aversive treatments
, masturbatory
reconditioning (a form of covert sensitization), visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy
, and spiritual interventions, such as "prayer and group support and pressure." HA practices are based on the last of these techniques. Several scientific and professional bodies, including the American Medical Association
and American Counseling Association
, openly oppose this kind of therapy as potentially harmful. The American Psychiatric Association lists "depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior" as potential ill effects. United States Surgeon General
David Satcher
in 2001 issued a report quoting Haldeman: "there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed".
, as a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to "help people find freedom from homosexuality." HA was one of the seven programs offered by Quest and people came from around the US seeking assistance from Cook. Cook developed the 14-step program used by HA, modifying five of the standard twelve steps
from the Alcoholics Anonymous
program, and basing the other nine on his personal experience. HA was supported by $47,000 in annual support from the Adventist church plus the fees paid for treatment. McIntyre, who growing up identified as gay, said he founded HA based on his belief that "homosexuality is not something you're born with, that it's a spin-off of a trauma that occurs during childhood." He attributes abuse at the ages of three and four, and molestation at the age of five having contributed to homosexual attractions.
Rumours of sexual misconduct by Cook came to light in 1986 when Ron Lawson, a gay Adventist and Professor of Sociology at Queens College, New York, began an investigation by interviewing former Cook's former clients and writing a letter to church officials outlining his indiscretions. Lawson interviewed 14 individuals counselled by Cook as part of the HA program, none of whom reported any change in sexual orientation as a consequence of HA, and all but two reported having sex with Cook. Cook resigned from HA and shut down Quest, and the Adventists withdrew their funding support. With Cook's departure, McIntyre took over as executive director of HA.
Counseling sessions with Cook included giving his clients nude massages, ostensibly to desensitize them to male–male contact and homosexual desires – though this was counter-productive as counselees began having sexual encounters with each other. Cook admitted in a 1987 interview that he had fallen into the "delusion" that such actions were a legitimate part of his HA counseling activities, stating: "I allowed myself to hug and hold my counselees thinking I was helping them... But I needed it more than they did." Psychiatrist Ralph Blair
in his 1981 monograph Ex-Gay describes practitioners of sexual orientation conversion through religion as often being "individuals deeply troubled about their own sexual orientation, or whose own sexual conversion is incomplete. Blair reports a host of problems with such counselors, including the sexual abuse of clients"; Haldeman describes Cook as "the most notable of such ministers". Cook himself also admitted to "occasional falls" before and throughout his marriage.
Despite his 1974 defrocking and the 1986 revelations of his abuse of clients, Cook remains dedicated to the belief that homosexuality can be changed. In 1993, he moved to Colorado and returned to counseling, a move that ended in 1995 when The Denver Post
reported Cook was engaging in phone sex and was asking "patients to bring homosexual pornography to sessions so that he could help desensitize them against it". As recently as 2007, Cook has still been promoting the ability to "heal homosexuals". Under McIntyre, HA has also taken on more political advocacy. In 2009, he led a conference held in Kenya promoting the ex-gay movement, controversial, for being another example of ex-gay advocacy events held in Africa being followed by incidents of homophobic
violence.
, Germany
, New Zealand
and El Salvador
. HA is a member of the Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
(PATH) group. HA is affiliated with JASON Ministries, headquartered in Germany. It publishes a newsletter and web site and organizes a "Homosexuals Anonymous Annual Conference".
Kathleen Ritter and Anthony Terndrup, ex-gay organizations like Exodus International
and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX)
use this adapted model developed by HA.
reported that counselees' reactions to the Cook revelations followed a common pattern: "a loss of faith, loss of trust in other human beings, and a lack of motivation to get on with their lives". In addition, many of the counselees stayed in Reading, "unwilling or unable to go home to families who expected them to be changed". Despite these reports of harm from involvement with HA, such reports are not universal. A longitudinal study
by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse reported "that on average participants experienced no harm from the attempt to change [but the authors] cannot conclude that specific individuals are not harmed by an attempt to change".
Wayne Besen claims that former HA clients have reported that the program is ineffective. Besen quotes one former client "One thing that really clued me in was [meeting] with my sponsor every week and hearing him talk about his struggles and talking to other people in the group, and there were people in that group who had been going to HA for four, five, six, seven years and they seemed to be at the exact same spot I was. I didn't see any graduates. I saw people that were still there, that hadn't changed. They were still struggling. ... I don't know anybody from my ex-gay group ... who claims to be ex-gay now."
to conversion therapy, "first, that it constitutes a cure for a condition that has been judged not to be an illness, and second, that it reinforces a prejudicial and unjustified devaluation of homosexuality". Aside from this, general criticisms note the futility of attempting to change sexual orientation when the scientific consensus has concluded that there is no evidence that such a change is possible. One critic of HA is Cindi Love
, the executive director of Soulforce
, who states that "the message that homosexuality can be 'repaired' doesn't just ruin lives – it ends them". She describes the expansion of ex-gay organizations around the world as "rearing [their] ugly heads," specifically citing HA's expansion into El Salvador, New Zealand, and Germany, and criticising HA executive director McIntyre's Kenyan conference.
Wayne Besen
, former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign
and founder of Truth Wins Out
, has argued that the GLBT
community needs to challenge the propaganda presented at ex-gay events including those run by HA, and praised the work of Soulforce in this area. He also advocates covert operations against HA and other ex-gay ministries in an attempt to "catch ex-gay leaders engaging in not so ex-gay behavior", though such attempts to discredit the industry are controversial even within the GLBT community. Besen has accused HA of re-writing history, omitting details of Cook's past from its web site. "[R]eading the group's Web page, one would think that Cook was a smashing success and paragon of heterosexuality," he writes. Haldeman has described the response of the Seventh Day Adventist Church to the 1986 Cook revelations as a cover-up
whilst Lawson titled his 1987 presentation to the annual convention of the American Sociological Association
: Scandal in the Adventist-funded program to 'heal' homosexuals: Failure, sexual eploitation, official silence, and attempts to rehabilitate the exploiter and his methods.
In Julie Scott Jones' study of Christian fundamentalism, Being the Chosen, HA, Exodus International and NARTH are described as organizations that "particularly target teenagers' burgeoning sexuality, and feed into a wider fundamentalist view that all forms of 'sexual immorality' are destroying the moral fabric of the nation".
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
group which practices conversion therapy to change the sexual orientation of homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
clients. Its mission statement describes it as "a fellowship of men and women, who through their common emotional experience, have chosen to help each other live in freedom from homosexuality." In common with other Christian fundamentalist
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
groups, HA regards heterosexuality as "the universal creation-norm". HA regards homosexual orientation as "sexual brokeness" that may be "healed" through faith in Jesus Christ. This approach is characterized by stressing that a person must renounce homosexuality to be a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
. It has been criticized because it is inconsistent with the mainstream view that there is no scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.
While the HA program is inspired by the twelve-step program
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
developed by Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
(AA), HA uses a "14 Step" program developed by Colin Cook based on his own experiences of struggling with same-sex attraction. Cook and Douglas McIntyre, who has worked through his own struggle with same-sex attractions, founded HA in 1980 with financial support from the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Cook resigned from HA in 1986 following a scandal involving him allegedly having sex with his clients.
Conversion therapy and the ex-gay movement
Conversion therapy is defined by the American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
as therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation, whilst the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
defines it as a type of psychiatric treatment "based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation." The scientific consensus expressed by these two associations is that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Conversion therapy techniques include aversive treatments
Aversion therapy
Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort...
, masturbatory
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
reconditioning (a form of covert sensitization), visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, and spiritual interventions, such as "prayer and group support and pressure." HA practices are based on the last of these techniques. Several scientific and professional bodies, including the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
and American Counseling Association
American Counseling Association
The American Counseling Association is a professional organization of counselors in the United States. It is the world's largest association exclusively representing professional counselors....
, openly oppose this kind of therapy as potentially harmful. The American Psychiatric Association lists "depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior" as potential ill effects. United States Surgeon General
Surgeon General of the United States
The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government...
David Satcher
David Satcher
David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. FAAFP, FACPM, FACP is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United...
in 2001 issued a report quoting Haldeman: "there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed".
History
HA was founded in 1980 by Colin Cook, a charismatic Seventh-day Adventist pastor who was de-frocked in 1974 for having sex with a man in his church and ex-gay Douglas McIntyre. Cook founded the Quest Learning Center in Reading, PennsylvaniaReading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, as a ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to "help people find freedom from homosexuality." HA was one of the seven programs offered by Quest and people came from around the US seeking assistance from Cook. Cook developed the 14-step program used by HA, modifying five of the standard twelve steps
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
from the Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
program, and basing the other nine on his personal experience. HA was supported by $47,000 in annual support from the Adventist church plus the fees paid for treatment. McIntyre, who growing up identified as gay, said he founded HA based on his belief that "homosexuality is not something you're born with, that it's a spin-off of a trauma that occurs during childhood." He attributes abuse at the ages of three and four, and molestation at the age of five having contributed to homosexual attractions.
Rumours of sexual misconduct by Cook came to light in 1986 when Ron Lawson, a gay Adventist and Professor of Sociology at Queens College, New York, began an investigation by interviewing former Cook's former clients and writing a letter to church officials outlining his indiscretions. Lawson interviewed 14 individuals counselled by Cook as part of the HA program, none of whom reported any change in sexual orientation as a consequence of HA, and all but two reported having sex with Cook. Cook resigned from HA and shut down Quest, and the Adventists withdrew their funding support. With Cook's departure, McIntyre took over as executive director of HA.
Counseling sessions with Cook included giving his clients nude massages, ostensibly to desensitize them to male–male contact and homosexual desires – though this was counter-productive as counselees began having sexual encounters with each other. Cook admitted in a 1987 interview that he had fallen into the "delusion" that such actions were a legitimate part of his HA counseling activities, stating: "I allowed myself to hug and hold my counselees thinking I was helping them... But I needed it more than they did." Psychiatrist Ralph Blair
Ralph Blair
Ralph Blair is an American psychotherapist and founder of The Homosexual Community Counseling Center in New York City. In 1975, he founded Evangelicals Concerned, Inc...
in his 1981 monograph Ex-Gay describes practitioners of sexual orientation conversion through religion as often being "individuals deeply troubled about their own sexual orientation, or whose own sexual conversion is incomplete. Blair reports a host of problems with such counselors, including the sexual abuse of clients"; Haldeman describes Cook as "the most notable of such ministers". Cook himself also admitted to "occasional falls" before and throughout his marriage.
Despite his 1974 defrocking and the 1986 revelations of his abuse of clients, Cook remains dedicated to the belief that homosexuality can be changed. In 1993, he moved to Colorado and returned to counseling, a move that ended in 1995 when The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
reported Cook was engaging in phone sex and was asking "patients to bring homosexual pornography to sessions so that he could help desensitize them against it". As recently as 2007, Cook has still been promoting the ability to "heal homosexuals". Under McIntyre, HA has also taken on more political advocacy. In 2009, he led a conference held in Kenya promoting the ex-gay movement, controversial, for being another example of ex-gay advocacy events held in Africa being followed by incidents of homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
violence.
Organization
The headquarters of Homosexuals Anonymous is in Houston, Texas. , the organization has chapters in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
. HA is a member of the Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality is a coalition of groups that want to help "people with unwanted same-sex attractions realize their personal goals for change -- whether by developing their innate heterosexual potential or by embracing a lifestyle as a single, non-sexually active man or...
(PATH) group. HA is affiliated with JASON Ministries, headquartered in Germany. It publishes a newsletter and web site and organizes a "Homosexuals Anonymous Annual Conference".
Program
The HA program relies on belief in Jesus Christ to effect sexual orientation change. Similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, the change takes place over a lifetime, according to HA. Local chapters conduct meetings at regular intervals where members provide fellowship and support to one another. Unlike AA's 12-step program, HA has 14 steps which are used by about 50 chapters of HA throughout North America. Nine of the steps were based on the experiences of founder Cook, while the other five are adaptations of AA steps. One analysis of the 14 steps commented on the "alleged generosity" of the HA approach, noting that while both approaches emphasize avoidance of undesired behaviors, "AA groups accept the person along with their problems, [whereas] Homosexuals Anonymous stresses that the person is guilty of the sin of homosexuality, must admit it, renounce it, and then accept heterosexuality as a necessary condition to becoming a Christian." According to gay affirmative psychotherapistsGay affirmative psychotherapy
Gay affirmative psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy for gay and lesbian clients which encourages them to accept their sexual orientation, and does not attempt to change them to heterosexual, or to eliminate or diminish same-sex desires and behaviors. The American Psychological Association ...
Kathleen Ritter and Anthony Terndrup, ex-gay organizations like Exodus International
Exodus International
Exodus International is a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization founded by Michael Bussee, Gary Cooper, Frank Worthen, Ron Dennis, and Greg Reid...
and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX)
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays is a non-profit organization providing outreach, education, and public awareness in support of the "ex-gay" community. PFOX maintains that homosexuality is not a product of biological determination, in contradiction to the consensus of major mental health...
use this adapted model developed by HA.
Effectiveness
As with twelve-step programs in general, and with AA in particular, it is difficult to determine the success rate of the program due to the high attrition rate. However, the organization cites several cases where people have changed their sexual orientation. Reporting on Lawson's 1986 findings, the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that counselees' reactions to the Cook revelations followed a common pattern: "a loss of faith, loss of trust in other human beings, and a lack of motivation to get on with their lives". In addition, many of the counselees stayed in Reading, "unwilling or unable to go home to families who expected them to be changed". Despite these reports of harm from involvement with HA, such reports are not universal. A longitudinal study
Longitudinal study
A longitudinal study is a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time — often many decades. It is a type of observational study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the...
by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse reported "that on average participants experienced no harm from the attempt to change [but the authors] cannot conclude that specific individuals are not harmed by an attempt to change".
Wayne Besen claims that former HA clients have reported that the program is ineffective. Besen quotes one former client "One thing that really clued me in was [meeting] with my sponsor every week and hearing him talk about his struggles and talking to other people in the group, and there were people in that group who had been going to HA for four, five, six, seven years and they seemed to be at the exact same spot I was. I didn't see any graduates. I saw people that were still there, that hadn't changed. They were still struggling. ... I don't know anybody from my ex-gay group ... who claims to be ex-gay now."
Criticism
Criticism of HA comes in two forms: those leveled at the ex-gay movement and conversion therapy practitioners in general, and those made against HA specifically. The former category includes the two principal ethical objectionsEthics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
to conversion therapy, "first, that it constitutes a cure for a condition that has been judged not to be an illness, and second, that it reinforces a prejudicial and unjustified devaluation of homosexuality". Aside from this, general criticisms note the futility of attempting to change sexual orientation when the scientific consensus has concluded that there is no evidence that such a change is possible. One critic of HA is Cindi Love
Cindi Love
Cynthia "Cindi" Love is an American businesswoman, academic administrator and clergymember who served for four years as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Community Church , a denomination run predominantly by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people...
, the executive director of Soulforce
Soulforce (organization)
Soulforce is an American social justice and civil rights organization that supports acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people through dialogue and creative forms of nonviolent direct action...
, who states that "the message that homosexuality can be 'repaired' doesn't just ruin lives – it ends them". She describes the expansion of ex-gay organizations around the world as "rearing [their] ugly heads," specifically citing HA's expansion into El Salvador, New Zealand, and Germany, and criticising HA executive director McIntyre's Kenyan conference.
Wayne Besen
Wayne Besen
Wayne Besen is an American gay rights advocate. He is a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign and the founder of Truth Wins Out.Besen says he has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays," and is an outspoken critic of organisations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.- Photos of...
, former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
and founder of Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out is an organization formed by Wayne Besen to fight what it considers "anti-gay religious extremism," especially the ex-gay movement...
, has argued that the GLBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community needs to challenge the propaganda presented at ex-gay events including those run by HA, and praised the work of Soulforce in this area. He also advocates covert operations against HA and other ex-gay ministries in an attempt to "catch ex-gay leaders engaging in not so ex-gay behavior", though such attempts to discredit the industry are controversial even within the GLBT community. Besen has accused HA of re-writing history, omitting details of Cook's past from its web site. "[R]eading the group's Web page, one would think that Cook was a smashing success and paragon of heterosexuality," he writes. Haldeman has described the response of the Seventh Day Adventist Church to the 1986 Cook revelations as a cover-up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
whilst Lawson titled his 1987 presentation to the annual convention of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
: Scandal in the Adventist-funded program to 'heal' homosexuals: Failure, sexual eploitation, official silence, and attempts to rehabilitate the exploiter and his methods.
In Julie Scott Jones' study of Christian fundamentalism, Being the Chosen, HA, Exodus International and NARTH are described as organizations that "particularly target teenagers' burgeoning sexuality, and feed into a wider fundamentalist view that all forms of 'sexual immorality' are destroying the moral fabric of the nation".
See also
- Christianity and homosexuality
- Courage InternationalCourage InternationalCourage International is an apostolate and Christian ministry of the Roman Catholic Church, which "ministers to those with same-sex attractions,"...
- List of twelve-step groups
External links
- Official website
- JASON Ministries, Homosexuals Anonymous affiliate headquartered in Germany