Wednesday, July 27, 2005

careful, i'm contagious

excuse me.

pardon me.

coming through.

oops, sorry, pardon me.

make a hole.

excuse me.

why yes, i do have my hands full, thanks for holding that door for me.

coming through.

excuse me.

oh this? this thing here in my hands? oh it's a SOAP BOX.
what am i going to do with it?

stand back and watch while i climb upon it.



oh yeah. i got a BONE to pick tonight kids.

while watching BratCamp tonight, i saw a commercial for an upcoming episode of Good Morning America where they are running a story on a Church that turns Gay people Straight.





yeah, you heard me.

so i got online to see if i could find more info about it and i ran across this article.

ya know what, ima go ahead and post it here as well... pay close attention to that which i have bolded.


June 28, 2005 — Tennessee officials closed an investigation into a so-called ex-gay ministry because of a lack of evidence to support child abuse allegations. But the Memphis organization that says instilling Christian beliefs can keep gays from acting on their homosexual desires continues to be the center of controversy.
The Tennessee Department of Children's Services began an investigation into Love In Action, which advertises homosexual conversion therapy for adolescents, after a 16-year-old boy's blog started causing a stir in the blogosphere.

"Zach" wrote in his blog that he was admitted into the facility by his parents after he told them he was gay. He said he was to be admitted to Refuge, a camp associated with Love In Action on June 6 and was to remain there at least until June 20, according to a June 3 blog entry. According to some fellow bloggers who have been in intermittent contact with Zach, he gets dropped off at the facility daily and returns home with his parents.

Love In Action is supported by several Memphis-area churches, and accredited by Exodus International, an organization that describes itself as "a worldwide interdenominational, Christian organization called to encourage, strengthen, unify and equip Christians to minister the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ to those affected by homosexuality."

"DCS dispatched its special investigations unit to the facility, and after conducting a full investigation, determined that the child abuse allegations were unfounded," Rob Johnson, an agency spokesman, told The Associated Press.

John Smid, executive director of Love In Action, said the allegations were never described to him but he assumed they involved a complaint of psychological abuse.
The program, Smid said, "is to help kids to grow in their relationship with Christ."
In a May 30 entry on Zach's blog he posted the rules of the Refuge Program. Under a heading called Hygiene, it says, "1. All clients must maintain appropriate hygiene, including daily showering, use of deodorant, and brushing teeth twice daily.

Men: Men must remove all facial hair seven days weekly, and sideburns must not fall below the top of the ear (the top of the ear is defined as where the ear meets the face below the temple). Clean business-like haircuts must be worn at all times. Hair must be long enough to be pinched between two fingers.
Women: Women must shave legs and underarms at least twice weekly.

All: Only natural hair color is allowed. Hair that is colored, highlighted or streaked, must be dyed back to its original color, or the color must be cut out before entrance into the Refuge program."


Officials from Love In Action appealed for tolerance at a June 16 news conference. Phone calls to Love In Action were not returned by press time.

"It is our spiritual conviction that sexual behavior outside of heterosexual marriage is considered wrong in the sight of God," said John Smid, the program's director, who describes himself as "ex-gay," according to a transcript of the news conference available on the Love In Action Web site.

"This program is operated on the will of the guardian or parent. We will work with the minor children as long as they are not overtly distracting to their own program or the program of others," Smid added. "If it is shown that the client is overtly treatment resistant, we will work with the parent towards alternative options for their care and overall relational health."

For the past two weeks, a group called Queer Action Coalition, which was formed after hearing Zach's story, has protested outside the camp.

"They claim to present themselves as an alternative to the gay lifestyle but then say you are going to have a miserable life if you live this lifestyle," said Amanda Lefevre, spokeswoman for Queer Action Coalition.
Lefevre said that the group was organized after it heard about Zach's blog.

Wayne Besen, who studies "ex-gay" camps, said that there are at least 100 ministries across the country that offer programs that attempt to make heterosexuals out of homosexuals. Some are live-in ministries while others are drop-off centers.

"These ministries are a bastion of abuse where the unqualified pose as mental health professionals," he said. "It's ruining lives and no one regulates it."

He said the camps offer workshops created to train attendees.

"There are lipstick lesbian seminars and workshops for boys that tell them what kind of underwear they should wear," he said. "They also offer tips like telling you to grocery shop just before closing so you will go at a time when there won't likely be people you are attracted to."

Zach has not entered anything in his blog since June 3.

On May 29, the teen wrote that his parents sat him down and told him he was going to a "fundamentalist Christian program for gays."

"They tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me, and they 'raised me wrong.' I'm a big screw up to them, who isn't on the path God wants me to be on. So I'm sitting here in tears, [joining] the rest of those kids who complain about their parents on blogs — and I can't help it," Zach wrote.

His blog has received thousands of comments since it appeared.
(written by By ROSE PALAZZOLO)


*steps up on soap box*

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???????????

i am speechless. but only because i have SO many things to say andi dont know how to get them out without them sounding like a giant guttural dinosaur bellow.

first off, in case you haven't divined MY feelings on homosexuality, let me just say that i have MORE gay friends than straight friends and there is not a single thing different about them. except that my gay friends use words like "room-mate" and "partner" instead of "husband" or "wife" or "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". but we can talk about my views on Gay Marriage later. (for the record, love is love is love.)

so, now that everyone knows where i stand.... i think i shall rant:

who the FUCK are these people to say that because a boy finds love in the company of another boy its wrong? i thought jesus taught about LOVE. didn't know there were rules to it. also, who said it was a condition???? in MY OPINION, i think its genetic. so, its not something that can be "changed" or "therapied" out of someone. it's like me not being a spazmonkey anymore. it's who i am. it cant be changed or broken. so the idea of Gay to Straight Camp sickens me.
and the thing about the hygiene... are we turning them "straight" or into Beaver Cleaver? so much for diversity. i guess that means that since haven't shaved my legs in 3 days and my hubsand's hair is well past his collar, we must be gay. oh shit. i'm gay. i mean it must have happened when i dyed my hair PURPLE! it's the hair coloring that made me catch the gay! oh man, i feel sorry for all of those people who came to our wedding. apparently its now a sham. because my husband and i are now gay. good thing they have a CAMP for it.
and another thing... did they ACTUALLY use the term "lipstick lesbians??? and tips to "grocery shop just before closing so you will go at a time when there won't likely be people you are attracted to." i can't even form a coherent sentence to relate to this level of stupidity.

*steps off soap box*

sure, i'm being a bit one-sided. but hey, its MY blog. and i have every right to. but just so you know, you are now reading a Gay Blog. (wonder how many hits i am going to get because of THAT phrase)

ok. breathe.

everyone is entitled to thier opinion. and i am entitled to talk about how stupid their opinion is.

i think i am going to start a Straight to Gay Camp.... who's with me?

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