There ain’t no insanity like religion-based insanity:

El Paso Pastor Tom Brown is never afraid to voice his opinion on gay issues. But one of his most controversial claims is that he can convert gay people back to being straight.

Some people say his teachings are harmful and dangerous. But News Channel 9′s Monique Griego spoke with one man who said he’s been cured by him.

“Some people.” God, when will the media grow up? ALL CREDIBLE EXPERTS say “ex-gay” teachings/methods are harmful and dangerous. It is not biased to say so.

“As far as homosexuality do you think your cured?” asked Monique Griego.

“Yeah I’m not going that route. No.”

But there was a time when “Joe”— as he would like to be called— did go that route. For several years in his 20′s, he was gay and openly slept with men.

“It was like drugs, sex, and rock and roll were all tied into this lifestyle,” said Joe.

Joe compares the urge he had to be with men to the need a drug addict has for a fix. Then, after nearly a decade of being gay, Joe quit the lifestyle— cold turkey.

“I was able to put my foot down and say forget it step away from it,” said Joe.

How’d he do it? Joe said he found God and Pastor Tom Brown.

Anyway, as usual, the pastor acknowledges that some of his devotees admit they still are sexually attracted to their own gender, but says he considers them “cured” if they no longer act on their feelings. That, ladies and gents, is called “moving the goalposts.”

There’s video at the above link if you want to see how fey Tom Brown is.  Luckily, the news station has the decency to consult an actual psychologist in order to rebut the witch doctor’s pastor’s claims.

Oh, Dr. Bumpkin, shut thy mouth up:

Dr. Phil advises a parent whose son likes to play with girls’ toys and wear girls’ clothing to “take the girl things away, and buy him boy toys” on his show’s “Ask Dr. Phil” segment.

Robbie tells Dr. Phil that her 5-year-old son likes to play with Barbies and likes to wear girls’ clothing, which she doesn’t think is normal. In the segment, she asks the talk-show host how to deal with his behavior.

[...]

Dr. Phil, who recently has increased his support for gay and lesbian teens, particularly when it comes to bullying in schools, then suggests that the solution is to take the girls’ toys away from the boy.

“Direct your son in an unconfusing way. Don’t buy him Barbie dolls or girls’ clothes. You don’t want to do things that seem to support the confusion at this stage of the game. … Take the girl things away, and buy him boy toys.

“Support him in what he’s doing, but not in the girl things.”

You know, I’m not a doctor, but I know enough about psychology to tell y’all that making your five year-old son feel ashamed of wanting to play with “girl toys,” for whatever reason the child wants to, is not healthy.

Alvin McEwen has a pretty epic smackdown over at AlterNet right now, over the Religious Right’s use of Paul Cameron’s “research” in order to vilify gay people.  Paul Cameron, as anyone who pays attention knows, is probably the least credible “researcher” in the entire field of human sexuality. But that doesn’t matter to fundamentalist Christian wingnuts, because they one thing that group has in common is that they’re willing to lie to preserve their worldview.  Here’s what Peter said to Concerned Women for America’s Martha Kleder on the subject:

Kleder: One of the things I’ve also noticed is that the SPLC seems to be riled by the fact . . . uh . . . if they don’t particularly like your source that you document then you must be a hate group.

LaBarbera: Paul Cameron.

Kleder: Yeah.

LaBarbera: They say if you cite Paul Cameron, then you are a hater. I mean that’s ridiculous. You know there is a researcher who just came out and found that Paul Cameron’s work on the greater likelihood of homosexual adoptive parents to have . . . for the child to emerge as a homosexual. He confirmed Cameron’s thesis. You don’t have to agree with everything Paul Cameron ever did but how proposterous to say that citing a researcher . . Paul Cameron’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals. What they’ve done, Martha is set up these criteria and then you violate them, they call you a hate group, and then they have their little echo chamber on the left which reports their charge. And of course the media, which really doesn’t like us anyway. The media is very pro-gay, they cite us and so it begins to take a life of its own.

Of course, Alvin does point out that Peter is one of the only members of the Religious Right who doesn’t get embarrassed when he’s called on his use of Cameron’s “data.” The rest of them apparently have a slight bit of shame and integrity left, but Peter threw that aside when he started trolling leathersex conventions.

For anyone who is new, here’s a quick intro to Paul Cameron’s career, again, courtesy of Alvin:

Cameron is a researcher who has made a name for himself by creating studies designed to demonize the lgbt community. These studies for the most part have been published in “vanity” or “pay-for-publish” journals and they are not “peer-reviewed” in the normal sense. No “peer” who objects to Cameron’s work has the right to remove it from the journal.

He has also been discredited and censured by many group and individuals on the left, the right, and in the middle due to his bad research techniques. Several of his studies have been criticized for such errors as having small sample sizes, showing an anti-gay bias in interviews, and not having enough responses to establish a suitable analysis.

And, of course, Alvin provides a few key quotes from [actual, grown-up, non-religious] medical/mental health organizations about Paul Cameron:

“(Cameron) misrepresents my findings and distorts them to advance his homophobic views. I make a very clear distinction in my writing between pedophilia and homosexuality, noting that adult males who sexually victimize young boys are either pedophilic or heterosexual, and that in my research I have not found homosexual men turning away from adult partners to children . . . I consider this totally unprofessional behavior on the part of Dr. Cameron and I want to bring this to your attention. He disgraces his profession.” – Dr. A. Nicholas Groth in letter written to the Nebraska Board of Examiners of Psychologists on August 21, 1984

“Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists – American Psychological Association, 1983

The science and profession of psychology in Nebraska as represented by the Nebraska Psychological Association, formally dissociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality. Further, the Nebraska Psychological Association would like it known that Dr. Cameron is not a member of the Association. Dr. Cameron was recently dropped from membership in the American Psychological Association for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists – Nebraska Psychological Association, 1984

Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism” – American Sociological Association, 1985

The Canadian Psychological Association takes the position that Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism and thus, it formally disassociates itself from the representation and interpretations of scientific literature in his writings and public statements on sexuality. – Canadian Psychological Association, 1996

There is oh, so much more where that came from, including refutations of the lies contained in Peter’s quote above, so please, read Alvin’s entire piece.

Cameron is a liar, a poor researcher, and a hatemongering bigot of the first degree. Perhaps one day an ACTUAL mental health professional will examine Cameron’s tiny life and figure out where it all went so terribly wrong.

But this, dears, is one of the many reasons these groups, including Peter’s, are on the hate groups list. They ALL know Paul Cameron is a fraud.

But they hate/fear/are threatened by gay people too much to let little things like facts get in the way.

Jeremy points us to this really weird post/e-mail from former Christian Civic League/Maine Family Policy Council director Mike Heath, which includes an explanation that he’s not planning to shoot anyone with guns, but also includes the picture of a Glock at right, just for good measure:

Preachers who sit idly by granting this matter the exalted status of debate are shirking their duty. Abortion and sodomy are not matters for debate. This is war.
All Christian men are in this fight to win. There is no other option. Generations unborn hang in the balance. We will not lose this fight. We cannot.

Does this mean that I’m going to get out my 9mm Glock and go shoot an abortion doctor this week? No, all such acts of violence, carried out as they are on the basis of private authority, are reprehensible. No one has the authority to harm another, because such an act undermines the stability of society. The same is true of abortion.

It does, however, mean that I’m going to rank these matters as more important in priority than taxes and the economy. We can deal with those lesser matters when we restore honor, virtue and truth to families and relationships.

When we turn to Jesus Christ the economy will begin its recovery. We will also learn to truly love one another, and our enemies. With Jesus Christ, and submission to His heavenly Father’s ten commandments, this is possible. Without Them it will never happen.

If God calls you to join these men in the acknowledgment of my ordination from God there are some actions you can take to start me on this narrow path. Here they are:

1. Pray for Paulie and me.

2. Make a financial donation. See the bottom of this email for instructions on how to do that.

3. Help us spread the word by forwarding this email to others, and by encouraging them to invite us to speak/sing to their church or group.

My ministry is called Helping Hands. Hands can be helpful in so many ways. The grip of a pistol is shaped to fit the same human hand that tenderly cups the cheek of an innocent infant. Manly honor and virtue are better expressed in the heroism of a Marine than in the willingness of a lukewarm Pastor to compromise the Word of God. As Christian men we must be prepared to defend virtue and innocence. Honor and truth require it.

Never forget that the freedom to know God in this world is under attack as never before. If we surrender to the athiests [sic] our promise to be One Nation Under God (Jesus Christ) then we submit ourselves to His judgment. We should not be surprised when our nation collapses. We will have earned it.

But he promises not to shoot anyone with a gun, specifically a Glock.

Jeremy is quite rightly asking, “What, exactly, the hell?”

I think I may possibly have an idea of what this is all about.  Guns are, to some weak-minded people, a symbol of virility.  A penis substitute.  Note the language about the “grip” of the gun, immediately followed by “manly honor” and “heroism,” juxtaposed with those lesser men who refuse to “defend virtue and innocence,” and become “lukewarm.”  Mike Heath has been shoved to the side in the anti-gay movement, because his sort of open, rancid bigotry is kryptonite to an already-dying movement.  Jeremy points out that the new leader of the Christian Civic League is doing everything in his power to make people forget that Mike Heath ever existed in the first place.  This comes on the heels of the anti-gay marriage campaign in Maine, wherein Mike Heath wasn’t even allowed backstage with the people running the campaign, much less given a speaking role.  Like Peter LaBarbera, he is recognized by his own side as toxic, a liability to be managed.  The fact that he doesn’t understand why just adds to his desperation.

So, you see, in this post, as he tries to find meaning in his life, tries to find a new place at the dinner table of bigots, Mike Heath is grasping for any penis substitute he can find, something to make him feel “manly” and “heroic” again, in a society that has informed him that indeed, his ideas of masculinity, valor and heroism are really pretty freaking stupid.  So he waxes poetic about stroking a gun, about how his hands are small, he knows, but they’re not yours, they are his own, and he can stroke a Glock if he wants, because it makes him feel virile.

That’s all.

Rev. Rebecca Voelkel of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable stated today:

The American Psychological Association has clearly articulated that ‘reparative therapies’ don’t work, in fact they can be very harmful. This resolution is welcomed news for all who support the full humanity, morality and worth of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, especially those of us who do so because of our religious understandings.

At the Task Force, we have worked with more than 3,400 congregations to create environments that are supportive and affirming of LGBT people. In addition to these, there are many, many supporters of LGBT people within many religious traditions, even those whose official policy is anti-LGBT. This is important because, while it may be the most psychologically healthy move for some to leave their religious denomination of birth, for others, faith, family, ethnicity, race and culture are inextricably linked and leaving is not an option. For these folks, finding those allies and supporters within their tradition is critical to spiritual and mental health.

Additionally, the report makes some important statements about the relationship between science and religion. Being deeply religious does not necessarily mean being anti-LGBT. In fact, this report shows that religious practice and belief can and does translate into support for LGBT people. The truth is that religion and science do not have to be opposed to one another. In fact, science can be an enormously important tool for understanding the grandeur and wonder of God’s creation. In this case, science helps us understand more fully the gift of sexuality ‚Äî one of God’s greatest gifts.

Bishop Gene Robinson could hardly have been clearer about his reason for dropping out of a forum on religion and sexuality that was to be held May 5 in conjunction with an American Psychological Association convention in Washington:

“Conservatives, particularly Focus on the Family, were going to use this event to draw credibility to the so-called reparative therapy movement. It became clear to me in the last couple of weeks that just my showing up and letting this event happen…lends credibility to that so-called therapy.” (The Washington Blade)

Robinson’s exit prompted the forum’s cancellation, but the political biases and oversights of forum organizers and panelists doomed the forum from the start.

Despite Robinson’s clear explanation, ex-gay and antigay advocates ranging from Warren Throckmorton to Exodus and Focus on the Family to LifeSiteNews continue to redirect blame.

In its latest video, Focus on the Family falsely describes the cancelled forum as a debate between “gay activists” and “pro-family leaders” regarding “homosexuality and therapy” — implying that the topic would be ex-gay therapy. Focus then falsely reports that “gay activists” prompted Robinson’s exit. Focus goes so far as to accuse forum critics of silencing Christian voices — as if Bishop Robinson, and the Christian ex-gay survivors who were excluded from the forum, were something other than Christian. Focus quotes Exodus executive vice president and resident cynic Randy Thomas:

“It’s pretty amazing that if if they (unnamed gay activists) want to be as diverse as they claim, they would accept people who have a different perspective on faith with regard to this issue.”

Throckmorton admits that opposition to the forum was motivated by involvement of Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. But Throckmorton fails to explain how inclusion of a highly political activist such as Mohler was ever appropriate for a forum about religion, homosexuality, and mental health. Throckmorton continues to sidestep mischaracterizations of the forum by Focus on the Family, as well as the forum’s exclusion of former ex-gays and informed critics of ex-gay therapy that would have balanced out his own presence.