US Gay teens

[CookieJon]

It's not a pisstake. The guy has a whole website dedicated to psychotherapy to "cure gays".

http://www.donniedavies.com/

Definitely a pisstake.

[Twiglet]

It's not a pisstake. The guy has a whole website dedicated to psychotherapy to "cure gays".

http://www.donniedavies.com/

Definitely a pisstake.

There's a debate on wiki over whether this guy is a hoax, but it's very clear the gay community sees this specfic guy as acting in a very harmful way, whether it's nominally a spoof or not. Regardless of that, there are large sums of money being made in the US by religious organisations claiming to be able to "reprogram" gay people. The agenda of such organisations is almost invariably religion motivated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy

Conversion therapy, sometimes called reparative therapy or reorientation therapy, is one type of sexual orientation change effort that attempts to change the sexual orientation of a person from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, which have been a source of intense political controversy in the United States and numerous other countries. The American Psychiatric Association states that political and moral debates over the integration of gays and lesbians into the mainstream of American society have obscured scientific data about changing sexual orientation "by calling into question the motives and even the character of individuals on both sides of the issue." The most high-profile contemporary advocates of conversion therapy tend to be conservative Christian groups and other religious organizations. The main organization advocating secular forms of conversion therapy is the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)

[Tigger]

I feel a bit odd talking about homophobic attitudes as it's still quite new to me. I hid my sexuality for decades before coming out last year - it was 100% thanks to this forum that I did - and listening to homophobic remarks engendered a "they're not talking about me, because they don't know" attitude in me. Now I'm comfortable talking about it, I of course feel personally slighted by such intolerance. I've recently been a little bit on the receiving end of it (not a huge amount), and it is hateful. Cure me, indeed.

[Tigerwolf]

It's better in America than it used to be, but there is still a great deal of homophobia and homohatred in this country. If you're a kid facing this sort of bigotry, the fact that other kids in other places have it easier doesn't help much. That said, this article (linked below) gives me hope that attitudes are changing over time. Unfortunately, like racism, we'll probably always have some degree of homohate to deal with.

Coming Out in Middle School (New York Times)

^..^
Tigerwolf
Former kid, still gay