Eve Tushnet
subscribers-only, I’m afraid, but I’m out there telling you that you don’t have to become straight to please God, therapists and ministers who pressure you to “fix” your orientation are more likely to do harm than good, and there are havens for your love and longing which are in harmony with the Church’s teachings:
In spite of the closure of ex-gay organisations, the defection of ex-gay leaders and studies showing that conversion therapy is rarely “successful” and often harmful, Catholics and other Christians still try to make gay people straight. Obviously “gay” and “straight” are social constructs, and only one way of organising our kaleidoscopic array of longings. Proposed alternatives like “same-sex attraction”, while resonant for some, tend to define our experience as sexual temptation. For many gay people who choose celibacy to live in harmony with Church teaching, using “gay” connects us to a community and helps us trust that there are holy expressions of our longing for same-sex love.
more (plus for some reason an absolutely gigantor photo of my HUGE FACE)
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