Australian gay rights activists will stage a protest against an “ex-gay” conference this weekend in Melbourne, according to the Herald Sun.
The Lovelinx conference will be hosted by conservative Christian group Exodus Global Alliance, whose website promotes “reparative therapy [to] communicate the message of liberation from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.”
Conversion therapy remains a highly contentious issue despite warnings from numerous professional bodies that a number of treatments can cause physical and emotional harm to participants. Treatments can involve electroshock therapy, a form of aversion therapy where patients are shown nude images of men or women and are psychologically “trained” through repeated shocking to associate the image with pain.
Other treatments succeed in reducing homosexual behaviour rather than increasing heterosexual attraction. According to one research paper published by the University of California, many “ex-gay” therapies work by “[depriving] patients of their capacity for sexual response to others.”
Speaking to gay newspaper the Southern Star, campaigner Tim Wright said: “You can’t choose to become straight just because your religious leaders tell you that homosexuality is a sin.”
“Churches need to be teaching their gay and lesbian members to be proud of who they are, not ashamed. This conference will only cause more pain and anguish for the participants, not help them.”
“Our message to participants is: if your church rejects you because of your sexuality, you should reject your church.”
Australia has been accused of institutionalised homophobia since the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill officially prohibited same-sex marriage in 2004.
In July PinkPaper raised concerns for Bryce Faulkner, a 23-year-old American whose family had allegedly forced him into an “ex-gay” clinic. A campaign to find Mr. Faulkner (savebryce.ergonomicalministries.org) has so far yielded no results.