Image by ndemello from Pixabay

Ex-Gays Haven't Exited

I've written a humorous memoir called "Fun With Fred:  Life With OCD and Hoarding." Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I penned an op-ed for LGBTQ newspapers around the country, in large part to publicize the book.

One unexpected result? I learned ex-gays haven't gone the way of the dodo.

Because of how far society has evolved over the last decades, and because ex-gay leaders have a habit of getting caught in flagrante gayo, I thought there weren't many ex-gays about anymore. That might be true, but now I know some of them are still proselytizing.

Something dodos were never guilty of.

I received a message from a certain Sharon Kass, telling me she'd read my piece in the Washington Blade. "I do activism for ex-LGBTQ rights," she wrote. "Half a century of 'equality' propaganda doesn't change the truth--that the psychological disorders in question are preventable with better parenting and treatable with depth psychotherapy from a properly trained practitioner."

It took me a minute to realize "the psychological disorders in question" weren't actually the ones I'd written about, which was a real shame, because if she had solutions for OCD and hoarding, I was all ears.

No, to her, queerness is a psychological disorder, and she urged me to "get help" for myself, and listed several books and resources, including an interview with Joseph Nicolosi, the late but still odious driver of conversion therapy.

Kass closed with, "In spite of everything, the truth will out. The people will see to that."

These "people" ARE dodos. Imagine living your life contrary to your nature, and putting all your energy into trying to convince others to do the same. It's a twisted existence.

One that Kass has been dutifully living for quite a while, I discovered. A decade ago, Change.org hosted a petition describing her as "an infamous, prolifically anti-gay hate mail writer who targets gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender journalists, bloggers and activists for e-bullying with reparative therapy claims and threats of 'civil war.'"

I guess I should be honored that Kass finally got around to me. Or wounded that it took her so long.