Getting Inside Australia's Gay Cure.
If I were to mention the word exodus to you, what would you think? Migration or evacuation might come to mind, but for many all over the world the mention of the name Exodus is greeted with horror, anger and fear. For Exodus is an American organisation of global religious ministries that claims to ‘cure’ gays with some very alarming practises.
Exorcisms, hugging, behavioural management and marriage are all among those alarming methods used by Exodus Christian ministries to "heal" or “cure” homosexuals according to a former leader who has now seen the light and wants such things stamped out.
Paul Martin became one of the main counsellors at the Melbourne branch of Exodus Asia Pacific during his 20’s has told local Australian newspapers, that after signing up to the Exodus ministries, parishioners would partake in various “treatment programs” which included focused prayer groups, counselling, and exercises, even exorcisms designed to cast out their inner ‘gay’ demons.
The Exodus message stems from the idea that homosexuality stems from a childhood love-deficit, that you weren't loved enough by your father and so crave love from men, or that you were sexually abused; basically that homosexuality comes from a bad place, that homosexuals are damaged people, and that Exodus will heal your brokenness, according to Paul Martin.
Men and women, he says, would undergo masculinisation and feminisation therapies, learning how to dress and behave more like the straight man or woman they were supposed to be. Which included but not limited to dressing lesbians in Laura Ashley dresses, oh how lovely. Martin also told how there was intense pressure to form heterosexual relationships within the Christian communities that supported the ministry, marriage and children seen as the ultimate mark of success.
“We'd parade men who went through the program and got married around like they were champions, and they'd all say their lives were better since they committed to God and enjoyed the sort of relationship God intended – with a woman, having children,” Mr Martin said, before adding, “But you'd then have a conversation where they admitted their lives were far more painful now they were living this even greater lie – they were burdened with guilt because they were hurting the woman they were married to, or engaging in desperate sex acts in public toilets or bushes that were even further from their belief system [than committed same-sex relationships].”
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