Book Reviews
By James E. Phelan, MSW, Psy.D.
August, 2006
Hot off the press are two books about the ex-gay movement published by two major universities. The first is Straight To Jesus: Sexual And Christian Conversions In The Ex-Gay Movement published by University of California Press and the other is Be Not Deceived: The Sacred And Sexual Struggles Of Gay And Ex-Gay Christian Men published by Rutgers University Press.
Erzen, T. (2006). Straight To Jesus: Sexual And Christian Conversions In The Ex-Gay Movement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
This book is based on the ethnographic work of Assistant Professor Tanya Erzen of Ohio State University's Comparative Studies Program who studied the ex-gay ministry New Hope, a former residential program in Northern California. She followed the program for eighteen months between the years 2000 and 2001 conducting two-to-three hour interviews with forty-seven men and women, including nineteen follow-up interviews.
To date, this book probably provides the most comprehensive details about the nuts and bolts of the ex-gay movement from an ethnographic perspective. Her mainly emphasized ethnographic finding was that the participants in theNew Hope program sought conversions that were both religious and sexual rather than actual conversions in sexual orientation.
Erzen highlights the case of one participant under the pseudonym, Curtis. According to her, "...Curtis would experience moments of elation, severe depression, crushes on other men, homesickness, and boredom" (p. 2, emphasis added). She then added, "...during the next several years he experienced only more uncertainty regarding his sexual struggles. He began occasionally dating men at the same time he volunteered at a local ex-gay ministry" (p. 2, emphasis added). She then concluded that, "[His] story represents a familiar pattern for many ex-gay men and women who come to New Hope with the objective of healing their homosexuality, controlling sexual compulsions, becoming heterosexual, or even marrying someone of the opposite sex." (p. 2, emphasis added).
While participants felt stronger in their Christian identity, Erzen found they did not necessarily diminish their homosexual urges.
Erzen is critical of the Christian Right and the ex-gay movement's overbearing stances that support the exclusion of gay rights based on the movement's claim that there is no such thing as gay; that it is a choice; and that it is something that can be changed. While she saw sincere desires of the participants in New Hope to have legitimate conversion in sexual behaviors and in their religious lives, she did not see complete change in sexual orientation.
In a newspaper interview{1} with Erzen, she stated, "People say, 'We have a right to change.' Well, on an individual level, that's true....but the [ex-gay] movement says there's no such thing as being 'gay.' (p. E2). As far as her view, the residents of New Hope, "In some ways...were being used [for the] larger anti-gay movement. She then concluded, "It perpetuates the idea that you can't be happy as a gay person" (p. E2).
Erzen believes that some people can be actively gay and happy, which is contrary to ex-gay theology. Being an insider for an intimate time span, she followed the idea that those in a conversion process do not generally make a switch from gay to straight. Her concern is that the Christian Right uses the ex-gay movement as its basis for their ideologies; but the ex-gay movement does not provide evidence for them, as in this case, the claim that they can change a person's sexual orientation.
She made the point that, "...the ex-gay mode of religious and sexual conversion unwittingly presents a challenge to the conservative Christian construction that a person can and must move from homosexual to heterosexual" (p. 15).
Erzen noted that the controversy around the religious ex-gay movement is that it has tended to be fixed on the idea that people can change their sexuality. From her understanding, people under their influence do become altered; that they do withstand a range of possibilities for change, but that does not necessarily include sexual orientation, behaviors, or desires.
NARTH Discussed
NARTH and the various elements of Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH) are discussed in the book. In fact, a whole section is entitled "NARTH and Reparative Therapy." Much of the discussion in the section, however, points to the work of theorist Elizabeth Moberly, who has never been a part of NARTH nor practiced reparative therapy herself.
Erzen links NARTH to the religious ex-gay movement in this way: "The ex-gay movement has reconfigured psychological and psychiatric models and theories about the origins of homosexuality and lesbianism in the postwar period through its own medical institution, the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)" (p. 19, emphasis added) and "... [it] endorses the religious component of ex-gay ministries" (p. 143).
'Queer Theory' and 'Queer Conversion'
Erzen discusses Queer Theory as such:
...Queer theory argues for the idea that identities are culturally and historically determined rather than fixed; sexual practices and desires change over time and do not consistently line up with masculine or feminine gender expectations. The idea of queerness accounts for the possibility that a person's sexual orientation, behaviors, and desires can fluctuate, moving between different identities, political affiliations, and sexual arrangements. (p. 14)
In discussing a term she coined called "Queer Conversion" she states that while men and women in the ex-gay movement do not and cannot envision homosexuality as a positive way to be, their lives also exemplify the instability of the religious and sexual conversion process (e.g. sexual falls and public redemption through testimony). "Their narratives...point to instability and changeability of their own identities rather than serve as a testament to heterosexuality" (p. 14, the italics was added for clarity). Because of this, "ex-gay men and women enact a queer concept of sexuality when they undergo queer conversions" (p. 14, emphasis added). In other words, since the person's behavior and desire do not necessarily correlate with their new ex-gay identity, their concept of sexuality is, in a sense, "queer."
Wolkomir, M. (2006) Be Not Deceived: The Sacred And Sexual Struggles Of Gay And Ex-Gay Christian Men. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
In this book, the author Michelle Wolkmir, an assistant professor of sociology at Centenary College (Shreveport, Louisiana), conducted her own fieldwork by studying two competing ministries that offer solutions for Christians who experience homosexual desires. One is an affiliate of the ex-gay ministry, Exodus International, and the other is the growing Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). The specific individual affiliates studied where Expell and Accept, respectively. The latter believes that God made people gay to suit divine purposes, while the former teaches that homosexuality is a sin, a symptom of psychological disorder, and a wayward lifestyle which can be overcome by the power of God.
Wolkmir found, by way of attending the two group's Bible studies and ministry meetings, that they had different ideas about homosexuality, while both were "strikingly" similar in terms of prayer and worship. Both had gratitude to God and asked God for grace in their lives. Some differences in specific prayers were that the Exodus group prayed for healing of their own homosexuality, while MCC prayed for the wounds inflicted on gay people by people who mistreated them. MCC believes there is no biblical basis for condemnation of homosexuality, that the discrimination and stigmas against homosexuality is really a result of what they consider the Church's heterosexism. Interestingly, the author accuses MCC of "revising theology [so] that [it] defends homosexuality" (p. 194).
Wolkomir's attempt in her study was to explore, in an unbiased way, how people with basic religious beliefs who have the same problem, arrive at opposing solutions. Her narratives are frank and interesting. She uses many verbatim quotes and has less of a political angle than does Erzen's. Like Erzen, Wolkomir found that change for the ex-gay-identified men she studied did not always mean complete change in sexual orientation. Within the Accept population, she reported that the members were able to reconcile their homosexuality with their faith and that, with the exception of one, had positive experiences. This is a poignant read for those interested in comparative studies.
Note:
Licensed Clinical Therapists have not been identified as part of New Hope or Expell and NARTH is not formally a part of those ministries.
{1} Price, R. (2006). "Rejecting gay feelings, some strive to change." The Columbus Dispatch, pp. E1-E2.
Updated: 2 September 2008
