A group of church officials, including George Leonard Carey—the former Archbishop of Canterbury—have come out in defense of English psychotherapist Lesley Pilkington, who was suspended by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) after offering reparative therapy to an undercover journalist.
According to Pink News, Lord Carey—along with Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, and Rev. Wallace Benn, the current Bishop of Lewes, have written the BACP, saying:
“We believe that people who seek, freely, to resolve unwanted same-sex attractions hold the moral right to receive professional assistance. Whether motivated by Christian conscience or other values, clients, not practitioners, have the prerogative to choose the yardstick by which to define themselves.”
In 2011, the BACP ruled that Pilkington had acted unprofessionally in suggesting she could change a patient’s orientation and suspended her. But the clerics—none of whom have medical or psychiatric training—said reparative therapy “does not produce harm despite the Royal College of Psychiatrists and others maintaining the contrary. Competent practitioners, including those working with biblical Judeo-Christian values, should be free to assist those seeking help.”
We don’t know the ins and outs of English medical ethics, but we’re pretty sure doctors aren’t allowed to practice whatever remedy they want—even if the patient asks for it. Once upon a time it was standard practice to drill holes in people’s heads, for crying out loud.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Thankfully, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ official position is that, “there is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish.”
We’re not saying people shouldn’t be allowed to claim they can turn someone straight, but reparative therapy is a nebulous practice with no hard scientific data to back it up. It’s snake oil, and licensed medical professionals cannot be allowed to offer it under the guise of legitimate therapy.
What if a therapist said they could exorcise demons or speak to God on your behalf? Actually, since that’s a priest’s area of expertise, Carey and his cronies would probably try to have him thrown in the Tower of London.
Image: Trinidad-News.com
Mike UK
I wouldn’t worry, no one takes any notice of the church is this country! they’re not as politically organised like they are in the US or allowed to fleece people for money on the tv either!
Ogre Magi
I don’t see how any one can say Christians aren’t our enemies!
Jim Hlavac
Ah, but Mike UK, aren’t they allowed to fleece the people with the religious tax paid by all the Brits? I do think so. And Oh, Ogre Magi — some Christians are our enemies, and others are not so at all. In fact, I would venture to say that the vast majority of non-clerical Christians are on our side to one degree or another, while the clergy in many denominations have also had some sort of conversion or therapy towards accepting gayness as OK.
Meanwhile, these “reparative” people’s biggest problem is that they can’t find any of us who want to be repaired. What they find is 99.9% of us who want nothing to do with “changing” our “orientation.” What they refuse to admit, and therefore lies the fraud of it all, is that gay folks are rather happy being gay — we are tired, however, of the nonsense said about us. It’s like they think there’s this huge cohort of gays all unhappy with gayness and thus the therapy to “resolve” the issue. Alas for them, there is not more than a few dozen gay men who are unhappy being gay. And then, with a great audacity, they condemn us for not wanting to change; they are infuriated, apparently, that we are happy being gay. And therein lies the problem — they want us to change, and we do not want to change.
the crustybastard
When you’re a member of an organization that formerly employed “competent practitioners working with Biblical Judeo-Christian values” to fucking torture and incinerate people as treatment for their psychological ailments, I hope you understand why the only sensible responses to your ignorant opinion are to either point and laugh, or just ignore you utterly.
This is science. We have no need for sorcery or incantations.
In conclusion, go fuck yourself.
Kylew
I am of the belief that when it comes to psychiatry, anything goes. The human mind is still so poorly understood that I (wrongly or rightly) consider the professional governing bodies to be only one step about snake oil salesmen.
I completely agree that any person who voluntary requests sexuality reassignment has as much right as someone who requests gender change surgery, and in both cases, I would hope that there would be a looong process of psychiatric evaluation, discussion and possible attempts to help the person to be happy with who they are before making any changes. But ultimately, who is anyone to tell another human being that their deeply held desire should not be granted so long as it doesn’t harm them?
DavyJones
@Ogre Magi: Because one person does not a religion make. There are good Christians, and bad ones. It depends on the person, not the religion.
Here’s a good example of this in action:
http://imgur.com/bVD9p
http://naytinalbert.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-hugged-man-in-his-underwear-and-i-am.html
AvidReader
But, Jim Hlavac, the Church of England DOES NOT receive a religious tax. State support for the Church of England ended several years ago. The Anglican Church now makes its way each year on donations from parishoners and returns from endowments and investments.
Mike UK
@Jim Hlavac: as advised above, the C of E is one of the biggest land owners in the country and has vast sums in art, investments etc.
Shannon1981
@DavyJones: While I know and agree that there are good Christians, it must be noted that until the sane ones stop letting the lunatic fringe be the face of the religion, it is best to stay away from churchy types.
As a victim of this ex gay bullshit myself, I assure you all, you’d do very well to stay away from anyone involved in this religion and their hateful, dangerous, misguided beliefs.
BTW, for the record, my girlfriend is a theist, but she won’t set foot in a church for this reason.
Shannon1981
@the crustybastard: In the spirit of Huff Post, Fanned and Faved.
James
Why not have straight cures, and put straight people in therapy for being straight so that they can turn gay ? Uh these people!
Phantom
Carey, here’s a cure for your stupidity and it’s cheap, grow up.
RomanHans
> “Whether motivated by Christian conscience or other values,
> clients, not practitioners, have the prerogative to choose the
> yardstick by which to define themselves.”
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve read in years. Doctors make value judgments all the time. Think you’d look hot with 98KKK implants on your chest? This idiot Lord would say, “Well, you’re the client!”
XTIAAN
“GAY CURE” is this some new brit queer goth band I havent heard of?