Why has the New Zealand 'exgay' movement quietly curled up and died? Why did it fail in the first place?
|
Originally, there were 'exgay' groups in each of the main
centres - Exodus Ministries New Zealand (Auckland) and New Image/Lion of Judah
Ministries/the Immaculate Heart of Mary Community (Wellington), with a weak
transient Rock of Life Ministries in Christchurch. In the case of the
Wellington exgay node, the founder Noel Mosen lost most of his support from
fundamentalist Protestants when he and his wife converted to Catholicism and
eventually had to close down. Mosen lost his wife to heart disease and is now a
German monastery cook. In Auckland, Exodus Ministries lingered on, mostly
attracting recidivist and conflicted elderly fundamentalist men who had sex
with men but who were conflicted about it.
As time went on, Christian religious
observance has also declined, which renders the 'exgay' movement further
weakened. In the lower North Island,
Briar and Neil Whitehead and Sy Rogers were active 'exgays' during the heyday
of the Human Rights Act in 1993, but have restricted their activities to
overseas since then, appearing at Exodus International conferences before its
closure. Rogers has a music career in the fundamentalist Christian
'contemporary music' industry.
More recently, the small Seventh Day Adventist
Church has been airing "Coming Out," a series of Adventist exgay
discussions on the Adventist Freeview religious channel
"Firstlight."
As for Exodus Ministries, apparently its existence is intermittent. The closure of conservative Christian media outlets such as Challenge Weekly have reduced its opportunities for uncritical news articles, propaganda and favourable reception. It lost charitable status in 2010 and does not seem to have a website, email address, or substantial online presence. Nothing has been heard from the organisation since 2013. It used to be associated with fundamentalist Grace Presbyterian Church in Manurewa.
So, what happened? The answer seems to lie in the field of
fundamentalist "counselling and psychotherapy." Now, one would think
that even conservative Christians would accept the professional authority and
usefulness of psychotherapy and counselling if it could be manipulated to
convince vulnerable people that any past abortions or gay sex were 'sinful' and
'wrong,' but that isn't the whole story. Certainly, some of them do, but others
believe that the Bible contains "all" the necessary
"resources" to engage in manipulative redirection and insuring that a
newly converted individual complies with fundamentalist behavioural codes.
Apart from fundamentalist US "universities" (broader curriculum
former US fundamentalist theological colleges and seminaries), these
'qualifications' can do more harm than good, resulting in self-harm, injury,
suicide attempts and premature death. This is called "nouthetic" counselling
and it was very much in vogue during the eighties and nineties. It may explain
why this absence of mainstream psychotherapeutic professional authority and
practice eventually results in the impermanence, weakness or dissolution of New
Zealand fundamentalist 'exgay' groups. The Pentecostal Living Waters group was
supposed to hold a conference in 2014 but there were few details on its mostly incomplete
website, so it may also have dissipated.
This has certain happy implications for us here. California,
Oregon, New Jersey, Washington DC, Illinois and Ontario have had to go to the
trouble of banning 'exgay' organisations from proximity to vulnerable US LGBTI
youth, and similar proposals exist in the United Kingdom. Many medical
organisations question the ethics and practice of reparative therapy in the
United States, such as the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric
Association, American Psychological Association, American Counselling
Association, National Association for Social Workers, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, National
Association of Schools of Psychologyy and the American Academy of Physician
Assistants all condemn the practice.
However, if there is no "Exodus Ministries" left in New Zealand, then there is no point in banning something that no longer exists.
Not Recommended:
Jay Adams: The Christian Counsellors Manual: The Practice of Nouthetic Counselling:
Zondervan: 1988.
John McArthur and Wayne Mack: An Introduction to Biblical Counselling: Thomas
Nelson: 1994.
David Powlison: Seeing With New Eyes: Counselling and the Human Condition
Through the Lens of Scripture: Presbyterian and Reformed Press: 2003.
Joe Dallas: When Homosexuality Hits Home: What to Do When A Loved One Says
They're Gay: Eugene: Harvest House: 2004.
Timothy Christian and David Oschlager: Competent Christian Counselling:
Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press: 1984
