Exploring Homosexuality In 'Pray Away The Gays'

Barton, Bernadette C.. Pray the Gay Away : The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays. New York: NYU Press, 2012. Ebook Library. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

The word “gay” has gone through drastic changes. Traditionally, it was a positive term that meant to be “happily excited” or “jolly” (Merriam Webster, “Gay”). It was used regularly to express one’s feelings about life. Today, it has a far different meaning. Now people use the word gay to label homosexuals, those with feminine qualities, or those who do something thought to be outside of the norm for their gender. “Being gay” went from expressing someone’s happiness to describing his sexual preference. The definition of gay has changed so much that its original meaning has become archaic and lost to the times.

Although various methods of Conversion Therapy have been around since sense the dawn of religion itself, the early 1900’s peaked interest in the so-called “psychiatric problem” that is homosexuality; indeed, oftentimes considered The Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud claimed that homosexuality may be removed from the brain through hypnotism or therapeutic torture. Through his widely respected claims, Freud, for a short era, influenced the decisions of many Evangelical Christians with homosexual relatives. From the establishment of small psychology centers focused on gay conversion to the opening of numerous “straight camps” for gay men and lesbians, the Freudian Era of Gay Conversion and Gender Identity Therapies led to a breakthrough in medical research regarding these ineffective treatments. All of this being true, and even with modern medicine being of abundance in our society, certain Evangelical Christian groups still intend on practicing this form of rehabilitation, but with our progressive American mindsets, these should not be bearing the heavy burden of anti-societal measures for much longer.

The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as

In recent years, the issue of homosexuality has been a controversial and frequently discussed topic within the Anglican tradition. The Lambeth conference is an assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion and is convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The conference allows for a collaborative and consultation function which allows for relevant issues to be discussed within the communion (“Lambeth Conferences”). The argument over homosexuality was discussed predominately as a communion wide issue at the 1998 Lambeth conference, and it was concluded that homosexual practice was “incompatible with scripture” (“Lambeth Conferences”). Whether locally or globally, debates typically arise around the issue of homosexuality, and if should be

Before 1973, homosexuality with-in our culture, was considered taboo, but things changed when they adopted the civil rights method of protest, “of the 1950s to the 1970s, bringing about change by influencing large amounts of minorities (LGBT Mental Health Syllabus). To be sure, 1973 became an important year for America’s acceptance of homosexuality, as a choice from a previous physiological diagnosis, and the legalization of abortion on the national level. Basically, they revised their medical research over night, with no new research verifying that homosexuality is a trait we are born with. In 1988, Michael Swift wrote and submitted the "Gay Revolutionary", stating a very aggressive take over of our heterosexual community, and was submitted

In today’s Christian churches there has come about a very controversial subject, one that has been developing for many years, and is now at the fore front of controversial issues dealing with the church. The issue at hand is homosexuality and the Christian church. This controversy has caused there to be a split between the church into two different beliefs, liberal and evangelical, which one is right and which and which one is wrong? Issues such as should homosexuals be aloud in the church? If so how involved should they be? And most importantly what does God have to say about homosexuality? These are tough question brought about by a tough issue and the only way these questions can be

The way people ultimately view homosexuality, whether in religion, politics or modern popular culture, is all determined by traditional or changing points of view. This essay will discuss mainly liberal and conservative Christian interpretations of the Bible, including many verses that may support or condemn homosexuality. It will also discuss the political views and laws against same-sex marriage and the social activism in the homosexual community. This is all about view points and it has many conflicting views and arguments.

There is a serious problem with America. And no, the problem isn’t the fact that we are trillions of dollars in debt, have people living off of Welfare, or even that we can’t seem to get an effective health care bill passed. Those are only minor issues. The real problem is that we give away rights like they are free to give away. We gave the blacks their rights, and look what it got us. Barack Obama. We gave women their rights, and look what it got us. Hillary Clinton. What’s next? The Gay Rights Movement. The main issue with giving the gays their rights is that homosexuality does not truly exist. It’s an infection of the mind.

A question, commonly asked of towards, and among the gay community. Every day they meet the unanswerable. In our modern-day society being gay is almost classed as ‘normal’. There is almost always a pride day, a new category for people to identify under. But, should it be this way? Shouldn’t we all just identify as human beings and Gay or not, there is no need for the constant march in fight for gay rights. Wanting to be who you are shouldn’t have to be fought for this long. For instance, do we fight to be straight? Do others fight to be A-sexual? The answer is no. Because since the beginning of time that has been portrayed as right Man and Woman, or – nothing.

In 2008, 190 homosexuals were killed in Brazil, one every two days, known as a 55 percent increase on the previous year. The annual report on murders of homosexuals, according to the Grupo Gay da Bahia from Brazil, says that 64 percent of the victims were gay men, 32 percent were transvestites, and four percent were lesbians. This is absolutely astonishing. Even though homosexuals have chosen an alternative lifestyle, they still deserve to live a normal life without being victimized of physical harm for their choices. Homosexuality is not "normal" in biological terms. If it were normal, then everybody would be homosexual and that is self-evident. Homosexuals are actively striving to convince us that homosexuality is "normal," but they

Before it came down to just two classifications of how we identified ourselves, it took centuries to come up with two names that clarified a huge issue.Today claiming to be a homosexual is no big deal. You can marry freely and claim it on your Facebook page, but back in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was something known as a “silent sin”. It was not understood as well as there was no classification to call yourself if you did have an attraction to the same sex. Modern understandings and terminology evolved from the work and understandings of sexologist in the late 1900’s and early 20th century.

There are many misconceptions of Christianity. It is said that all Christians go to church every week on sunday, but you can still have beliefs and morals that you apply to your life that came from Christianity without always going to church. God loves you whether you love him or not, or if you go to church, or read the bible every night. Christians don't have to be super strict either, some Christians are strict and they believe that there life revolves around God, but not everyone. Families can pray before meals and pray at night without disrupting their daily life. Another misconception of Christains believe that Homosexualtiy is a sin. In christianity they believe in sins, sins are immoral acts that counteract divine law. It is commonly

The norm is a human made invention. Being attracted to the same gender has always fabled many individuals. In the podcast three issues arose about the LGBTQ lifestyle to better humanize the issues we have to today by providing the listener a biological, theological, and the social stance in the reasoning of the LGBTQ in a story structured conversation. By individuals that that tried to stay true to their faith and sexual orientation, individuals to have more compassion for people than themselves, regardless of their sexual orientation, individuals that have honestly tried to change their perspective in their attractiveness to the same sex, and people that can't follow the word of god because they believe they are living a sinful life by their sexual orientation.

The topic of homosexuality in religion has many sides. There are those who believe that it is a sin in God’s eyes and according to the Bible, and there are those who believe the God and the Bible are not specific to homosexuals. It is a tough debate based on whether you are a religious person, how you were raised, and where your morals and ethics stand. You cannot truly believe one way without taking into account the other side and have valid proof to back it up.