Matthew Sheppard, the ultimate exgay?

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A pro LGBT group ran an add with that tagline shortly after he was killed and got bullied into taking it down. At the time I felt the ad might have been a bit over the top. Now, though, I honestly don't.

Being an ex gay isn't fun. The typical treatment includes aversion therapy which usually involves shocking the subject or causing him/her to vomit upon seeing images of homosexual sex. On top of being painful, it is costly. A typical treatment cost over $10000 back in the late 1980's so one can only imagine what it costs now.

Yet, thousands of gays and lesbians voluntarily enter such programs each year. Why would someone voluntarily do this to themselves and pay for it to boot? Simple, because their lives are so miserable they feel they have no other choice.

That, and only that, leads these people to oppose any and all things which might make the lives of gays and lesbians more pleasant. If it were really about the sanctity of marriage the amendments wouldn't target civil unions and contracts between gays and lesbians. If it were really about the sanctity of marriage it would explicitly target adulterers and fornicators, not simply gays and lesbians. If it were really about the children they wouldn't oppose adoption by gays and lesbians. If it were really about the children they wouldn't oppose anti bullying legislation. If it were really about the children they wouldn't target our school clubs.

It is about making our lives so miserable that we choose to take their voodoo cures. In the course of making our lives that miserable they often go to far. They empower the bullies who humiliate us in school, they empower the bashers who attack us in the streets, and they decimate our self image to the point that we kill ourselves rather than face our true natures. In a very real sense every gay man or lesbian woman who kills themselves are the ultimate ex gays. In a very real sense every gay man and lesbian who gets bullied in school is on that first stop to becoming the ultimate ex gay. In a very real sense every gay man and lesbian who gets bashed is an ultimate ex gay.

These people can't claim to love us and hate the sin when they behave like they have been. They can't claim to love us with one face, and make our lives a living hell with the other. They didn't directly kill Matthew, but they did create the climate that killed him. They don't directly kill the thousands of gays and lesbians who kill themselves each year, but they create the climate that makes them so miserable that they feel they have no choice. They can't profit from our misery and then take no credit for making us miserable.