UK Association of Christian Counsellors Bans "Ex-Gay" Therapy

MP Geraint Davies

America Christofascists have worked strenuously to export anti-gay animus and bigotry overseas, especially to Russia and Africa.  But they have also worked diligently to export the use and marketing of "ex-gay" or reparative therapy to the United Kingdom.  Now, the Association of Christian Counsellors, the most prominent association of Christian counselors in the UK have banned the use of this American Christofascist export.  Here is an excerpt from the organization's statement to members:

There are certain guiding principles arising from ACC Ethics and Practice framework.  These guiding principles apply when deciding what is appropriate in practice or for any therapeutic model. . . . . We have considered Reparative (or Conversion) Therapy by these principles and have decided that it does not fit the above criteria for the following reasons:

(i) Its language implies that sexuality can be ‘repaired’ and so introduces the idea of treatment or cure.

(ii) Where it is proposed, advertised, or practiced as a therapy, it suggests that a specific outcome is possible and appears to make an a-priori assumption that it should happen. This would not fit any of the above guiding principles.

(iii) It is incompatible with the Equality Act 2010

.

For this reason, we do not endorse Reparative or Conversion Therapy or any model that implies a predetermined direction of outcome of counselling at the outset. We recognize that such models have the potential to impose situational demands on the client at a time of vulnerability with the potential tocreate harm and therefore view them as incompatiblewithin the ethos of counselling. 

 

Members who are considering using this model of therapy should neither commence nor continue to use it and any advertising or promotional material should be replaced immediately, or at least removed from current use.

Kudos for them!  The contrast in ethics between the UK and American snake oil merchants of reparative therapy is striking.  I can already hear the disingenuous tears of the hate merchants at NARTH, PFOX and other "family values" organizations who are losing the battle of marketing a fraudulent and unethical practice.  Gay Star News looks at the decision in the UK.  Here are highlights (NOTE: A bill in Parliament would ban the practice completely):

‘Gay cure’ therapy will be banned for members of the leading body of Christian counselors in the UK.

The Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) said it has instructed members to stop the practice ‘in the interests of public safety’.

The treatment, widely discredited and known to be deeply damaging to a person’s health, was finally agreed by the ACC to not work.

Justifying its new stance, a change since their last statement in 2012, the ACC explained ‘such models have the potential to create harm and therefore view them as incompatible within the ethos of counseling’.

It advised members to not ‘commence or continue’ using such methods and remove or modify any promotional material advertising ‘gay cures’.

‘In the interests of public safety, we have decided to make clear what is expected by those who choose to be part of ACC,’ they said.

The decision by the ACC follows similar statements by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, the UK Council for Psychotherapy and the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Department of Health.

But one of the aggressive proponents of ‘gay cures’ in the UK is resisting the ruling, the Christian organization Core Issues Trust, demanding the ACC ‘provide empirical evidence to support its misleading statement produced on the matter of counseling same-sex attracted persons’.

Patrick Strudwick, a gay journalist who has pioneered the campaign against conversion therapy in the UK, told GSN: ‘When even Britain's Christian counseling organization explains why attempts to convert gay people to heterosexuality through “therapy” are not just nonsense, quack therapy but harmful, you know that we are winning the battle against these dangerous treatments.

A bill to ban ‘gay cure’ therapy in the UK, introduced by Member of Parliament Geraint Davies, will be heard for a second reading on 24 January.

 

‘Gay cure’ therapy will be banned for members of the leading body of Christian counselors in the UK.
The Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) said it has instructed members to stop the practice ‘in the interests of public safety’.
The treatment, widely discredited and known to be deeply damaging to a person’s health, was finally agreed by the ACC to not work.
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/uk-christian-therapists-ban-gay-cures140114#sthash.TlkmyEbE.dpuf