The Alliance Defense Fund and “Love In Action,” an exgay live-in facility in Memphis, are suing the state of Tennessee.
Until recently, LIA claimed to offer therapeutic services. When the state challenged LIA’s failure to obtain a license and hire accredited, college-educated staff members, LIA reworded its web site and marketing materials. LIA deleted its claim to offer licensed therapy and wrapped its mental-health activities in religious language. But LIA continued to provide pseudo-therapeutic services to the mentally ill, including:
- behavior and thought modification programs;
- a 24-hour immersion in 12-step treatment geared toward the reversal of unwanted homosexuality; and
- management of clients’ food, activities, and antidepressant medication
In a public statement reprinted by the Queer Action Coalition, ADF and LIA pretend ignorance of LIA’s history as a flagship exgay live-in facility for the mentally ill.
However, as noted many times previously by Ex-Gay Watch, former participants and employees of LIA including Peterson Toscano and Jeff Harwood say that LIA staff were underequipped, undereducated, and poorly trained to cope with emotionally unstable and suicidal clients.
Toscano notes today on his weblog that LIA, which drills into clients the notion of taking responsibility and refraining from playing victim, has now solicited the resources of one of the religious right’s largest, best-funded and most litigious activist organizations, and Tennessee’s two largest Southern Baptist churches, in a vast exercise of playing victim before the media and the state’s unfortunate taxpayers.
Read more about the exgay lawsuit against Tennessee (PDF copy) and Love In Action press release (Word document) at the Queer Action Coalition web site.
I kind of welcome this lawsuit.
If the state decides to make them back up their claims in a court of law, they’ll have to provide some sort of proof.
So lets see those medical studies touting the effectiveness of LIA.
Expert witnesses? Bring em on.
Former clients, haul em into court baby!
Lets get this show on the road and see exactly what LIA is really made of.
(cross commented at a-musing and QAC).
The clause of the law seems clear enough (emph. mine):
From a reading of the oversight that LIA places on their participants, it is difficult to see how they plan to explain exactly why they should not be licensed. This apart from the way that LIA presented itself prior to them coming to the attention of the dept.That other facilities, religious or otherwise, may also be unlicensed is a compelling reason for the dept. to extend its watch — not an excuse for LIA to break the law.And wouldn’t you guess, they claim a right to break the law based on their religious views. I seem to remember a little speech about “Render unto Caesar…” on that matter.It will be interesting to see who crawls out of the woodwork to defend them.
I have to admit, I am somewhat confused. Does LIA/R have any licences whatsoever? Do they, for example, have a license to run a hotel or rooming house, which at one level is what they seem to be doing? Do they have a license to run a restaurant or other cooking facility, which at about the same level, they seem to be doing? Regardless of whether they have licenses for the “therapy” they purport to be providing, do they have any licenses at all for the “services” they are providing for their inmates?
I would like to believe that ex-gay groups and their hurtful lies would be laughed out of court or the press, but the media is always happy to give cover to homophobes and more than happy to convince the public that gays can “go straight”. I think this is just the publicity that the ex-gay movement has wanted. And I won’t be surprised if they drag Zack onto the stand and he testifies about all the wonderful things they did for him.
The media and anti-gay groups have been looking for the right time to make America even more opposed to any recognition of homosexuals as human beings. Looks like they have found it.
Oh and I think all this “religious freedom” type of comments they are now suddenly saying is an excuse for more ‘mainstream’ Christian groups to convince people that ex-gay brainwashing is perfectly fine and anyone who opposes it is persecuting Christians. They know that a lot of Christians oppose doing this to teens, so they are trying to convince them that to oppose it is to be like Godless heathens. I think these groups may also work with the GOP to give faith-based government money to ex-gay groups and to make a federal push on ex-gay legislation. I think they know this may be their last chance to get this pushed on a national level, since so many voters are tired of a far-right government and may vote some of the Republicans out in 2006.
I’m with Scott, MAKE them prove their claims of efficacy, instead of just saying them.
They have counted too long on anyone not really investigating those claims.
They count on people accepting them and their ministry without protest or challenge.
I would LOVE for them to bring their ‘expert’ witnesses.
Most of whom seem to be people with their own emotional problems.
I’d love to see how they justify the repressive phases of their ministry where certain clothing and music and such isn’t allowed.
These ministries themselves are mentally ill.
Paranoid schizophrenic when it comes to homosexuality. I’d like to see them show why they insist that something is an illness or unacceptable, if the pathologies they keep bringing up are also present in heterosexuals.
My worry is the jury, if they have one. Or the judge.
They could be just as knuckleheaded as those who run LIA.
Speaking of anti-gay/ex-gay groups, Focus on the Family is bragging about getting major airtime on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition THIS Sunday. I put their link in the URL box. This is only the latest attempt by ABC to curry favor with this group – last spring “Supernanny” ran an ad paid for by Focus on the Family. In early August, “The View” ran a positive profile of “graduates” from Exodus International.
If you want to ask Endemol, the company that produces this show, why they are pandering to bigots, please use this contact information:
Endemol USA 9255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1100 Los Angeles, CA 90069
Telephone: +1 310 860 9914 Fax: +1 310 860 1417
E-mail: Tina.Hoover@endemolusa.tv
Management: David Goldberg, President
ABC:
ABC Media Relations: Alison Rou (818) 460- 7798
Ask them how they associate with a group that declared “war on tolerance”.
https://www.splcenter.org/center/splcreport/article.jsp?aid=131
This is beyond ridiculous. If my agency operated like this we’d be shut down immediately and people might even be prosecuted.
Prosecutor: Mr Smid, your organization is providing counseling and dispensing medication without a license.
John Smid: No we aren’t.
Prosecutor: Mr. Smid, clearly your fcility-
John Smid: We don’t have a facility.
Prosecutor: But Mr. Smid, we have your own statements, records, testimony from prior clients-
John Smid: No you don’t.
Prosecutor: I’m holding them in my hand Mr. Smid
John Smid: My name isn’t Mr. Smid
Prosecutor: Mr Smid-
John Smid: I AM ABOVE THE LAW!!!
To second something posted on Peter Toscano’s blog, anyone here with experience of this program, and ESPECIALLY anything in the way of documentation, PLEASE contact the state of Tennessee.
It is the quiet and continual examples of our lives (through love) throughout this country and our relationships (with our loving partners, families and friends) that will make the difference and create the powerful change that we desire.
I believe this law suit will make a difference in the long run because court cases require evidence and when organizations like LIA are forced to prove they are not a mental health organization they’re going to have to do a major song and dance to prove that they are not acting like a mental health organization. I don’t think they’re going to get away with it no matter how much money and support they have from prestigious religious/legal organizations.
Watch and see what happens.
I’m a lawyer, but not in TN. This is an odd complaint. In most states of which I am aware, complaints (which are filed to start civil actions) are basically “notice pleadings.” That is, the complaints allege a bare minimum of facts which are necessary to identify the application of the state law against the action of the party being sued.
As far as I can tell, neither PFLAG nor QAC is being sued. So why this extraneous matter regarding PFLAG and QAC in a complaint filed against the TN state government? Other than the supposition that the plaintiffs merely want to take a swipe at them and figure that they won’t get as much advertising subsequently.
It sounds like it’s mainly for PR. They need to get the perception out that the “radical homosexual activists” somehow forced the state of Tennessee to investigate them. Obviously the state attorney’s office and licensing boards would quickly crumble and submit to the awesome power of 20 or so queer teenagers.