From the Associated Press via 365gay.com:
The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has ordered the closing of what it calls two unlicensed personal care facilities run by a Christian group that claims to counsel gays to give up homosexuality.
The state inspected two facilities in Memphis on Aug. 19 and determined Love In Action International Inc. was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license, according to a subsequent letter to the organization from the Department of Mental Health.
The department gave Love In Action until Sept. 23 to cease operation of the facilities and apply for a state license.
The Love In Action facilities were still in operation as of Sept. 19, according to state spokeswoman Lola Potter.
As the deadline to close approaches, a Fox News affiliate in Memphis was planning to air a report on LIA tonight, according to the local Queer Action Coalition. The affiliate interviewed former LIA client Jeff Harwood.
Another former client, Peterson Toscano, commented Sept. 19 about the “false image” created by LIA about its own leadership. “False Image,” or “F.I.,” has been used as a form of denigration by some exgay counselors against the gender identity of clients who decline to conform their dress, gestures and interests to strict religious-right gender stereotypes.
Gay activist and author Wayne Besen is also tracking this story.
I’m a bit concerned about the state saying that LIA was housing mentally ill patients. How did they come to this determination? Just because they were seeking therapy to become ex-gay does not in and of itself make then mentally ill.
Brady,
Mental illness is a broad term that takes in everything from schizophrenia to depression. As a graduate of LiA and a former house manager, I have seen a few cases of extreme psychoses, but more often the clients are depressed that they cannot reconcile their homosexuality to a fundamental faith.
Being gay or seeking to become ex-gay is not why the state has labeled LiA as a mental-health-treatment-facility wannabe: it’s because the men and women who have gone through the program are dealing with severe depression at times as well as suicidal behaviors.
None of us want to be knocked back to square one where we’re thought to be pyschotic because we’re gay. But it is a pivotal move for the State to say that the clients who experience mental health issues deserve a staff who is trained to accomodate their needs.
Re: mental illness — this from Melzer at the Wash Blade:
So, apparently, at least some clients are mentally ill. What proportion on average, who knows?(But that would be an interesting factoid — given the severely restricting environment at LIA/R and the mind-bending distortions/word games, I wouldn’t mind betting rather more than a few off-the-wall characters are attracted to the “treatment”.)
Huh, who am I kidding…Rather more than a few off-the-wall characters already run LIA!
Bob P. at September 20, 2005 11:58 PM
Just a short comment from your 2d paragraph. It sounds like the LIA/R program may have actually exacerbated mental problems in some of its inmates–sorry patients. Am I reading you correctly?
On a broader issue, wouldn’t they need to have a license to run a residence facility, regardless of the purpose of the facility? Even hotels and rooming houses usually have to have licenses to operate. Did they have any licenses?
Raj…
The answer to your question is an overwhelming YES! I’ll be vulnerable and use myself as an example. Step 4 of a 12-step program is a moral inventory. This is a list of all of the wrongs you have committed and how it affected others and yourself. I asked Nathan Bell how exhaustive he wanted the list. He said to write everything. I asked him to clarify, and he said, “Everything.”
So I began writing my Step 4. As a person who felt extreme guilt for anything you can possibly imagine, I soon immersed myself in my “sinfulness.” I became more and more despondent and outright depressed.
One night I was so low that I decided to go to an adult bookstore–just for a temporary release from the constant mental torture I was imposing upon myself. Rather, I went to the Central Church parking lot–which at that time was at Kirby and Winchester–and began brooding about my wickedness. I reclined my seat, and then–SMACK!–I hit my face as hard as I could. I began crying and continued harming myself.
When I told staff what I had done, they put me on “safekeeping.” After talking to my psychologist Dr. Duff Wright, he ordered that I discontinue Step 4 for the time being. The depression continued so he recommended I read and completed the assignments in “Search for Significance.” That experience was a life-saver. I made many gains as I worked through the book and talked during my sessions with Duff.
Finally, I was allowed to complete an abbreviated Step 4. But the greatest harm from staff came when they began using me and my experience as an example to other clients of how not to do a Step 4. Staff set a limit for future clients on the amount of time allowed to complete this step.
While I’m happy that my experience helped others, it was always painful to hear staff poke fun at my situation as they counseled other clients about the pitfalls of doing an exhaustive Step 4.
To answer your other question, Raj…To my knowledge, LiA has no licenses for operating facilities. Whether or not a group facility (without the mentally ill moniker) must be licensed, I don’t know. Although we were living out in the country when I first moved to Memphis, we had 12 or 13 people sitting around our table during dinner. With their two homes (now within the city limits of Memphis), I’m sure the number of men per house is smaller, but it’s still a greater number than a normal single-family dwelling would house–expecially of non-related persons.
PFLAG Grateful for Closure of Love in Action:
Hopes for Greater Scrutiny of All ‘Ex-Gay’ Practitioners
https://press.arrivenet.com/politics/article.php/695807.html
Press release quote: “We hope this will serve as notice to other practitioners of this junk science known as ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy that their days are numbered” said PFLAG spokesperson, Ron Schlittler. “And we hope that this action by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health is noticed by similar agencies in other states. We applaud that awareness of this fraud and false hope is finally getting the scrutiny it deserves, and that Love in Action faces criminal penalties if they do not shut down. Simply put, lives are at stake.”
I think if you trying to become an ex-gay you are mentally ill. Theres nothing wrong with anyone for being gay I think its wrong to try and change that about yourself. It is even more crazy and plain sick for someone to try and convert someone to being ex gay for religious or moral reasons whatever. Doing that shit is just as bad as the cults that try and brainwash our children.