Three Memphis, Tenn., TV stations report on a hearing Feb. 3 between Love In Action and the State of Tennessee. A survivor of the inpatient youth program LIA/Refuge spoke outside the hearing.
From WREG-TV in Memphis, Tenn.:
A 17-year old Georgia boy says he was handcuffed by his parents and brought to Love in Action in Memphis. “You can’t talk to anyone, can’t look anyone, can’t contact anyone, except a counselor,” former Love in Action client DJ Butler makes the religious ministry sound more like a prison than a counseling center for gay men and women.
“They shame you, put you down, call you stupid, you know, tell you the feelings your feeling is stupid,” says Butler. … Butler says he was given prozac during his stay. “They said they don’t do that but they did it.”
From WMC-TV:
Today, 17-year-old D.J. Butler walks the streets of Memphis free. That wasn’t the case last October after his parents found out he was gay.
“They were treating me like they didn’t want me anymore,” Butler said. “I ran away. They ended up finding me, and put me in handcuffs, and taking me to Memphis.”
Butler said his parents forced him to take part in the Love in Action’s Refuge program aimed at teens. The program is designed to teach teens to resist gay feelings.
Love in Action says their program is welcoming and loving, but Butler said it was just the opposite.
“I was told that God loves me but he only loves me when I’m straight, not gay,” he said. …
Butler, who’s now estranged from his parents, left the program after four weeks.
Video from WPTY-TV:
D.J. Butler is a 17-year-old boy who was sent to Love in Action by his parents. Butler, who ran away from the facility, says the things being done in the organization are cruel.
Butler says, “They shame you, put you down, call you stupid, tell you the feelings that you’re feeling are stupid to feel that way because that’s not the normal way to feel them.”
WPTY reports that a federal judge ruled that Love in Action may not continue to treat anyone with mental illness.
Visit the Memphis-based Queer Action Coalition web site for periodic updates.
My first thought was concern that this situation was going to be some kid making wild statements which are easily dismissed.
However, QAC seems to be the type of organization that isn’t inclined to extremism and sensationalism. They tried to protect the identity of Zach Stark (until his father outed him) and they have consistently chosen a message of love and support rather than of anger and opposition. So I wish them all the best.
From the media reports, J.D. Butler comes across as reasonable while LIA/R has their attorney talking to the press which makes them sound defensive and like they have something to hide.
Remember all of LIA/R’s claims that they only take those who want to be there? I wonder how often that requires handcuffs.
Remember how LIA/R claims that it’s a religious body and it’s not about profits? Now we have:
“The state pulled their ultimatum last fall after Love in Action agreed not to take any more patients needing medical treatment. But in return, Love in Action slapped the state with a lawsuit blaming Tennessee for lost clientele. “So they’re losing business, this time last year, they had 22 participants, now they have nine,” says Kellum.”
Losing BUSINESS???
‘God only loves me when I’m straight’.
Powerful tool isn’t it, against a young person.
When you can’t physically bash a kid, you bash with God.
How deeply would that condition a young person’s assumptions about their identity?
Someone even younger than a teen would be profoundly depressed by such a statement coupled with the revelation of same sex attraction.
How painful a thing to be told that you are dangerous, sick, diseased and unwanted when you are still trying to find yourself and fit in.
I don’t care what religious people think they feel about gay people.
There really has to be a law against treating their belief as the freedom to MISTREAT another person and allowing such places like LIA to function anywhere in the US.
As long as it’s been known for decades by legitimate psychiatric bodies that homosexuality is normal and is not subject to any form of ‘treatment’ and that gay people cannot BE treated in any other way that isn’t equal to the way heterosexuals are treated, then places like LIA cannot function legally.
They are on a par with quacks and people of archaic principles that cannot be applied in the modern world.
Regan, I think that’s an idea you should definately bring to your state and federal representative. Such gross abuse upon gay teens should be outlawed just like parents and guardians physically abusing children already is. There’s no ‘freedom of religion’ excuse for abuse whatsoever. What Butler’s parents have done to him merits punishment.
Remember all of LIA/R’s claims that they only take those who want to be there? I wonder how often that requires handcuffs.
John Smid makes that claim out of both sides of his mouth. Last summer he said during some interviews that the mere suggestion that teens were forced into LIA against their will was ridiculous. In others, he asserted that the program “operates on the will of the parents.” Two mutually exclusive propositions. Orwell had a word for it: Doublethink.
Remember how he compared becoming an ex-gay to God giving him the power to see a yellow wall as blue?
That poor brave child!
Good for him. Good for him. Good for him. I’d say he’s going to grow up to be something good and interesting, but how patronizing when clearly, he already is.
Also, I bet a lot of kids are “willing” to “choose” this when the only other choices include homelessness and not being able to go to school, go on to college, or see your friends.
what about those who want to be different?
is there any hope in that?
John