I’ve got bigger stories than this to report, but I’ve been busy. A couple folks gave me a gentle push about this item, though, so here it is.
Jon Rowe notes an interesting thing about ex-gay ex-tolerance activist Noe Gutierrez, who was mentioned by XGW a couple days ago.
The interesting thing here is that this fellow‘s “born-again” experience, which in turn lead to his “change” away from homosexuality, was facilitated or even wholly caused by a trip on magic mushrooms.
Rowe’s assessment of Gutierrez is a bit harsher than mine: I simply acknowledge that some people come to religion in strange ways that contradict a claim to moral purity or clarity of mind. I don’t have a problem with that.
But if someone continues to market and profit from stereotypes that were inspired by a drug trip — or by a rebellion to the opposite extreme — then credibility suffers.
Magic mushrooms, hmmm?
Wasn’t John Paulk the guy who claimed that he was experiencing conversion under the spinning lights at a dance club, transformed on the dance floor so to speak. He never mentioned if he had just chowed down some magic muchrooms though. Devin
He was “born again” by some magic mushrooms? Hmmm…I would like to hear the christian response to this one. I was raised in an evangelical religion and if anyone were caught “tripping” on anything other than God you were immediately kicked out the door of the church.
If this is true, it makes everything about the guy suspect.
According to the snippet on Jon Rowe’s blog, as well, Gutierrez claims that God spoke to him (he doesn’t indicate how) and told him to stop comparing himself to other men, as if he weren’t a man – once he did that presto,chango, Gutierrez wasn’t gay anymore.
I am certainly a believer in the power of the mind, but this seems to good to be true. Even if it were to happen that way, it was clearly a miracle – by definition an extremely rare occurrence, so I highly doubt it’s happened to “thousands” of others, as the “ex-gay” movement says.
Strangely enough, when I went through my home-grown version of “ex-gay” therapy, I too discovered my own masculinity. I found I actually like watching sports (but I still love Trading Spaces) and playing sports, that I was competitive as hell on the field. Once I help stop a car thief, I pretty much felt like a “real man.” Of course, I was also still as Queer as a 3-dollar bill, so obviously the same action does not have the same effect on everyone.
Thanks!
I think the real sad thing is the link-thrus on Noe’s site over to Inqueery and the ‘Ex-Gay’ Caucus of the NEA. While the Inqueery author’s attempts at limiting homophobia are admirable, he does greater, lasting harm by spreading a bad reading of science as ‘fact’ and stating that there is a case to be made for his, Ex-Gay, “change is possible,” point of view.
Rather than clarifying matters, both Noe and Chad Thompson are muddying the waters still more.
I don’t care if his conversion fit some evangelical’s view of “moral purity”. But it does amuse me that he would go through this experience and then embrace such an intolerant-sounding form of morality.
Gutierrez offers an alternative to the concept that substance-altered consciousness is always counterfeit consciousness. That works for me, not as an absolute black-and-white truth, but to the extent that many things — a glass of wine, good sex, meditative and spiritual experiences — can produce a somewhat altered consciousness that can be eye-opening and positive beyond the actual experience.