Rev. Dr. David Gushee

Many conservative Christians are tragically locked into a worldview which requires them to attack the personhood of that minority of their brothers and sisters who are LGBTQ. The only way the world makes sense from their perspective is to believe that the persistent self-reports offered by sexual minorities must be in error, must be mistaken, and if possible must be altered, by any means necessary. What results–conversion therapy,  by whatever mean–is an extreme, damaging, and fruitless assault on the personhood and dignity of its victims.

Long ago, I used to lazily accept the version of Christianity that required or at least suggested that this assault is the best approach to deal with sexual minorities. But I abandoned it once I really came to know the actual experiences of LGBTQ Christians and ex-Christians, including the traumas they experienced when they tried to cauterize their given sexuality either on their own or with 'professional help.' Now I join many others in believing that sexual orientation is a given part of the human person and that attempting to alter it is like trying to change green eyes to blue or left-handed people to right-handed people.

What really needs to be converted is a worldview that requires this mental torture as a condition of Christian acceptance.

I believe this, now, with all my heart.