Voices outside the (current) public orthodoxy
Review by Dr Chris Sugden in the Church of England Newspaper:
David Aaronovitch pointed out (Times June 22) that referrals to Gender Identity Development Service soared from 72 in 2009-10 to more than 1,800 in 2016-17, and that 70 per cent of the referrals were for girls. …given that the clinic was now often prescribing puberty blockers,..this was a diagnostic fashion… with consequences……According to some estimates, by the mid 1990s up to 50,000 US therapists accepted the notion of repressed memory, which since the 1970s had led to the construction of false narratives of forgotten abuse, innocent people being sent to prison and close loving families destroyed. “A dogma was established which it was initially very hard for other professionals to question without being condemned.”
In the Times June 25, Douglas Murray asked “if you can think of anyone who …even sits on any major public body who holds any of the “unacceptable” views on the questions of our day.” ….Has any one of these people ever spoken out in support of such policies? He mentions JK Rowling’s objection to trans rights. We can think of others. “The cultural weather of the country is precisely controlled by the people who control this country’s institutions…..the people in charge of nearly all such bodies … have signed up to the exact same set of approved orthodoxies. To step outside these orthodoxies would be to commit a type of heresy.”
X-Out-Loud – emerging Ex-LGBT voices questions one orthodoxy among the Church of England hierarchy which proves Murray’s point: “Run for a post at such an institution while disagreeing with the current orthodoxy you will find the coolest reception imaginable. And no job offer at the end of it.”
The book offers 44 testimonies from men and women aged between from 20 to 50 from 20 countries on five continents who now identify as ‘ex-gay’; some, but by no means all, are now married to someone of the complementary sex.
Some themes re-occur. Most had some Christian upbringing. Some were sexually abused as young children. Many recall having same-sex feelings well before puberty. Some lived in same-sex relationships while maintaining faith in Jesus and attending church.
Common to all was a growing or sometimes sudden awareness that God was speaking to them personally, sometimes through His Word, once in a dream, that their same-sex behaviour was neither His will nor best for them. While some mention talking with a pastor following this divine encounter, none attribute their change to any counselling or therapy, let alone any pressure from others. God spoke and that was it. But all needed to be in a position to hear Him and listen. Often they were in despair at their inner unhappiness. One wrote: “At the core of my homosexual condition were deep wounds”.
This book was offered recently, following a discussion, to one bishop who holds that same-sex blessings are compatible with scripture. He was honest enough to admit he had never known about people with such an experience.
X-OUT-LOUD; Emerging Ex-LGBT Voices. Core Issues Trust 2021 96 pages foolscap £16-50 xoutloud.com/book
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
