01.31.06
Posted in Ex-gay, General, Identity, Psychology & Research at 10:37 am by AnJ
Foreword
Before i begin, i want to state something with respect to Liberty League:
It is acceptable for someone to have negative views on homosexuals… After all, it’s their right to choose what they wish to believe in. Freedom of faith, yes?
BUT, it is NOT acceptable to LIE about what mental health professionals are saying about homosexuality. You want to have bad thoughts about homosexuality… Sure- but don’t you dare support that with scientific claims. That’s LYING.
It is VERY UNACCEPTABLE to advocate, and put into praxis, a therapy (i.e. reparative/conversion therapy) that has an extensive pool of research that indicates its harmfulness to one’s mental well-being.
Some of us think that counselling is “Words! How much damage can words do?!” Words are easy- but they have a certain power to them. Have you ever been hurt by what a teacher said to you in your younger years? Ever heard of VERBAL ABUSE? Has anyone said anything encouraging such that it changed an aspect or a period of your life? There- i just demostrated the power of words in your life.
Now that i got that off my chest… i am going give you an insight as to why homosexuality is not considered a mental sickness by up-to-date psychologists (and other mental health professionals). Knowing that there is nothing wrong scientifically is not enough- you need to know why that conclusion was made.
What is abnormal behavior?
Abnormal behavior (mental sickness) has been defined in a number of ways over the years. Let’s look at some of the definitions that have been used. And finally, we will touch on what is best used- which is the eclectic approach (combining multiple perspectives for a more balanced view).
Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Mier is a well-adjusted individual with loving parents, a doting sibling, wonderful friends, a girlfriend from heaven and a God who loves her with a love that surpasses understanding.
- Forum discussion: Local LGBT News
- technorati: homosexuality, gays, lesbians, mental, sickness, abnormal, psychology, liberty league
Permalink
01.29.06
Posted in Youth at 5:51 pm by pleinelune
Taken from villamaria.qc.ca
Everyone knows about the reputation of various girls’ schools in Singapore. RGS turns out unmarriageable feminists. SCGS creates tai-tais. Nanyang girls are eccentric, and would probably become First Ladies. These accusations are mostly asinine, and rational people would know that.
But the biggest false accusation levelled at all these schools is the supposed belief that girls’ schools “creates” lesbians. Is there any truth to this? Does coming from a girls’ schools “make” you lesbian? Many of you would remember the CNA show “Get Rea!”, by Diana Ser, one of whose episodes focused on this very matter, and concluded that girls schools do make our girls “lesbian”.
Before refuting this theory outright, I’d like explore the environment in girls’ schools, and see what factors might have contributed to this misconception.
Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Pleinelune believes that people who think same-sex schools encourage homosexuality should be given a knock on the head.
- Forum discussion: Youth
- technorati: queer, lesbian, single-sex schools, youth
Permalink
01.25.06
Posted in Coming out, Emotional Health, Health, Identity at 12:35 am by Peggy
This is a monthly column on life journeys, matters of the heart and healthy emotional living by Peggy.
My darling Wen
It has been almost a year since you died. I miss you my darling, I miss holding your hand in mine, those long conversations as we walked along the beach, your strong comforting presence next to mine.
I remember how we first got to know each other in the drama & debating team. We became fast friends due to our similar interests - films, books and music. We mugged together for our first year exams; stayed up late cramming formulas and facts into our heads.
I never knew, never in my wildest dreams did I guess that I could be in love with a woman. It was the same for you too. But yet, the moment when we realized that our feelings for each other were more than best friends - it just felt so right; both of us agreed.
Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Peggy is an ardent student of heartware who happens to be a qualified counsellor. She is also the founder of Ooga Chaga Women, a non-religious support group for les/bi/questioning women. (A better alternative to Liberty League!)
- Forum discussion: Emotional Health
- technorati: lesbian, coming out, queer, youth, emotional health
Permalink
01.19.06
Posted in Ex-gay, General, Psychology & Research at 10:11 pm by AnJ
What does Psychology say about Homosexuality?
Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II) in 1973. It was replaced by “sexual orientation disturbance”- specifically for homosexuals who are in conflict and wish to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual. The term “ego-dystonic homosexuality”, which was introduced in DSM-III, captures the same essence. However, this term was eventually removed in 1987 as well, marking the most significant step.Despite these changes, many mental health professionals (especially those who are conservative Christians) continue to regard homosexuality as an abnormality which requires “correction”. The last decade has seen a resurgence of research on reparative therapy (also known as conversion therapy) as the dialectic between proponents and opponents of this therapy intensifies.
Theories of homosexuality:
The psychoanalytic perspective indicates that homosexuality results as a developmental disorder (during a pre-oedipal crisis)- when the child failed to attach to same-sex parents or peers. Hence, they develop inferiority towards same-sex others (Morrow & Beckstead, 2004). Father is experienced as distant and cold (Bright, 2004). The child attaches to his mother, adopting a female identity. To compensate for the lost male identity, male child ‘absorbs’ masculinity by ‘feeding upon’ other men (Bright, 2004). Reparative therapists believe that‘stronger and more confident gender identification’ would help (Spitzer, 2003). This was later translated as more masculine for men and more feminine for women- a reinforcement of traditional gender roles (Beckstead & Morrow, 2004).
Sanor Rado laid the foundations for reparative therapies (Halpert, 2000). Sanor Rado replaced Freud’s model with one of inherent bisexuality, where heterosexuality is the correct outcome of sexual orientation. Socarides popularized ‘domineering mother and absent father’ model of psychopathology. He proposed a conflict model, where intrapsychic forces come into play, and hence defining homosexuality as an illness. Ovesey (1969) took gender roles into the theory and proposed a behavioral approach that requires engagement in heterosexual intercourse to over phobia of the opposite sex (Halpert, 2004).
What is Reparative therapy?
Reparative therapy has been defined as psychotherapeutic cures which are meant to convert sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. The term “reparative therapy” is coined by Joseph Nicolsi in 1991.
Some methods utilized by reparative therapy- Electric shocks; surgery (i.e. cauterization of spinal cord, clitoridectomy, castration, ovary removal etc.); hormone therapy (i.e. radiation or steroids.); masturbatory reconditioning, prayer and spiritual interventions.
Unsuccessful converts may experience the following: Increased depression, increased desire for death (suicidal tendencies), internalized homophobia, lower self-esteem, increased misperceptions of homosexuality, increased negative affect towards parents (because of the theory used to explain the cause of homosexuality), increased self-hatred, sexual dysfunction and intimacy avoidance, delayed identity development, loneliness, fear of being a child-abuser, loss of faith etc (Beckstead & Morrow, 2004). Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Mier believes that undergoing reparative therapy is synonymous to dancing in the valley of gloom and death.
- Forum discussion: Local LGBT News
- technorati: Reparative therapy, Conversion therapy, Homosexuality, sexual orientation, Liberty League
Permalink
Posted in Ex-gay, General, LGBT Rights at 8:46 pm by snorkeem
Media Release From People Like Us (PLU)
19 Jan 2006, 20.30h
Singapore govt gives $100,000 to Christian anti-gay group
By giving $100,000 to Liberty League, as reported by ChannelNewsAsia (CNA), the Singapore government is helping to promote a religious cause founded on unscientific and psychologically damaging methods.
Liberty League intends to “promote gender and sexual health” through “conduct[ing] sexuality talks in schools” - CNA report.
However, Liberty League’s website promotes a book ‘Freedom of Choice’. The book’s subjects were almost totally from the Christian group, Choices, which runs programmes teaching that homosexuality is a psychological dysfunction. The book thus promotes this kind of pseudo-therapy propagated by fundamentalist Christian groups.
Mr Leslie Lung, the founder of Liberty League has long been known to be associated with “ex-gay” ministries. The “ex-gay” or “reparative therapy” movement is strongly associated with the more extreme churches in the United States. Liberty League’s website itself uses terms such as “sexual brokenness”, “addiction and abuse”.
In a seminar organised by the Graduates Christian Fellowship on 13 October 2005, which described homosexuality as a psychological problem, Liberty League was touted as resource for counseling. It was recommended by Mr Tan Thuan Seng, the President of Focus on the Family, Singapore (FOTF-Sg) who is known to regularly give anti-gay talks in Christian circles.
FOTF-Sg is an affiliate of Christian- and US-based Focus on the Family as can be seen from the latter’s website. The anti-gay, proselytising stance of Focus on the Family is well known. One may therefore infer that since it was recommended by FOTF-Sg, Liberty League shares a similar position regarding faith and homosexuality.
Liberty League is also lauded on the website of Exodus Singapore, the Christian ex-gay group, . It too speaks of “sexual brokenness” and teaches “God’s plan for sexuality”. On its Policy page, it says, “Exodus Asia Pacific cites homosexual tendencies as one of many disorders that beset fallen humanity.
Christ offers a healing alternative to those with sexual and relational problems.” An 18-year-old student who had attended one of Mr Lung’s earlier talks in her school wrote in her report (deposited with People Like Us) that she had to “sit through a one-hour treatise on why homosexuality was wrong, and if we had any same-sex attractions, we should immediately seek help and ‘turn straight’.
“He made several references to God and the Bible during the talk,” she wrote, and that “it was pretty insensitive to everyone non-Christian.”
It should be noted that in his statement to CNA, Mr Lung spoke of “coming out of [homosexuality]“. At first glance, this phrase appears similar to “coming out” - the well-accepted process of healthy psychological development for gay and lesbian persons - but it is in fact a trojan horse for the opposite: destructive self-denial of a person’s own sexuality.
PLU finds it reprehensible that while the World Health Organization [1] and reputable psychological associations [2] no longer treat homosexuality as a disorder, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) would still fund an organization that has been founded on this unscientific and damaging premise. (More information on this in Annex.)
The government needs to explain why the NVPC thinks $100,000 is money well spent when given to a disguised religious cause based on unscientific psychotherapeutic approaches that seek to deform young people’s sense of self-worth and psychological health.
PLU also notes that the published guidelines for eligibility for funding from the NVPC include the stipulation that all programmes must be secular, and believes the government needs to explain its grant to Liberty League when even 18 year-old students can so clearly spot its religious agenda. The government also needs to explain how this grant is consistent with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s claim that the government is not homophobic, made in a comment to the Foreign Correspondents Association on 6 October 2005.
For more information, please contact:
Alex Au
Miak Siew
People Like Us
Read the rest of this entry »
- Forum discussion: LGBT Rights
- technorati: gay, lesbian, ex-gay, Liberty League, singapore, queer
Permalink
Posted in Events at 12:12 am by sayoni
Brokeback Mountain Charity Premiere
in benefit of Action for AIDS Singapore
Date: 8 Feb 2006 (Wednesday)
Time: 9 pm
Venue: Shaw Lido One
Rating: R21
Tickets: $60, $30
Book your tickets and/or donate to Action for AIDS by clicking the link below. 
http://www.fridae.com/shop
Permalink
01.16.06
Posted in Ex-gay, Singapore Gay News at 8:23 pm by pleinelune
SINGAPORE : Focus groups to help gays and lesbians understand their sexual identity are just one of the things that newly set up Liberty League plans to put in place.
The non-profit organisation has received a S$100,000 grant from the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre.
Liberty League says it is the first community service group of its kind in Singapore.
Its mission is to promote gender and sexual health for the individual, family and society.
To achieve this, it will conduct sexuality talks in schools.
It will also work with organisations such as the Girls’ Brigade to educate teenagers on sexuality and biology.
The group will address issues related to romantic relationships, be they heterosexual or otherwise.
It says another important aspect of its work is focus groups for gays, lesbians and transsexuals who are grappling with their gender identities.
Currently, 70 percent of those it works with fall into this category.
There will also be support groups for parents of homosexuals.
Said Leslie Lung, founder and executive director of the Liberty League , “This is very much based on the Alcoholic Anonymous self-help principles. So people come; it’s an environment that is friendly, warm, based on friendship, encouraging people to take small steps to talk about the issues, recognize why they are doing certain things, find resolutions.”
Does it mean that Liberty League champions gay and lesbian rights?
Leslie Lung explained, “We champion human rights really. It’s about people being able to say, I’m human and sexual orientation is so wide. Being gay and lesbian is part of it; coming out of it is part of it as well.”
In a conservative society like Singapore, the league’s work can be expected to be controversial.
But the NVPC’s S$100,000 start-up grant has helped given the low-profile group a public platform for its work.
The money comes from the Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports; a ministry official also sits on the panel that approves the grants.
Said Tan Chee Koon, chief executive officer of the NVPC, “Among teenagers, there are some who are confused about sexuality issues, and do need to seek clarification and help to work them through their confusion.”
She added, “They need to go to some non-threatening parties to talk about their concerns.”
Asked about the nature of the group’s work, and those it will be working with, Mrs Tan says the NVPC is all for work that benefits the community.
She said, “We don’t sit in judgment on this score but of course it must be for the public good. It must benefit the community; it must be about good works. But if somebody in this case seeks to go out to affirm gender — in their case healthy sexuality and gender affirmation — we are neutral on that score.”
Mrs Tan added, “When I look at the grant, we are like social investors that invest in non-profit initiatives, which if they prove to be successful, the outcome is that lives are rebuilt, needs are met, volunteers are raised and community resources mobilised.”
Liberty League will be officially launched on 25 January. - CNA /ct
Channelnewsasia
*facepalm*
So the government is now trying a new tactic. Instead of prosecuting gay people for having sex, for giving blood, and just simply existing, they are now trying to make them straight.
It made my jaw drop, at first, to see this matter discussed so openly on CNA. For a moment, I thought my wildest dreams had come true, and the government was actually relenting on gay people - and giving funding to an actual support group.
Then I saw Leslie Lung’s name, and it all crashed down around me.
Newsflash: Liberty League is an ex-gay group, insidiously hiding their real intentions behind polished words and a $100000 grant. At first, their statements sound promising - “clarification”, “human rights”…. then you read past all that glitter, and the real meaning surfaces. Phrases like “coming out of it” are a dead giveaway. Their statement reads: ” ….. explore issues of sexual brokenness, orientation, gender identity and addiction.” Addiction? Interesting.
What nauseates me is not so much that this is yet another Christian ex-gay group [because, make no mistake, this IS a thinly disguised diversity-intolerant Christian ex-gay group] trying to “stamp out” homosexuality, but how the government, the media and Liberty League are colluding to make this appear all rosy and inviting.
If anyone knows anything about Leslie Lung, the founder, is that he is a self-proclaimed “ex-transsexual”, who is preaching the message of heterosexuality to anyone who listens. He is the author of the book “Freedom of Choice”, a collection of greatly exaggerated, depressing stories, mostly about being gay. He also travels around, preaching in schools and such. I know, because I was one of those girls once who were trapped in a hall listening to his ignorant words. That he, would actually set up a gay-affirming group, is beyond imagination to anyone who knows him. I’ve met him, and his new-found “heterosexuality” does not seem to have extended to his effiminate behaviour. The psychologist must have had a hard time trying to change that - that’s the way he was born, after all.
I just hope that girls and boys out there, who might be struggling with issues of same-sex attraction and not knowing the real nature of Liberty League, will never fall into their hands. For it will certainly destroy them emotionally and psychologically.
Liberty League
- Forum discussion: Local GLBT news
- technorati: gay, lesbian, ex-gay, Liberty League, singapore, queer
Permalink
01.08.06
Posted in Coming out, Identity, LUSH, Support Groups at 10:49 am by jin
This is the monthly column by jin on being a gay christian and the journey towards finding God and herself.
Wow! My own column! With people to read it! I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. Yes, you may imagine me tapping this out on my laptop, sprawled on my bed, propped up by my elbows, thoughtful faraway look in my eyes. But I’m not thin. And not American. And, actually, I am scribbling this on the MRT.
My name is Jin, you may know me as one of the founders and facilitators of LUSH: Lesbians United for Self-Help. This group was started in November this year, for Christian lesbians from various walks of life to come together and share their experiences in life, and form a safe support network for each other.
You may also know me as the elder of 2 daughters, with a large, lively (read: noisy) extended family. It’s hard for you to know me without some mention of my family because they are part of my life, and growing up surrounded by so many relatives must have had an impact in shaping me in some way or other. So the story of my life thus far, will definitely include some information about my family. Or “clan” as we sometimes call it.
Background knowledge: The whole family is Christian, mostly Methodist.
Read the rest of this entry »
- Column:
- About: Jin is in an eternal struggle to keep her halo in the right place. She is also the founder of LUSH (Lesbians United for Self-Help), a support group for gay Christian women.
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, queer, coming out, christianity, gay christians
Permalink
01.07.06
Posted in Events at 12:25 pm by sayoni
7th jan - deadline for articles
Permalink
01.06.06
Posted in General, Identity, Wise at 9:43 pm by st
This is a part of the monthly column by st on being a mature lesbian and the issues of living it out in gay nation.
When I was asked to share some of my thoughts as a mature (old) lesbian, I realised that there are more things that I don’t know than things that I really know. When I looked into the dictionary for the word ‘Age’, it says:’>how old< the number of years someone has lived or something has existed.’ It gets interesting when it describes wine: ‘improve and develop in quality and taste, over a period of time.’ If only there is a fool proof formula to help me age like good wine…
At the age of 42, I have to learn that life is meant to be experienced; it is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be experienced…
I have always fallen for women since my teens and I thought I had some biological disorder. I had to suppress my true self and ‘act’ according to the ‘normal’ majority in order to find acceptance. Thanks to the internet and fearless young women who are willing to devote their time to help lesbians regardless of age: in 2003, I found out that there is a community for people like me. It was a totally new experience – I was taught to love and accept myself for who I really am and not be ashamed. From then on, there was a lot of unlearning for me to do – I was made aware of my own internalised homophobic behaviour and I learned to really love the people who are important in my life by being who I really am. Life was more fulfilling than before and at last, I have found real acceptance.
If it wasn’t for the fearless women who have helped me, the closet will still be my only playroom and the mothballs my toy. I hope that Sayoni too, will be a platform for all queer women to come together and share our experiences - the young lesbians with their energy and idealism finding a happy merger with the older lesbians with their wisdom and experience, thus enriching the wider community. This is the Sayoni’s vintage – may this site age like great wine!
- About: st is a 42 year old lesbian who tends to forget her age due to selective dementia.
- Forum discussion: Mature
- technorati: queer, women, lesbian, mature
Permalink
