"Ex-Gay" Therapist Found Guilty Of Sexual Misconduct
Terrance Lewis, a 60-year old therapist and former Bible college instructor from Winnipeg, has been found guilty of sexually manipulating a male patient who was seeking therapy to turn from gay to straight.
The 21-year old patient, who began therapy after his parents caught him looking at gay pornography on the Internet, was told that special “touch” sessions would turn him straight:
[The therapy was to] assist me to be straight and to live a straight life.
The scenario was that [Lewis] would be my wife on our honeymoon night. He would say, “When you are kissing me, you are not kissing me, you are kissing your girlfriend,” trying to make me comfortable kissing a girlfriend.
He said I was to tell no one about it because no one would understand.
These special therapy sessions took place in various locations throughout Winnipeg, including the Fun Mountain waterslides, the floodways surrounding the city, and Lewis’ car. This continued until the patient started seeing a different therapist, who immediately contacted the police.
Reparative therapy is often supported by anti-gay and religious groups who believe that sexual orientation is a choice that can be reversed. This attitude is rejected, however, by numerous professional and medical organisations. The American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Counseling Association, American Psychiatric Association, National Association of Social Workers, and probably many other professional organizations that start with “American” or “National,” have all gone on record to say that reparative therapy is unnecessary and ineffective at best, and actively harmful at worst.
Hat Tip to Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out, an organisation that counters and discredits the ex-gay movement.
- Man found guilty in gay “therapy” case [Winnipeg SUN]
- Former Bible college counsellor guilty of sex assaults [Canada.com]
