In case what you were wondering what it looks like when a “former gay” is handed his ass on a platter by a power lesbian…
Yesterday, Political Talk Show host and all around badass, Rachel Maddow, welcomed Richard Cohen, author of the books “Coming Out Straight” and “Gay Children, Straight Parents: A Plan for Family Healing”. Cohen, a self proclaimed former gay who suffered from “same-sex attachment disorder”, claims that his missteps into homosexuality came from an incident in which he was molested by a family friend at the age of six and subsequently, craved affection from his father that was then manifested in same sex relationships up until around the age of 30.
After seeking treatment from a Freudian Psychologist and eventually enveloping himself in an evangelical Christian church, he met his current wife. During the first three years of his marriage, he maintained relations with men on the side until he finally sought total healing from his homosexuality.
I’m fully aware that there are several levels of comfort when dealing with homosexuality either within oneself or with someone in their life, but it’s Cohen’s reasoning and proposed causes for homosexuality that don’t sit well with me. On top of that, the idea that something that is inevitably true about someone’s being should be cured isn’t something I can discuss without an eye-roll. I know I live in Los Angeles in the middle of very forward-thinking, and although it stuns me everytime, I also know there are places in my world that embody archaic thinking that fuel and are fueled by varying levels of absurd hatred.
Since then, he has developed several famous and wildly questionable techniques for curing homosexuality under the umbrella of his own foundation, the International Healing Foundation. These techniques, which can be be seen here in this setup clip from an earlier episode of Rachel Maddow’s show, show Cohen cuddling with men to heal them as well as introducing his bludgeoning (meant to represent suppressed feelings) of innocent bedding by tennis racket.
The reason that Richard Cohen has been running rampant in the news recently runs in conjunction with the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, better known as the “Kill the Gays Bill” that would criminally punish homosexual behavior as far as execution. One of the biggest proponents of this bill, Ugandan Stephen Langa, cites Richard Cohen’s teachings and writings as fuel for the fire behind the passing of the bill.
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Now I’m not one to tell people how to act and think, but I am also not interested in entertaining any time with someone with such ludicrous beliefs that are in direct contradiction to their own actions. The fact that Richard Cohen, who I might add has been expelled from the American Counseling Association due to the questionable nature of his teachings, doesn’t seem to have any definitive objection or remorse to his books being used to promote such blatant hatred completely baffles me. Maddow, although obviously equally baffled, composes herself much better than I would have and presents the most amazing counterpoints to all of his statements that I can’t even do justice in my already-too-long reporting. Maddow: 1, Cohen: -infinity.
