World
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Speaking to a gathering hosted by the "ex-gay" organization Evergreen International, Bruce C. Hafen, an elder in the LDS Church, told audience members that they can diminish their same-sex attractions and shouldn't allow Satan to persuade them they cannot.
Hafen spoke at the19th annual conference of Evergreen International, a nonprofit group that promises to help Mormons "overcome homosexual behavior" and "diminish same-sex attraction." He said the devil -- which Hafen called "the adversary," according to The Salt Lake Tribune -- tries to "convince you that you are hopelessly 'that way' so that acting out your feelings is inevitable; he is lying... He is the father of lies.... If you are faithful, on resurrection morning -- and maybe even before then -- you will rise with normal attractions for the opposite sex."
The Tribune also reports on the contrast between conversion therapy and a resolution passed by the American Psychological Association last month advising mental health professionals not to tell clients that they can change their sexual orientation. Programs like Evergreen International persist despite the "long-standing consensus of the behavioral and social sciences," according to the APA, which describes homosexuality as a "normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation."
Hafen criticized the gay rights movement and rejected homosexuality as biological, saying same-sex attraction is "not in your DNA." He also derided the APA's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the psychiatric manual of mental disorders.
Responding to Hafen in an interview with the Tribune, University of Utah psychology professor and researcher Lisa Diamond called his assertions "hilarious" and "absolutely untrue" and called the APA's 1973 decision a "triumph of science over prejudice."
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Joe Biden sends queer lawmakers & LGBTQ+ allies to Paris Olympics
July 24 2024 12:08 PM
Kamala Harris rides wave of Democratic energy at kickoff event in Wisconsin
July 23 2024 3:36 PM
'Devastated:' A six-week abortion ban will go into effect in Iowa next week
July 23 2024 2:28 PM
Four hours, 44,000 Black women, and one Zoom call
July 23 2024 2:17 PM