Steve Tyminski
Staff Writer
@TumsST
Homosexuality hasn’t been a mental illness for more than 40 years but there are still people that feel that ‘being gay’ can be cured somehow. These so-called ‘cures’ are believed in by many, and are often carried out under the premise of moral goodness.
Dr. Christian Jessen, homosexual man and star of TV’s Embarrassing Bodies, wanted to put these myths/cures to the test, thus making his film Cure Me, I’m Gay. The cures ranged from color therapy and rehab therapy, to the more extreme aversion therapy.
Dr. Christian feels, “we all sit somewhere on the spectrum of sexual orientation,” but sexual preference in women changes based on the circumstance, “it’s not uncommon to see a woman married for a number of years, have a horrendous break-up and a divorce, and actually then shack up with another woman.”
The idea for the documentary came from one of the Jessen’s patients, who tried to cure himself of homosexuality. One of the most radical methods involved a ‘gay rehab’ where they would try to rid an individual of homosexual tendencies.
One of the harshest treatments was the aversion method because it convinced people into thinking they were worthless. Aversion therapy was popular all over the world in the 1940’s through 1970’s to treat homosexuality.
Jessen’s hope to raise awareness to the fact that sexual orientation is not a choice, enlighten people to the outrageous (and unsuccessful) therapies used around the world, and state that “religion should never ever dictate over scientific evidence.”
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