Dear Mayor Willie M. Herenton
Please investigate the organization "Love in Action," a group which claims to be able to "cure" homosexuality, for possible child abuse. I am not a resident of Memphis, however news of this group and their hateful actions is spreading accros the country, indeed the planet, and is reflecting very badly on your city, which as you well know, is dependent on tourist dollars.
Love in action runs a detention facility where parents can send their teens to be "scared" out of their sexual orientation. Regardless of why you believe about the causes or morality of homosexuality, many of the practices of this camp are clearly abusive. Most disturbing is this quotation from the head of the facility, reported on talkleft.com.
I would rather youcommit suicide than have you leave Love In Action wanting to return to the gay lifestyle. In a physical death you could still have a spiritual resurrection; whereas, returning to homosexuality you are yielding yourself to a spiritual death from which there is no recovery. [emphasis added]
One of the organizations opposing Love In Action reported the following interview with a survivor of the program
He told us about the program, and described some very horrific things that took place while he was apart of it.
These things included "shaming sessions", where the clients have to, once a day, describe in emotional detail "sinful activities" they'd partaken in...these sessions were then extended to having to describe these things in front of 50 or 60 people on "friends and family" nights, where the family was encouraged to shame them, not be supportive.
He also verififed that most of the staff of LIA are not certified to do any sort of therapy, and that he knows several former clients who've all left the program and since come out as as gay, who feel the program is emotionally damaging, and/or ineffective. He also infomred us that the program offered him no alternatives when he left, referred him no where else and only mentioned that they were there if he needed thiem.
The rest of the world is very concerned about this situation, and hope you will act on it.
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