‘GAY CURE’ Doctor Provokes U.S. Rally – South China Morning Post (August 7, 2011)
‘GAY CURE’ Doctor Provokes U.S. rally – SCMP (August 7, 2011)
Chris Ip
HK government invitation to controversial therapist to address social workers angers homosexual groups in New York.
An official invitation by the Hong Kong government to a psychiatrist who says he can teach gay people to give up homosexuality has inspired a protest on the other side of the world.
New York gay and lesbian rights activists will today take to the streets outside the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Manhattan.
Dr Hong Kwai-wah was asked to speak to social workers about giving guidance to young gay people.
He has courted controversy as chairman of the controversial Hong Kong-based New Creation Association. The Christian organisation says on its website that it helps those in the process of “giving up a lifestyle of homosexuality” through counselling.
The controversy has touched a nerve some 13,000 kilometres away because it appears to critics that the government is legitimising conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is the practice of changing someone’s sexual orientation through therapy – based on the assumption that homosexuality is a sickness.
Among the groups due to join in the demonstration were Gay Asian-Pacific Islander Men of New York; Q-Wave: Queer, Asian, Visible, Empowered; and the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
“It is appalling to us that conversion therapy is being exported to our countries of origin,” Dennis Chin, of the Gay Asian-Pacific Islander group, said. “It’s cultural colonialism, plain and simple.”
In the US, some therapists have tried to “cure” homosexuality, through techniques ranging from cold showers to prayer to participating in “heterosexual” activities like sport.
Hong dismissed such practices as “stupid”. He said the New Creation Association did not force heterosexuality onto homosexuals, but helped them to find other sources of love from friends and family – and only worked with gay people who approached the association for help.
Hong said: “We found that a lot of gay organisations and a lot of counsellors only provide gay-affirmative approaches that encourage people that are discouraged or dissatisfied with their homosexual relationships to continue.”
He believes the main causes of homosexuality include “sexual abuse, gender identity disorder and trauma from heterosexual-love relationships”. He said conversion therapies had seen some success in academic studies.
Conversion therapy has been deemed “unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm” by the American Psychological Association. It also said homosexual attractions were “normal and positive variants of human sexuality”. The British Medical Association has called for the banning of such treatments.
Chin said: “Conversion therapy has been discredited by major medical and mental health organisations. It’s pseudo-science and it’s homophobia. We are not suffering from a disease. There is nothing about us that needs a cure.”
There were protests from local gay groups when Hong spoke to social workers in June. The Social Welfare Department said it had also invited gay and lesbian groups to speak. “Multiple perspectives [are] essential for social workers to make professional and independent assessments,” a spokeswoman said.
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This is a report of this protest on Singtao Daily (New York):
《星島日報》報道：香港社會福利署最近資助心理學家康貴華進行“同性戀轉換療法”培訓，被同志團體炮轟視同性戀為病態，要把同志“夾硬拗直”，紐約的兩個男女亞裔同志組紛紛表達反對立場，本週日還會前往駐紐約香港經貿處示威。
紐約亞太裔男同志協會（GAPIMNY）和亞裔女同志協會（QWAVE）兩個組織俱指出，這類“同性戀轉換療法”非中國本土發明，其實是產生於美國和歐洲本來不正確的心理學及反同宗教組織，康貴華及其合夥人硬說同性戀可以靠祈禱、性節制、和冷水洗澡“治療”，但其實是他與著名的美國反同宗教團體Exodus Ministries關係非淺，因此令到海外的同志組織更為不滿。
GAPIMNY發言人錢子丹說：“我們對於右派教會組織把偏見推廣到外國感到非常不安，Exodus Ministries等右派 基督教組織不但在美國對反同行為火上加油，現在竟要香港政府也採納他們的歪理。”國際同志人權協會亞太區域聯絡人Grace Poore稱，美國右派組織在香港栽培了不少高階層政治家和官員以宗教和文化名義散佈恐同言論，而且由美國右派基督教組織資助的反同性戀風潮已經遍及亞洲各地，比如新加坡和南韓，也對當地同性戀社群造成傷害。
GAPIMNY會長曾繁鎔說，他們兩個組織的成員都與亞洲各國有深厚關係，因此將於本週日早11時至12時到香港駐紐約經貿處示威，他並呼籲民眾參與。
