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'Ex-Gay Ministry' Ordered Closed
by The Associated Press
LINK
(Nashville, Tennessee) The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has ordered the closing of what it calls two unlicensed personal care facilities run by a Christian group that claims to counsel gays to give up homosexuality.
The state inspected two facilities in Memphis on Aug. 19 and determined Love In Action International Inc. was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license, according to a subsequent letter to the organization from the Department of Mental Health.
The department gave Love In Action until Sept. 23 to cease operation of the facilities and apply for a state license.
Love In Action spokesman Gerard Wellman declined to answer questions about the state's allegations.
"We will be commenting when the time is right," or when the case is past its initial stage, Wellman said.
Lawyer Nathan Kellum responded to the state on Sept. 14 with a letter acknowledging Love In Action had received the state's notice and promising to respond fully by Sept. 23.
"The issue is these being supportive care facilities," state spokeswoman Lola Potter said Monday. "Supportive care must be licensed."
Former Love In Action client Peterson Toscano said Monday that a house manager for the program told him one of the manager's responsibilities was dispensing drugs that had been prescribed for participants.
"He told me that it was to keep people from misusing the drugs," said Toscano, who is now a writer and performer living in Hartford, Conn.
Under state regulations, facilities that dispense medication to patients require a license.
The Love In Action facilities were still in operation Monday, Potter said.
If the organization were to continue operating the facilities past the Sept. 23 deadline, it would face criminal penalties that include fines of up to $500 and six months in jail for each day the facilities are determined to be in violation of state laws, Potter said.
The Department of Mental Health's current action is not the first time Love In Action has drawn the state's attention.
Earlier this year the Department of Children's Services investigated a child abuse complaint against Love In Action that was found to be unsubstantiated. The complaint stemmed from a Web logger going by the name of "Zach" who said his parents were sending him to a religious organization that would try to convert him to heterosexuality.
The teen identified himself as a 16-year-old from Bartlett, Tenn., and said his parents "tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me. ... I'm a big screwup to them, who isn't on the path God wants me to be on. So I'm sitting here in tears ... and I can't help it."
In August the Department of Health determined the group did not need to be licensed as a drug and alcohol treatment program.
John Smid, Love In Action's executive director, said then that his group does not provide psychological, drug or alcohol counseling, but seeks to help people overcome sexual problems through a stronger Christian faith.
Counseling that would be regulated by the state is "really not our focus," he said.
Love In Action's work, particularly with teenagers, has drawn protests from gay rights advocates.
©365Gay.com 2005
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Potentially good news. The challenges will be about the form it restarts in, and the location it restarts in. This kind of perosn does nto give up easily.
There is also the issue of what faces the "willing oatients" when they return to their families when and if it shuts.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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'Ex-Gay' Facility Gets Reprieve
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
(Nashville, Tennessee) The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has backed down on an order closing a facility that claims to turn gays straight.
The department now is giving the Love In Action facility an additional week to apply for a license or the order will be carried out.
The state contends the group needs a license for the services the group claims to provide and gave it until September 23 to comply. Love In Action Executive Director John Smid said the organization is trying to meet the state's requirements. but refused to go in any details.
The state inspected two facilities in Memphis on Aug. 19 and determined Love In Action was providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license.
If convicted of operating without a license Love In Action would face criminal penalties that include fines of up to $500 and six months in jail for each day the facilities are determined to be in violation of state laws..
The Department of Mental Health's current action is not the first time Love In Action has drawn the state's attention.
Earlier this year the Department of Children's Services investigated a child abuse complaint against Love In Action that was found to be unsubstantiated. The complaint stemmed from a Web logger going by the name of "Zach" who said his parents were sending him to a religious organization that would try to convert him to heterosexuality.
The teen identified himself as a 16-year-old from Bartlett, Tenn., and said his parents "tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me. ... I'm a big screwup to them, who isn't on the path God wants me to be on. So I'm sitting here in tears ... and I can't help it."
©365Gay.com 2005
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Thr reality of the situation is that nothing will stop places such as this.......
Close one and the impetus to open a dozen more impels donations for funding like opening a tap.....
Opinions will not change.... Beliefs are even harder to alter.... Couple into the equasion the inclination that they are doing all this "for our own good" and there is no hope....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Aren't they sure they are doing this to clock up points in their heaven with their god? And not for our good at all?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Oh my no..... they are absolutly certain that it is for our own good.
As for points, I have no idea....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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You know, at school I was caned "for my own good". It drew blood. It was more for the good of the man who caned me.
I was made to eat fat and gristle at school lunch "for my own good". I suspect it contributed to me being fat now. Apparently the starving in Africa would have been glad of it, buty it was never practical to transport it there. I know this because I suggested it and was punished. "For my own good".
I think anyone who does things "for another person's own good" has major issues of their own.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Guest
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On fire! |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 2344
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Timmy,
Most of them are too broken to realize that they might need "points" chalked up in heaven.
They are sure they are doing it for our good because they are perfect after all, and they know that we need to be just like they are otherwise we are "condemed to hell".
John
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Odd, isn;t it, how the various facest of religion (and the 'popular' definition of good people) are so dissimilar. Examples of pecilar interpretations of god's will include:
- Jehovah's Witnesses who seem unable to celebrate anniversaries and refuse blood transfusions but accept other meidcal intervention
- Christian Scientists, who eschew medicine in favour of prayer
- Mormons, who have a whole other set of books to learn from that no-one else has
- Roman Catholics who decided the priesthood should be celibate and thus have its brigt bloodlines die out (hmm, there were a few married popes with kids I recall)
- Islam that stems fomr the same roots as Judaism and Christianity, but seems unable to abide either
- Judaism, where reasonable health and hygiene rules for middle eastern living prior to refrigeration now seem to be a mega transgression of judaic law (wrong term, but I'm sure you know what I mean)
- Scientologists - what can one say about that lot of misguided fools. "pay th emoney, guys, but L Ron is dead and gone. And he went very wealthy indeed. He was also a pretty poor SciFi writer.
And this lot and so many others wnat to tell us how to run our lives? And want us to be perfect like they are?
Which ones are perfect?
And a common thread amongst this lot of "good doers" is that I am a bad, unholy, cursed, abomination because the same god that made them heterosexual made me homosexual. And that justifies re-education therapy
Sweet.
Sign me up.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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'Ex-Gay' Facility Ordered To Close Fights Back
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
(Nashville, Tennessee) A facility that was ordered to get a mental health license or shut down is suing the state of Tennessee claiming it doesn't need one because it is "faith based".
The Love In Action organization came to national attention earlier this year when a teenager complained he was being sent to the facility by his parents in an attempt to "turn him straight."
On his web log 16-year-old from Bartlett, Tenn., and said his parents "tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me. ... I'm a big screwup to them, who isn't on the path God wants me to be on. So I'm sitting here in tears ... and I can't help it."
Following a complaint the Tennessee Department of Children's Services investigated Love In Action but found the complaint to be unsubstantiated.
The state Department of Mental Health then began its own investigation. Following the probe the department the group needs a license for the services the group claims to provide and gave it until September 23 to comply. That was later extended until October 1.
Friday, the organization struck back filing a federal lawsuit against the state.
Love in Action attorney Nate Kellum said government has no right to regulate Love in Action.
"Its repugnant for a faith based institution, a Christian ministry to come under the regulation of the state," said Kellum.
Without a mental health license, state law prohibits the group from assisting more than one person with a diagnosed mental illness.
"Although Love in Action in its religious ministry has absolutely nothing to do with mental health services whatsoever," Kellum said.
Tennessee State spokesperson Lola Potter said the department will show that the organization's programs are involved in mental health.
"The lawsuit is unfortunate and unnecessary this issue has nothing to do with religious issues or faith based organizations or even the mission of Love in Action," Poitter said.
©365Gay.com 2005
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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"Love in Action" Ordered Closed by State of Tennessee 
Not a REALLY big suprise, but....... 
