January 2, 2006

Love In Action, the ex-gay ministry which was the target of protests last summer because of its policy of forcing gay teens into ex-gay therapy, recently terminated Nathan Bell, its associate director. According to his profile on the LIA website, Bell had been with the ministry since 1997. The website mentions Bell's discovery of his father's homosexuality thusly:

In his early adolescence, Nathan came to know the Lord personally. After learning of his father's intent to follow homosexual pursuits, Nathan has persevered, allowing God to utilize this tragedy to ground him in Christ. He brings unique insight and refreshing input to our staff and clients.

Kinda makes you all warm and fuzzy inside to know that Love In Action's clients, including presumably the gay teenagers who were (and still are) forcibly subjected to it's therapies, were being cared for by a man who almost certainly held a deeply seated if not deeply repressed grudge against homosexuals because of his father's homosexuality. In his blog, LIA survivor Peterson Toscano refers to Bell as an "Ever Straight", saying of the breed in an earlier post that,

The difference between the former gays and the ever straights is as palpable as a cup of warm cocoa to a bucket of ice water. The ever straights exude a hardness and maintain a calculated clinical relationship with clients; I never felt safe around them.

I can't imagine why. The termination of Bell comes several days after The Queer Action Coalition, which had led the protests against Love In Action in Memphis, reported that LIA board member and psychiatric profession beard Dr. Stephen Rice had been "...heard murmuring that the devil is in the midst at Love In Action, referring to internal conflicts within the organization." Yeah Doc, the devil is there among you all right. If you want to see his face, try a mirror.

Copyright © January 2, 2006 by Bruce Garrett
All Rights Reserved.

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