'Get well' therapy offered for gay
[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=9pt]Lublin[/size][/font][font=Arial][size=9pt] - Often considered sick, deviant or sinners, gays and lesbians in deeply Catholic Poland are being nudged towards church-steered programmes designed to help them fight their homosexuality.[/size][/font][/color][font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]In the southeastern city of Lublin, a hub of Roman Catholic teaching, a nondescript white building houses Odwaga, or Courage, an organisation which offers "therapy" for homosexuals -- to the consternation of gay rights groups who find it an aberration.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Behind its walls, men are taught to kick a football around, women take cookery lessons and, above all, participants spend time praying with priests.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"The goal isn't to change the patient, to shift their orientations, but rather to prepare them to accept their leanings," said Lena Wojdan, a Warsaw-based psychologist involved in Odwaga programmes.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Life can be hard for homosexuals in Poland -- where more than 90 percent of the 38.2-million-strong population is Catholic and where the gay and lesbian community has complained of living in a "climate of fear".[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Even high-ranking Polish politicians make openly homophobic statements.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]The authorities forbade gay pride marches in Warsaw in 2004 and 2005. The 2006 and 2007 events went ahead despite repeated calls for a ban from conservatives and far-right Catholic groups, who have returned to the fray ahead of this year's edition, scheduled for Saturday.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]A survey published last year found that 53 percent of Poles considered homosexuality a sin, while 45 percent felt homosexuals should try to change their preference.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Odwaga's take is more nuanced, Wojdan said in an interview away from the centre's premises. Journalists are not welcome at Odwaga, which was founded in 2007 by the church-linked Light-Life Foundation.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"They need to accept that God created them as they are. This is something that they have been given to bear as a burden," said Wojdan, sporting a large crucifix around her neck.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]The aim is to convince participants they should try to choose between a "sinful" sex-life and a chaste, Christian existence.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"This is a kind of suffering which has meaning for Christians, a suffering that they have to face each day," Wojdan added.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"A human being is capable of knowing what's really important to him or her and thus of overcoming his or her feelings. When you want a sweet, for example, you are completely able to resist the urge," she said.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Odwaga's standard programmes are lengthy.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]For the first year, participants must devote one weekend a month to support-group sessions.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]For the following two years, they devote 20 hours a month to group therapy sessions led by psychologists, who are often priests.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]They can also pray and take Communion in the centre's chapel.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]To shore up its programmes, Odwaga also runs groups for participants' parents or others close to them.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]Its methods have been adopted by psychologists and other Odwaga-type support groups across Poland.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"Today I feel free because I no longer need to live out my homosexuality actively," a woman who took an individual programme five years ago said.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"I no longer feel I'm a lesbian and I have even started to discover men," she said in a telephone interview, speaking on condition of anonymity.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]For gay rights campaigners, the programmes of Odwaga and its ilk are an aberration and can even threaten participants' mental health.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"When a homosexual goes to see these psychologists, he or she is told: 'You'll get over it.' But you don't 'get over it'," said Marta Abramowicz, a psychologist who works for the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish-based gay rights group.[/color][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=9pt][color=#000000]"As a result, the person slides into depression. I've even known people who committed suicide," she said.[/color][/size][/font]
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[b][size=18pt][font=Times New Roman][color=#000000] [/color][/font][/size][/b] it's unbelievable~~incredible /// this is the most incredible coincidence i've ever heared of!
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