gay teen in Memphis...

Hey guys. I was just wondering how many of you live near Memphis or anywhere really in the South? There's a 16 year old boy there who came out to his parents, who turned around and promptly sent him to a Christian fundi camp to "turn him straight". I know this is fairly common, but this place seems exceptionally crazy: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=7428306&Mytoken=20050609002410 Pay special attention to the rules. For instance:

7. No continuing education while in the program. Home-school Refuge clients may be allowed to continue their studies during the program, pending approval by LIA staff.

10. Absolutely no journaling or keeping a diary outside of the MI process unless directed or approved by staff

2. As non-residential clients, Refuge participants must submit to an F.I. search every morning. With the exception of the very first program day, when they may arrive no later than 9:00 a.m., Refuge clients will arrive daily at the Love in Action campus no later than 8:50 a.m., waiting in a designated area until a staff member meets them to perform the F.I. search and check them in. Refuge clients may not enter any of the client spaces on campus before submitting to an F.I. search. All belongings brought to campus will be searched, including book bags, notebooks, wallets, handbags, purses, etc. Items that violate the F.I. policy or the dress code will be held for the client, to be returned no later than the client¹s last day in program. Clients may request to have their F.I. items returned by filling out a C.O.C.

6. Clients may have no contact with anyone who has left the program prior to graduating without the blessing of the staff to do so. Clients may address off-limit persons they inadvertently encounter with a polite "hello" only.

1. All new Refuge clients will be placed into Safekeeping for the initial two to three days of their program. A client on safekeeping may not communicate verbally, or by using hand gestures or eye contact, with any other clients, staff members, or his/her parents or guardians. In case of a practical need, Safekeeping clients may write down their question or request and show it to another client, staff member, or their parent or guardian. Writing may only be used when absolutely necessary. Parents and guardians must enforce their child¹s safekeeping status at home or in their temporary lodging.

5. Safekeeping clients are required to spend a minimum of two hours (in one sitting) a day alone in their room (note: by ³alone² it is understood that parents or guardians can be in the room but are not to interact or disrupt the alone time of the safekeeping client). During the alone time Safekeeping clients may work on their treatment plans, read program materials or the Bible, pray, or work on other assignments from their staffworkers.

2. Clients must gain permission through C.O.C. to make or receive phone calls from friends and family members outside the program.

6. No television viewing, going to movies, or reading/watching/listening to secular media of any kind, anywhere within the client¹s and the parent¹s/guardian¹s control. This includes listening to classical or instrumental music that is not expressly Christian (Beethoven, Bach, etc. are not considered Christian). The only exception to the media policy is the weekly movie.

12. Refuge clients must be accompanied by a parent during any trip to a public restroom.

14. Clients are not allowed to visit any video, music or media stores that are not expressly Christian, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. Clients may visit LifeWay Christian stores with a parent or guardian.

18. Refuge clients are allowed a one-time 15-minute maximum closed bathroom door time for shower/grooming purposes. The only other closed-door alone time allowed is for using the restroom.

12. Do not be defensive. While being spoken to, one may not respond to defend him/herself or return confrontation to the person speaking.

5. Your client is not allowed to talk to anyone outside of your home including friends or family. Do not tell client who has called for them or who is asking about them. Keep the thoughts of the client focused on his/her treatment.





Ok so there are more completely insane and just plain creepy brainwashy rules as well. There is an article here: http://www.cherrybloss.org/ about the protests. What the real point of this is, is anyone interested in organizing a Hipforums protest? There are already people protesting daily, and I know one of my best friends is getting the attention of some friends of his for YouthPride of Atlanta and some other Atlanta area gay rights groups to possibly go up there sometime next week. I just hope I'm not the only one who completely bawled when I started reading about these places...


PS: Sorry if this is sort of incoherant... I've been up for more than 24 hours so I'm dead but I wanted to get the word out. :\

 

Oh my god, that is terrible.
How could any one do that to a fellow human being? Especially just for having the "wrong" sexual preference.
My heart really goes out to that guy, and all the others in his situation.

Peace&Love

 

The rules scare me enough, plus then you know all the emotional and psychological torture they put on these people. My friend's parents sent him to something similar, but it was only counseling, and that's what turned him away from Christianity altogether. When he told me what kind of brainwash they tried on him, it made me sick to my stomach, and this place seems 10 times worse.

I just wish my mom would let me pretend to be lesbian and pretend to be the daughter of a fundi Christian needing "guidance" and then let me crumble the place from the inside out. Or at least get it shut down because it seems like some of this stuff HAS to be illegal.

 

i totally agree... there should be some law preventing that.
Even if there isn't, I don't see how they could do that! it's horrible.
I'mma do some research later on about activist groups working against this kinda stuff. What a fucked up world we live in.

 

hey hit me up on myspace its www.myspace.com/kandycoatedkilla

 

That is possibly one of the shittiest situations one could be in; especially at such a young age. There's no way the kids parents can legally force him to go to the camp; that's plainly unconstitutional. Regardless of his parents authority, this is an obvious violation of the fourth ammendment: cruel and unusual punishment.

 

What I want to know is if they can legally search him? I thought only police and certain security measures had that right. Also, it is almost definatly illegal to prohibit going to school for this.

I've already written one extremely vicious/ sarcastic letter to these whackjobs, and I don't think that will be the last.

 

I have to ask, what is the difference in what this place is doing and what the Taliban did ? and we all know what happened to the Taliban

This kind of group is why I quit going to church and believing in god.

peace out,
bob

 

Regrettably, this sort of stuff is completely legal. It doesn't even need oversight from the courts or even a social worker. A lot of this "protecting our children" bit, really means "keeping control of our children". Especially if the parents have money, and are willing to spend it to keep their kids locked up in something like this.

I had a boyfriend who was put into a home like that when he was a teen. This home was shut down after another boy was forced to sit for several hours hip-deep in a pile of manure, got gangrene as a result, and died -- but short of something really extreme, it's almost impossible to really get these places to be accountable. All, as the saying goes, legal as church on Sunday.

The kid could run away, if he gets the opportunity, most likely during an overnight stay with family, who are more likely to have their guard down. But aside from the problems that all runaway teens have, the kid will get a bounty put out on him, similar to the ones put out on bail jumpers. That means that he will be trying to dodge some VERY DETERMINED bounty hunters, at least until he turns 18, at which point the bounty is no longer in effect.

And after 18, he can no longer be held against his will. But I wouldn't put it past the assholes to deceive him on that point, and make him believe that he must do as they say, for as long as they care to keep him (and for as long as the parents care to pay for it). In the end, a lot of messed up young adults come out of all of this.

The assholes will also likely make the kid take Thorazine (a very powerful medication) or something like that, just to keep him doped up and manageable. There are plenty of quack doctors who will certify the kid as "schizoid" for a little bit of grease money; many doctors even make a living that way. Thorazine could have further negative consequences down the road, even after the kid gets out; I've heard that it can literally fry some people's minds, almost like some street drugs but without the buzz.

All in all, a very barbaric practice, and definitely CHILD ABUSE! But the powers that be, don't give a rat's ass about them anyway. After all, we're all supposed to be conformist little sheep; it's when we have a mind of our own that they get worried and start reacting.

(Note: NONE OF THIS SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL OR MEDICAL ADVICE; I can't even guarantee that it's 100% accurate. But I thought that it might be useful somehow, even if only to further raise awareness of this form of legalized child abuse.)

 

That's ridiculous that a child can't even refuse to go to something like this; whatever happened to freedom and equality? Oh wait, religion and ignorance...

 

Memphis, a place in which I had lived, is the only place whose gay pride parade had people with bags over their heads so that their families and employers wouldn't recognise them and fire them or ostracise them.

 

when I was a kid ... oh about 2nd grade, about 1963/64 or so, I went to a cult school .. sorry, church school (Harding Academy) in Memphis. I was told not to sing during choir as I didn't have a good singing voice, this was told to me by the choir teacher. she said to "mouth" the words and not to sing. I told my dad, he wanted to pull me out of the school and go to public, but mom won out. We weren't rich and I was there because we got a deal because dad did part-time janitorial work for them, so it won't take much to see how the rich bastards looked at us.

anyhoo, as a result of the comment I never again sung in public. Harding Academy is the cult school of the cult called Church of Christ, a so-called "christian" religon.

sorry, off the soap box now.

peace out,
bob

 

Jesus Christ... and I thought where I lived was bad... Atlanta can be pretty liberal at times but I live in a county that's so stereotypically white, conservative, Baptist, suburban, and racist that not only is it considered dangerous to drive with my county's plates in certain parts of Atlanta, but also it's dangerous to be anything out of the norm. It's gotten alot better from when I first moved here and had a cross burned on my lawn for being Jewish (this was in 1990) but the county still votes 85% Republican and every attempt at having a gay pride club at school have been barred because teachers are too scared of the backlash. *sigh*

I don't understand how if you have grown up or raised someone and love them for them, that just because you disagree with a part of them that you can become such an evil person.

 

unbefuckinglieveable
poor kid

 

The poor kid lives 15 minutes from me (im on TN border), and they have a borderline Nazi concentration camp in Memphis. Unless u r a blond, blue eye, republican baptist, it seems that u could be sent their for almost any reason if u read the entire document.

 

Do the local media know that this place exists? I think an expose would be great for ratings.

 

does any1 have connection to the media.

 

You don't need a connection. Call up the local newspaper, radio stations and TV stations. Tell them what you heard. Get your friends to call up.

Newspapers, TV stations and radio stations are in the business of making money. If enough people want to know about these things, they'll respond.

 

that is just wrong

 

I am disgusted by this dude's situation. I looked at his profile on myspace.com and it angers me to see someone with such a bright light having to go through this. Honestly, I think he'll make it through all this, but that's beside the point! This is a shame, and I know because I can relate to his situation. I was tossed in the Exodus program to retrain my mind. Of course it didn't work! Luckily, the program didn't fuck my head up too bad. I had a support group of GLBT friends to come home to.
The media sounds like a wonderful Idea to me! I'm going to check into it! If any one has a contact please share. I'm more than happy to dedicate my time to this! Being exposed is the only way to bring this heinous process to a stop!
Let me know!
ciao