Undercover probe: Colleges suppress ex-'gay' info

An undercover investigation conducted by a group promoting "Ex-Gay Awareness Month" charges that many of Virginia's state universities are promoting homosexuality even though they are required to deliver accurate information that represents both sides of the issue.

The investigation by Voice of the Voiceless, conducted over several weeks this month, had two former homosexuals pose as graduate students seeking "anonymous counseling for unwanted homosexual feelings at university resource centers."

Visited by the investigators were centers at the University of Virginia, James Madison University, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion, Christopher Newport and the College of William and Mary.

"State-funded universities are required to provide value-neutral, medically accurate information to all students in need of guidance," said Christopher Doyle, president of the group. "What we uncovered was a deliberate withholding of potentially life-saving information for students who may desire counseling to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings."

One counselor at George Mason told Doyle that if he "sought therapy to change, I would likely become psychologically-damaged, depressed, and even commit suicide."

He said he was not referred to a licensed mental health practitioner or faith-based counselor but instead was instructed to go to the homosexual-promoting Metropolitan Community Church and study a book titled "The Lord is my Shepherd, and He Knows I'm Gay."

As a result of the assessment, the non-profit legal group Liberty Counsel dispatched letters to presidents of the seven universities about their "LGBTQ Resource Centers." Liberty Counsel urged the presidents to "include all viewpoints on this issue" and informed them "that presenting only one viewpoint is not only wrong, but can cause harm to students."

At George Mason, a counselor refused to hand out an ex-"gay" pamphlet because "he said he did not have enough of them to hand out."

The investigator also was referred to the left-leaning Huffington Post to "find scientific research on homosexuality."

The Voice of the Voiceless report said: "Organizations such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) have been providing informational pamphlets, free of charge, to state-funded Virginia universities for many years in an effort to advocate for students with unwanted SSA. But while gay-affirming information is readily available and prominently displayed for students to collect, ex-gay pamphlets are routinely destroyed and/or suppressed by biased resource center employees, who are required by law to provide equal access for all views on homosexuality."

WND messages left at several of the schools requesting comment were not returned.

PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs contacted the University of Virginia earlier this year and was told by LGBTQ Resource Center chief Scott Rheinheimer ex-"gay" information was available.

"But during the undercover visit, the printable resource material that Mr. Rheinheimer distributed did not list any ex-gay organizations; rather, he scribbled PFOX's name and website on the printed list only after repeated requests for ex-gay information," the report said.

VoV said that probably the "most alarming" advice came from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., which described as having a history of anti-ex-"gay" extremism by faculty.

There, the counselor explained therapy to help overcome unwanted same-sex attractions is motivated by religious extremists who "ship their kids away" to "conversion therapy camps" for months at a time.

The VoV report said that when "asked about the health risks of homosexual behavior, the counselor erroneously suggested that 'protected' gay sex between men was no more risky than heterosexual intercourse and that the risk of HIV is no higher for men that have sex with men."

"She was also seemingly ignorant of the fact that there is no condom approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for anal sex," VoV reported.

Doyle said it's "the height of irresponsibility to suggest that male gay sex is no more risky than heterosexual intercourse, especially considering that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that an astonishing 94.9 percent of HIV diagnoses among teenage boys (13-19-years-old) were linked to homosexual sex and 94.1 percent of the cases among young men ages 20-24 were from gay sex."

The VoV report said that not only are the LGBTQ Resource Centers "discriminating against those who seek to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings, but they are also failing to provide gay-identified students medically accurate information that could potentially save their life."

VoV said the recording for each undercover counseling session will be made available in a coming report, called "University Campus Climate Report: Virginia LGBTQ Resource Centers an 'Unsafe Zone' for Students with Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions."