With same-sex marriage in line to become a civil right, all sides in the gay-rights debate are considering their next political fights. Gay-rights advocates have targeted “conversion therapy,” a controversial approach that believes people can be treated for homosexuality and issues of gender identity.

The fight over “curing” homosexuality is the front lines of upcoming gay-rights battles.

Tags: restored hope network, conversion therapy, gay rights

Dean Greer says he doesn’t have sex with men anymore.

He is married, has a son and is devout in his faith in Jesus. But Greer says he is not cured from an affliction he calls “same-sex attraction” that he has suffered from for more than two decades.

Greer is telling his story to about 250 people gathered in the fellowship hall of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Happy Valley, where his audience has gathered to talk about ways people with homosexual drives can overcome their urges.

Greer tells the audience he changed his ways when he was diagnosed with HIV, and he now relies on a support of men who consider themselves to be formerly homosexual to keep him accountable and straight.

“My wife has taken comfort in my accountability relationships,” Greer says. “We avoid the details of my confessions.”

Many in the audience nod in approval. They have come to the national conference of Restored Hope Network, a Milwaukie-based group that ministers to people “broken by sexual and relational sin, especially those impacted by homosexuality.”

The audience gathered at the June 27 event includes clergy, counselors and family members wounded by the discovery that a loved one is gay.

With same-sex marriage in line to become a civil right, all sides in the gay-rights debate are considering their next political fights. Gay-rights advocates have targeted “conversion therapy,” a controversial approach that believes people can be treated for homosexuality and issues of gender identity.

Every major medical association in the United States and the World Health Organization has come out against conversion therapy. Mainstream health experts consider the therapy harmful. The Supreme Court on June 30 upheld a California law banning use of the therapy on children, and last week the National Center for Lesbian Rights launched a campaign to take the ban nationwide.

But at the conference, where WW was the only news-media outlet allowed to attend, the focus was as much on curing homosexuality as helping people who are conflicted about their attraction to people of the same sex.

Andrew Comiskey, board chairman of Restored Hope Network, says he’s aware of widespread opposition to approaching homosexuality as both a disorder and a sin.

“The brightest lights step forth out of the darkest nights, and we are in dark nights in terms of sexuality and gender,” Comiskey says. “I welcome being a minority voice.”

The conference opens with audience members raising their arms and joining with gospel singer Georgene Rice, who performs between speakers and workshops. “Everyone needs compassion,” Rice sings at one point, “everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a savior.”

Treasure Fennell follows the song. Fennell has interned for Desert Streams, Living Waters, a ministry and support network for the “sexually and relationally broken.” She introduces herself as a “recovering lesbian” who sought sexual relationships with women because she had been abused by men as a child.

“It was easy to embrace the lesbian lifestyle,” Fennell says. “I was physically and emotionally attracted to women, and I had a murderous hatred for men.”

“I wasn’t blindly led in there,” she adds. “My DNA didn’t make me do it, nor did I blame my past. I went from one person to another trying to find the love only God could provide.”

The audience issues a collective “Amen.”

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