response 63 of 84:

Apr 4 10:31 UTC 2002

resp:60 No, Jon, in this case, I think he should be free to voice his 
opinion and I don't feel threatened.  After all this *is* a public 
forum.

resp:58  
>Reparative derives from "repair." Julie, your speech is so full of
>justifications, it saddens me. You refer to homosexuality as a 
>bandaid for psychosocial problems. I didn't say that Reparation 
>Therapy was aimed at all gays, but I did say  That's what you said in 
>a lot more words while disagreeing with me.

Okay, it is true that the term "reparative" derives from the 
word "repair" meaning (according to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate 
Dictionary) "1a: To restore by replacing a part or putting together 
what is torn or broken: FIX b:to restore to a sound or healthy state: 
RENEW 2: To make good: REMEDY", which is basically what you said, I'm 
just clarifying.  Also, generally speaking, those of us that 
seek "reparative therapy" (hereinafter referred to as RT) tend to be 
those of us who believe that there is something fundamentally wrong 
with us, maybe not necessarily the homosexual behavior, but usually 
so.  

On the other hand, I interpreted your comment "it was people whose 
thinking is, 'I'm gay because I'm broken. Fix me.'" to mean that you 
thought that many of us who have sought RT were just a load of 
whiners.  I am most likely mistaken in this assessment due to  certain 
inherent problems in translation between communicating persons with 
differing opinions.  However, if that was, in fact, the case, I want 
to clarify that I in no way *expected* the world to "fix me".  I 
simply went in search of a personal solution.  If Homosexuality were 
something that required a "cure" or a specific "fix", then I wouldn't 
have had to do that, would I?  I will admit that I believed, and still 
believe, that there was a certain part of me that was damaged by my 
abuse and contributed to my eventual sexualization of the problem 
because I was too young at the time to really be able to understand 
how that part of me had been damaged or what sort of "repairs" were 
needed.  

So, in fact,I suppose I am agreeing with you.  Many of us are, in 
effect, saying "I'm gay because I'm broken,"  but I don't think any of 
us are saying "Fix me."  I think it is more like this "I have these 
gay feelings because of something about me that is broken or not 
functioning properly.  Teach me how I can fix it."

It wasn't my intention to "justify" anything.  I merely intended to 
state the facts.  I hope this clears things up a little.  If you have 
any other questions I can answer, I'll be happy to try to do so. 

Oh by the way.  I seem to recall a question regarding whether there 
was ever anyone seeking RT to be free of problems that made the 
heterosexual.  I haven't heard of any, but that doesn't necessarily 
mean that there *aren't* any.  Anything's possible.  After what I'vwe 
been through, I can certainly testify to that.