Vatican Says Gay Children Should be Forced to Seek Treatment

KENILWORTH, 4 FEBRUARY 2004 — A new onslaught on gay parents and their children has been published on an official Vatican website.

The Zenit News Agency (“the world seen from Rome”) carries an interview with Father John Harvey, an American Catholic priest who specialises in “therapy” for gay people, encouraging them to give up sex.

In the interview, Harvey suggests that parents are mostly responsible for the formation of gay children. He says that if parents suspect that their children are “experimenting” with homosexuality “the child must be commanded to seek therapy from reliable Catholic doctors”.

Speaking for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), George Broadhead said: “This is appalling nonsense. Mr Harvey says in his interview that he accepts that gay people have no choice in the matter of their sexuality, yet instead of telling them to get on with it, he advises them to go to war with it and face a lifetime of conflict and misery – all in order to satisfy inhumane Catholic dogma.”

Terry Sanderson, author of How to be a Happy Homosexual, recognised as a seminal counselling book for young gays, was equally outraged by the Vatican’s stance. He said: “Father Harvey deals in theories that were discredited decades ago. What he proposes for young people who are confused about their sexuality, or who are gay and worried about it, is likely to make them even more unhappy. To tell parents that they must ‘command’ their children to consult therapists with a distorted religious agenda puts their mental health at risk. It is not gay young people who are experimenting with their sexuality that are wrong, it is the unhealthy attitude of the Vatican to all sexual matters that is likely to be the source of misery. They should not be permitted to inflict it on confused children and young people.”

The Vatican has launched a worldwide campaign against gay people, having issued documents condemning the concept of gay relationships and ordering Catholic politicians to vote against legislation giving gay couples legal recognition.

George Broadhead commented: “The Vatican’s obsession with this issue is becoming a real threat to the well-being of gay people internationally.”