HRC Calls Catholic '12 Step' Program For Gay Men 'Snake-Oil'

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest
gay rights advocate, on Wednesday called on a Catholic diocese to end

its “12 step” program for gay men.

 The Catholic Diocese of Colorado Spring's just

launched Twelve Steps of

 Courage program is modeled after programs
offered by Alcoholics Anonymous.

 Participants in the program admit that they are

 powerless in overcoming their attractions to men,

  ask God for help, and make amends to those
 they've hurt,Colorado Springs-based The Gazette reported. The men must also admit that they are “defective.”

 “The diocese should be ashamed for selling this snake-oil therapy

 that mental health professionals have denounced,”
 HRC President

 Joe Solmonese said in a statement. “Programs like
 this say they offerhope but in reality they demean and denigrate LGBTpeople's sense of self-worth.”

“It's not about therapy and not about activism,”
Rev. Larry Brennan, 

diocese director of priest formation, told the paper.
“It's about support.”

The Catholic Church views gay sex as sinful and Pope Benedict XVI 

has railed against gay relationships.

“The exercise of sexuality is reserved for marriage,
and that can

 only happen between a man and a woman,” Brennan
said.

Solmonese noted that mental health professionals have concluded that

 “same-sex attraction is normal and that 'reparative'
 therapy is unhealthy 

and can be harmful.”

“Homophobia, bias and discrimination are what
make it difficult for

 people to accept and be open about their sexual
 orientation,” Solmonese

 added. “Those who wish to give counsel to people
 struggling with their

 identities should offer acceptance, not rejection.”

BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF