Piers Morgan and ‘praying the gay away’

The fact that Piers Morgan is on television, let alone while people eat a fraught, austerity breakfast, is enough to incite a riot in this careworn queen. The living, huffing embodiment of an online troll, the man is a pompous, draining curse on humanity.

Today on Good Morning Britain, viewers were subjected to the journalistic equivalent of a rotten foreskin ‘interviewing’ a syphilitic scrotum. Curiously, there’s been applause in some quarters for Morgan’s witless and bullish approach to Mike Davidson, a sad, but dangerous individual, who believes in ‘praying the gay away’.

Bellowing display

To those cheering Morgan’s bellicose display, sit down and vada the wider picture. If the Good Morning Britain presenter was keen on LGBT rights, Davidson wouldn;t have been on on the show in the first place.

Clearly, Morgan and GMB were mildly piqued after accusations of bigotry followed their woeful treatment of Munroe Bergdof the previous day. Good Morning Britain thought a theatrical, heterosexual dismissal of a ‘gay cure’ might heal that gangrenous queer wound.

Online ire

No. We aren’t that stupid. Or are we? Mike Davidson’s invitation to mainstream television is grim proof that changes in law, diversity campaigns and greater LGBT acceptance are thin as a Rizla and just as likely to blow away if we don’t grip and focus.

Our lives, mental health and very existence are STILL viewed by most, as disposable pawns to be played with; in this case, for viewing figures and online ire.

Wearyingly, we’ve been here before. I’ve written about this unfortunate man at least 6 times in the past 20 years, for a variety of publications. More qualified bodies than myself have dissed his sick self-loathing, God yanking and psychodribble.

Truth and lies

The UK Council for Psychotherapy says: “No responsible psychotherapist will attempt to convert a client from homosexuality to heterosexuality.” The Royal College of Psychiatrists says: “There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish.”

Mike Davidson’s doctorate is in education, rather than medicine, something that Morgan might have highlighted rather than deferring to his title while shouting at him.

Davidson has not only been ostracised by the therapy industry, but he’s also been investigated and suspended by the British Psychodrama Association. So, why wheel him out again?

Free speech?

The ‘free speech’ contingent were quick to pipe up and defend his right to inspire homophobic violence and wholesale rejection of scientific evidence, but let’s not get distracted by a ploy to derail discussion. Davidson is at liberty to say what he likes, within the law. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences or vigorous criticism.

Censorship is not this man’s enemy, much as he likes to play the victim. The crucial question remains- why give him yet another platform when he’s already been discredited and nearly half (45 %) of LGBT pupils – including 64 per cent of trans pupils – have been bullied for being LGBT in Britain’s schools?

Surely, in light of such statistics, it’s about time they got an expert on the show who claims to ‘cure’ homophobia. There are way more people suffering due to that ‘condition’ than seeking visions of Jesus slapping their naughty boner due to gay thoughts.

Bullying bollocks

Piers Morgan did more damage than good when he balled: ‘Michael, stop talking for a moment, stop banging on about wacky backy scientists in America – I’m asking you a question, it’s this: prove to me that you’re straight.’

This is no better than LGBT asylum seekers being forced by the Home Office to ‘prove’ their sexuality. Same shit, different arse. And it’s meaningless. Even if this deluded ‘doctor’ had mounted Susanna Reid while bellowing the offside rule, it wouldn’t prove his heterosexuality. It would just show that Piers Morgan is a bully.

Listen up

So, here’s the damn tea; a person is entitled to identify in any way they decide. If they choose to present thesleves as cured of being gay- fine, but others are entitled to point out that one can’t be cured of a non-illness.

Same sex attraction is not a disability or disorder, a fact acknowledged by every mainstream health organization in the civilized world.

Nobody is obliged to seek a change of orientation to please anyone else or to conform to anyone else’s concept (whether based on religion, evolutionary theory or anything else) of ‘normal’. A determined motivation to change (sexual orientation) is no more likely to increase chances of success than a strong desire to win the lottery is likely to increase their chances of winning it.

Futile mission

Even if no discernible harm is caused by the ‘therapy’ itself, it’s possible (and well-documented) that at a later stage, victims of this treatment may bitterly regret wasting part of their lives – sometimes decades – on a futile mission to switch sexuality, instead of accepting, then celebrating it.

People who view minorities with contempt have had the floor for centuries. We need to stop giving them the microphone.

Dismissing this man’s authority is not to deny that sexuality can be fluid. Of course it can be, but that’s a whole other issue. One may also note, there’s less enthusiasm from evangelicals to ‘convert’ lesbians via prayer. It happens. Just ask Jeanette Winterson. These men are threatened by other men’s sexuality and seek to crush it with the same bitter fury they use to drown their queer desire. As repressed queens of the church, they ain’t interested in women- they’re obsessed with Jesus and penis.

Straight acting

Opting to avoid acting on your queerness doesn’t make you straight. Choosing religion over your sexual orientation doesn’t make you straight. Nor does it make you ex-gay. It’s called ‘acting’. As a queer with a drama degree, do not question me on this. It’s one of the few areas where I’m actually qualified- BA hons, thank-you-very-much.

There’s nothing miraculous about living a lie. The truth is that Michael Davidson and his coven of closets are simply unable to reconcile their religious beliefs with their innate sexual orientation. And Piers Morgan is a prick.

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