I want to encourage every reader of BDBO to take time to read Box Turtle Bulletin’s investigatve report, What Are Little Boy’s Made Of, and to watch the corresponding three part series done by Anderson Cooper on CNN, The Sissy Boy Experiment.
In 1970, a well-known expert on homosexuality and transgender issues appeared on a local television talk show in Los Angeles to talk about feminine boys. He described how very young boys who behaved in a feminine manner would almost invariably grow up to become a homosexual. Alongside that expert was a gay man who described his own childhood and confirmed what the expert said. But there was hope, the expert announced. A new program at the University of California at Los Angeles would ensure these young boys grew up to become masculine, normal men. The expert gave a list of symptoms to watch out for, and urged his viewers to call him if their children exhibited the problems he described.
The mother of a four year, eleven month old boy saw that program that afternoon. She noted the list of symptoms that the expert gave and concluded that there was something seriously wrong with her son. She and her husband decided to take their young boy to UCLA for treatment to prevent him from growing up to be gay.
That young boy came under the care of a very young grad student by the name of George Alan Rekers. The boy’s treatment would become a subject of Rekers’s doctoral thesis, and the astounding success that Rekers claimed in curing the young boy would mark the start of a very impressive career. Rekers would write about “Kraig” in at least twenty publications during his career, a career which included becoming a very important activist in the promotion of anti-gay causes.
In this original BTB investigation, we speak with his family and friend who knew the real “Kraig” to uncover the truth behind Reker’s greatest success story. Their stories reveals the tragedy of a terrible experiment on a very young boy which would haunt him for the rest of his life. It is not only an indictment of a man who built his anti-gay career on Kirk’s suffering, but a rebuke to others — those in the mental health profession then and in the contemporary ex-gay movement today — who would place their careers and agendas ahead of the well-being of this young boy and countless others like him.
The 7 part series and epilogue at Box Turtle Bulletin has been meticilously researched and compassionatley told. Kirk Murphy served in the US Air Force and went into the private sector after discharge. He killed himself in 2003 at the age of 38.
I posted about George Rekers, a prominent member of the religious right in the US, a founder of the Family Research Council, author of anti-gay and reparative therapy books and articles who was discovered with a rent boy in the Miami airport in 2010.
Bene .. Thanks so much for bringing this to your blog, and for the previous thread as well.
This comment was interesting:
“As recently as 2009, a book Rekers co-authored, “Handbook of Therapy for Unwanted Homosexual Attractions,” cites Kraig’s case as a success. That was six years after Kirk Murphy took his own life.”
Rekers of course cannot be directly held responsible for the suicide, but this isn’t exactly what one would expect to see from a prominent Christian. Decency would dictate any omission of Kraig’s case, or at the very least, an admission that there would appear to be a possible link.
…please take note, that many “prominent christians”,are freemasons
A pastor’s son, who is also a pastor mentioned to me, “Christian Churches are just and such laypeople when it comes to dealing with human emotions!”
Others mention about how the church atmosphere condemns things.
I haven’t been able to sleep since reading Jim Burroways report and watching the first two installments of Anderson 360.
This disturbing and tragic outcome of Kirk Murphy’s life, the profound impact on his family is the stuff of nightmares. Warren Throckmorton is a conservative evangelical professor who is suggesting that UCLA do an investigation of Rekers research and take a long hard look at parent blaming in child gender identity treatment.
http://tinyurl.com/3j3vkrn
Rekers (who used ‘Kraig’ references in 2009) was found by CNN. He did not know Kirk Murphy had killed himself. This is what he said:
“Well, I think, scientifically that would be inaccurate to assume that it was the therapy, but I do grieve for the parents now that you’ve told me that news. I think that’s very sad,” he said.
Rekers pointed out that the therapy had been decades earlier.
“That’s a long time ago, and to hypothesize, you have a hypothesis that positive treatment back in the 1970s has something to do with something happening decades later. That would, that hypothesis would need a lot of scientific investigation to see if it’s valid. Two independent psychologists with me had evaluated him and said he was better adjusted after treatment, so it wasn’t my opinion.” he said.
Burroways investigation has a lot to say about those independent psychologists results, which is why calls for a UCLA investigation are important coming from professors such as Warren Throckman.
The Miami New Times reporters who broke the Rekers/rent boy story have a piece up at CNN about their investigation – one of their key questions is what happened to the other children Rekers treated and wrote about.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/08/rekers.sissy.boy.experiment/
What is troubling closer to home for Canadians is the current work of Dr Kenneth Zucker in 2011. Look him up, same techniques. I don’t know that Zucker is religiously driven, he is not a founder of the antigay religious right movement, and there is no evidence his research is flawed. But he treats children and anxious parents using the same techniques…
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the miami new times reporters should look into lou engles of thecall, since he constantly rants ’til he is hoarse about gays.
highrpm
It’s always comforting to me to watch the ranters – they are eventually uncovered for the hypocrites they really are – and it adds additional sting to the revelation that they rave against gays because of their own wrestling with their religiously incorrect sexuality.
Calling “the kettle black “are we?-Mister Kind AtheistAtHeart
I put NO credit into CNN News,especially “Anderson 360″…..Such a spin cycle
Fair enough Brano, this is the first I’ve watched him and the seg content mirrors the independent research done by BTB. What did you think of Jim Burroways work?
Bene,One needs to have a hard look at who owns the major news networks.
Most all of the “news” is slanted and twisted and has an agenda
Filled with mixed messages and double speak and lies…
Any good reporters are few and far between,and then, there is usually a twist or two
I see Jim Burroways as doing good work,however,I believe he is on a “lease”
Guess we shall watch and see…
Cheers
brano:
I don’t think Jim Burroway is on lease to CNN – he received a comment from Kirk Murphy’s sister some time ago and followed up. Two reporters from Miami Times who had reported on Reker worked with CNN on this.
25 minutes of video is not an in depth investigation, but what CNN was able to do was convey the emotions of the family in a way text can’t.
Box Turtle Bulletin has a reputation for breaking stories, they were instrumental in breaking information on the Uganda ‘kill the gays’ bill, and have a long standing reputation for excellence. The power of the internet.:^)
Thanks Bene,
I watch the spin offs on these stories and the ones that follow,….Sooner than later,they get “twisted” and slide off on in a different direction,and end up in the “mire”
highrpm
Lou Engle & The Cry are New Apostolic Reformation has conservative theology mixed with new thought about New Apostles & Prophets on the earth today to reoccupy log vacant offices on the earth.
This whole group of persons are kind of like this.
They seem to show an alarmist reactions to a number of things
I’ve met Faytene Kryskow Grasseschi, Extreme Prophetic Vancouver, The Cry, Todd Bentley, Fresh Fire Abbotsford, Ed & Wendy Rubuliak, Worship Invasion Vancouver.
I was not too well like by them for no reason.
If you are interested, I gave an interview to a local radio station in Mpls on my brother Kirk’s story.
For the record, I reached out to Brandon Throp (miami reporter who busted Rekers with the rentboy) and Jim Burroway (I had found him on the net and it was obvious he knew a lot about Rekers / Green and UCLA).
We decided to let Jim tell our story through a series of indepth pieces on the web. At the same time, Brandon was already working on a project with CNN on Rekers / UCLA (I didn’t know that at the time) so CNN was asking to interview us as well. It took a few months before we decided to seriously consider CNN’s request. When we did, one of our stipulations was that Jim “go first”.
We knew that CNN would not be able to go as in depth, but that they would reach an extremely wide audience. BTB, on the other hand, could do into a lot of depth, but with a narrower audience. We are very happy with how it worked out. While of course we would have loved it if more people would have gone to BTB instead of coming to quick judgements after the CNN pieces, hopefully in time with effort on all of our parts more people will become aware of the entire story.
Attached is a link to the in depth interview this past week. I hope you will listen to it, as we were able to provide the context for our family that we wanted (and that CNN was not able to fit in).
Thank you!
http://tinyurl.com/64mw5yr