Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Jul 18 2005 (IPS) — When Steven Parelli and José Ortiz were evangelical ministers, they tried desperately to "cure" their homosexuality through religious support groups, which merely added to their feelings of guilt and depression.

Today they live together as a couple and devote their efforts to fighting back against those who claim that their sexual orientation is a sin.

In an interview with IPS during a recent visit to Mexico City, Parelli and Ortiz stressed that it is a myth that homosexuality can be cured, a belief promoted by the Catholic Church-affiliated organisation Courage and groups of "reformed gays" connected to evangelical Protestant churches.

Parelli, 52, and Ortiz, 39, live together in New York. In the mid-1990s, both joined religious support groups with the goal of changing their sexual orientation, which they firmly believed was a sin against God and the teachings of the Bible.

While attending therapy groups and praying relentlessly to be "cured", they met one another, fell in love, and decided to give up the attempt. Both stepped down from their positions as evangelical ministers, and Parelli moved out of the home he shared with his wife and four children.

Today, Ortiz works as an academic counsellor at a junior secondary school and Parelli teaches English.

"We are happy and in love," they declared.

The leadership of the majority of Christian denominations maintain that homosexuality is a sin against nature and the will of God, leading to ardent opposition to unions between same-sex couples.

In numerous countries around the world, there are both Catholic and Protestant support groups that use "reparative" therapies aimed at changing the sexual orientation of individuals who are attracted to people of the same sex, or at least convincing them to practice celibacy.

"Those who attempt to cure homosexuality are actually doing something very harmful," said Ortiz.

"I lived through it and speak from my own experience. I suffered terrible sadness and depression, and was even driven to thoughts of suicide," he added.

Parelli, who says he fought with all his might to change his sexual orientation, but ultimately in vain, laments the fact that religious organisations promote the firm conviction that homosexuality is "bad".

"When I married a woman, I believed that Jesus Christ would help me to overcome my homosexuality," he said. It did not happen. "Now I know that the best thing to do is to acknowledge what I am, what God wants for me," he added.

Catholic priest John Harvey, who founded Courage in the United States in 1978, visited Mexico earlier this month to help found the first Latin American chapter of the organisation.

Harvey spoke to a group of Mexican bishops about the therapies offered by his group, which are based on the idea that homosexuality is a curable disorder.

José Guadalupe Martín, president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, said that his group supports the work done by Courage and will study the possibility of carrying it on in Mexico.

According to Oscar Rivas, a 26-year-old Mexican graphic designer, it would be a "blessing" to have the organisation operating in his country.

In late 2004, Rivas, who claims that he himself was "cured" of homosexuality through reparative therapy, created a Spanish-language Internet website called "Courage Latino".

He says that he receives 100 email messages a day through the website, and that 90 percent are from people who also want to be "cured" of homosexuality, which he and many Christians believe to be a mental disorder.

Nevertheless, the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not include homosexuality on its list of mental illnesses, while the American Psychiatric Association (APA) of the United States has maintained since 1973 that homosexuality per se is not a mental disorder.

In addition, a position statement issued in 1988 and ratified in 2000 stresses that the APA "opposes any psychiatric treatment, such as reparative or conversion therapy, which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation."

"If you’re a Christian, and even more so if you’re a pastor, like I was, you are under tremendous pressure and you feel guilty for being homosexual. It’s a very harmful situation," noted Ortiz.

Parelli recounts that he suffered for years, but finally found the courage to recognise who he is. Regarding the supposed cures offered by Courage and groups of "converted" gays, he said he respects the people who turn to them, but that they should not expect to change their sexual orientation, since the most they can hope for is a change in lifestyle.

"I know a lot of evangelical Christians who say they have been cured of homosexuality, but after three or five years they go back to their homosexual lives," he noted.

"Evangelical Christians look at the Bible and the church as the absolute authority, which leads them to conclude that there is nothing they can do. So what we have to ask ourselves as homosexuals is, ‘What if the church is wrong?’ Finding the answer can take many years of suffering," said the former minister.

"This may all sound very simple now, but it was really a very profound psychological process," he added.

Ortiz and Parelli faced considerable inner conflict throughout childhood and adolescence, because both wanted to be evangelical ministers, but at the same time, they knew they were gay. Ortiz was only a minister for six months, but Parelli held the position for over 12 years.

They came to Mexico to speak about their experiences, invited by the local branch of Other Sheep, a worldwide ecumenical Christian organisation and member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) which believes that "our sexuality – whatever our orientation – is a gift of God to be celebrated with dignity."

"Homosexuals are not sick and we don’t need to be cured, what we need is to be respected for what we are," concluded Ortiz.