Ecuador's Health Minister: 'Ex-Gay' clinics are "shocking evidence of the prejudices we hold as a society"

In January I wrote about lesbian rights advocate Carina Vance being named to the Rafael Correa's presidential cabinet in Ecuador as the country's Health Minister.

The stunning news coincided with news that the government was finally taking action in shutting down clinics that were promoting treatments to "cure" homosexuality.  Efforts to raise awareness about these clinics were led by Fundación Causana, which Vance used to lead, and were the basis of online campaigns from Change.org and AllOut.org.

Both organizations celebrated victory based upon the news and members of Fundación Causana sent a photo thanking AllOut.org and their followers for making a difference.

The news quickly traveled around the world with the Associated Press and CNN running initial reports. But it was weeks later that The Christian Science Monitor published the most comprehensive report on Vance's appointment and the existence of these clinics ("Ecuador clinics said to 'cure' homosexuality stir debate", Feb. 10, 2012).

The article revealed that not everything had been settled between LGBT-rights advocates and the government. Advocates still claim the government is willfully hiding information about the clinics and has demanded more action while the government argues that they are still in the process of gathering information and will eventually take action.  Advocates also say that of 226 clinics, only 23 were shut down and they allege that most of them have reopened.  From the article:

The government last year publicized the closing of 30 centers, though gay rights groups say it was only 23. The clinics were all shut down because of minor infractions, such as expired medicines, lack of fire exits, and lack of hygiene. Some did not even have a valid license. Most opened up again after a few days.

Gay rights organizations say the government is not doing enough to investigate crimes and close illegal operators for good. However, Carina Vance, a prominent gay rights activist who was appointed Ecuador's minister of public health last month, says the government is committed to a long-term strategy to change the clinics.

“It is a complex and urgent issue that needs a comprehensive intervention,” says Ms. Vance.

When Vance was appointed to the Health Ministry in January, she was taking over an office that seemed to be in disarray and was charged with restructuring the country's health system to make it more effective.  By all accounts, she has hit the ground running and has had little time to sleep.

Although local media have barely covered the situation with the clinics, Ms. Vance has made several statements to international media on the issue and has promised to address the situation.  And last week, on February 17th, the Health Ministry released a 10-minute video in which she addresses the issue head on.  It's short on specifics but indicates there is commitment.

Below is the full clip (turn 'annotations' on to read my on-screen translation). Full English language transcript below the fold.

Related:

• 'Ex-gay' movement on the rise in Latin America (EDGE, Feb. 21, 2012)

Reactions:

• Ecuador Health Minister Slams Ex-Gay Clinics (Box Turtle Bulletin)

Ecuador: Lesbian who led fight against 'gay conversion' clinics appointed to Presidential Cabinet

Presidential Cabinet appointment: Continuing with his LGBT-friendly record, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced this week that Carina Vance Mafla, who is a lesbian, would take the reigns of the country's Health Ministry.  The appointment followed the resignation earlier in the month of the previous health minister over criticism he had failed to modernize a health system that has been mired in inefficiency.

Vance made no mention of her sexual orientation when she was introduced to the press on Wednesday nor did the press ask about it.  Instead, the press picked up on it a day later after the Ecuadoran LGBT-advocacy organization Equal Rights Now (Igualdad de Derechos Ya!) released a press statement calling her a "lesbian activist" and saluting her appointment as a historic first.

In the statement, the organization goes on to say that they hope the newly appointed minister will pay attention to current delays in the distribution of HIV medications, create guidelines to prevent discrimination against LGBT individuals at hospitals and health centers and take action on shutting down illegal religious "clinics" that promote "cures" for homosexuality.

Background: It's not as if Vance is unwilling to talk public about being gay.  In the April 2010 issue of the Ecuadorean magazine Cosas she describes coming to terms with her sexuality after a harrowing experience that happened on a bus when she was just thirteen years old.

Born in Oakland, California, Vance lived in Europe during her teens. In the article she describes hanging out with her first crush and holding hands with her as they rode a public bus in Europe. She says that she stopped holding hands the moment she realized a group of guys in their twenties had noticed the gesture.

Vance says that one of the men got closer and  started spitting at them while a second man sat behind them and shouted insults.  When she turned around to confront the guy shouting homophobic epithets, he punched her in the face.  She thought she would be safe the moment she got off the bus but she was wrong.

"They followed me home, kicking me and shouting at me," she says, "for me, it was a matter of pride that kept me from running, so I just walked on forward even as they continued to kick me. [The experience] not only helped me to become fully aware of my sexuality but also made me aware of the societal reaction to it."

Vance would then move to Quito with her family where she attended high-school but says that she felt it was impossible for her at that particular time to live openly.  She decided to move back to the United States after graduation where she spent twelve years finishing college and graduate degrees.

"When I returned [to Ecuador] in 2004, it shocked me to see the gay flag prominently displayed at a university" she says.

Vance realized just how much Ecuador had changed for the better and told the magazine that she now lived in Quito happily and openly without fear of being attacked.

"Lesbian torture clinics": In 2008, I wrote about a two-part investigative report in Ecudor's El Universo which exposed a network of 140 illegal "clinics" that promised to "cure" gays and lesbians and turn them straight ("Ecuador: Kidnapping, torture and confinement at ex-gay therapy centers").

The articles earned the paper a prestigious journalism award and led to calls for the government to shut down the so-called clinics.

Most recently, the "clinics" gained renewed attention when U.S. based online activism petition sites Change.org and AllOut.org launched calls in November for the Ecuadorean government to shut down the "lesbian torture clinics" at the request of Ecuadorean lesbian-rights organization Fundación Causana.

The "clinics", as reported, actually don't discriminate based on gender when it comes to their zeal to convert the gay away and, to their credit, the government took some action last September when they shut down 30 clinics back in September.

Yesterday, Change.org claimed victory in pressuring the Ecuadorean government to take action on these clinics.

They quoted a statement from Fundación Causana:

After ten years of outcry, the nation of Ecuador - through the Ministry of Public Health - has entered into a commitment with civic organizations and society in general to deconstruct the belief that homosexuality is an illness and root our the use of torture in these clinics. We extend our thanks to all the men and women who signed our petition. It has been invaluable to have this support in starting to change this reality.

That is amazing news but this is what is just as amazing:

The online petitions that Change.org and AllOut.org posted were addressed to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and the former Health Minister David Chiriboga Allnutt.  That Health Ministry seat, of course, is now held by Carina Vance.

Well, it turns out that at the time Vance gave that interview to Cosas on coming to terms with her sexuality, she just happened to be the Executive Director of Fundación Causana.

In other words, the agreement that Fundación Causana announced with the government probably has a lot to do with tremendous international pressure. But in an amazing turnaround of events, it's probably also due to the fact that the woman who previously led the agency leading the drive against the clinics is now the country's Health Minister.

Just amazing.

Related:

• Ex-Gay Torture Clinics Raided, Shut Down Following Online Campaign (Change.org Press Release)
• In a Stunning Turnaround, Ecuador Pledges to Close 'Ex-Gay' Torture Clinics and Names Lesbian to Lead Ministry of Health (AllOut.com Press Release)

Reactions:

• Ecuadorian clinics allegedly use abuse to 'cure' homosexuality (CNN)
• Rights groups hail Ecuador's crackdown on lesbian 'torture clinics' (MSNBC)
• Ecuador to crack down on clinics that 'cure' gays (AP)
• Ecuador President appoints lesbian to cabinet (The Washington Blade)
• Ecuador: Lesbian activist appointed to presidential cabinet (The Advocate) 
• Ecuador's Ministry of Health names lesbian minister, pledges to close 'Ex-Gay' torture camps (Queerty)
• Anti-"gay conversion" activist appointed health minister in Ecuador (News Taco) 
• Tortured for being gay? Not anymore (The Huffington Post)

Previously:

• In a busy Quito city street, free 'makeovers' to look like the opposite gender (October 25, 2009)
• President Rafael Correa vows to fight homophobia in wake of NYC murder (December 21, 2008)
• New Ecuadorean Constitution grants gays civil union rights, bans gay adoption rights (September 29, 2008)
• President Rafael Correa on same-sex marriage, abortion and including 'God' in the Ecuadorean constitution (March 31, 2008)

Investigative report on 'ex-gay' therapy centers in Ecuador draws prestigious journalism award

In May of last year, I picked up on a 2-part investigative report that ran in Ecuador's El Universo on a number of unregulated and illegal centers for the supposed treatment of homosexuality ("Ecuador: Kidnapping, torture, confinement at 'ex-gay' therapy centers").

The disturbing articles, which also drew attention from Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin ("Ex-gay torture chambers in Ecuador"), revealed that there were more than 140 centers throughout the country claiming to cure homosexuality. Most heartbreakingly, those who were interviewed at these centers were teens or young adults sent there against their will by their parents. There was also a strong link between religious fervor and the nature of the teachings at these sites.

Today comes word that reporters María Alejandra Torres Reyes and Marjorie Ortíz received a 3rd place mention for Latin America in the prestigious Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize for both articles. The award, established in 1992 by the European Commission, "is awarded to journalists for outstanding reporting on Human Rights, Democracy and Development", according to press materials. This year, more than 1,000 journalist entries from 133 countries were submitted for consideration.

From the award site:

The investigative report discovered and denounced clandestine centres (which called themselves "clinics"), that offered to "remove" and "cure" homosexuality in exchange for money and, in most cases, with the permission of the family of the supposed "patients". The owners used violent and illegal methods. The "therapies" included beatings, electricity on the genitals, pornographic videos, taking hard drugs and pills for hours or days, and injections of hormones (male or female). Sometimes even rapes occurred. Thanks to this report, the authorities (who were unaware of this issue) closed these torture centres. The media had never spoken of these centres in the country and few people knew that they existed.

El Universo, which reported today on the honors, noted the journalists' reactions.

“I am very happy that a topic as important as this, addressing the gay community of the country, has been recognized internationally," said Marjorie Ortíz. She said that the mention encouraged her to continue investigating after 10 years of working as a journalist.

“We believe that this is also a recognition for those who suffer abuse an torture, such as those we contacted for our reporting," said Maria Alejandra Torres Reyes.

Both reporters were present at the award ceremony that took place on Thursday in Stockholm. Dora Luz Romero Mejia took 2nd prize for a report in La Prensa on twelve women murdered by their partners in Nicaragua, and Joao Antonio Barrios and Thiago Prado took first prize for a series of articles of paramilitary occupation of the shanty-towns of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the police corruption that accompanies it.

I, for one, am thrilled to have found about this tonight and congratulate El Universo and the journalists for the honor. I hope it brings additional attention to the plight of teens who are taken to these type of centers throughout Latin America, often against their will, and that it helps to shut down such illicit ventures once and for all.

Ecuador: Kidnapping, torture, confinement at ex-gay therapy centers

Speaking of ex-gay conferences in Mexico: At least they are shrouded in the friendly veneer of a "we don't really want to turn ALL gays straight, it's just for those folks who want it" message.

No such public relations spin in Ecuador.

On Sunday, acknowledging that the International Day Against Homophobia had been observed the day before, El Universo decided to turn its eye on a number of unauthorized gay "treatment" centers with two searing articles (In the photo above Evangelical Pastor Timoteo Zárate preaches to two youth who are "interned at the New Life Center in Huaqillas for being gay" according to one of the articles).

In "Prayer and seclusion to 'cure' gays" reporters Maria Alejandra Torres and Marjorie Ortiz expose a network of 140 rehab centers that promise to cure homosexuality despite not being authorized to offer such treatments (even if eighty of them are said to be officially certified as drug abuse and alcoholism rehabilitation centers).

They're not authorized to "treat" homosexuality, the reporters say, because no medical authority in the country recognizes such treatments, because some states such as Guayas actually bans such "therapies" and because homosexuality is not considered to be an illness. much less a crime ever since Ecuador struck down sodomy statutes ten years ago.

“There is no authorization for the functioning of clinics that correct these sexual behaviors because they are not an illness, but instead an option" says Patricia Castro, coordinator of the Sanitary Authority of the Health Department of Guayas, "It's a lie, a local sham, this implies that the professionals aren't serious."

El Universal interviews Chiqui (left), a 22 year old transgender woman who says she knew she was a girl as far back as 6 years of age. She tells the paper:

"My father paid $1,000 to have them lock me up in a clinic because he wanted me to change. Four men practically kidnapped me on the street. I wore my hair long and, since I had already taken hormones, my breasts had grown. They clipped my hair. Myself and another three homosexuals. They would lock us up in rooms of less than a meter wide. So small that we had to stand on our feet, in the dark, with flies."

The place where she was taken was God's Paradise, a drug and alcohol rehab center, led by Jorge Flor who some residents call "My pastor."

"When I tried to escape," says Chiqui, "they hit me until they broke my nose. They'd ask if I was a man or a woman, they'd take our pants down, they'd throw water between our legs and would put live cables to shock us with electricity."

Flor denies all charges and says there are no homosexuals at God's Paradise. "Look," he told the reporters as he pointed at a group of men praying outside the center in a yard, "They are all men."

Jorge, who didn't give his last name and is a member of a local LGBT rights organization, said he had experienced similar experiences:

"They gave me hormones that changed my voice. They would put on videos with men and, if we happened to get an erection, they would hit us. They would wake us up at 5:30 and, if we had not committed an infraction, they would give us breakfast. They applied electric shocks to our private parts and on our hands."

Jorge also said that the center was led by men who called themselves pastors and claimed that they would touch "patients" to see if they would become aroused, and if not, declare then "cured."

Both said that they'd been taken to the center against their will but the paper also interviewed a young lesbian who said that she had registered at one of these centers willingly hoping that is she became straight her parents might stop suffering over her lesbianism. In her case, the 20 year old went to the Youth Home led by Dr. Eugenia Macias.

"Even though I never tried to escape, they made me take three pills that would make me sleep all day long, even though my mates would tell me that I was awake, but I almost don't remember a thing. On the fifth day I woke up at the Liberty Clinic, I don't know how I was taken there. There, those who misbehaved were locked up in a room without a mattress. My mom would send me make up and dresses. They charged $200 a month."

Macias initially denied the charges and said that the Youth Home is only for people with mental problems but eventually admitted that there was a period in which some people might have come from her late husband's drug rehab clinic after he passed away. She said that they were sent elsewhere.

Others are upfront about their desire to change the gays, even if their efforts are not recognized by Ecuadorian authorities, and in their case they embrace the nicer, gentler public relations angle.

Nelson Quintero who leads a (big surprise!) evangelical center says “No cure is offered, just wellness. The assistance must be spiritual and professional, but they should not be locked up."

El Universo notes that even though some Catholic denominations also support these therapies (including the US-based Courage organization which claims they have a site in Ecuador), most of the ones pushing for them in Ecuador happen to be evangelical ministries. Evangelical leaders include Assemblymember Balerico Estacio who (big shock!) was among those who sought to eliminate constitutional protections for gays and lesbians back in March.

"They are demons that invade the body," he says in defense of the centers, "The natural self does not understand them, even if its psychological. Nothing can be done if it's not from God's spirit."

In the second article ("'Cured' but still without a partner") 50 year old Nelson Ballesteros (right) identifies as both a pastor and an ex-gay who found it hard to behave as a man after years of dressing up like a woman.

Ballesteros says that he began to get closer to God twenty-six years ago but has faced "relapses." He swears that he hasn't had sexual relations with men since 2001, nor - as a matter of fact - with women.

"I haven't been decisive, but I don't reject women," he says.

45 year old Luis, only identified by his first name, shares a photograph of himself dressed as a woman 23 years ago but says that he was saved by God on January 20th of 2000 . He is now a married evangelical preacher with two kids.

His story, El Universo says, has been used by many of these ex-gay organization to spread the word throughout Latin America that gayness can be cured.

At the New Life center, gay "clients" have to stay for at least a year. Timoteo Zárate, who identifies as ex-gay, says that gays are separated from drug addicts and admits that he oversees two interns who were fifteen and twenty-one years of age when they arrived atthe center (see photo above).

Kudos to El Universo for exposing such shameful practices. Let's hope it leads to meaningful reform.

Reactions:

• Ex-Gay Torture Chambers In Ecuador (Box Turtle Bulletin).
• Ex-gay torture chambers in Ecuador and spiritual abuse (Crossing the T)

Mexico: Ex-gay movement tries to spread its reach outside US borders

Even if you live in Mexico City you might have blinked and missed the latest gathering by those who allege that homosexuality can be treated or cured through therapy which involved some prominent United States adherents to the so-called "ex-gay" movement.

Originally Mexican LGBT rights activists had planned protests outside the event, which reportedly drew 300 people and took place at the ritzy Sheraton Hotel in the historic district of Mexico City, but they decided against it in order not to draw additional attention to the event ("Protest Against Anti-gay Conference Cancelled," Anodis.com, May 1, 2008).

Web portal Anodis.com, who ran excellent multi-day coverage of the event, revealed on April 16th that students from the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) were the first to notice fliers for the event when they saw them posted on college bulletin boards.

They also noticed that panelists included a virtual who's who of those involved in the US ex-gay movement including Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder and president of the much-debunked National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality;
Dean Byrd (pictured above), president of the Thrasher Research Fund, a private foundation that allegedly provides grants for project that find "solutions to children's health problems" (he also is the incoming president of NARTH and is among the leading advocates for the theory that people are not born gay); Arthur Goldberg, co-director of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) and Charlene Cothran, publisher of Venus Magazine who made news back in 2007 when she announced she was renouncing to her lesbianism and changing the content of Venus to reflect her new found anti-gay news.

On May 2nd, Anodis.com described Mr. Byrd's opening session presentation in which he promoted "sexual reorientation" therapies for gays who might want to leave their "lifestyle" claiming that he wasn't there to change all gays. The article says that it was the first time that Mexico City had seen a public presentation of the ideas put forth by NARTH.

Anodis.com also says that there were both public presentations open to anyone and private ones for "specialists."

Organized by Renacer (Rebirth), an alleged "non-profit coalition," local panelists included members of Exodus Latin America - also based on a United States anti-gay organization - and the Mexican Association of Education on General Sexuality (AMESI).

There is a conference website that offers additional information on panelists and the program and ways to order DVD's of the presentations given. Surprisingly for a nonprofit, there is little information about just who makes up the Renacer board, where they get their funding or the deep involvement by US-based ex-gay promoters.

Makes me want to shout: Keep your hands off Latin America, NARTH! And to think that some say that homosexuality is exported to Latin America when, in fact, it's the United States anti-gay industry that is seeking to make inroads.

Previously: The Mexican church loves the gays but only if they stop having sex (August 31, 2007)

Mexico: The church loves the gays but only if they stop having sex

Starting today and ending on Sunday, Courage Latino says that they will be coordinating a spiritual retreat for some eighty individuals in Leon, Mexico, to "re-orient" them away from same-sex attraction.

According to EFE, forty of the participants have attended similar retreats in the past and are back to strengthen their commitment to God.

For Juan Martinez, the priest who is organizing the event, homosexuality is "an accident of life" and homosexuals do not exist but, instead, are "men and women in a situation where they are attracted to the same sex."

He does admit that sexual attraction is difficult to change and that participation in the event may not result in changing someone's sexual orientation: "[The attraction] can remain for a long time," he says, "but sexual activity can be perfectly overcome."

"Oscar" who would only use a pseudonym and leads the Courage chapter in Mexico City, tells La Jornada that this is the 2nd year that the organization has been putting together these kind of retreats and that there has been eight of them so far in other cities such as Aguascalientes, Monterrey, Cuernavaca, Mexico City and Guadalajara - where as many as 200 people participated in the event.

Interviewed by AM in the streets of Leon, site of the retreat, a young gay man identified as Martin R. says he paid 700 pesos (about 63 US dollars) to register for the retreat but he seemed to have misinterpreted the call: "To be gay is no sin," he says, "Society itself has condemned us and the church itself used to do it. I think it's good to have these type of events where they can provide answers to the many concerns we have."

Others were not so sure this was a signal that the church had become accepting of gays. "I hope this event helps those who are suffering," said Fidel Negrete, to the AM reporter, "but I suspect this is an attempt to control the population through faith. It doesn't seem to me that there is a great willingness to help, since the retreat costs 700 pesos."

In a different AM article, Heber Sosa Beltran, who leads an organization that combats sexual violence in Leon, was more direct in his assessment: "The idea behind these types of retreats is to change a person's sexual orientation through the will of force. They call upon religion and therapeutic sciences, even if many of them are not valid as therapies."

"We do not suffer because we are homosexuals," ads Sosa Beltran, "we suffer due to rejection from our loved ones, friends, family members. Even though nowadays there is more family acceptance."

He stated that the practice of one's sexuality was a human right and that it was wrong for anyone to connect homosexuality to a host of social problems.

The original Courage, of course, was founded in the United States in 1980 and, at least according to Wikipedia, they had a hand in setting up the Mexican-based chapter. Of course, while they do not outright say that a person can change their sexual orientation, they believe celibacy is the way to spiritual well-being even though their claims and methods have no scientific basis.

For a fact-sheet on the reality of Courage's claims, please download this .pdf file (developed by The Catholic Action Network for Social Justice and made available through the Dignity USA website).

Dominican Republic: Gossip show host is gay one moment, ex-gay the next

Back in May Jari Ramirez, the host of a popular gossip television show in the Dominican Republic didn't necessarily stun too many people when he admitted he was gay (I mean, here's a YouTube vid of Jari speaking of the "glamour" of "El feeling de Cristal Marie" - a promotional packet for a singer - months before coming out).

Anyway, back to May, in a televised interview described here, Ramirez said that he knew he was gay from a young age and that part of his comfortability with being gay stemmed from his parents' acceptance. He also said that he had never been with a woman and would never be with one "because he did not consider himself to be a hypocritical person like many who are married with kids but have a man as a lover."

He also said that he had a partner but said that it wasn't as if they went out holding hands in public: "Even though I don't care what people think, I believe it would be too much to go out holding my partner's arm, I also believe [one has to be] respectful."

He admitted that he had his heart broken a few times by partners who had left him for other women but said that he had never experienced rejection when asking men out because he was beautiful, famous and rich, which made him a catch for just about anyone.

Jump ahead four months and Ramirez is singing a different tune.

Earlier this week Dominican gossip web portal Mas VIP ran an exclusive interview under the following eye-grabbing headline: "Jari Ramirez says he is sorry, gets tired of men and accepts God"

In the interview Ramirez now says that he recently came to a very difficult moment in his life in which he had to chose between God and witchcraft (hm, witchcraft?!). He admits that he was dating a married man which put him in a moral bind:

"I knew that to continue going out with him would have meant to commit a double sin, because I understood it was living a double life, he was a married man, such a disrespectful thing before God, and now I want to do things well."

Ramirez, who says he now attends a Methodist church in Ensanche Quisqueya three times a week, said that he would be baptized as a Christian this week in a ceremony and that he will abandon the homosexual life he has led.

He also tells Mas VIP that he threw away his "mundane" music collection and replaced it with Christian music CDs and that he now spends his free time either at church or at his apartment watering his plants, cooking healthy food and hosting "respectable" people.

Still, when asked to discuss the change in his sexual orientation, the popular host of "Noti-Espectaculos" on ColorVision 9 did not expand on the topic and said, instead, "God does not divide people into categories, specially when it comes to love."

Previously:

• Dominican Republic: Pajaro! (June 29, 2007)
• Dominican Republic: Gay Pride out in the open (June 29, 2007)
• Eliot Loves: A Dominican-American boy comes of age in New York (April 8, 2006)