The pastor and federal deputy Marcus Feliciano On Wednesday (24), people who consider themselves "ex-gays" attended a public hearing at the Human and Minority Rights Commission, in Brasília. And he ended up being confronted by the vice-president of the Federal Psychology Council, Rogério de Oliveira Silva.
+ What psychoanalysis can say about conversion therapies
Rogério classified the hearing as an attempt to change the entity's resolution, which since 1999 has stopped considering homosexuality a disease. And also a political strategy to unearth projects, called "gay cure", to be processed again in the Chamber.
For him, psychology "welcomes all forms of suffering", but the problem in that discussion is due to a group of pastors and politicians who want to "shape the world to their religious or ideological conviction". "What is presented here is a strategy by a group of deputies who want to reignite this debate to overturn this resolution that deals with the way we, in psychology, understand that the exercise should be implemented. Psychology cannot agree with this", he stated.
During the meeting, Feliciano called homosexuality a "fad" and brought five people who declare to be "ex-LGBT". Detail: everyone is part of a religious group, four of whom are pastors and a psychology student. According to Feliciano, meeting "ex-gays" is a way to reduce prejudice against straight people and the LGBT community.
+ 19-year-old transvestite is murdered with a gunshot to the chest in Mato Grosso do Sul
The pastor Robson dos Santos Alves, for example, declared that after suffering sexual abuse he became "addicted to homosexual practice". He said he tried psychological help, but found no support in his decision to stop being gay. "It's a homosexual factory, you have no support, they encourage you to come out of the closet", he declared, who claims to have stopped being gay through "willpower" and "faith".
The pastor Joide Pinto Miranda reported that he was a transvestite for many years. "I became the third most beautiful transvestite in the city", he declared, who took an old photo in a bikini to the meeting. "I decided to change and I was helped by a psychologist, yes. In fact, I was never gay, I was born straight, but life led me to be gay. Today, I have been married for 17 years and have a five-year-old son."
It is worth remembering that in 2013, the year in which the Human Rights Commission was chaired by Feliciano, a project authored by deputy João Campos (PSDB-GO) was put up for discussion, which intended to authorize techniques that aim to change a person's sexuality. In June, after many debates and demonstrations, deputies decided to shelve the proposal.
