"Aqua Man" Revisited: Ridiculous

 A few months ago, I commented on the Singapore short film "Aqua Man." This little movie claims to spotlight "conversion therapy," focusing on the hardships of a boy named Junjie and his religious mother who wants to "pray the gay" out of him with the help of the local pastor.

In the previous post, I commented how the movie gets the Gospel wrong, misconstrues the Bible, and basically distorts what true reparative (not "conversion") therapy is all about. One thing is certain: it is not "pray the gay away." Such arbitrary prayers and pleas are nowhere to be found in the Bible.

I am writing this second post to comment on a fawning article written about this film:

It only took one month for Jet Ho to conceptualize, write, cast and film Aqua Man, a short film about a young Singaporean boy that looks at the hot-button topic of gay conversion therapy. But that was just the beginning of his struggle for anyone to see it. Because it touches the media third rail of homosexuality, his story of student Jun Jie, his distressed mom, and Bible-armed pastor was rejected at least 15 times, by Ho’s count, by streaming platforms and film festivals

The truth is that the film was rejected by a number of art houses and film festivals because ... it's ridiculous. It's laughably bad!

Consider the following aspects of the movie;

1. In one scene, when "the therapy" is supposed to begin, Junjie is ordered to sit down, so that the pastor and his mom can pray for him. They are simply laying their hands on him. Then, for some reason, Junjie starts to grimace, as though in real pain. Then out of nowhere, he just stands up, shouts, and backs away.

Where is the real motivation here? There is nothing painful about someone praying for you. There is no torture here. The whole motif in this little movie is to give the impression that "conversion therapy" is a painful exercise of some kind. Give me a break!

2. The mother, out of nowhere, grabs her son by the arms and pushes him against the wall. At first, she was distraught, but now she's pushing her kid around? The inconsistency in the character development is somewhat jarring. 

3. The mother shames her son. "They call you Ah Gua [sissy, gay]!" But then, later on she says, "I promised I won't tell." What is the point of promising that she won't tell anyone when everyone "knows"?

4. The kid start crying, very weakly. Frankly, it's pretty pathetic, the bad acting at this point. Really? Are we supposed to believe any of this?

5. When the mother tries to bring her son back to the chair to be prayed for, he resists her, trying to pull himself away, but somehow he ends up pushing his mother to the ground. Huh? In what universe, in which physical dimension, does someone pull away from someone, yet end up pushing them to the ground? Please!

6.When the son tries to help his mother up again, she screams to resist him. Then Junjie walks out. Then, in another case of character "whiplash," she becomes morose and whiny, resigned and fearful, murmuring to herself "He will go to hell." None of this is believable.

7. And of course, the pastor finally starts doing something in the movie, kneels down next to the mother, but he conspicuously holds the Bible with "Holy Bible" gleaming into the camera. Why would the Pastor even be carrying the Bible with him in the first place? Clearly, this is an artificial shot. Who would hold their Bible like that, leaning up like that?

7. In the last scene, we see Junjie leave the HBD flat, simpering. If he's crying, it's clear that it's fake. No tears, just a lot of heaving. First year acting coaches would find so much to fault here. One could imagine this short film getting presented in first year acting courses with a disclaimer: "Don't let this happen to you."

Final Comments

The fact is that the film "Aqua Man" is fundamentally flawed. The notion that a son would become so rebellious just over a pastor praying for him just does not make sense. If anyone puts some thought into this film, it turns out that this film to be so poorly made, it's funny.

Jet Ho and other LGBT activists will play victim, and make the claimt that Singapore's movie industry or filming community rejected this film because of the serious, controversial nature of the subject. The truth is that this movie was rejected not because of its touchy subject matter, but because it was a bad movie. Such is often the case with propaganda films like this, desperate to push a message ("conversion therapy is bad"), especially when divorced from facts and truth.

"Aqua Man" basically drowns in its own bathos. It sucks, and it's laughably bad.

In a word, ridiculous.

MassResistance: Contact Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz -- No Ban on Reparative (Conversion) Therapy!

Hey MassResistance Expert Witnesses!

RED ALERT!

"LGBT Tyranny all the way!"
For Gov. Walz, No Lives Matter

Creepy, Child-Hating Pro-Perversion and Pro-Mental Illness Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is going to ban reparative therapy via executive order.

We need all of you to burn up the phones, go after him on social media, and email him to stop this terrible proposal.

Basic talking points:

1. Reparative (not "Conversion") Therapy saves lives! 
2. This is a violation of First Amendment rights.
3. Any executive order banning a helpful therapy is medical quackery of the worst kind.
4. We will vote you out if you do this! 

Here are ways to contact Minnesota Gov. Walz:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GovTimWalz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mngovernor/?fbclid=IwAR3PkLWbpDGAsLH8iFERp-vodsqJM-EhFVX3Kb9VsiysLjsH1XLpFqqeiu0

Office phone number: (651) 201-3400

Email: https://mn.gov/governor/contact/

For more information, contact:

Arthur Schaper, Organization Director

Website: MassResistance.org

Email: arthur@massresistance.org

Workcell: (781) 474-3005

Main Office: (781) 890-6001

Reparative Therapy Ban Fails in Minnesota Senate--More Fights to Come

This article was printed two years ago, following MassResistance's efforts to stop the ban on reparative therapy in Minnesota.

The local and national press really wanted to drill down on State Senator Paul Gazelka, the Senate Majority Leader, since he would be one of the main obstacles to the bill's passage. They thought they could make it worse for him by pointing out that his daughter is a lesbian, struggling with these same-sex temptations. And on top of that, the senator is a pastor.

Gay conversion ban gets personal for lawmakers in emotional debate

By J. PATRICK COOLICAN AND TOREY VAN OOT , STAR TRIBUNE 
May 10, 2019 - 10:13 PM

Minnesota state Sen. Paul Gazelka, the Republican majority leader, faces a deeply personal and political dilemma as the Legislature weighs restrictions on so-called conversion therapy — the widely criticized practice of trying to turn gay people straight.

The rhetoric in this first paragraph is mind-numbing in its fraudulence.

People are not born gay in the first place. When someone receives reparative therapy, it helps them to realize their full natural potential.

A DFL proposal to ban the practice with Minnesota children failed last week on a party-line vote after an emotional Senate debate where lawmakers in both parties recounted anguished stories from their own lives. But with some GOP senators threatening to upend their own Health and Human Services budget if the conversion ban were attached, Gazelka led the Republican caucus in voting it down.

Good for Senator Gazelka.

Despite the defeat on the Senate floor, several members of Gazelka’s GOP caucus said they still want a bill to end conversion therapy this year, creating an internal rift that dredged up a lingering conflict in his own family.

Those Republicans need to be removed from office. Anyone who would declare war on a therapy that saves lives should not be elected.

Gazelka, a conservative Christian who has become a Capitol dealmaker, was silent during the middle-of-the-night debate, even as his emotions roiled underneath.

“I cry over this issue,” he said, choking up during an interview in his office.

One of his five children, Genna Gazelka, 30, came out as a lesbian as a teen. Genna, who now identifies as bi-gender and uses the pronoun “they,” is fiercely opposed to the practice of conversion therapy. In an interview prompted by the vote, Genna said the Gazelka family turned to a therapist who decried same-sex relations. “This is harassment, and it is tantamount to what could be said of torture or sexual torture,” Genna said of conversion therapy.

Total lie. True therapy does no harm to the patient. There is no torture, not physical or sexual abuse. That is all absolute nonsense.

Gazelka acknowledged sending Genna to therapy as a teenager, but said it was for healing, not for sexual-identity conversion.

Yes.

Now as one of the state’s most powerful Republican lawmakers, he said he is working to find a compromise that would ban coercive therapy techniques on children while preserving the right of therapists and pastors to speak freely with their patients, particularly those who say they are struggling with an unwanted same-sex attraction.

Here's the deal: abusive practices in therapeutic sessions have already been banned. They are already outlawed, illegal, everything else one could name.

“I don’t want coercive or aversive counseling toward someone,” Paul Gazelka said. “It’s a fragile time in life, and I know because I’ve experienced it.”

The next paragraph shows what was really going on in Genna's life:

For Gazelka, the issue stands apart from the partisan budget battle looming as the Legislature hurtles toward a May 20 adjournment deadline. It has fractured his caucus and his family.

Genna Gazelka acknowledged a history of mental health issues. “I understood why my parents sent me to therapy, especially looking back; it would be bad parenting not to [send] a person who was troubled and struggling,” Genna said.

She wanted to be a lesbian, be non-binary, whatever because she was suffering from emotional issues. True therapy deals with those underlying problems, helping people to break free from the wrong believing, the painful memories, the harms and hurts which created so much damage, so much baggage.

But Genna said it was only after Gazelka and his wife, Maralee, suspected a same-sex attraction that the then-teenager was sent to the counseling practice of Marcus Bachmann, the licensed psychologist married to former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the conservative firebrand who ran for president in 2012.

As expected, the Minnesota press will take every opportunity they can to go after Michele Bachmann. These "reporters" have no dignity. None.

“I went from having a somewhat supportive youth pastor counselor who was aware it was highly likely I was lesbian to being sent to Bachmann’s clinic,” Genna said, adding that the conversations with Bachmann exacted a sense of shame.

Bachmann, citing patient confidentiality, declined to comment, but said his practice has never used the techniques commonly associated with gay conversion. He said his business would be cited by state licensing authorities if he engaged in coercive or abusive techniques.

Exactly! 

“It’s not who we are. It’s not something we would ever do,” he said.

Genna Gazelka said the Gazelkas later encouraged visits with Janet Boynes Ministries, whose website promises to help those “who are trapped in the sin of homosexuality and yearn to be set free.” Those conversations, along with other political disagreements, have strained the family’s relationship with Genna, now a northeast Minnesota writer.

There are clearly deeper issues that were undermining the relationship between father and daugther. Notice that there is not a great deal of discussion or description about Genna's mother. Women need their mothers, those female role models to show them what it means to be a woman. It sure sounds as though she did not have that training when she was growing up.

Sen. Gazelka said he and his family sought only to help their child through emotional turmoil. Maralee Gazelka declined an interview through her husband’s Senate office.

“I have five children. We love them to the best of our ability,” the senator said. “She’s older. Her sexuality is her responsibility, not mine. My responsibility is to love her, which I have done all the way through.”

Exactly, and to be honest, it's reprehensible for the Minnesota press to take advantage of that very sensitive matter to shame and degrade and ultimately pressure the state senator to cave on the bill. Thankfully, the pastor did not budge.

Gazelka is far from the only lawmaker with personal experiences around conversion therapy.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, the author of the proposed conversion therapy ban, is one of the most significant Minnesota gay-rights advocates of his generation. He choked up during the Senate debate as he recalled suffering the drumbeat of shame in a fundamentalist Christian community he joined as a teen: “There was hardly anything worse than being what I knew I was deep inside myself.” In an interview, he shared stories of friends who drifted into substance abuse and personal isolation as they carried the scars of intrusive attempts at conversion.

I don't believe this testimony. The fact that the reporter just takes it as "Gospel" truth that the treatments or therapy that Dibble received were shame inducing, to me that makes it all the more difficult to respect the reporting. Why was it shameful? What is wrong with explaining to people that homosexual behaviors are harmful? That is a form of love.

Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, a physician, compared attempts at gay conversion to such archaic techniques as bleeding patients to treat infectious disease, frontal lobotomies for psychological problems and pulling teeth to treat schizophrenia. “The vote to sustain conversion therapy will not age well,” Klein said in the Senate debate. “It will be redolent down the years as we become more enlightened and understand that this was torture.”

Senator Klein's hateful rhetoric is the real shame. It's absolutely disgusting that he would dare compare a clinically researched and supported therapy with blood-letting. Outrageous!

Mental health professionals have long condemned the practice of attempting to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of patients, which is banned in some form in at least 16 states.

Overcoming conversion therapy can take years, said Katie Spencer, a practicing psychologist and advocacy director for the University of Minnesota’s Program in Human Sexuality. “It’s a trauma because the message of conversion therapy is, ‘Who you are is not OK. We have to change who you fundamentally are.’ Anytime you tell a human that, you are scarring their sense of worth and being. That’s a trauma that is hard to heal from.”

More lies and propaganda. The health care professionals themselves have not condemned the practice in any professional sense of an opinion. They condemned the practice by and large due to political pressure and lobbying from homosexual activists, and the professional medical associations choose to condemn the practice based on a vote. That is not science.

Some conservative Christians fear that a ban would be an assault on religious freedom.

State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said the DFL measure is too broadly worded and would allow anyone in the state to bring legal action against entities that they see violating the conversion therapy ban.

Yes, such bans are a full-on assault on religious liberty. Most importantly, though, they are a full-on assault on the truth.

“The entity might be a church. The entity might be the Catholic diocese,” Limmer warned.

Gazelka has expressed similar fears about intrusions into religious liberty.

An insurance agent and graduate of Oral Roberts University, an evangelical liberal arts school in Oklahoma, Gazelka, 59, has long focused on the intersection of business and conservative Christianity, a topic he explored in a book, “Marketplace Ministers.”

A former state representative, he was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2010, riding a national Tea Party wave and defeating incumbent Republican Paul Koering, believed to be the first openly gay Republican elected official in Minnesota. The primary took place after revelations that Koering had gone on a dinner date in Brainerd with a gay pornographic actor. Gazelka emphasized his conservative values and opposition to same-sex marriage, a cause he championed in 2012 as cosponsor of a failed constitutional amendment.

Wow! Gazelka is particularly tied to this issue! He defeated an openly gay Republican!

While Gazelka’s politics and rise to Senate majority leader created more tension between father and child, Genna had refrained from speaking publicly to respect the family’s wishes for privacy. But learning of Gazelka’s role in determining the outcome of the conversion therapy ban changed that.

“My question is, how can you say you love me and still do this, and do it at the governmental level, exercise your governmental authority, because you can’t stop me in my individual life,” Genna said.

Notice how the press wanted to take every step possible to create dissension between father and daughter. This is shameful.

Citing the emotional weight of the issue, Paul Gazelka has now turned to state Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, to find an elusive compromise. That means the legislation now rests in the hands of another physician, and another lawmaker with a deeply personal connection to the issue of gay conversion therapy.

Jensen credits his own gay daughter with helping him shed views he learned growing up in a small, traditional town in southern Minnesota. “I’m exceedingly proud of her,” Jensen said. “She’s helped me grow, she’s helped transform the way I look at things.”

A bad father! He left the younger generation tell him that homosexuality was OK, and that he needed to "Get with the times." What a crock!

But Jensen said his patients are a bigger influence on his thinking on the issue. Over the years, he’s seen teens and adults struggle with depression, in some cases deciding to end their own lives.

“In those times, when people are trying to find themselves, the last thing they need is even the hint or the whiff that someone is messing with their mind and trying to get them to a preprogrammed point of view,” he said.

Therapy is not about indoctrination, but helping individuals to make better decisions and resolve emotional issues. There is nothing wrong with parents taking the lead to ensure the healthiest, most wholesome outcomes for their children.

Jensen said he has been meeting with advocates on both sides, trying to strike a balance between protecting talk therapy and the free-speech rights of medical professionals and ensuring “young people still trying to find themselves aren’t being channeled into an aversive or coercive therapy.”

Jensen ended his remarks during the Senate debate by saying he would not take down the Senate’s Health and Human Services budget, and so would oppose Dibble’s amendment banning conversion therapy — an act he said filled with him with misgivings.

Conservatives are such fools, also trying to strike a balance. That is just wrong. There is no finding common ground on a lie. Reparative therapy does no harm to anyone. Helping children and adults with unwanted same-sex temptations is completely appropriate.

“When I drive home tonight, I’m pretty sure I’ll be nauseated all the way,” he said after the vote.

The ban could ultimately be decided by lawmakers negotiating a final budget package. Jensen and Gazelka are both confident an agreement is possible. Dibble, who has been advocating for the ban for years, said he, too, feels momentum. The issue is moving because of the courage of people who stepped forward to share their own stories, he said.

“Something very powerful is happening,” Dibble said. “Hearts are being shifted and moved. Minds are being changed.”

For Genna Gazelka, growing support from some Republicans is also welcome, albeit overdue. Genna is hopeful the ban will pass and, eventually, the strained family relationship will be fully repaired.

Shame on any so-called Republican who would support a ban on reparative therapy. That is just shameful. 

In 2012, Genna, then a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, wrote a paper that recounted the experience of being the first person in an extended family to come out as gay. The initial response, Genna wrote, was unfamiliarity and uncertainty. But “little by little by little, compromise on all our parts over the years has led to closer relationships with deeper understanding and respect for each other’s opinions.

“Because,” Genna continued, “as families should, they love me regardless.”

Loving someone does not mean that the family members approve of the destructive behaviors. No parent can say that they love their children if they let them go ahead and abuse their bodies by engaging in unseemly conduct.

Final Reflection

I had wanted to write a comprehensive criticism of this article two years ago, but now I finally found the time to do it.

I am so glad that MassResistance was instrumental in skewering the passage of any kind of ban on reparative therapy. Indeed, it's disheartening that politicians on both sides of the aisle would feel compelled to push this kind of perverse program!

Thankfully, the Minnesota state legislature has not brought back any further attempts to ban reparative therapy. MassResistance activists are ready to prevent this bill from passing, and we are also targeting cities and county boards that are interested in passing similar ordinances.

"Aqua Man", Conversion, Therapy, and the Truth

In Singapore, there is a growing movement to discredit and ultimately ban reparative therapy, falsely referred to as "conversion therapy". Part of the reason LGBT activists insist on calling this life-saving therapy "conversion therapy" is that they want to discredit this life-saving practice as a figment of religious superstition, and nothing more.

Reparative therapy has a number of professional clinicians around the world, and the therapy involves cognitive, vocal, and emotional practices. There is no physical harm used, and there is no shaming or dishonor employed. The lies of the LGBT hate groups around the world have spread nonstop lies to dissuade countries and psychological associations to reject this therapy.

In the United States, more courts are striking down reparative therapy bans, but sadly in other parts of the world, the lies remain pervasive and persist that "conversion therapy" is inherently flawed, false, and harmful.

A number of reparative therapists are providing more consistent research to combat these falsehoods, as well.

Now, in Singapore, a new five-minute documentary has come out: "Aqua Man."

"Aqua" is a play on words, meaning "weak or broken" but also "homosexual" in Chinese.

It's a movie short, five minutes, focused on the intense conflict of a young man, Junjie, who is struggling with same-sex attraction.  As he walks into his HDB flat after a long day at school, he sees his mother and a local pastor. The mother beckons her son to come to the pastor, who then gently places his hands on the son's head, and so does the mother. The pastor then leads a prayer, asking God to help the young Junjie break free of the "demon of homosexuality."

Clearly torn and writhing in pain, the boy pushes away the hands of his mother and the pastor, then retreats to the side of the room. The mother aggressively grabs his shoulders, confronts him for pushing away the pastor. The boy starts crying, he admits that he has tried to stop the same-sex feelings that he struggles with, but he still is attracted to other males.

The mother tries to bring her son back to the pastor. In the struggle to resist her, the son inadvertently pushes his mother to the ground. He tries to apologize, but overcome with frustration as well as grief, he just walks out of the HDB flat.

This is a very poignant film short, and yet its very pointed message is wrong on so many levels. There is proper criticism of the so-called "conversion therapy" that takes place, but the larger problems lie in the ... lies about what Christianity, what the Gospel is really about.

There are elements in this film short which inadvertently provide better insight into what Junjie is really struggling with, too.

First, I want to deal with some accurate criticisms portrayed in the movie.

True reparative therapy is not "pray the gay away." It's understandable that people of faith that prayer works, and it does, but people have to pray with a proper understanding of who they are in Christ, and how He wants us to receive all things from Him (Romans 8:32). Despite all of htis, the LGBT lobby relies heavily on atired, fraudulent trope regarding "pray the gay away" precisely to discredit the truth that people are not "born that way" and that proper therapeutic treatment can help people break free from unwanted same-sex temptations. There is no evidence that people are born gay, that it is a genetic trait of some kind, or that people are born in the wrong body and require some kind of corrective surgeries.

Sadly, though, there are too many religious groups that rely on prayer or the power of suggestion to deal with the emotional and mental traumas which individuals are grappling with, which undergird those same-sex temptations. When they are in the midst of their struggles with same-sex temptations, they need truth, and prayer that amounts to nothing more than "begging God" is not helpful.

Also, people of faith are not dealing with the true origins of the conflict if they label homosexual feelings "demonic". True, there are demonic forces in the world, but they transmit lies, and make people believing the wrong things, which induce bad thoughts, negative emotions, and unwanted desires. 

Jesus said to the Israelites of His day: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." (John 8:32)

Just setting people down, praying over them with a droning pattern of psychological suggestion does not set people free. There is real pain, real torment for people who are struggling with these feelings, and they need someone to speak to those concerns, something else besides "be changed". The answer is the Love of God, yes indeed, and prayer can open their eyes to see the grace of God more fully working in their lives. But this arbitrary "pray the gay away" is not the way that the "gay" goes away.

Now, for the criticism regarding the presentation of Christianity, or more precisely, the Gospel.

At the outset of this film short, the mother says "I think God is punishing me." That is wrong. The Lord Jesus took all our sins, all the punishment that we deserve, on the Cross. Clearly, this woman does not have a clear understanding of all that Jesus is and all that He has done at the Cross. Whether that is a deliberate slight against faith in Christ by the film maker, or an objective dramatization by the director, is another story.

When Junjie comes into the HDB flat, she tells her son: "The pastor will wash your sins away."

That is the most blasphemous remark in the whole movie. It is not any man who takes away sins from another, but the perfect, incorruptible, eternal Blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed at the Cross, and His blood cleanses (present tense) and speaks "better things than the blood of Abel" (Hebrews 12:24).

And His blood pays for the sins of the entire world! (1 John 2:2)

As the pastor prays over the boy, he says: "You have to believe that the Lord is able to forgive your sins,"

Wow! This pastor hasn't heard the full message of the Gospel! Not at all! How can he minister to this troubled boy when he does not understand the fullness and goodness of the Good News!

Paul the Apostle could not have made it clearer:

"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [Jesus Christ] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:38-39)

Jesus did a perfect work! Our sins have all been paid for!

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2:13)

and

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" (Ephesians 1:3)

Consider also this description of what Jesus did at the Cross:

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus became sin, that we could become sons of God, beloved of our loving FATHER in Heaven! That is Good News! Instead of hearing the fullness of all that Jesus has done for him, Junjie gets levelled with these demands to "stop feeling that way", and to live up to certain expectations laid out by his mother.

And the prayer that the Pastor prays! First, He calls God "Father". In fact, in the original Chinese, he clearly says "Abba", which is the more intimate way to call on God. It's like saying "Daddy!":

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

Then the Pastor says "We, your humble servants call on you." 

This prayer makes no sense! God cannot be "Daddy", but then you approach Him as some kind of harsh taskmaster! That is not walking in the truth. Such prayers are double-minded, to put in mildly:

"5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5-7)

I have pointed out the errors regarding what reparative therapy truly is, and what it is not. I have also pointed out what wrong believing that the pastor, the mother, and even the son are in bondage to.

Now, let's speak to elements in the film which help explain why Junjie, most likely, is struggling with same-sex temptations.

At the outset of the film, the mother mentions "Ah Huang". I presume that is the mother's husband, her son's father. 

Males who struggle with same-sex temptations did not have that emotional bond with their fathers. That loss can be devastating, an emotional need which turns into a sexual longing for other men.

Throughout the film, we see a very overbearing mother, as well. She orders her son around, tell him what to do, placing demands on him. This dynamic also foments same-sex temptations in males, since they are becoming so emotionally dependent on their mothers, without developing their own identities as males.

Dr. Thio Li-Ann, while serving as a nominated member of the Singapore parliament, discussed this phenomenon when she spoke in defense of Singapore Penal Code 377a in a 2007 parliamentary hearing:

An article by an ex-gay in the New Statesmen this July identified the roots of his emotional hurts, like a distant father, overbearing mother and sexual abuse by a family friend; after working through his pain, his unwanted same-sex attractions left. While difficult, change is possible and a compassionate society would help those wanting to fulfill their heterosexual potential. There is hope.

Clearly, Junjie is dealing with a "smothering mother", which has inhibited his development as a male. This lack of growth induces a yearning for intimacy with other males.

Then she levels a set of demands. She wants him to be "normal", to get married and have children. This boy is in need, and placing more demands on him only deepens the pain.

This boy deserves help, and it is indeed very sad to see such a painful conflict break out the way that it does in the movie.

The larger problem ensues, however, from the fact that such films want to push false narratives from sound-bites and brief emotional exchanges. The etiology of homosexuality is more complicated than most people realize, but by no means are people "born that way", and thus stuck in an identity. No one should doubt what the boy says, that he has tried to stop the feelings, but he cannot help himself. This is a struggle that cannot be resolved with will-power, with "trying hard." It takes a revelation of deep, unconditional love--the Love of The Father (1 John 2:15), which cannot be taken away or shaken away, no matter how trying to difficult one's circumstances may become.

When those emotional needs get met, the same-sex temptations subside and go away.

Sadly, films like this will continue to serve as propaganda by LGBT militants to promotes their lies:

1. People are born gay.

2. They cannot change.

3. It's cruel to help them change.

4. Organized religion plays a large part in promoting the cruel practice to help people break free of same-sex temptations.

For the record, I wanted to put my thoughts out there on this short film and the complex issues which it deals with. There is some truth to the portrayals of "conversion therapy" scene, true, but the notion that true faith in Christ only leads to such contentious outcomes is not true at all.

Also, the sad outcome of this film suggests that this just a fraught tragedy, when there are clear elements even within the film itself which outline why Junjie struggles with same-sex attraction. No father figure, overbearing mother, a sense of unremitting shame without any information or understanding for what he is going through, and there one has the perfect environment for a child who struggles with homosexuality.

I can only hope that my thoughts on this film (and others like it certain to come out) will shed light on the very contentious issue of homosexuality, conversion, therapy, and the truth that sets people free.

What the Heck, Unicorn? Conversion Therapy

Here is the first cartoon that I put together to mock the LGBT militant cartoonist Heckin' Unicorn, who is based in Singapore.

He insists on trying to make light of a justify the false arguments that people are born gay, or that they are born in the wrong body, and that the rest of society must confirm and adapt to these perverse lies.

You can find Heckin' Unicorn here.

Here's my first comic poking fun at the Unicorn from Heck and his pro-LGBT pretenses. At this time, Heckin' Unicorn has all but declared war on "conversion therapy", even though it's really called "reparative therapy", and in truth it involves nothing that LGBT militants claim, like physical abuse or mental torture.

Check it out. Let me know what you think!

Action4Canada and Canada MassResistance: Stop Ban on Reparative Therapy in Spruce Grove, Alberta

Dear pro-family fighters and activists,

Please contact the Spruce Grove, city council located in the Province of Alberta, Canada.

They are attempting to violate the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and the natural rights of all Canadians beyond the political charter TONIGHT.

They are going to be taking up a vote to ban reparative therapy, a life-saving form of counseling which helps individuals struggling with unwanted same-sex temptations and gender dysphoria issues.

This latest push to ban therapy is all about forcing the normalization and acceptance of homosexuality, transgenderism, and other destructive behaviors.

The full-on assault on biological fact, biblical truth, and basical morality cannot be ignored.

Please follow the prompts and directions below, contact the Spruce Grove city council, and tell them "Therapy Equality matters! Do not ban a life-saving therapy!"

Call To Action

Time is of the essence....The Spruce Grove, Alberta Mayor and City Council have decided to move forward with a vote today, March 23, on a citywide "Conversion Therapy Prohibition" despite the fact that citizens will not be able to attend due to the pandemic.

Please sign the letter below (or write your own), copy and paste to your inbox and send to the Mayor and City Council.

shouston@sprucegrove.org, jacker@sprucegrove.org, mgruhlke@sprucegrove.org, cmckenzie@sprucegrove.org, doldham@sprucegrove.org, wrothe@sprucegrove.org, estevenson@sprucegrove.org
 

Also, don't miss our special report on Covid 19  Read Here

Thank you and God Bless Canada!

Tanya
Action4Canada

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Dear Mayor Houston and Spruce Grove City Council,

It has come to my attention that the City is voting on the proposed ban on so called Conversion Therapy today, Monday March 23.  I find it disgraceful that you would choose to vote on this controversial matter, which is of great public interest, during a pandemic lock down.  

This ban is a massive overreach with extreme consequences which should not be dealt with by the city.  The Mayor and city council were elected to manage the city and its infrastructure.  Not to take on political social justice matters advanced by political LGBTQ lobby groups.

The city has been well informed that there is absolutely no evidence to support the lie that Conversion Therapy is transpiring in any district in Spruce Grove or for that matter anywhere in Canada.  True Conversion Therapy consisted of treatments such as electroshock, castration and institutionalization.  It is deceitful to use this term in relation to much needed reparative therapy, counselling and talk therapy.

The individuals behind this agenda are LGBTQ Political activists, such as Kristopher Wells, who are determined to strip parents of their Constitutional rights, undermine the structure of the natural family and the church and gain control of vulnerable youth in order to sterilize and mutilate them.  Science is not on their side so instead they have gone to the lowest of lows and created this grand deception that Conversion Therapy is going on in places such as church basements throughout this nation...without "any" evidence to support this.

The term Conversion Therapy is being used to create a surge of sympathy and victimize non-existent victims in order to manipulate your vote.

To arbitrarily change the definition of Conversion Therapy to support a politically charged agenda is something that must be challenged especially when that definition is absent of reality.  If conversion therapy were to be redefined, an accurate redefinition, based on what is actually transpiring, should read:

• “any practice, treatment or service designed to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity from their biological sex to a reassigned sex, or sexual preference, in an effort to ‘prohibit’ sexual attraction or sexual behaviour between persons of the opposite sex.. This would ‘include’ hormonal therapy and sex reassignment surgery”.

Defining conversion therapy accurately is imperative since the city plans to making it an offence.  

The ban threatens to criminalize therapy only for those who are providing counsel to individuals who are seeking healing and wholeness which may, or may not, lead to a life outside of the homosexual or trans life.  It does not criminalize those who are giving counsel to individuals to pursue sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy or the doctors responsible for mutilating a child’s or adult’s body and injecting them with dangerous hormones.  In this instance, the city actually provides a clause exempting any criminal culpability.

Many children questioning their gender or same sex attraction do so because they have experienced childhood trauma such as sexual abuse or other forms of abuse.  It is critical these children receive reparative therapy to talk through this in order to give them the best possible chance of living a healthy and productive life.  Who are you to prohibit them from getting the help they need?

The fact that you would even consider a one sided demanded that only leads to harmful drugs and the sterilization and mutilation of children is appalling.   Those who pursue sex reassignment surgery have a 19X greater risk of committing suicide.  Are you grasping the enormity of the death sentence you are placing on minors when you vote in favour of this By-law?  

Further, there is mounting evidence to support the rise in gender dysphoric children is due to their indoctrination via the Comprehensive Sexuality Education curriculum mandated by the UN and currently in schools across Alberta.  A heavy handed LGBTQ propaganda tool disguised as anti-bullying.   Drag Queen story hours and Drag Queen performers are further twisting the minds of our children and now that our trusted leaders have completely interfered with their natural thinking regarding their biology, they are coming up with this draconian move to ban critical therapy.  Leaving parents and minors with the only option to move toward harmful drugs and sex reassignment surgery wherein perfect healthy bodies parts are permanently removed!   Including sterilizing children through penectomies (removal of penis) and hysterectomies.

The State sponsored abuse of our children is reprehensible and Canadians will not continue to permit it nor will we allow our constitutional rights to be desecrated by a small group of activists. 

It is critical that the City understand medical malpractice suits and legal action is commencing and will indeed be pursued in the very near future should you refuse to take the appropriate action and dismiss this action. Eg. Tavistock   Case of 6 yr old Cdn. girl

In the United States eight state legislatures have tabled bills to prohibit the sterilization and mutilation of minors (under the age of 18).  Doctors could face jail time and fines if they provide puberty blocking drugs.  
Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, South Carolina, Kentucky, and South Dakota and growing daily....#9  Idaho

Drag Queen Story hours are also being banned throughout the US.  Stiff consequences are being imposed on public libraries due to children being psychologically abused and sexually groomed at Drag Queen Story Hours.  Missouri,   Wisconsin,  Texas,  Etc.

Every elected official is on notice...anyone supporting this abuse of our children will not be supported in future elections.  

Therefore, I request that you vote NO to this deceitful and unsubstantiated Conversion Therapy Prohibition BYLAW C-1103-19.

Yours Sincerely,