The Daily Show

I just love The Daily Show, the spoofs and humor are fun to watch. And, in a very unusual twist, some of the guests who come onto the Daily Show are either thinking it's legit and they are using the show as a platform for their own agendas or, they have no idea what the show is really about.

To illustrate my point, a couple of days ago Richard Cohen was on the Daily Show in a fact-like parody of his treatment to cure homosexuality. The show was obviously meant to spoof it and yet Cohen didn't seem to connect with what was being shown. The show features Richard Cohen and Wayne Besen, a gay man who addresses the dangers of Ex-Gay therapy. After watching this video, I followed this link to a video where Cohen was on Jimmy Kimmel hawking his cures. In that video, he was saying the same thing and offering the same solutions as on The Daily Show. This is what I mean by the fact that the Daily Show was spoofing him and he didn't seem to have a clue about it. (I'd post the video but Youtube just pulled it from their server.) In the video, Cohen hits a pillow and cries out his anger against his mom and then cradles a man (in a very homoerotic way) as a way to get in touch with a "healthier" man on man form of male bonding that gay men seem to lack.

It seems all of this onscreen interviews began with this interview he did on CNN. CNN doesn't parody him but does offer some insight into the methods to not only his own madness, but the madness that fuels the fires of his clientèle. Fortunately CNN interviews non-wacky psychologists who warn others of the dangers of reparative therapy. Here is a link to that video.

Wayne Besen is probably Cohen's worst nightmare. Besen understands the danger that ex-gay therapy poses to many of its gay clientele who really want to be cured of their homosexuality. Besen contends that the methods of the ex-gay therapy are actually more harmful and the clientele realizes. And Cohen, according the Besen, is an fraud and unscrupulous 'life coach' whose had his credentials taken away because of his personal breach of ethics. Go here to see Besen's comments about Cohen.

All in all, those who wish to change their orientation have a right to pursue the changes they wish. However, when those changes are motivated by self-hatred or because of their desire to seek validation from those they seek it from, one needs to be careful regarding the methods and practices of those particular therapies. Some of the solutions can be more harmful than the remedies that a person considers in the first place.

While I don't believe there is anything wrong with a gay orientation whatsoever, there can be challenges and pitfalls when one chooses to live a life of wanton irresponsibility. Whether gay or straight, the lifestyle choices we make can have long lasting ramifications. Not that those ramifications are necessarily bad for you, but sometimes they can be. However it is we choose to live our lives, let us make the best choices that honor our bodies, ourselves, and those we choose to love...whoever it is we choose to love.

A special kudo to pandagon.net for this expose and the subsequent links and videos that tells the larger and complete story. You can go here to read her post.